Best practice forum (Archived)

Interacting with learners in online courses

 
Matt Linaker
Interacting with learners in online courses
von Matt Linaker – Monday, 3 December 2018, 5:34 AM
Gruppe Totara

As there are many experienced people in the Totara Community who are creating courses every day for their learners I thought I'd ask if anyone would like to share ways for motivating and engaging learners in purely online courses? 

Paul Tottle
Re: Interacting with learners in online courses
von Paul Tottle – Thursday, 6 December 2018, 7:45 PM
 

Hi Matt

This is a discussion worth having, though in my current role my learners are engaging purely with eLearning, without any live components - e.g. no online discussion forums, virtual classroom, etc. 

I came into eLearning as a designer hating eLearning! However I had some formative experiences just as I applied for jobs - I found multiple video courses that were on topic. They were great refreshers. And my wife (an IT hands-off person) also did a course she loved. So to summarise the elements that made them work for us:

  • the content was very good - right on topic and up to date
  • they included a social context - there was a discussion forum, or video of a class discussing, or interviews between two people, or a video of a live presentation
  • There was some flexibility around tasks and the sequence that they could be completed
  • There are a modern interface that gave feedback about progress
  • There was access to written resources too (e.g. pdf version)
  • I could continue it while travelling - on my phone
  • The course included examples / scenarios / context that we could relate to


Some ways that these courses weren't so good was:

  • one of them gave too much detail without summaries of each section
  • one course had a completion date that my wife missed, so she had to wait 5 weeks to do it again. 


My own conclusion is that success is based on:

70% great content - that has relevant context and has strong connection to the implementation of the content

15% is communicating why the content is worth having

15% is the bells and whistles of a modern and progressive presentation / interface with accessibility

All three are essential. Somewhere in there is the social component, too.



Matt Linaker
Re: Interacting with learners in online courses
von Matt Linaker – Friday, 7 December 2018, 7:50 AM
Gruppe Totara

Thanks Paul for your response that's really interesting to learn about your experience participating in e-learning courses. 

I wonder if anyone else has either been a learner in online courses that involved a social element or has taught courses like this? How does the interaction differ from being in a face-to-face class? Are there any tips that anyone would like to share that tutors should think about when teaching online courses? 

With regards to actually building interactive e-learning content Barry Sampson, Founding Partner of Skills Journey will be exploring best practice for planning and creating interactive scenarios that engage and challenge your audience on the 16th January, so that could be worth signing up for!