With more interaction with online learners, you will only come to know their expectations from that online program and ways to improve your teaching if necessary. While communication, videos and presentations are important for online learning, student interaction will make the learning experience sweeter.
Online learning has
made the lives easier for students as it allows them to develop new skills and
get knowledge from the comfort of their homes. The flexibility and convenience
that it provides has made several students enroll in an online course. But engaging
learners in an online program is important so that they can learn effectively
and get the required skills and knowledge faster.
Regardless of numerous
benefits of online learning, the learners definitely feel isolated in an online
classroom. Hence, there is a need to involve students in the learning process
and that is possible only by cultivating interactive online learning
experience.
Here are some ways in which you, as the online instructor, can make
the online classrooms more interactive:
Add Opportunities for
real- time interaction
Because of the
flexibility in online learning, students have the opportunity to learn
from anywhere in the world. However, they can feel deprived of a one on one
interaction with the instructor. This lack of interaction in online forums
often leads to misunderstandings because of slow response time. So, what you
can do is you can integrate real- time interaction in an online program.
You can use web conferencing applications and set- up opportunities for class
students to engage among themselves. You can also conduct group discussions,
one- to- one doubt resolution classes and study groups online so that you can
interact with students in a constructive manner.
Use Social Media to good use
We know the effects
of social media and how often it is used by the students. You can use social
media apps like Whatsapp, Facebook and Telegram to make groups in which you can
include the students in your online classroom.
This way you can also encourage
students to engage with their peers in the classroom so that they can help each
other in studying the course. Within the private groups, you can discuss the
problems faced by the students in these online classes; you can take
feedback on your teaching and much more.
Additionally, students can also
contact each other on Skype, Google Hangouts or FaceTime on iOS. Along with
effective teaching by teachers, student interaction among themselves will allow
them to learn faster.
Ask for Feedback
Feedback from online
learners are the best way to judge your skills and knowledge in the
subject. From student’s feedback, you will get to know if you are missing out
on something. Hence you should give a chance for your students to leave a
feedback, which is a good opportunity for interaction.
You can ask them if they
need any changes in the online program curriculum or if they need any
additional supplement to be added to the course. Now, how you handle or respond
to those feedback make a great impact on the students.
Even the criticism
should be taken in a constructive way so that interaction between you and
online learners is productive and also allow you to streamline programs and
make them relevant to the student’s needs.
Make creative Discussion Boards
Discussion boards
are actively used in online learning as it provides opportunities to
interact in online courses. In discussion boards, there is only a short
introduction with a wide range of questions. In online discussions, you can
structure the discussions and questions so that all the learners contribute to
it.
If not all students, you can also make small discussion groups of 25 or
fewer students so that they can also know their peers. This will foster richer
dialogue as you can also ask the online learners to provide examples or ask
them to explain the concept in a different perspective.
Allow Learners to
Choose
Students choose an
online course because of its flexibility and convenience. While interacting
with students, when you give the learner a choice to select the topics and
units, he will be more interested and engaged in the online program. Allowing them to choose the relevant content instantly will make them more
responsible towards learning.
You can definitely show them the compulsory units
to study and guide them but allowing them to choose the order of learning
topics will empower them and engage them.
These
are some of the tips for making the online classrooms more interactive so that
students are more active and involved in the online program. When you make them
understand the concepts in a proper manner, they feel motivated to learn
further and quicker.
With more interaction with online learners, you will only
come to know their expectations from that online program and ways to improve
your teaching if necessary. While communication, videos and presentations are
important for online learning, student interaction will make the
learning experience sweeter.
(Author
Aditya Singhal is the
co-founder of AskIITians an online coaching platform for IIT JEE, Medical
and School Entrance exams. It is his passion and vision to help the engineering
and medical aspirants that he along with his co-founder started with this
venture. He had worked with Kurt Salmon Associates, a reputed American
Management Consultancy.)
