Connecting and engaging learners in blended/online learning
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ways to connect and engage your learners in online learning. Find out what students want from their online experience. Best practice for creating an online learning course. What does you LMS need to engage and connect with learners
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Connecting and engaging learners in blended/online learning
- 1. Transforming the way we connect and engage learners in blended/online learning By Caroline Brock Principal Consultant/Managing Director
- 2. What’s in it for you? • Understand what student want from their online experience • Understand the role of trainers in driving success in online learning • Be aware of what a quality online student journey look like • Making sure your LMS, online learning resources, assessments and delivery model works together • Choosing the right strategy for your students
- 3. • Drop out rates are high. 7% completion rates for VET Fee online courses in VET sector • Experience a sense of isolation • Lack of personal interaction between the instructor and student & student-to- student. • LMS user experience is poor - frustration • Disconnected learning experiences between modules, topics and assessment THE CURRENT ENVIRONMENT
- 4. Content Online System Support Learning Journey Strategy WHAT IS THE CAUSE? • Disjointed strategy • No strategy • Poor content • Learning journey put last • Ineffective targeted support
- 5. What students want from their online learning experience 1. Peer Interaction: students want peer interaction and to engage in discussions • BUT only successful if trainer drives and promotes interaction • More success if you attach a rubric for participation in online discussions 2. Students and Instructor Feedback: Student enjoy well thought out constructive feedback from instructors – not just a grade 3. Sense of belonging: Students wanted to feel part of a community “I loved the personal classroom feel of the videos and the message board posting assignments.” Survey conducted in 2013 by Debbie Morrison, author of Online Learning Insights & University of South Australia
- 6. What students want from their online learning experience WHAT THEY WERE DOING RIGHT Level of assessment feedback Webinars/live sessions Access to e-learning advisors Content interesting & enjoyable Live video and chat sessions AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT Instructions for assessment How to achieve the best results for the assessments Guidelines for forum participation Layout of learning materials & flow of the course Survey results from Victorian online learning provider 2014
- 7. SO WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM STUDENTS? • The personal touch is important • Focus on assessment instructions, submission process & feedback • Technology should enable, be the silent driver – should not inhibit! • Content is king – a cohesive learning journey
- 8. YOUR 3 PRONGED STRATEGY * communication *presence & *engagement *timeliness & responsiveness *mentors *help desk Online Classroom management *intervention plans Human 2 Human * social *mobile *easy to use *learning community *learning eco- system Learning Platform * Course Design *bite size *multi media *Problem solving focused *real life Learning Journey & Content 3 year Online learning Strategy & Sustainability Plan
- 9. Ideas • Online icebreakers - to encourage students to meet and interact in the virtual environment • Make communication and collaboration between students part of assessment, such as group assignments and peer assessments; • Provide an online “student lounge” or encourage students to use Skype, Facebook or other networking sites to interact beyond the formal course; • Schedule and facilitate real-time learning sessions using virtual classroom technology. How we take advantage of technology & course design to students feel more included? HUMAN-2-HUMAN APPROACH “Courses need to offer a balance of learning and socialisation activities where students can interact with each other.”
- 10. IDEAS • Use introductory videos to course & teachers • Communicate regularly with students through announcements • Engage in discussion forums with students • Offer electronic office hours where real-time conversations can be initiated. • Be accessible and respond to student inquiries in a timely manner. • Establish and well-publicized timeframe for responding to student inquiries • Check up on your students. Know which students are falling behind and reach out with a short e-mail • Reminders for deadline or assessment requirements Provide substantive feedback and positive critique How can trainers make students feel more included? HUMAN-2-HUMAN APPROACH “Teacher presence also contributes to a sense of belonging in the online context.” Keeping students engaged in the course is a vital function of an effective instructor
- 11. IDEAS FROM PROVIDERS WITH NEAR 100% RETENTION • Map out the student support communication plan for the course • Starts at enrolment – what does it mean to take the course • Orientation - Offering students the opportunity to explore their online classroom. This increases their comfort with the navigation, basic processes of online learning and course characteristics • 24/7 technical support -Quickly communicate and solve technology issues • Allow students to communicate with the facilitator at times that are convenient to them • Use technology to quickly identify students at risk for dropping out. • Extend services beyond course or program completion. How can student support make students feel more included? HUMAN-2-HUMAN APPROACH “With decreasing budgets and resources are strapped and new investments can be difficult. How can we improve? .” “The support given to a student throughout the online experience has almost more to do with how successful the student will be than the course itself.” Bruce Friend, Director of SAS Curriculum Pathways, NC (Personal Communication, June 16, 2010)
- 12. APPROACH TO YOUR LEARNING PLATFORM CHARACTERISTICS OF A MODERN LMS What are the requirements a modern LMS need to have to drive engagement & retention “A student’s perception of a quality learning experience does not change from face-2-face vs online” “With decreasing budgets and resources are strapped and new investments can be difficult. How can we improve? .” Student Features • Group chat functions • Social pages • Video noting • E-books functions • Progress reports • Calendars • Live sessions • Easy to use • Mobile • Fast Intuition Features • Student progress reporting • Engagement & time on site reporting • Easy to build courses • Multimedia • User experience • Ability to provide assessment feedback at question level • Rubics/marking guides
- 13. APPROACH TO LEARNING JOURNEY & CONTENT “Research has shown that students who have access to better designed, and more personalised, courses tend to have higher engagement and better outcomes” AREAS TO FOCUS: LEARNING JOURNEY/UX: Map out your learning journey, have a UX design strategy. When must what occur e.g. assessment reminders, live session alerts COURE DESIGN & FLOW: Think about how all the different components of the course fit together. How will you make it easy for your students. INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN: Critical to map out learning outcomes and flow of information & activities in a particular module LEARNING RESOURCES: Do the resources match the delivery & assessment approach? Do we need to build our own? Does it match the cohort of learners ASSESSMENT PROCESS: How can we make this easy for the learner? What instructions do they need to successfully submit this? What support will they need?
- 14. Learning design model The model can be used as a checklist to ensure that all four aspects have been considered and brought into alignment with each other and with the underpinning approach to learning
- 15. Choosing our Learning approaches, tactics & methods for online & classroom
- 16. User Experience: Avoiding frustrations • Interface design considerations • Sequencing of learning • Display of information • Use of animations & interaction • Design social presence and emotions • Principles of UX: • Quiet Design • Don’t Make me think
- 17. Tips for Instructional Design to make students feel more included • How to design their courses is key to re-engaging individual students and holding back the tide of dropouts. • And they are right to worry when the learning experience is distilled to simply posting course materials online and asking students to “discuss” on a web forum. • State your objective: Each lesson should have one concise, action- oriented learning objective to ensure your lesson design process is focused. • Think as a private tutor: Learners today are inundated with media tailored to them and they expect learning to be tailored as well. So think about how to create meaningful learning moments for all your students. • Storyboard before you build: Being able to see a complete lesson, especially one that integrates various mediums, is essential to creating a successful learning experience. • Build towards high-order thinking: Technology in education can go beyond multiple-choice questions and document repositories. Don’t be afraid to integrate tools that let learners create and share.
- 18. Writing Tips to drive Learner Motivation and Engagement through the Learning Material • Make the student recognise their previous experience • Focus on the “why” • Ask questions • Use real life situations • Make the content relevant • Using a problem – solution approach
- 19. Assessment Approach • Authentic – involve real world knowledge and skills • Personalised – tailored to S & K and Interest of student • Engaging – involves personal interest • Recognise existing skills – accredit the students existing work • Problem orientated – tasks requiring genuine problem solving • Collaborative – partnerships • Self and peer assessment – self reflection and peer review • Align to the VET assessment principles “Engaging content is content that makes your audience quietly go “wow” this is for me”
- 20. • common research infrastructure, including: • a robust survey architecture • course dashboards for course evaluators and instructor teams • well-documented participant-level and logged- event-level datasets. • Regular review cycles Importance of Monitoring and Improving
- 21. Summary The students Learning Experience the technology course design Content & Assessment Student Support
Editor's Notes
- Indications early in 2015 were that those students studying in online only mode had completion rates of around 7%, as opposed to around 40% for those students which undertook classroom or workplace based training where there was shall we say face to face components of the training. Personal variables include things like previous academic experience, self-efficacy, ability to organise their study and motivation. Institutional variables include the balance between the needs of the learner and the institution, the availability of support and the nature of university processes and systems. Circumstantial variables cover the learner’s interactions with the institution as well as the changing circumstances of their lives.
- Causes lack of personal interaction between the instructor and student, as well as the student-to-student contact. Students find it difficulties engaging with the materials and the assessments- badly designed content Student navigation and use of the system Disconnected learning experiences – lack of connections between courses, subjects, and projects, or between needs / desires / goals and the final education they receive, or in connecting online and face-to-face learning experiences. It’s as if learning takes place in silos. • Passive learning – learning accomplished as if one learns simply through receipt and absorption of content, instead of via interactivity and discourse Regimented learning based on a “one size fits all” model – the most obvious mistake historically has been to believe that every learner learns the same way. (This resulted in a one-way, singular model for delivering education.) Opaque assessments – traditional assessments have been labor-intensive for educators yet often have failed to provide clear, understandable metrics. Think about how often students complain they don’t “get” their instructors’ feedback. The lack of support and progressive feedback E-learning strategy is not mapped out and well defined
- Students were representatives of various equity groups including first-in-family to attend university, low SES, regional or remote, Indigenous, with a disability, carer, worker etc
- This can be seen also in the area of LMS platforms, which initially were designed to be online repositories of information for course content, class rosters, schedules, assignments, tests and grades, and online learning. But LMS systems initially did not include other key elements related to fostering engagement vis-à- vis collaboration and communication between and among learners, educators and administrators. 81% of student use mobiles devises to study learn how to use the most fundamental learning tools to access and navigate the online systems, as well as develop online academic communication skills to participate effectively in online learning.
- Research provides evidence that strong feelings of community may not only increase persistence in courses, but may also increase the flow of information among all learners, availability of support, commitment to group goals, cooperation among members and satisfaction with group efforts. Have an established and well-publicized timeframe for responding to student inquiries. At many schools, it’s 24 hours during the week and 48 hours on weekends. Make it easy for students to locate your email address and telephone number within the learning management system (LMS). Oftentimes a five-minute call can alleviate a multitude of student frustrations and fears, and is actually a lot quicker than a back-and-forth email discussion. Can we keep all students engaged in the classroom? Past evidence tells us no. We’ve all had students who are perfectly happy to do the minimum amount required to get a passing grade. Is that a reason to forgo any efforts to increase student engagement? Absolutely not! As instructors, we have a duty to teach. Teaching in the online environment requires us to go beyond posting a lecture or an assignment. Build within your students a sense of anticipation. Give students a reason to be engaged by making sure you are fully engaged in their success.
- how to design their courses is key to re-engaging individual students and holding back the tide of dropouts. And they are right to worry when the learning experience is distilled to simply posting course materials online and asking students to “discuss” on a web forum.
- Make the student recognise their previous experience and own achievements and applying them to their learning. Focus on the “why” and help students recognise the need for the learning. Ask questions: Questions invite someone to actively participate in learning rather than just passively absorb data. Ask questions that encourage learners to think and reflect about what they're learning Use real life situations: Try to provide opportunities for learners to link their learning with the people, issues or activities in their lives. Examples and case studies of how others have used the knowledge or skills obtained in the course Make the content relevant: Adults must feel that what they are learning is relevant and useful in their everyday lives, therefore it is helpful to include the following as links to their current or future work: “Using a problem – solution approach”: Adults are task (or problem) centered in their orientation to learning. This can be addressed by providing examples of workplace tasks and challenges, and how to work through them. You need to help them to discover their own solutions for issues, not tell them what to do. Encourage your learners to discuss, debate and share ideas and information.