OTAN News
Making Online Courses More Interactive
Image by WOCinTech Chat from Flickr
Online learning can be challenging in many ways for students and teachers, for those new to it as well as those who are more experienced with this learning environment. Because students are working outside of the classroom away from other students, it can be hard to stay motivated if the course is not engaging. Boredom that leads to disengagement is one of the challenges we have to overcome if we want our online courses to be successful and impactful.
In her blog post How to Make your eLearning Course More Interactive, author Adela Belin details four ways to make online courses more engaging for students and get them to be more invested in their learning and the learning of others:
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Use Visual Aids – It is very easy to create a text-heavy online course, with reading after reading. This can be off-putting and disengaging for many students. The key is adding visual aids – charts, graphs, photos, videos, and even animation – that will enhance the learning and make the course more visually appealing. (See our previous news items, Using Different Types of Engaging Visuals in the Classroom and Making the Most of Visual Aids, for more ideas.)
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Make Good Use of Discussion Boards – It is easy for students to feel isolated in an online course, so it is important to create active discussion boards to engage students and create a community of learners. In addition to using the boards to have learners ask and answer questions about the course material, they can be used by students to express opinions and points of view and give feedback on a wide variety of topics. (See our recent news item, How to Improve Online Communication, for other ideas on how to make use of discussion boards.)
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Gamify Some of the Learning – Online courses includes familiar classroom elements such as assignments and quizzes. What if we gamified some of the learning, though, to make it more interesting? Gamifying parts of your course taps into challenges, competition, rewards, and entertainment that people respond to positively. (See our recent news item, Gamifying Your Instruction, for other ideas on how to gamify learning.)
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Create Branching Scenarios – Branching scenarios are a more advanced way to make online learning engaging. They are definitely worth a look once you get more comfortable as an online instructor. Branching scenarios give the student an opportunity to create their own learning path by providing different routes to make decisions and face the consequences of those decisions. They give students the chance to use problem-solving skills and think critically. For more information on how to get started with branching scenarios, read this article How to Use Branching Scenarios in E-Learning by Laura Lynch.
If you need more information or ideas on how to get started with creating online courses, please contact us at support@otan.us or call us at 916-228-2580.
Article: Guest post: How to Make your eLearning Course More Interactive from EdTech 4 Beginners