Five ways to engage your online students -
Offering interactions with your students will help improve their understanding.
The advantages of online courses include the fact that they are able to effortlessly fit into the busy schedules of students, typically, they're cheaper than the courses that are available in brick and mortar schools, and they are ideal for those who have caring or parenting responsibility.
While making a point of these benefits is wonderful, it's crucial to acknowledge the main drawback of online learning: they do not have the human factor that's essential for some learners to achieve success.
The greatest benefit is that you have the ability to give your online course an authentic feel. It simply requires some thinking and smart usage of technology. Here are some suggestions to boost interaction for a more enjoyable overall experience for your students.
1. Live streaming on social media.
Live streams allow students to feel the feeling of being an integral part of what is happening at present. Live streams can make it more enjoyable as opposed to watching recorded videos. Live streams through social media platforms, participants are able to leave feedback and questions that the presenters can answer in real-time.
There are two options you can choose between: YouTube and Facebook Live to stream live videos for your students. Be sure to announce the live stream events in advance of the event to allow students time to put aside time to sign in and participate.
2. Conduct regular live webinars.
Webinars work like live streams, except they may not function like casual. They're more like "events". They are extremely helpful to students who otherwise find themselves lost in their learning experiences.
When a webinar is being held, participants can not only watch slides, but listen to the talk that's being given as well as participate in real time by using chat, either text or voice. It will be necessary to have a stable internet connection, along with audio equipment if they want to talk (should you opt to allow for this).
The regular webinars provide students with an opportunity to gather exactly like classes in a school establishment of the past. They help build a sense of that students are part of a community, and give them the help they require to succeed in their online learning journey.
I would recommend Zoom to host webinars. It's affordable and reliable.
3. Create (and become a part of) the Facebook group.
Participants in Facebook groups can share content related to the subject. In the case, for example, if your class is focused on contemporary poetry students could share poems that were published but who did not have time to incorporate in the content of the class. Students can also post material or even articles that help students understand and read poetry.
One benefit in establishing a Facebook group is that it needs minimal effort from you compared to the magnitude of advantages your students can benefit from being part of the group. It's your responsibility to create the group. After that, you have create rules on the way that people use of the site. Then you must adhere to those rules including removing those who spam or act rudely to the site's users.
Joining the Facebook group you've established can help you achieve your goals especially during the first moments when the company is still in the beginning stage. Make sure you get discussions in motion and allow students to share their ideas and experiences. When you've had some discussions , then you'll be in a position to use a non-directive approach, as students engage with one another to help each the other.
4. Start a Slack or Discord.
The Slack and Discord are two chat apps that can be used to build a platform where your students are able to interact with each other live in real time. Channels can be created, or chat rooms to discuss every subject that you cover within your online class. Additionally, you could have channels for introductions and discussions that are not related to the subject that will help in making sure that the channels are related to your course to the content of your course.
Slack as well as Discord Groups only allow invitations, which assists in stopping spammers. Send an invitation to every student who register for your course.
A lot of students prefer these chat platforms to traditional social media platforms such as Facebook as they facilitate conversations in real time. It is a good idea to make use of both Facebook chat groups as well as a chat application so that everybody can participate in a manner that suits their individual preferences.
5. Create an in-person gathering.
The online events can be fantastic, however for certain students, an experience that takes place in person could be a lot more exciting and rewarding. You can't count on in-person events to deliver the essential content, but having a one-off occasion or workshop at the real world is an excellent method to build bonds with your students , and to increase the number of learners in your classroom.
In-person events are most suitable when the majority of the students live in a relatively small geographic region, and they are eager to learn more. In the case of, for example, when all of your students are British and you've got a large number of British students, then you might have the ability to organize an event in London or any other city which could be attended by a large fraction of the students. If you have students spread relatively evenly across the various continents, it will be more difficult to arrange events that don't limit some of the crowd.
A way of making in-person events accessible to a larger proportion of your students is to hold numerous occasions in various cities. This method, however, could be costly and takes longer to arrange. Events in person can be beneficial for students who are interested however, the vast majority of course instructors are advised to avoid having them as an integral part of their online course.
Human factors can make your online class.
At the start of an online course it's simple to get distracted while creating amazing educational content that will aid students in their learning, since it's very difficult to overlook the personal aspects that comes with an online course.
Emphasizing the personal interaction will assist in the long-term financial viability of your online course. If students get ample support and assistance, in real time that they will be more likely to remain on the course until they reach their objectives in their learning instead of abandoning the course. This means that interacting with students can help reduce the amount of refunds. The sales numbers you report will be better at capturing the entire revenue and, consequently, you'll know the amount of cash you can invest in creating more classes for your students so that they are happy.
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