Delivering Effective Learning in an Online Environment
With the return of homeschooling, many parents around the UK have been struggling to balance the act of working remotely whilst educating their children at the same time. Delivering professional learning online has become the norm during lockdown, and many teachers have had to transition their lessons to a virtual environment.
Even adult learning during the pandemic has been challenging for many, as engagement is a lot lower through webinar software such as Zoom. The lack of a proper classroom environment can reduce the ability of learners to fully understand and absorb the content. That being said, we are going to be stuck in this situation for some time now so it is important to learn about the ways online learning can be delivered in order to ensure maximum impact for learners.
Include Activities That Require Participation
In any training, whether it is being delivered face-to-face or online, it is important to engage with the audience. It was always easy to add a question and answer sections to a classroom-based learning session, but this is a little more difficult with online learning. Many online learning platforms have been developed so that they include a similar way to engage learners whilst they are going through the course. By adding a mandatory section where learners have to answer questions correctly before proceeding to the next part, this will help to keep them engaged.
Activities during online learning are really important so that participants don’t just observe the lesson, but it consolidates what they have learnt too. The best learning happens when it is put into practice and the learner has to perform a task.
Supply Additional Resources
It is all too easy to run an online course for a short period of time, and then the learners go off and forget about what they have learnt. By providing take-away resources such as PDFs this means learners have a point to refer back to if they need it.
Quality resources that support learners outside of the learning session will have a much longer-term impact than just subjecting them to a one-off Zoom course. At Brooks and Kirk, we feel this is very important which is why our tutors are always on hand to provide additional support throughout the duration of your course.
Use Breakout Groups
We have all been there in a Zoom meeting of 30 or more people and it is really difficult to see everyone on one screen, let alone talk to everyone! Breakout groups are a great way to split a classroom of learners into small groups with similar abilities. It allows learners to discuss challenges they may be facing with each other, without feeling silly asking questions in front of the larger group.
Aim For Short, Focused Sessions
As we mentioned in our blog about tips on how to study better at home, these points are also applicable to online learning. Short and sweet sessions of around 60-90 minutes are ideal for keeping learners motivated and engaged. The brain is unable to take on new information after a certain period of time, so long sessions are a waste of time. It is always much better to have lots of short sessions, divided up with breaks.
We hope this has helped to give you some inspiration on how to deliver effective learning online – whether that be teaching your children or undertaking an online learning course yourself. If you would like to know more about the Assessor courses that we offer here at Brooks and Kirk give us a call on 01205 805 155, or alternatively email training@brooksandkirk.co.uk
Steve is a Chartered Manager and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.
He provides Educational Consultancy to the 19+ sector as well as being an Assessor, IQA, EPA and Digital Marketing Professional. When not doing any of these he finds time, every now and then, to write blogs and articles.
