Engaging Online Learners

Reflecting on the material the last two weeks I have learned about several concepts that will enable me to create my own engaging online activities. I also learned about the four different types of interactivity that should be a part of all online courses.  few concepts that stood out the most to me include Personal learning goals and collaborative learning.

Personal learning goals stood out to me because I believe it’s important to establish goals to help the learner connect with the course early on (Synder, 2014). Ensuring the students understand the goals should be specific, measurable, and attainable to successfully assist with achieving the course objectives. These goals are also a way to motivate the students to improve their academic performance whether it is their grades and/or the knowledge they acquire. This will also assist instructors to individualize learning within the on line environment. Collaborative learning stood out because it requires all members to actively participate. Everyone is responsible for their individual learning as well as learning from others (Vai, & Sosulski, 2016). This encourages the sharing of information and exploring different perspectives. Discussion boards and blog sites are examples that I would use for class participation activities to enhance engaged learning as students work together to complete a task, solve problems and/or projects.

Both of these concepts I currently use in my work environment as I find ways to engage the Soldiers to not just show up to past time but actually get a little enthusiastic with their contribution to the overall mission. This is a constant challenge as I am sure it will be in teaching online but as educators it just give us an opportunity to come up with innovative ways to continue engaging the learners with the material.

There are four different types of interactivity, all display key points with how the learner interacts with an online course. They are the learner-instructor, the learner-learner, the learner-content, and the learner-interface.

The learner-instructor interaction is between the students and faculty to help reinforce the students understanding of the material. This form helps the students clarify unclear points and reinforce correct interpretation of course information. Timely feedback, course performance and presence are all benefits achieved from this form. The learner-learner interaction can be between one student and another or between several students. For effective learning to occur four types of peer behavior, participation, response, provision of affective feedback and short, focused messaging are necessary in a computer mediated environment. This form is intended to encourage understanding of the course content and stimulate critical thinking as well as reduce feelings of isolation. The learner-content interaction is students examining and/or studying the course content and participating in class activities. How the students interact with the content presented in the online course is part of the learning process. Students may have more continuous interaction with the content in a web-based course which contributes to more learning and overall greater satisfaction with the course. The learner-interface is the manner in which students interact with technology this impact on their learning. The students learn the content and the computer use promotes their willingness to continue the online course. The major variables to this form include computer experience, student’s perceptions regarding technology and access to technology (Trumond & Wambach, 2004).

Interactivity has proven to have a major impact on the effectiveness of online learning.

Snyder, M. (2014, Dec 5). Five Ideas to Engage Online Learners [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je4s484Zhbe

Trumond, V. & Wambach, K. (2004).Understanding Interactions in Distance Education: A Review of the Literature. Retrieved from http://www.itdl.org/journal/jan_04/article02.ht

Unknown. (n.d). Tips to Engage and Inspire Adult Learners [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/11-Tips-to-Engage-and-Inspire-Adult-Learners-1-e1457432361165.jpg

Vai, M. & Sosulski, K. (2016). Essentials of Online Course Design: A Standards-Based Approach (2nd ed). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.

 

 

 

Preparing for Online Instruction

These last few weeks I have had the opportunity to further my education on various tools to assist me in becoming an online instructor.

One of the most important tools in education is understanding the students/student we are designing the course for. This will ensure effective instruction is delivered, not only to distance learning but most employer and employee relationships.

I use this tool as an Senior Noncommissioned Officer in the Army to deliver effective leadership for Soldiers to determine where they are completing just one term, a few or possibly making a career decision to strive to retire. I assist by providing tools to assist them on their journey which supports their needs and goals.

This is the same as learning several unique characteristics of online learners and how to design the course to assist supporting their educational goals and needs.

Many military leaders prefer to have many of the same characteristics of an online learner which are an independent adult, who is self-motivated, disciplined, self-started and a goal oriented learner (Dabbagh, 2007).

Learning ways to grasp the adult learners’ attention for me is to figure out what they believe in whether its at school, job, their goals, etc. it will be easier to push through when times aren’t as pleasant. One tool I often use with Soldiers, family or friends is identifying their “why”. I often ask Soldiers why they joined the military. As many complain it isn’t what they thought it would be. I often ask NCOs (Noncommissioned Officers) why they wanted to become leaders and take on the extra responsibilities? Why did many of them change their job? I often ask several PCQ (process comprehension questions) questions to redirect confidence in assisting them to not lose focus of their goals (Foster, 2014). I also use the real world application daily with sharing my experiences both good and bad to show the value of what and how to overcome obstacles/delays.

I would implement many of the tools into the design of an online course as I used many daily. I would ensure that small group activities and real world applications are used to get the opportunity to learn about everyone’s experience and receive peer support from the course introduction, discussion post, and other assignments (Foster, 2014).

How these characteristics assist making learning easy as the individual is determined to succeed regardless as an online student or a Soldier.

So far there have been opportunities to apply skills of designing and developing an effective and efficient course to ensure the students learn the objectives developed as well as be able to demonstrate what’s learned through various forms of assessments. The characteristics listed above assist with knowing your audience.

Objectives know what the students will learn by the end of the unit. Competencies determine how the students will demonstrate the knowledge by the end of the course. The outcome is what the students know or do by the end of the course.

Being able to understand the differences between objectives, competencies, and outcome is very important to ensure effective assessments are selected (Hawkes & Pauli, 2010).

How effective is it knowing your audience characteristics in helping them succeed?

References:

Dabbagh, N. (2007). The online learner: Characteristics and pedagogical implications. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 7(3), 217-226.

Foster, A. (2014, Apr 18). Adult Learning Theory [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkyYY1xTB7U

Hawkes, M., & Pauli, C. (2010). Assessing the Online Learner: Resources and Strategies for Faculty, by Rita Palloff and Keith Pratt. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 11(2), 141-144.