Online learning has opened doors unimaginable for both educators and students globally. And, while we’ve covered the larger role of mobile learning in the future of education and shown the benefits to look forward to, it’s worth noting that it does come with its own learning curve.
Whether students are learning in the classroom or online, it’s nearly inevitable that some speed bumps will come along in the process. After all, it’s important to remember that online students struggle, too.
Thankfully, we’re here to help by providing you with some quick tips for helping online students succeed in their learning endeavors.
Tips for Helping Online Students Succeed
As we forge forward in the technology movement, students across the globe are finding themselves presented with online learning applications. Although online learning is proven to be effective, it takes a certain level of discipline and dedication to get the most out of what is presented to students from the comforts of their own homes.
In addition to developing individualistic management skills, students are also faced with the challenges of learning the technology. eLearning comes with a handful of barriers that must be tackled.
To promote growth and help online students succeed, here are a few strategies to consider.
Building the Foundation
Just like building a home, a lot of focus needs to create a stable foundation for online students. Whether students are being introduced to online learning for the first time or are presenting with new software, there should be a process in which you can help them succeed.
Any transition to a new learning process takes time and patience. With it should come a handful of reliable resources to the students, including:
Hands-On Guided Tours
If able, walk students through their online learning portals to quickly become clear to them. If hands-on guided tours are out of the question, consider alternatives such as screen recorded tutorials or other helpful links.
Time-Management Strategies
Time-management skills are learned, and online students are often forced to manage their schedules before they are considered ready to be. One way to combat this learning curve is by providing students with time-management strategies.
Mandatory Prep Sessions
Although it may seem unnecessary, creating mandatory prep sessions is another way to encourage students to take the time to learn more about their new eLearning platform and ask any questions before it is too late.
Whether you provide them with guided learning or in-person prep sessions, the tips and tricks learned through these opportunities will help students to embrace online learning.
Other Methods of Success for Online Students
Setting the stage for continued success
Empowering students to self-direct and control their learning journey
Closely monitoring progress to detect anyone falling behind
Ensuring consistent availability of instructors for students
What Can eLearning Companies/Instructional Designers Do to Make Their Courses and Content Better for Online Students?
While countless studies are showing the different ways that eLearning companies and instructional designers can create better content, here are the most effective ways they can help online students:
Make the content more engaging
Increase learning gains
Maximize retention
Make the content relevant to students
ryco.io’s Efforts in Addressing the Online Student’s Struggle
Addressing the online student’s struggle head-on is something we pride ourselves in here at ryco.io. Through multiple efforts, we aim to help drive online learners towards success.
Target Audience Analysis
Through target audience analysis, ryco.io can examine your target audience under a microscope. Utilizing Front End Analysis (FEA), ryco.io addresses:
Cognitive characteristics
Physiological characteristics
Affective characteristics
Social and economic characteristics
Instructional Design Strategies
A high-level approach to how a particular subject will be taught is an instructional design strategy. To instruct learnings, instructional design strategies encompass all of the following:
Methods
Techniques
Devices
At ryco.io, we take the burden of developing learning materials off your shoulders using proven learning design strategies, best practices, and decades of collective experience. Our team can help develop course material for K - 12, college and post-graduate courses, and corporate training programs.
Learning Theories
For over two centuries, people have been studying behavior surrounding learning. As the way students are learning transforms, the emergence of new learning theories comes with it.
At ryco.io, we stay on top of all of the latest learning theories that help develop online course content. For example, lots of our courses follow ARCS Motivational Design and Mayer's Multimedia Principles.
ARCS Motivational Design
American educational psychologist John M. Keller is known for developing the ARCS model of instructional design. The focus of this design is motivation, which is essential particularly for online students who face more difficulty with this sector than in in-person learning environments.
The four elements that make up the ARCS motivational design include:
Attention
Relevance
Confidence
Satisfaction
Amongst several learning theories, ryco.io is sure to back its courses up with the facts. Presenting focus on motivation helps to ensure completion of courses and continuity in moving between modules.
Mayer's Multimedia Principles
Professor of Psychology at UCSB and educational psychologist Richard E. Mayer developed a theory of 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning. To help create the most effective multimedia learning experience possible, ryco.io integrates these 12 principles in all online courses:
The Coherence Principle
The Signaling Principle
The Redundancy Principle
The Spatial Contiguity Principle
The Temporal Contiguity Principle
The Segmenting Principle
The Pre-Training Principle
The Modality Principle
The Multimedia Principle
The Personalization Principle
The Voice Principle
The Image Principle
The science behind these 12 carefully thought out and researched principles help create a reference for the design and development of online learning courses.
Final Thoughts
Addressing the online student’s struggle is just one of the ways that ryco.io continues to be an industry leader in eLearning concepts. Drawing inspiration from the pain points of eLearners, ryco.io incorporates concepts such as target audience analysis, instructional design strategies, and learning theories to ensure every student can learn and excel.
When it comes to online learning, the priority is to encourage a self-learning atmosphere and promote student growth. Thankfully, through extensive research, including data and learning analytics, ryco.io continues to develop eLearning tools for all learners successfully.
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