Moving Your Learning Online: Some Tips

If you have learning outcomes from your face-to-face learning/training, revisit them to ensure that you are matching your learning need with your delivery and assessment. Also, the tool or technology should be the last thing you select - don't fall into the trap of choosing the HOW before the WHAT. If you are not familiar with doing a needs analysis for online learning, this article by Tim Slade has some useful information for you. If you're in a hurry, check out the video!

In a face-to-face setting you can tell your learners what they need to know and what is expected of them. Therefore, when moving online, don't expect that learners will automatically know what they need to do and how. Setting out clear instructions in advance of learning, online sessions, use of discussion boards and assessments is vital to the success of your online learning. Rules around online etiquette (netiquette) is also important, particularly in relation to online discussion. Encourage positive interactions and keep an eye on how and what is being discussed. I have attached some information on how you can achieve some of these things.

When our learners are not in a physical collaborative space it can be difficult for them to feel an attachment to the learning experience and to each other. It is vital that when we move our learning online that we introduce opportunities for collaboration and collaborative learning and assessment where possible; our learners' engagement depends on it. The resources I have curated here are some useful tips with regard to online collaboration and some approaches and tools that you can use. Again, it's worth remembering that we need to identify what we want to achieve before sourcing the tool that can help us. I am a big fan of wikis for online collaboration and tools like www.mural.com for synchronous collaboration activities.

In a face-to-face learning environment it can be natural to have quizzes, small projects and a range of activities to keep learners engaged. However, in the online world, we often forget that our learners don't want to spend all their time reading the content that we've provided to them, so mixing things up with some interactivity can help to keep our learners engaged and stimulated. Gamification and quizzing are some examples that can be facilitated online to keep learners engaged; however, don't forget to use all your tools and techniques in moderation! Too much of a gamified experience can actually cause our learners to switch off.