I… just…can’t…finish this online course.
You know the feeling. You can’t sit through one more long video, be asked to digest information that isn’t relevant to the promised outcome or practice activities delivered in large chunks.
Adult Learners
It is a common perception that adults learn differently than young students. While adults have learned how to learn in socially acceptable ways and have more experiences to draw from, learning and retaining information is much the same as children. Adults want to be engaged with images, actions, excitement and stimulation.
One of the biggest differences between students and adults is that adults expect the course to be relevant to them. If it is not, they will forget much of what they have learned within one hour.
This means that the course creator needs to deliver content so it can be utilized immediately.
If an adult learner does not see the benefit to the training, they will tune out almost immediately, and their recall of that information will be almost non-existent. Make sure your learners understand how the material will benefit them and what the target outcome for the course is. Give them a reason to complete the course, knowing they will experience a transformation or desired skill.
The Four Learning Modalities
There are four primary learning modalities: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile. The learning modalities are similar in that they all involve using the senses for learning. It is important to have an understanding of these so you can build in elements that will appeal to your students’ style.
1. Visual Visual modality learners prefer to learn with the use of visual aids. These students need to see what they are learning, they primarily use sight to process information.
2. Auditory Auditory modality learners process information by listening to the teacher discuss content and engaging in discussions.
3. Kinesthetic Kinesthetic Modality learners thrive from active tasks. They may have difficulty attending to an auditory presentation for long periods of time. Breaking videos, lectures and presentations into shorter segments will help this learner.
4. Tactile Modality Tactile learners learn by physical touch and using one’s hands. Providing worksheets, graphic organizers or journal pages which allow the student to take notes or draw information in visual form. Give these students action steps which require them to actively complete a task by moving or creating.
Online Course Engagement Checklist
It can be hard to keep your students motivated when taking online courses, but with a few tweaks to make it more interactive, you will get them to the finish line with ease.
Two guiding cornerstones to help you build an engaging course are 1) Keep the eyes moving. 2) Keep the brain moving.
Don’t be afraid to think outside the box when it comes to making your course more engaging. Here are are some tips to keep your students moving forward:
- Use humor-get your costumes out. Create a short dramatic video.
- Tell a story-stories keep attention and help students anticipate the next moments of content.
- Use Artifacts- use 3 dimensional items to reinforce understanding or meaning.
- Stop for a brain break- ask students to stop the video and take a break.
- Break your content down into short pieces.
- Use activities that require movement.
- Use music and fun songs.
- Use drawing, painting and doodling to practice content skills.
- Use images, gifs and memes.
If you are struggling to enhance your course with interesting and stimulating learning activities, I would love to help you create a more engaging online course. I work with entrepreneurs to create quality online courses without the overwhelm of planning, organizing and all of the many components that comprise the online learning experience.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Cindy Weaver is an Online Course Business Consultant for Course Magic Designs. She helps coaches create online courses that educate and transform students, grow visibility and attract new clients.
Cindy works with entrepreneurs to create an impact in their customer’s lives with meaningful and transformational learning experiences through online courses.
As an experienced teacher, writer, and course builder, she takes pride in providing the best transformational experiences possible. Her goals include building relationships and tailoring the product to the client. She is passionate about creating products that influence personal lives, solve problems and support professional ventures.
Her services include a strategic, in-depth 1:1 Course Planning Workshop, full course build out, “Course Planning Magic,” group course-creating program and “Done for You” course build out.
Cindy has been in the Education Industry for over 20 years, both in the classroom and virtual learning environment. Through this experience she has developed skills in course planning, teaching, training, leadership and communication. Her teaching experience has also resulted in a large repertoire of technology expertise including website building, multimedia presentations, data entry and analysis, and a number of projects which include graphic designs.
Her passion for writing can be traced back to 2009, where she spent significant time working on developing an online course as a part of her Masters Degree in Information Learning Technologies.
CONNECT WITH CINDY:
Visit the Course Magic Designs Website here
Email: cindy@coursemagicdesigns.com
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