Nobody would have imagined that studying from home was a possibility before the pandemic. However, those two years have changed the world of education and how.
Now, students have become accustomed to elearning in education. It has opened a whole new world of opportunities for teachers who can use content-creation tools to enhance the quality of teaching. The future of online education looks bright.
The biggest challenge, however, is to create engaging courses that can grasp students’ attention for a longer time. When students get hooked, there is a greater chance that they will finish the course and remember the learning.
Before we understand how to create online courses, let us comprehend what is engaging and what is not.
What is an Engaging Course?
If you still believe in traditional whiteboard teaching and intend to use the same method in your online course, you may want to take a step back.
One-way communication, where you talk throughout the lesson, give some chapters to the students to read, and administer a test in the end, is passe.
As a teacher who wants to participate in the ongoing trend of elearning in education, it is essential to change your teaching style to match students’ expectations.
Students will stick to your course till the end if they can connect with the course content. Moreover, if you make them do some activities during the lesson, they will be more interested in seeing it till the end.
Tips to Make a Course Engaging
Here are the elements you can add to your online course to make it engaging.
- Stories
Storytelling is a powerful skill that can engage, influence, and inspire learners. If you expect the students to sit through a PowerPoint presentation and offload excess information slide after slide in a short period of time, there is a high chance they will become disengaged.
When you present the same content as a story, the language processing part of the brain gets activated for a deeper understanding.
Stories allow the listeners to experience the world created by the storyteller. Thus, they enable the listeners to internalize the content for effective learning.
- Build a Learning Community
As humans are social animals, we thrive in an environment where we get to meet and work with others. Students are no different and learn better when they discuss the concepts with their peers and work together on assignments.
Creating an online community for students will enable you to achieve better learning outcomes.
Firstly, students will not feel alone in their journey, and secondly, the community will create a sense of accountability. As the students will witness the energy of their peers in finishing their lessons and submitting their assignments, they will also get the motivation to do the same.
Look for content creation software that allows you to build a community of students to create a buzz.
- Experiential Learning
Although textbooks and one-way communication are still widely used for teaching, students of this age need much more to experiment and learn the concepts for a long period.
With a one-way teaching style, it is easy for students to lose focus and get distracted.
Experiential learning methods like simulation and virtual labs can engage students’ attention and ensure a clear understanding of the concepts. It also allows students to widen their vision and relate the concepts to solve real-world problems.
Hurix Digital offers all this and a video library of more than 2500 instructional videos for Math and Science concepts. These videos have teachers’ approval and are used by students worldwide.
- Scenario-based Learning
One of the main challenges in online learning is that teachers do not get to see students’ body language and assess their interest levels. Thus, it becomes essential to deploy effective teaching strategies to capture their attention till the end.
One of the best ways to do this is by using scenario-based learning. It uses an active learning strategy where the students learn through real-life situations. It helps set the context to give students a relatable and relevant learning experience.
Apart from that, it also ensures that students improve their decision-making to utilize their skills. Course creation software enables you to include scenario-based learning in your course design to achieve your teaching goals.
- Micro-Learning
It is natural for students to get overwhelmed when they see a thick book to study. Similarly, a long online session may scare them off even before they start it. The focus, in that case, will be more on completing the lesson rather than ensuring that they understand each concept deeply.
To effectively engage the students and ensure the desirable lesson outcome, teachers can use microlearning. It is an instructional strategy in which teachers can design capsule modules for each concept.
As students finish each of these smaller lessons, they will get the motivation to do more. As these modules are small, there is a greater possibility of engaging the students as well.
With course-creating software, you can make smaller lesson modules to engage the students and fast-track their learning.
- Gamification
As the name suggests, this strategy includes adding game elements to the course. Research proves that gamification of course content can enhance overall engagement and learning experience.
As per a report, the revenue of the gamification industry will reach $24 billion by 2024. Apart from learning institutions, the corporate sector is also investing in gamification for employee learning and development.
By adding rewards like badges and leaderboards and challenges like timers, you can vastly improve the overall effectiveness of your course.
Final Word
Elearning in education is not going anywhere. It has proven to be an effective form of learning as students can attend courses at their own convenience.
However, it can become challenging for teachers to ensure students are engaged throughout the lesson in an online instructional plan. By using the strategies mentioned in the article, teachers can deliver a better learning experience to their students.
Looking for comprehensive content creation software? Check out Hurix Digital.