Getting ready to launch your new online learning course? Crank up the interaction with these four strategies.
Apart from trolls and cyber-bullies, most folks want to make a good impression, in-person and on-line.
But, piping up an online class can be daunting, even when you’re snuggled up with your tablet on the sofa or safely hidden behind your desktop at work.
The trick to encouraging people to speak up? Act just as you would in a real-life conversation. Call people by their name; show you’re listening by commenting on what they shared; and ask them questions to keep the conversation flowing.
Say you’re moderating a threaded discussion. Some of the learners have posted their thoughts but a few seem to be holding back. You might post a summary of the comments and then directly invite new insights. For example, “Harry and Hermoine made some great points. What would you add, Ron?”
If you’ve tried all these strategies and you’re still hearing the sound of silence, it’s time to reach out directly.
Spend any amount of time in an e-course and you’re sure to meet some less-then-vocal learners. These are the folks who will happily listen to your webinar or print out every PDF you toss their way. But, post a comment? Never.
Keep these silent learners in mind as you design your course. Can you incorporate other ways they can participate? Perhaps they can tally responses to a group poll or write and post a summary of the group’s discussion.
For every one silent participant, you’ll probably have five or six people who happily chime in on every discussion. But, every now and then, there’ll be that one person who’s particularly chatty, maybe even downright annoying.
You might be tempted to blast off a quick comment — or a couple of choice emoticons — to rein in the discussion and get your weekly chat back on track.
But before you fire off that post, step back and pause. Is what you’re about to write going to help move the conversation forward? Do you need a little cooling-off period before you re-engage with the class? Is it appropriate to raise the issue publicly with everyone in the course? Or would a private email be better?
Let’s say you’ve set up your online school to track metrics — how often someone logs in or which activities they’ve completed — and, after a couple of days you notice that some people have gone AWOL.
On closer look, you discover that many people skedaddle once they get to a certain module.
Use that discovery to your advantage. How? By getting feedback. Send an email to those MIA students and find out how they feel about the course. Are they having technical difficulties? Is the content too difficult? Not relevant to their needs? And, most importantly, what can you do to help them get unstuck?
Once you’ve gotten people’s feedback, make sure you follow up. As a smart entrepreneur you wouldn’t leave an email unanswered or fail to respond to a customer’s inquiry. Be just as diligent with your online interaction.
Click on the links below to read more of our A, B, C's of Consumer Learning series: