We all know how boring online class sessions get for students. Most students often leave the online classes turned on and sleep, while, some of them pay someone to do online classes. However, the lack of self-discipline later haunts every student as exams are near and the unpreparedness stresses every student. Thus, online exams help become indispensable for them and as a result, they are more disinterested in education and learning. Consequently, it is not students to blame for showing apathy towards online learning, it is teachers who should make efforts for engaging students remotely.
Moreover, one might think that an asymmetrical learning system and waking up early for online classes is what demotivates them. However, even an asymmetrical learning system disinterests students. The root cause is not the educational system but the educators. Educators, however, struggled the same as students scrambled over with online classes. Not blaming teachers, but, the content heaviness including heavy tasks, assignments, homework, quizzes makes it a bewildering experience.
Unfortunately, students were shy to communicate their thoughts and feeling with the teachers of the fact that they would hurt the teacher’s feelings. Undoubtedly, the efforts are real from the teachers for making interactive sessions. However, smart work is always superior to hard work. For instance, teachers spend hours creating homework to develop interest and subject knowledge. But, little do they know that homework overwhelms students. Thus, teachers too need guidance and these strategies to set up clear online class sessions are from the experts!
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Set Up A Learning Management System (LMS)
Set the same place and time for uploading lectures every day. You can do this by either setting up a learning management system (LMS) or via email. Be consistent with uploading at the same time and landing page. As a result, students will not be hovering around to access the course, which saves a lot of time and provide convenience to them. The same goes for every other teacher of different subjects.
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Set Up A Reminder
Make sure to provide a reminder every time you upload a new post for students to check up on where and when to start. Every learning management system has an announcement section, upload daily sessions in that section. By this, students, as well as their parents get notified of the new lectures as an announcement.
Moreover, include a note along with the lecture to properly guide the students about the session. One may find these notes of guidance unnecessary but it creates an impact on the student on behalf of the teacher that he/she is making efforts to engage students.
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Mention Dates
Students often miss out on the lectures and fall behind the schedule. However, mention dates in the title of the lecture to make it easy for students to access them later on. For instance, a teacher uploads a lecture with the title plus the date it is uploaded, it will effectively help students to recall and remember what lecture did they miss. Indeed, it is hectic to remember what was taught last Wednesday with only the title of the lecture. It is more convenient when the date is mentioned including the title. Despite students who pay someone to take online class will also be at ease when referring back to those lectures.
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Create A Table of Contents
Earlier, our books had a table of contents to navigate through and smoothly find the topic we were looking for. However, it is difficult to find teachers following the traditional way into the new learning system. Creating a table of contents while you list the content timely will help students to easily navigate through the lectures and find what they are looking for. Besides, it also helps teachers to organize their lectures so that they do not miss out on any topic.
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Interlinking
Often, students tend to overlook online classes thinking they would view those lectures when needed. With so much going on, the thought is justifiable. Anyway, when the time is here for the students to go through those lectures, they have a hard time understanding those lectures. The reason is either those lectures are unorganized or the topics are not linked together.
For instance, students get stuck on specific terminology of which they are unfamiliar, they struggle to find the exact definition. They either look up on the internet or try to find the lecture that defined it. Thus, interlinking such definitions and topics will provide ease to students for effective understanding.
Besides, linking the assignments, homework, quizzes, and tests related to the relevant topic also helps students to learn effectively.
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Refresh with A Summary
Teachers who summarize previous lectures in the current ones develop a most effective learning environment. Therefore, every time you post a new lecture, including the shortest and precise summary of the previous lecture. Consequently, students get a refresh on the previous lecture and help to maintain their interest. The brief review of the last lecture develops consistency despite the students skipping the classes.
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Voice Overview
Instructions with voice-over are more effective than with text only. It gives a more holistic view of the lectures and sessions. It helps the student understand the instructions more properly and eliminates the space of confusion among them. Insert these voiceovers at the top of any discussion or daily lecture posts. When students are provided with proper guidance and instructions impacts them to realize the efforts of the educator, therefore, motivates students to take an interest.
Final Words!
COVID-19 is here to stay and we all know how it has become “the new normal” with the new variant, Omicron around. Thus, online learning will last forever and reports reveal that the new education system has turned out to be more effective than the traditional one. Rather than daunting over the online classes and their harshness, develop strategies to make the learning process interactive, engaging, and effective.
Following these strategies to set up a clear online class session enables educators to establish a learning environment. Online learning will always be a time-saver in the classroom as compared to physical classrooms. Executing these strategies will be time-effective and save a lot of students from stressing over online learning.
