Online Learning: Back to the drawing board
After many years of designing and teaching online courses, I thought I had a natural feeling for what works and what doesn't. Add to that the years of research on teaching with technology, and you would probably think I got it all covered. Think again! As I started studying my first serious online course 3 weeks ago (the UX Design Programme), I quickly realised that changing perspectives can really bring about new ideas. Beside the excitement of learning something new and useful for my career, I already got some fresh ideas that I can integrate in the courses I am teaching, as they also have young professionals as a target audience. Let’s get started!
Make it a project: For adult learners it often feels overwhelming to start studying again. Throwing a lot of new theoretical concepts at them can result in decreasing motivation and often in total disengagement with the course. An effective way to keep them on board and even make them excited about learning is to use a practical project-based approach. You ask them to build up their knowledge, step by step, with small outputs along the way that offer a feeling of achievement. Progress is visible and the learning path is well-structured and meaningful. If the project can be (even remotely) linked to their current work or passions, this results in even greater engagement as learners can imagine different ways of using the new knowledge and skills.
Provide scaffolding and support: Although it may sound easy- putting students fully in charge- this approach is only successful if you can achieve a balance between independent learning (which depends a lot on motivation, discipline and learning skills) and continuous support. As instructor, your main task is not to teach. You have a more important role, that of a coach, or mentor. I know this does not come easy for many of us. The focus is not on transmitting knowledge but on facilitating learning. This is a very important perspective to keep in mind when designing a new course. The key is understanding when and how much support learners need and come up with different ways to provide it.
Offer examples: One way of helping students is by offering them examples of how their peers solved a specific task. I must admit I was rather skeptical and never used this method myself so far. I thought it would diminish their creativity as they strive to emulate the example. But now I feel this can actually be a useful method of managing learners’ expectations without giving them a strict set of rules. I think it works best for adult learners, it can be rather motivating and lead to an overall increase in the quality of their work. The choice of examples is very important though: they need to show various ways in which a task can be fulfilled.
Make “the future” part of the course: Early career professionals are usually very motivated when taking a new course as they expect it will increase their chances of career advancement or job promotion. Even though we know that, as instructors we seem to quickly forget it as we demand them to act as students and simply focus on studying. What I found very motivating (although really intriguing at first) was an exercise in my UX design course where I had to “prototype my CV”: looking well into the future (we’re talking 5–10–15 years), I had to imagine future jobs and detailed projects I see myself working on. I realised that these future scenarios can help learners place the knowledge and skills acquired within their career path. Moreover, by writing them down, they become more aware of what they still need to learn to achieve their goals. This type of exercise can be really useful after one section of a course and maybe then repeated at the very end.
Be ambitious: As a teacher, I try to bear in mind that my students have jobs and personal commitments that sometimes take priority. My approach is to be as flexible as possible while making sure they are still on track. As a student, I also experienced this balancing act of blending the course in my current work routines. But in the end, with both “hats” on, I can say that being ambitious in designing the course, asking a lot from the students while providing the support they need, really pays off. I am constantly amazed by the quality of my students’ work. And, with the risk of sounding boastful, I am also rather proud by my own work in the first part of the UX Design course. I need to work on those sketching skills though!
If you want to read more on teaching and learning and especially online learning you can follow me on Twitter or sign up for my newsletter.