Tips and Tools for Fostering a Creative e-Learning Class
September 10, 2009
Despite the effectiveness of e-learning, online learners remain notorious for losing focus, getting bored, checking email, chatting, texting, sorting through piles of neglected mail, or tuning out altogether. It's not their fault.
We trainers haven't equipped our online learners with an arsenal of tools and toys that will help them stay focused. Knowing what we know about the effectiveness of brain-based learning (also called active learning or accelerated learning), it's up to us to apply our best practices in live, classroom training to enhance the effectiveness of the online learning experiences we conduct.
Indeed, online learners are entitled to enjoy the benefit of the balls, toys, visual stimuli, icebreakers, discussions, and interactive exercises that have become standard in most live training sessions.
Here, we will look at some popular classroom methods of addressing the kinesthetic, visual, tactile, and interactive needs of learners, and explore some low cost ways to help our online learners make the most of their remote learning experience.
Make kinesthetic learning tools available
Classroom learning gurus talk a lot about the need to create a stress-free and emotionally engaging learning environment. To do this, face-to-face trainers "color" their training rooms with signage that sets the ground rules and expectations, they play music, and set tables with tent cards, colorful markers and fiddle toys (to help kinesthetic learners better focus).
Why not set the same goals for the online learning experiences you initiate? Currently with online learning, the balance seems to shift to auditory and visual learning. Why not equip online learners with a tangible stress ball or "fiddle" toy to occupy their hands while their eyes and ears are busy?
Though it may be counterintuitive, doodling is another way to enhance learners' focus. A recent study on doodling showed that retention of facts was 29 percent higher among doodlers than it was for non-doodlers. So, go ahead and encourage doodling. Before you begin ask online participants to grab a blank sheet of paper on which to doodle. Or, better yet, send them a "doodle pad," which has grids, geometric shapes, and free space for doodling.
Foster a sense of community
Classroom trainers frequently open a session with an icebreaker. Icebreakers typically accomplish three objectives:
- they introduce people to one another
- they reduce stress by bringing people together and giving them an opportunity to participate in low-risk experiences and
- they enable information sharing, as the facilitator and participants share goals, interests, and concerns regarding the learning event.
In online learning too, we ought to be taking this lesson to heart. Sure it's harder to do so over a conference call or in a webinar, but introductions and icebreakers can really warm up the environment and give folks an understanding of who else might be participating remotely.
If your web-conferencing tool has a chat feature, depending on the number of participants you have (and your time constraints), here are a few ways you might ask people to introduce themselves.
Twitter icebreaker. Request an introduction using no more than 140 characters.
Trading places icebreaker. Ask, "if you could change places with one person, who would it be and why?"
Two-truths-and-a-lie icebreaker. Ask participants to share two truths and a lie about themselves, and have colleagues try to identify the lie.
Create additional visual stimuli
Imagine sitting in a class and looking around the room. You'd see the gestures and facial expressions of the instructor, the whiteboard and projector screen, responses of other students, and possibly even the trees blowing outside. During a classroom-learning event, our eyes wander, our emotions kick in, and our brains process the entire experience. In fact, brain researchers and learning experts tell us that the greater the number of senses engaged in learning, the more memorable and successful it is.
Alternatively, consider the visual stimuli available to online learners—computer screens—and maybe their familiar office or a colleague passing by the door. For our speedy brains, accustomed to drawing in multiple sources of data, the progression of narrated slide transitions in a presentation often leave time for our minds to wander. Even if trainers created stunning multi-media productions, it wouldn't necessarily optimize the learning experience.
A better way to offer supplemental visual stimulation during an online learning experience would be to provide some type of eye candy, something that doesn't require much focus or attention, like a spinning top or a mood ring. Tools such as these would function much like doodling, whereby they engage the subconscious mind in an activity that doesn't distract the conscious brain from the learning at hand.
Sweet sensations
Remember those pitchers of water and little bowls of hard candy found in many learning rooms, training centers, hotel conference rooms? They're not just for show. Food and water fuel the brain and keep learners refreshed.
In keeping with this important classroom tradition, why not encourage your online learners to grab a glass of water or a piece of fruit before you're scheduled to begin. Better yet, tantalize their taste buds by sending a tea bag, a packet of Gatorade powder, a few candies, or some Poprocks. Ask them to have those readily available at their computers before you start the session. By sending a few such items, you will also set a welcoming, friendly tone for the session.
Block off space
When learners attend a live training session, they leave their office and enter a new space with new faces. Colleagues, family and friends know they should not be disturbed, email is inaccessible, and phones are turned off or silenced, all creating some mental space for the learners, so they can focus on the here and now.
Try to do the same for your e-learners. Encourage them to create for themselves a similarly refreshing "virtual learning environment." It can be as simple as a hand-made sign on their door or cubicle that says, "I'm in training," or it can be a playful road sign that says "Quiet. Online learning in process," or "Don't bother me . . . I'm learning," or something humorous: "Don't even think of interrupting my online learning session."
Emotional content
Trainers often integrate stories and humor into their delivery. The stories and jokes are effective because they add emotional content and bring the lessons to life. They also relax the facilitator and the participants and contribute to a stress-free, learning-friendly environment.
Don't forget to do the same for your e-learning sessions. A couple of photos, cartoons, or "bad" jokes that accompany your story can go a long way to keeping people engaged in the e-learning experience.
Participation and interaction tools
A critical aspect of Accelerated learning in classroom environments involves learner participation. In live training sessions, this happens in the form of questions and answers, conversations, group work, games and exercises.
You can also ask the group questions in a webinar. As in a live training session where only a couple of folks raise their hands, you may only hear a handful of throaty attempts to pipe in. That is okay. Remember, too, to pause to wait for answers, and tell the group you will do so, to give them time to think and process the information in their heads.
In addition to voicing questions in real time, many products and tools available today enable two-way communication during online learning experiences. Some can be a bit pricey, but they don't have to be. Following is a snapshot of a few of the tools you might look for:
Tools for asynchronous communication (learners online at different times)
Circulate a list containing participant emails, so that learners can be in touch with one another.
Initiate a LinkedIn group, so that participants can pose questions and post comments for one another to see.
Establish a Twitter account, where learners can share brief comments, questions, tips and/or share links.
Start a blog that allows readers to comment on articles or contributions.
Tools for synchronous communication (all learners participating at once)
Initiate a video conference or teleconference, whereby participants are linked by phone and are all viewing a host's computer screen. There are a great many service providers for this, which offer different features (chat, polling, screen sharing, recording), at a variety of prices. Some popular ones are GotoMeeting, WebEx, Skype, Microsoft Live Meeting, ReadyTalk, and AT&T Connect.
During your meetings, keep it snazzy and interactive: dress up presentations with cartoons, graphics and games that keep it interactive. Here are some easy-to-use, cost effective tools:
All Play Game Show. Students can buzz in with an answer to your questions. You can share results and easily toggle back and forth between a PowerPoint presentation, and participatory questions.
PowerPoint Games. Games like Jeopardy can transform a static session into an interactive one. Even if players can't "buzz in" with an answer, you can encourage them to jot their answers down in a notebook.
Yawn-buster. Bring alive your PowerPoint slides with group activities such as audience polls, games, group exercises and competitions, which can be embedded right inside PowerPoint.
Raptivity. Raptivity contains a library of "interactions" that you can use in presentations and e-learning modules, including learning games, flashcards, puzzles, flip-a-book, diagrams, surveys, and more.
Final Thoughts
So much of learning has to do with the participant's state of mind when they get to "class." Although your students may not be physically sitting in front you when you begin a learning session, consider the range of ways you can control the environment and the experience with a pre-session package that sets expectations about the goals and content to come. If you ever went away to camp or college, remember the excitement of a care package coming your way.
One last care package item might be a printout of The e-Learner's Bill of Rights.
E-Learners Bill of Rights
I. Freedom of speech. E-learners have the right to be heard. Learning is a two-way street.II. The right to bare arms. There is no stated dress code for online learning.
III. No imposition of unreasonable quarters. Online learners shall not be forced to remain seated in front of their computer for the duration of a learning experience. They should be invited to stand and stretch to keep the blood flowing and their attention focused.
IV. No unreasonable searches and seizures. While facilitators may search for a right answer on online survey questions, learners have the right to make mistakes. If one is unable to answer a question correctly, the instructor will not cause embarrassment.
V. Exemption from self-incrimination. If you didn't do a pre-session assignment and can get away with it, good for you. But you may pay the price later!
VI. The right to a speedy trial. You have the right to try new things and put learning to use as quickly as possible either in online simulations or real-life situations.
VII. The right to a jury of peers. You are entitled access to a group of peers who have experienced the same online learning module. Among this group, you will not be judged, but will be supported when faced with new challenges that require input or discussion.
VIII. No cruel and unusual punishment. E-learners shall not be subjected to interminable lectures, excessive homework nor scorn by the instructor or fellow students. Poor attempts at humor, deemed painful to some, shall be exempt.
IX. Equal treatment of all. All should be treated respectfully regardless of computer speed or size of monitor.
X. The right to have fun. E-learners have the right to laugh, play, and enjoy the learning experience in an interesting, stress-free environment.
Remember that saying, "no matter where you go, there you are," made popular in the cult classic movie Buckaroo Banzai? That's how it is with e-learning. Although online learning is conducted remotely, the learner is present wherever they are.
Using what we know about the importance of setting a lively, stress-free, learning-friendly classroom environment, take steps to make e-learning environments similarly engaging, so that we can maximize the effectiveness of online and blended learning.
About the Author
Susan Doctoroff Landay is currently president of Trainers Warehouse. Her prior experiences include consulting and training in the field of negotiation, marketing a business history consulting company, and performing as a clown for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Landay is a graduate of Yale College and the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
ADDENDUM
[Updated September 18, 2009]: Sue Landay has provided this extended response the comments on this article:
Thank you all for taking the time to comment, reflect, and seek more information. I have to admit that the focus of the article reflects the areas about which I am most knowledgeable; forgive me as I go outside my comfort zone.
I just checked some of my favorite LinkedIn groups to see how others have answered this question. Mark Steiner wrote this thoughtful response:
You should probably first ask some questions: What kind of subject matter is your training going to support? What are the development skills of the team members? Do you need SCORM-compliant courses generated? etc.There are some better rapid content development tools out there these days. For example, you could use Captivate for software training where you want demos (watch) and sims (do) of the various tasks (version 4 was recently released). You could use Articulate for content that is more cognitive (the 'what's and 'why's, overviews). You can also use them in combination, as Articulate can embed Flash files, Flash video, and web pages (so really anything else you need to create). Both have quiz components, output to swf (Flash), and generate SCORM-compliant courses.
Captivate does have limitations with length i.e. long courses. However, file size is based on what you put into the file (lots of high quality audio/video?, etc.), and the publishing settings you select. i.e. Why is my suitcase so heavy? Ummm, because you put too many clothes in it ; ) Plus, if it's the file is too big, the course is probably too long and should be chunked properly. ; ) Also, the latest version has an "aggregator" that can combine and launch combinations of courses.
Hope that helps. —Mark Steiner
Other platforms that seem to come up frequently include:
WizIQ
Adobe Captivate Articulate
Udutu
Camtasia
WebCT
TopClass
The Learning Manager
Virtual Learning Environments
Blackboard
E-College
I also found a good synopsis that answers "What is an E-Learning Platform, Anyway?" at a site called Best of Australian Flexible Learning Community.
For vendors that easily enable live meetings, here are some good sources:
GotoMeeting
WebEx
Skype
Microsoft Live Meeting
ReadyTalk
AT&T Connect
I hope these resources are helpful. —Susan Doctoroff Landay
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