Avoid Drop-Outs among Online Learners by Creating Self-Paced Courses
Self-regulation is very important in regards to the success of an online course and it helps the learners to become self-regulated. This increases the completion rate of the course. Keep reading to know more about how self-regulation helps in online learning.
Online Learning is the most popular method of learning nowadays and it is growing more popular with each passing day and new courses are created every day. Despite being popular online courses are not everyone’s cup of tea and some find it hard to finish a course. This is where self-regulation could be used to increase the completion rate of course and this helps to make the course more successful. Given below are some ways to create and sell online courses which are self-regulated and will give you the edge in the e-learning field.
Cohort Based course techniques
While Self Paced or asynchronous courses might sound like a good idea, both financially and logistically, they have higher attrition rates as they are not being properly monitored. Thus if we want to decrease the attrition rate, cohort-based or instructor-led courses which help create a constant learner-based interaction with the course. Since the course will be synchronised with others, it creates the possibility for a high rate of interaction between the learner and instructor and among the learners. Being a part of the group also keeps the learner motivated to complete the course and hence decrease the attrition rate.
Better instructors
Online instructors are undoubtedly one of the most important factors of student success in an online course and how freely a student can interact with the instructor also helps them to connect better with the course and create a bond with the instructor. To increase courses with high interaction amongst, the instructors needs to be conscious of the various self regulatory challenges which most of the online learners face. Creating such high collaborative learning experience in such a friendly environment motivates the learners and creates a sense of community which boost the self confidence and leads to better results in the online course. Instructors can do this by weekly check-ins or by reaching out to the students individually which will help to monitor their performance and provide constructive feedback for them. Thus having better instructors will lead to a better experience for the learners which leads to better outcomes. They can participate in weekly discussions about the course and the instructor should get to know the learners and that’s how they can help the ones who are falling behind the others and bring them up to pace.
The learners should absorb the self-regulation skills in them
The instructors can incorporate self-regulatory skills for themselves and also teach the learners to become more self-regulated. They can do it in various ways like encouraging the learners to work with partners or allowing the learners to easily reach out to the instructors whenever they feel stuck at one place. Instructors can helo the learners to plan out a study routine designed according to them which will fit into their daily lives and minimize distraction and prevent them from procrastination. By minimising bad habits this can also be achieved and the learner can be motivated to complete the course. Thus by making them more self-regulatory, they can seek out the help of each other and together complete the course in a competitive but friendly environment.
Integrate structured elements
In addition to the existing methods of creating a community with the course and promoting high interaction amongst themselves, the Design of the inline course should be simple so that the instructions are clear and the assignments can be easily found. The navigation should not be too complex and there should be guides or visual aid to guide the learner throughout the course. The course should have multiple short term goals with various activities with small deadlines to motivate them to complete it faster. You can also use a checklist and a progress bar to indicate the completion percentage of the course and this helps the learner to stay motivated in the course. The total time, of course, can be displayed in a corner and how much if it is complete, either in a percentage symbol or any other user-friendly format to match the course and motivate the learners to complete it.
These four tips can help you decrease your student attrition rates and are responsible for the success of the big digital academies in the eLearning industry today. Use CreateOnlineAcademy.com to create various online courses on a dynamic LMS loaded with tools that help you create content, graphics and self-regulated courses. Along with this, you also stand to gain strong online and offline marketing support along with 24/7 technical support. Create an account today to create courses that are engaging, interesting and most importantly learner-friendly!
