How might we improve online instruction?

 

Here are five steps you can take to start improving your online education program:

Step 1: Understand your students’ attitudes and needs

Every educator should consider what motivates their students to read your content, explore your online resources, and engage in discussions. They should also consider their students’ needs. What’s the most important information they need to learn? Where are they learning from? What is the best way to provide it?

Question everything you do to learn something. Ask yourself, “Do I really want to do this?” If the answer is “no,” ask yourself, “Why?” Don’t rush to learn anything just to learn it; use every experience and method to improve your knowledge and skills.

Question everything you do to learn something. Ask yourself, “Do I really want to do this?” If the answer is “no,” ask yourself, “Why?” Don’t rush to learn anything just to learn it; use every experience and method to improve your knowledge and skills.

Step 2: Improve your online training curriculum

Search for articles online to find information that matches the skills you’re trying to teach. Use common phrase lists and a corpus to get an idea of the word count and structure.

Next, examine your current content. Consider if it’s useful to your students or if there are any gaps in content. Then, take a look at the layout of your course to make sure your syllabus makes sense. Are the videos organized well or are they all over the place?

Do you have a tracking mechanism for students? Have you set up ways for students to communicate with each other? Finally, is your online learning curriculum ready for automated feedback?

You should be aiming to improve your online training program, especially as you gather data on student learning outcomes. The Internet gives you a powerful tool for improving your courses. If your students have little trouble navigating your site and using your online resources, you can give yourself credit for that. If students are frustrated and unable to find your content, take the time to create additional learning paths.

Use a mix of text, video, audio, and slides in your online training program.

Take your online training program to the next level by using a mix of text, video, audio, and slides in your online training program. List your course with a teacher-created menu so that you can easily find the right training module for your students’ needs.

Step 3: Develop a language learning strategy

Research tells us that students who are learning in multiple languages also tend to learn better when they experience variety.

Developing a language-learning strategy can be tricky, especially if you have a large number of students, but that’s the power of online learning. You can create a variety of learning paths for your students to discover, but in doing so, make sure you’re covering the right areas of a language.

So, how do you decide what your strategy will be?

Learning pathways are a great place to start.

Before you make a learning path for your learners, try putting together a list of common goals:

Make sure your students are familiar with all the basic grammar concepts.

Keep your students focused on learning everyday skills and small topics.

Provide quick learning solutions for common grammar questions.

Evaluate your learner base to see which direction they’re headed in.

If you have learners who are on the verge of moving onto another language, think about how best to keep them on track.

The point is to do something that works well with your learners, but to do it in a way that’s easy to implement and adjust.

Next, brainstorm which topics will make sense to introduce first, and which will make more sense as your learner base grows.

Take some time to consider what your learners are struggling with and how you can help.

Consider some of your learners’ areas of interest and consider what topics might make sense for them.

Step 4: Create a multilingual checklist

There’s a saying: “If you want to learn a language, take a moment to learn a language.”

If you want to keep learners motivated, you have to maintain a balance of new material and consistency. One way to create a balance is to create a checklist for every language you’re planning to teach.

A multilingual checklist is a great way to find where your learners are falling behind, as well as what resources they’re relying on, or what areas need improvement.

A few tips:

Make sure that your checklist is designed to help learners improve.

Keep your checklists clear and comprehensive.

Keep your checklists updated with the latest updates and resources.

Make sure you have links and references for all the resources you’ve included.

Your multilingual checklist can serve two purposes: it can help you track the progress of your learners and it can help you pinpoint where your learners are having trouble and how you can help.

You don’t have to make your multilingual checklist complete with 100 bullet points; however, it’s a good idea to include these key points:

Student name

Language and spoken experience

Native language

Learn as much as you can

Come back to the checklist regularly

Tip: Make sure to highlight the areas that you need to keep an eye on, in addition to the areas you need to improve.

Step 5: Use all the tools at your disposal