Distance Learning, mLearning, Digital Education, Technology

Looking for the best online voice recorder on the Internet? Then you’ve come to the right place. Here are the 7 best free online voice recorders.

I’m constantly trying to improve the course for my students. Here are seven things I always try to include when I build online courses. 1. A welcome video,

2. An introduction video of the course,

3. Consistent weekly updates and reminders

Teaching online is a unique experience for faculty and students. Although I love the online environment for some courses, it does present its own challenges. One of those challenges is how to engage online students in activities that push them to go beyond simply reading, interpreting, and interacting. After all, the idea (in most cases) is that the student can apply their learning, knowledge, and skills in their respective fields of study. As such, we are constantly seeking ways to engage students in learning that goes beyond the “click-through” material.

In this article, I share a few ideas—starting with the simplest and working through some more complicated endeavors—that may assist you in bringing more engagement to your online classroom.

This the fifth in a series of blogs looking at online language... What is it? How is it being used? Why do we need to teach it? Here Esther looks at why we need to teach online language as part of digital capability and basic literacy.

Online and distance learning is not only changing how education is delivered but preparing today’s workers for the technology-based jobs of tomorrow.

Social Media use is on the rise. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? What do you think?

How to convert M4A to MP3 online? Then you have come to the right place. Here list 5 online solutions to convert M4A files to MP3 format for free.

More and more organisations are choosing to complement their face-to-face inductions online or move to an entirely online induction model.  Here are 3 reasons why…

“The Day 1” experience

Sometimes it’s the time it takes to set new starters up on your systems or finalise the paperwork, sometimes it’s not having enough people start around the same time to justify the cost and resource of running a face to face induction session.  Whatever the reason, it’s rare that new starters experience a consistent, formal induction on their first day.

Sure, there’s the office tour, the meet and greets, but how do they understand where your organisation is headed, the values that drive you, and what’s expected of them… from day one?  Or even before their start date?

An online induction means these all-important messages that set the scene and communicate who you are and what you do are delivered from the get-go. This can include video of your CEO or MD talking conversationally about what your organisation’s vision and values mean to them. From Day 1, your new starters can have the impression that senior leaders are approachable and accessible.

Streamlined content

Often the content that new starters need to be aware of is housed in multiple locations: your web page, your intranet, your shared drive, in old emails, in people’s heads.  A new starter needs a map.

An online induction corrals all that must-know, or must-know-where-to-find information in a cohesive way.  It signposts people to the places they can access the information now, and return to later as needed. And if they need to find it later… it’s the most up to date version, not a new starter manual that is out of date as it’s too hard to maintain.

Getting connected

There is so much opportunity to connect new starters to each other and encourage that sense of belonging to a ‘cohort’.  Consider allocating someone the responsibility of being your “Induction community manager” and taking advantage of the discussion groups on your LMS, or standalone social networks. 

This means you can dish out work-integrated challenges or activities for them to complete, and come back to post and share their insights amongst the group.  Moving your induction online means new starters can form connections with colleagues across geographical and departmental boundaries – at a fraction of the cost and potential time lags involved in achieving this face to face.

To read more about moving your induction process online click here. And see a vignette of one of our Inductions.

Learn more about how to move your induction online

Sarah Davie is the Global Design Lead for The Learning Factor. Sarah has a passion for Onboarding and Induction solutions. She is an experienced learning consultant with a demonstrated history of delivering for clients from large Corporate organisations, Government sectors, global Consulting Firms and boutique Learning Agencies. 

Online students crave interaction with classmates and instructors, according to a new report from Learning House and Aslanian Market Research.

We often talk about the importance of learner motivation in eLearning. In fact, we’ve even said that motivation is often more important than the specific content when seeking to maximize the impact of instruction – particularly in eLearning, where relatively few social or external environmental factors are likely to inspire learners.

This has a great deal of surface value, in that motivation is actually a factor in all of human activity. For example, it’s been over 95 degrees here every day for the last week, and my motivation to work outside has plummeted. Of course, lacking motivation affects my level of effort. If willing effort is the only result of creating motivation, then saying that “designing for learner motivation in eLearning is important” is not really that significant. Of course it’s true, but it is so general a statement that this insight gains us very little in trying to really improve instruction. But actually, our focus on motivation has very specific importance in instruction.