Distance Learning, mLearning, Digital Education, Technology

As society has evolved, so too has education. To meet the changing needs of our world, an explosion of online education has focused on adult learning. Adult education covers a wide range of topics, as many adult learners strive to improve their lives through professional development or changing careers (Mace and Bacon 2019).  For career fields that require hands-on work and interactions with clients, for example, online education presents a unique challenge for educating adult learners. Therefore, to reach these students, understanding appropriate educational models in an online format is essential (Diep et al. 2019). As society changes to include more online learning opportunities, the field of education must stay abreast of these shifts and use these strategies to provide the best education possible for new and longtime professionals. When teaching courses online, consider applying evidence-based strategies to improve engagement, satisfaction, and comprehension for your students of all ages. The following five tips have been developed from research geared toward pivoting live classes into effective online or blended learning courses.

For nearly four decades, Perry Samson didn’t see many students’ hands raised in his large lecture courses.

“I just assumed I nailed class and threw chalk down and did the victory dance,” says the atmospheric science professor at the University of Michigan. “In reality, they probably had questions but were afraid to ask them.”

Engaging students through a computer screen requires a unique approach to pedagogy and innovative course design.  The feeling of “getting it right” typically involves a good deal of testing and modification given the wide array of design formats and technology tools available, not to mention the varying needs of students, many of whom are underprepared for online learning (Bettinger & Loeb, 2017).

Common Student Challenges

In online courses, certain student challenges tend to come up time and again, which disrupts learning or impedes completing coursework on time.

Ronnie Burt, Sue Waters and Kathleen Morris write: "Want your students to write more in your class? Looking for prompts or ideas for student blog posts? You are in luck! This post aims to get your creative juices flowing with over 100 ideas and examples..."

Social media offers great opportunities for teaching. Wasim Ahmed and Sergej Lugovic have reviewed the literature on the use of Twitter in the classroom and have noted its benefits to both students…

While online education can be an excellent choice for many students, it can require a bit of a learning curve on the part of the teachers. Obviously many of the same teaching strategies for the traditional classroom are not applicable. Utilizing these tips can help both young-adult and adult educators engage students in variety of online class scenarios

An engaging learning experience in which students are fully immersed in the content is driven by six variables, according to new research.

The State of Engagement 2019 report, from edtech SaaS provider GoGuardian, features insight from hundreds of students, teachers, school leaders, and IT administrators to identify the specific factors contibuting to an engaging learning experience.