E-learning is a rapidly expanding sector of the economy. According to estimates, the market will reach $275 billion in value by 2022, and given recent events, it may expand even more quickly. While many of the online courses offered by academic institutions are creative and engaging, the vast majority of programs offered by the private sector are dated and ineffective.
So why is the online course market broken? They are a time-waster for the student. Additionally, they don’t check to see if the student has actually mastered the material. The online course market is broken for a variety of additional reasons. For more information, please continue reading.
What Qualities Should A Good E-learning Program Have?
Which eLearning system you select is irrelevant if you don’t mind wasting your time in exchange for a certificate of completion.
But if you’re serious about learning and mastering something new, you need an eLearning program with lightning learning features. Here are the key criteria for an awesome lightning learning platform:
Focused
If it’s done right, a lightning learning system won’t waste your time by teaching you things you already know or going beyond what you actually need to know. It should uphold the just-in-time and just-enough learning objectives of lightning-speed learning.
Adaptive
A good system won’t plunge you headfirst into content that is too difficult. It will be able to quickly evaluate your knowledge and skill level now so that you can begin at the appropriate level of proficiency.
It will also contain excellent definitions of the background information needed to understand any topic. In the best case scenario, it will continuously adjust the difficulty level to keep you in the “Goldilocks zone”—that is, not too difficult that you become frustrated and not too easy that you grow bored.
Complete
You must have faith that the information being presented to you by your eLearning system is accurate and complete. You must rely on the reputation of the system you are using because you don’t know the content and won’t be able to tell if something is missing.
A body of knowledge (BOK) that contains all the information one needs to know about a subject is frequently created by top eLearning systems. The best way to make sure learning is finished is in this manner.
Consistent
As you use a certain learning system, you will start to get used to the peculiarities of how it presents information. Additionally, you might get used to the teaching approach.
A lesson on a different subject taught by a different teacher should ideally adhere to a familiar presentational style and have a consistent level of quality and production value.
Although this is changing because even the polymath Sal Khan can’t teach everything, K–12 learning systems like Khan Academy have historically accomplished this by using just one instructor.
Reinforced
How many times have you attended a weeklong conference or training, prepared to put your newfound knowledge to use, only to become sidetracked when you get back to the office? Before you have a chance to put the knowledge to use, it starts to quickly fade from your memory.
When you are exposed to knowledge, but you never truly “own” it to the point where you can use it every day, this occurs. Two methods, called “recall practice” and “spaced repetition,” can be used to address this issue. In these methods, concepts are reviewed on a regular basis so that the learner retains them.
Validated
A quality eLearning system should confirm that the student has invested the necessary time and effort and truly understands the subject matter. Testing—or assessment, as educators prefer to call it—is the only way to accomplish this.
The good news is that research has conclusively shown that testing is not a waste of time but rather a very effective learning tool. Sadly, assessment is not typically integrated into learning systems.
Most likely because students are unaware of the value of testing as a learning tool. It’s also possible that trainers and educators would prefer to only be evaluated on qualitative criteria, such as surveys or whether or not students successfully completed the course.
There really isn’t a good reason to do the training in the first place if the learner’s mastery isn’t validated. We can extend the old business adage “what isn’t measured isn’t managed” with “those who aren’t measured can’t improve”.
That we actually know how to do all of these things is what makes it exciting. Like NASA in the first half of the 1960s. To land a man on the moon, physics and science had to be applied. Simply apply it, that’s all.
Why Do Students Struggle To Succeed In Online Learning?
Adaptation Difficulties
The first difficulty is adjusting to online learning because for many students it is a new environment. You run the risk of alienating potential students if the platform appears overly complex.
Solution:
While it goes without saying that students bear the bulk of the burden of overcoming this obstacle, there are still things you can do to support your students so they succeed in online courses.
You can prepare helpful materials about online learning, such as induction training and FAQs, to make the process simpler and faster. These materials should cover the advantages of online education as well as suggestions for structuring the learning process more effectively.
Wrong Expectations
The course seemed to be either too challenging or too simple, time-consuming, or too theoretical—these are some false assumptions that will cause frustration and dropouts.
Solution:
The best way to mitigate this problem is to communicate all possible information about the course:
- The topics and lessons in the course
- Teachers’ qualifications and experience
- The level of training required
- How much time learners should set aside for the course, broken down by module and assignment
- Course objectives and outcomes
- Skills gained after completing each module and the course in full
Although this won’t prevent students from enrolling in a course without reading the description and later dropping out because they had other needs, at least we will feel as though we have done our part.
Technical Issues
Students aren’t made more motivated by bugs and lag times on the eLearning platform. Instead, it might compel students to drop the class.
Even if your online learning platform has never had any technical problems, the spike in demand during the COVID-19 lockdown could be detrimental to the functionality of your platform.
Your website’s sudden surge in traffic places a heavy burden on your servers, which can lead to crashes and outages. Users who are far from the servers experience speed drops as a second issue.
Solution:
Build a flexible and scalable server infrastructure by optimizing content with adaptive delivery (to ensure quality and speed on every type of device and connection) and moving it closer to the user with a content delivery network (CDN) in order to eliminate technical issues and guarantee a smooth eLearning experience for the students.
You can either create your own solution or use a CDN that has already been created.
Poor Time Management
One of the most frequent causes of online course dropout is a lack of time. While some people do experience unforeseen personal circumstances, others merely struggle with time management.
Solution:
Another skill you can impart to your students is time management. Students who struggle with poor time management skills would benefit greatly from a regular schedule planner and reminders for courses and assignments.
Problems With Motivation
There are many factors that can cause students to lose motivation, ranging from unclear course objectives and a lack of control to feeling depressed due to social isolation.
Solution:
Although some issues with individual motivation will always be beyond our control, we can try to make the course as interesting as we can.
- Make a roadmap for the learner that includes distinct checkpoints for accomplishments and knowledge gained. The student’s personal account could include a display of this path so they can track their own advancement and experience fulfillment as they get closer to the end result.
- The content and tasks should be presented in a variety of formats, such as interactive training, videos, storytelling, gamified solutions, etc.
- Create a community among your peers and occasionally use group projects. When pupils sense a sense of belonging, engagement increases.
Too Much Flexibility
Online courses offer students the flexibility to learn whenever and wherever they want, which is one of their biggest benefits. Flexibility can also be the biggest drawback if there is too much of it.
Solution:
Setting deadlines for each module (or at least a final deadline) and sending reminders when the deadline is approaching is the straightforward solution. Without this, the completion rates risk being extremely low as “at any time” usually means “at no time.”
Lack Of Human Contact
Lack of communication between students and teachers is one of the main drawbacks of online learning, which some students may find frustrating. Additionally, research demonstrates that social interaction and community involvement increase student engagement fivefold and course completion likelihood sixteenfold.
Solution:
People learn best by observing others and interacting with others, in accordance with Albert Bandura’s social learning theory. They learn new information and abilities by observing the attitudes, behaviors, and outcomes of others in similar situations.
We should try to create as many opportunities for interaction within the online world as we can, even though online learning implies some limitations to this strategy.
Students can collaborate with their peers and teachers while learning from one another through group projects, webinars, forums, debates, and discussion boards.
Too Bulky Chunks Of Information
It’s a situation you’ve probably experienced before: you need to start a significant project, but you have no idea where to begin.
But once you divide it into smaller tasks, it appears more manageable and approachable. The same is true for education: overly lengthy and challenging modules may deter students from enrolling in the course.
Solution:
Microlearning can help to solve this problem. It’s a method of teaching that involves breaking up a lot of information into manageable chunks that students can understand in just a few minutes (between three and ten).
Each unit focuses on a single concept, idea, or skill. The brief instructional videos produced by TED-Ed are a good illustration of how to apply this strategy. Regarding the advantages, studies have shown that microlearning can increase student engagement in courses by over 50%.
Perhaps now is the appropriate time to learn more about this strategy and begin implementing it on your eLearning platform. Get rid of lengthy modules and topics and present information in manageable, structured units to keep students’ attention and help them complete the course.
Poor Student Support
In a conventional classroom, a student who encounters a barrier can speak with their peers or ask a teacher for help. Without these opportunities, online learners may feel isolated, which is why they frequently give up when challenges arise.
Solution:
Our goal is to make sure that students are confident in asking for assistance when they need it and are aware of where to go for it. Multiple options for getting support on the platform are the best way to achieve this. Here are a few ideas of what it could be:
- Create FAQ guides and a knowledge base that addresses the most frequent problems users of the platform may encounter (e.g., account setup, course loading problems, how to enroll in a course, what to do if you missed a deadline, etc.).
- For those who have unusual questions, provide email or instant message support. A customer service solution like Intercom can be used for instant messaging.
- Create a chance for students to interact with one another. It might take the form of an entire forum for students like Coursera did a social media community, a group chat in an instant messenger, etc.
- Make certain that students can contact their instructors to ask for advice or assistance. On-platform chat or a survey tool like Google Forms are two options.
The Information Is Far From Real Life
It is simple for students to lose interest in a subject or the entire course when the information they are taught becomes overly abstract and they are unable to connect it to their daily lives.
Solution:
Only when it can be used does knowledge become valuable. Thus, practical information, pertinent real-world examples, realistic practical scenarios, and practical tasks should all be included in your online courses to enable your students to immediately apply their newly acquired knowledge to actual issues.
By doing so, you can help students understand the relevance and value of online learning by creating a link between the content of eLearning and its real-world application.
In an ideal world, information would be accessible whenever it was needed. Students would encounter issues in their regular work and be able to look up solutions on your eLearning platform right away.
Final Words
The best learning resources are online courses. Just know that they aren’t the only teaching resources. And we do students a great disservice when we behave as though they do. When they do, you need to be prepared to provide them with the best learning environment and convince them to stick around even after the lockdown is over.
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