“The most important principle for designing lively eLearning is to
see eLearning design not as information design but as designing an
experience.”
Cathy Moore
Most faculty have found online teaching more challenging that
Face-to-Face but in fact there are concrete steps that would make any synchronous
session more interactive and effective.
1. Know your learners before your first class. Collect information about their hobbies, work experience
and expectations they have from the course.
Refer to students experience and background and expect them to share their
experience throughout the course.
2. Communicate with the learners your expectations
from them and how they should prepare themselves for the class discussion. Make sure to have your camera on at all times
and ask students to keep their cameras on during the class time. This would
help to create a sense of connection and accountability.
3. Ensure to make course material authentic and
relevant to students' life. For instance, given examples of local organizations
or experiences that students have.
4. Ask learners to come up with a novel question and
expect each student to share their questions at the beginning of class.
5. Encourage students to answer your questions
using the Chat option (Conversation in MS Teams) so more students can
participate concurrently. This also helps you to better monitor participation and
provide students with prompt feedback promptly.
6. Design your lesson offers insights to course
materials to encourage students to attend your sessions. Include a wide range
of audiovisual (video, podcast, discussion board, reading, etc.) and plenty of
opportunities for students to practice their learning. Divide your lesson into a
few mini-lessons with ample opportunities for class exercise and discussion.
7. For any abstract or challenging topics use the Breakout
rooms in MS Teams to place students into groups. Ensure students share their findings and
collaborate using the Whiteboard feature (or any other collaboration platform).