Beyond the Talking Head: Ensuring Engagement in Synchronous eLearning

Online Events Archive

Online Forums 2012 - January 27, 2012

Today we are attempting to teach learners in some of the most distracting environments possible — their offices and their homes. How do we keep online learners engaged despite telephones; emails; IMs; work pressures; interruptions from friends, family, and colleagues; and a long list of other distractions that occur during synchronous virtual training sessions?

Participants in this session will discuss and experience firsthand the major challenges of keeping learners engaged in a synchronous virtual environment, and learn some simple interactive techniques for ensuring learners’ social presence, balancing learners’ cognitive loads, and focusing learner attention. These techniques include effectively applying common but often overlooked virtual-classroom functionality.

In this session, you will learn:

• Common reasons learners disengage in synchronous virtual environments, and which factors you can influence
• To list and apply at least five key considerations for keeping learners engaged
• How to weave elements of learner expectation, motivation, social presence, and accountability into a learner-engagement plan
• At least five tangible interaction techniques for driving learner engagement

Handout(s)

Recording

 

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