The Top 5 Online Teaching Strategies

To Engage Your Students

Teaching online isn’t like teaching in the classroom. It requires a
different approach and specific online teaching strategies to boost
learning.

In a digital learning environment, you often have limited time to make

sure that your instruction is effective. No matter your audience, you
have to provide maximum value.

These five online teaching strategies will help you increase

engagement and retention for both kids and adults.

Want to learn how to put them into practice? Read on.

Cooperative Learning
In 2013, Chin-min Hsiung found strong evidence that students perform
“substantially better” in classroom tests after cooperative learning.

Cooperative Learning

Sometimes called small-group learning, is an instructional strategy in

which small groups of students work together on a common task. The
task can be as simple as solving a multi-step math problem together,
or as complex as developing a design for a new kind of infrastructure.

One of the weaknesses of online and distance learning is that

students have fewer opportunities to interact and collaborate.

Or is it?

Modern learning software allows for a great deal of interaction

between participants. In fact, social features have become a hallmark
of learning software. Just because it’s not the same type of interaction
as in the classroom doesn’t mean it’s not beneficial.

Basic features like commenting and discussion forums let learners

interact asynchronously. One-on-one and group chat foster real-time
communication. File co-authoring, user groups, polls, and surveys
also increase student interaction.

And when learning software doesn’t have those capabilities built in, it
can often integrate with services that do (like Google Drive for co-
authoring and Slack for group chat).

Learners can also create their own content with blogs and wikis.
These tools increase learner agency and encourage learning outside
of the class syllabus. Users can share their thoughts, comment on
others’, and share knowledge.

All of this makes project-based learning (PBL), a hallmark of

collaborative education, easier than ever. PBL sees students working
together on a real-world problem over an extended period of time.

Many of the steps of project-based online learning offer opportunity for

collaboration:
(For more information about this particular model, see this blog post
from the Buck Institute for Education.)

This type of learning requires that students work together to find new
solutions to real problems. It’s one of the best ways to prepare
learners for the requirements of the real world. This applies to both
young students and experienced professionals.

Online learning provides the tools for various types of interactions that
support PBL.

Differentiation Instruction
Differentiated instruction has long been a central tenet of classroom
teaching. Exactly what constitutes differentiated instruction is difficult
to pin down, but here’s how Concordia University defines it:

Differentiating Instruction

Means teaching the same material to all students using a variety of

instructional strategies. It can also require the teacher to deliver
lessons at varying levels of difficulty based on the ability of each
student.

Every learner has a different learning style. They come to the training
with different backgrounds, experiences, and educations. And
everyone has their own preferences and innate skills.

Here’s an overview of differentiated instruction from Alberta Education

(this video focuses on the classroom teaching of children, but the
same concepts apply to all learning situations):

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNMaJ2GhV7FKFLOZ6h3sASA

Offering the exact same training to all of them reduces the

effectiveness of the teaching. Which is why differentiation is so
important.
Unfortunately, it’s not easy to develop unique content or presentation
methods for classroom teaching. It takes a lot of time and effort.

This is where online teaching blows classroom teaching out of the

water.

For example, you can offer different tracks of the same training. One
might be for people who are new to the subject matter. Another can
teach people who are somewhat familiar. A final one might be for
experts.

Each track will have the same core material, but you can present it in
a different way or supplement it with different materials.

We’re going to talk in more detail about a few different ways you can
differentiate your online teaching in a moment.

But first an important note: make sure that the core of the training
stays the same for each differentiated group. Or else you’ll be offering
different courses to each group instead of different tracks of the same
course. And that’s a lot more work.

One of the ways you can effectively differentiate your learning is by

letting each learner go through at their own pace. Keep reading to find
out how self-paced learning can take your online training to the next
level.

Self-Paced Learning
Self-paced learning

Accommodates for different learning rates and needs by letting the

learner control the speed of the course.

You might be reading this article as fast as you can. Someone else
might be re-reading each section before moving on. There’s no right
or wrong way, and none is better than the other.
Aside from learning habits and preferences, there are often life
situations that result in students only having a few hours a week to
learn online, while others have a few hours a day. Self-paced learning
is the best way to accommodate both types of situations.

Self-paced learning can help students learn better, even when they
spend the same amount of time studying the material.

Online teaching offers effective self-paced learning for all types of

students.

If you’ve ever completed an online training, you’re probably familiar

with the typical presentation. You see a list of videos (or audio files or
text documents) that you need to go through to complete the training.

Here’s an example from HubSpot:

Learners can choose when to watch the videos and when to take the
quiz.

In most cases, you can choose to go through learning files at any

pace you want. You may have a final due date, but there’s no
requirement for watching specific videos at specific times.

This means it’s easy for learners to take the content at the pace that
makes sense for their learning style (we’ll talk more about learning
styles in the next section). They can even go over lessons more than
once if they need to.

Yes, that means that people will finish the training at different times.
But if it means better learning, isn’t it worth it?

Multiple Learning Tools

There’s debate over whether learning styles are scientifically valid. But
anecdotal evidence points to the fact that some people learn best
when they either see, hear, read/write, or act out information.
With modern technology, it’s never been easier to address various
learning styles and preferences among your learners.

If nothing else, presenting information in multiple ways helps to

reinforce it to your learners. Hearing something once is a good start.
But hearing it, reading it, seeing it, and talking about it (or problem-
solving with it) is a lot better.

This mix of learning methods combined with self-paced learning

allows for effective spaced repetition, which contributes to more
efficient and effective learning [PDF].

And modern tools like live streaming give you the opportunity to
engage with students in a variety of methods. You’re no longer limited
to video, audio, and text. You can also have live discussions, work on
a project at the same time, or collaborate in real-time.

(It’s also important to remember that you may have learners who are
blind, deaf, or otherwise unable to fully engage with a particular style
of learning. Providing a mix of learning tools ensure that everyone can
learn the material.)

Teacher-Student Interaction
One of the most commons fears about digital learning is that the lack
of face-to-face interaction will be detrimental to learners.

Most studies on the topic have shown that teacher-student

relationships are important for school-age children. Little time has
been spent studying (or at least publishing about) the effect on adult
learners.

But social connections and interaction are important to humans in

general. So it’s a safe bet that these interactions foster learning.
Just because you’re teaching online doesn’t mean there’s no
interaction between the teacher and the learner. But you have to be
intentional about making it happen.

Much of it comes down to choosing the right instructional methods.

Live streaming, for example, lets students ask questions during a

lecture or a Q&A session. It also feels more personal than simply
watching a video of the instructor.

Want a great example of live digital question-and-answer sessions?

Look no further than the Washington Post:
Whether by chat or video, these Q&A sessions help connect people
across the digital divide.

The social features mentioned above can facilitate interaction between

students and teachers as well—not just between students.

And many online programs do include face-to-face interaction.

Corporate training, for example, may use all of the methods above
with a group of learners in the same building. Occasional meetings or
projects are much easier in this situation than with a group of learners
spread across the world.

All that said, it’s easy to forget about interaction when designing an
online course.

But it’s more than just an online teaching strategy; it’s good practice.

Experiment with Online Teaching

Strategies
Not every online class or course is going to use all of these strategies
(though it’s worth pointing out that many of them are related). It’s best
to start with one or two and see how well they work.

Maybe you’ll find that your learners don’t need differentiated

instruction. Or that they respond best to a particular type of learning
tool. You can adapt to that.

The important thing is to find a platform that supports these strategies

and start testing them. See if more cooperative learning gets you
better engagement or outcomes. Try different tools, like live streaming
or podcasts. Experiment with different methods of interaction.

After a while, you’ll find the best combination of online teaching

strategies for your particular group.