Most online instructors have the goal to create a course that keeps their student’s attention and encourages them to be interactive. But how can you force your students to interact with your online course? These are 5 tips that will help you create an effective and interactive learning environment for your students.
1. Content is king
First, be sure you have relevant subject matter. If you fill your course with irrelevant information, your students can quickly loose interest. It's important that your course content is valuable and can apply outside of the classroom.
2. Allow students to explore
A student is likely to be more interactive within a course that can be easily explored. Consider allowing the student to move around freely within the course elements, letting them skip through the course material as they wish. If the student has a little freedom, they can enjoy the course at their own pace.
3. Collect feedback
Interact with your students who have completed the course; they can let you know what kept (or lost) their attention throughout the course. Collecting your students' feedback makes it easy for you to update any necessary items within your course. Remember, keep an open mind and don’t be afraid to change a few details.
4. Ask questions
Throughout your course you can always have pop-up questions for the student to answer before continuing to the next section, or have chapter quizzes or tests. Asking questions forces your students to answer and interact! However, try to ask real-life, relatable questions to really force students to think about their answers.
5. Share resources and use hyperlinks
Some students find additional resources extremely valuable to a course, but others may not. Instead of forcing all students to review information, allow them the freedom to seek out what they need. In addition, use hyperlinks within your presentations or documents. This will encourage students to click on them and interact with your course even further!
It's important to build a course that promotes an interactive learning environment. Interactivity helps your students to feel involved and accomplished when they complete your course. But always remember, content comes first. Without valuable content, your course may struggle in order to become successful.