Sometimes online training is more about training and less about actual learning. But great, learning-oriented online courses do two things to make learners successful: individualize it and humanize it.
You’re an Individual
Surprise, surprise: Different people learn in different ways. So how can online training serve various learning styles? Put the control, and the responsibility, in the learner’s hands. With individualized learning, people get to pick and choose the modules they need, creating a training program that matches their style.
The power of the Internet makes it easy for learners to find the information they need and collaborate with classmates and instructors with interactive online tools. Now, online instructors don’t have all the power and the knowledge; they are more like guides helping learners understand topics in new ways.
Success is more attainable with self-directed and proactive learning. It’s easier to pay attention and learn the material when you get to focus on the topics and tools that interest you.[i] If you are given more choices in building your own course, you’ll become more invested in your learning experience.
Knowing this, 360training has created a collection of core and non-core topics so you can choose modules to personalize the learning experience based on what you need to learn.
Humans Want to Talk to Humans
Online courses are great and super convenient, but as-is they do lack in the human interaction department. Reading through pages and pages of content doesn’t mean you’re learning it. Interaction with other humans can help.
Sitting at a computer clicking through screens can be isolating; but if you can connect with a community of other learners, you’re more likely to meet those course objectives (Picciano, 2002; Rovai & Barnum, 2003; Richardson & Swan, 2003). [ii]
Interaction is key to humanizing the learning experience, and social media is just the tool to do it. Learners can create “personal learning spaces,” as well as user-generated content, with Facebook, wikis, Skype, Learning Objects, and Drupal.[iii] Chatrooms are great for expressing yourself, making suggestions, sharing your work, and getting deeper into the course content. [iv]
If you feel like you have an active role in your education, you’re going to be a lot more engaged. [v] One way some online instructors are personalizing courses is introducing a topic, giving some intriguing questions, and letting the learners discuss it all in chatrooms.
So what does 360training have going in the humanized learning department?
- Chatrooms: You can post your ideas and opinions on a topic.
- Social Media: Use those awesome social media skills to create a learning community with tons of interaction in different subject matter groups and share questions and content in real time.
- Online Instructor Support: There are real humans behind our courses. Connect with instructors online and get your questions answered.
Learners for Life: It’s about learning, not some fancy learning management system. Online tools like chatrooms and social media can get the individual and the human interaction back into the learning experience.
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360training is an eLearning Marketing place providing training to individuals, learning management tools to enterprise customers, course authoring tools to authors & teachers and LMS packaged with storefront and content to training providers. Since 1999, our course libraries have grown to include more than 15 industries and 6,000 individual titles. Joining the list of over 3 million learners who have chosen 360training.com to meet their training needs are businesses, training providers, associations, colleges, universities, and subject matter experts
[i] Illinois Online Network: Instructional Strategies for Online Courses
[ii] Teaching Without Walls: How to Humanize Your Online Course
[iii] Faculty Focus: Integrating Social Media into Online Education
[iv] How to Humanize Your Online Class (a nice info-graphic on humanized learning)
[v] Faculty Focus : Tips for Humanizing Your Online Course
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