The level of learner engagement indicates whether someone has received enough motivation to completely commit to learning. True engagement is reflected in a learner’s participation and interaction with other learners and educators. There is more to learner engagement than the flashy bells and whistles you see on your LinkedIn feed. It involves utilizing human emotion. Maintaining learners’ motivation is important. It aims to support learning throughout the entire process, from beginning to end.

According to 45% of participants in an Aptara poll, establishing focus and intentionality is the area that is most frequently neglected when trying to engage learners.

For an engaging learning experience, the content must cater to the needs and tastes of your learners. Your learning program should be created, communicated, organized, and delivered in a way that appeals to learners in a range of positions and generations. Understanding your learners is the first step towards doing that.

Online learning programs frequently lack a natural social element of the human learning process without the in-person interactions between instructors and learners. This isolation frequently lowers learner engagement, which can result in a decrease in completion rates, a decline in effective learning, and an overall decline in content comprehension.

To increase online learner engagement, you can always explore a variety of strategies that are available in the market. Here are some strategies to start with:

1. Create high-quality videos:

Using video in your eLearning program is essential in today’s digital age.

Videos give an interesting learning experience that few other eLearning modalities provide, appealing to both the visual and audio senses. If you are producing videos, be sure that the target audience will find them to be well-written, exquisitely designed, and enjoyable. Instead of just passively watching a video, learners can engage with it by answering quiz questions, commenting, and providing feedback. This kind of interaction increases participation and promotes deeper learning.

2. Design compelling visuals:

Even though the content is usually the most important aspect of any learning program, the design is still quite important. Your audience will quickly lose interest if your eLearning program seems obsolete and stale. Try to provide visually appealing, up-to-date content in the form of films, pictures, clear charts, and graphics. Aim to use images/audio between 60% and 80% of the time, depending on your learning objectives and the size of the project. Use text merely as an additional tool to support the course material.

3. Record a crisp voice-over:

A strong voice-over recording is essential for boosting participation in your eLearning course. Podcasts and audiobooks are becoming increasingly popular. This is an important realization that learners value high-quality audio content.

4. Keep everything on brand:

It is crucial to check in with your customer so you may apply their brand guidelines, logos, and color schemes in your work. Consider your color selections carefully when creating any content, including photos, infographics, films, logos, headers, and more. Next, think about your font selections. These must also originate from your client directly. Use just a few straightforward, clear fonts if the client has no preferences.

5. Add meaningful interactions:

The best technique to ensure long-term comprehension is to evaluate learners using recalls. Additionally, it makes your online course much more enjoyable! Engaging activities like flip charts, quizzes, video embeds, and discussion questions are all quick and effortless ways to boost student engagement. Making game-based eLearning, also known as gamification, is an additional and effective choice.

6. Keep your lessons short:

In business contexts, taking an eLearning course is frequently not a personal decision made by the learner. Most frequently, a manager or member of the HR staff will assign it. This implies that many employees will be time- and interest-constrained. Make sure your lessons are brief to overcome these obstacles. Self-paced online learning courses should not last longer than 45 minutes. You achieve this, make sure to constantly edit your voiceover and text scripts. Modules should be divided into manageable, bite-sized pieces for learners. Aim to keep each film under five minutes, especially for videos.

7. Use relevant analogies and examples:

One of the most effective learning strategies is the use of analogies.

Learners are compelled to examine one item and apply that analysis to the other item by using a pertinent comparison of two objects.

8. Simplify your eLearning program:

Before going live, ask a friend or co-worker to user-test your eLearning course. To improve learner engagement, their comments will help make improvements and enhance clarity with simplicity.

All eLearning content managers face the challenge of making their learning programs engaging. While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to this, there are many ways to boost learner engagement. What tips or tricks do you use to engage learners in an online setting?

The post How to Boost Learner Engagement in eLearning first appeared on Aptara Corp.

The post How to Boost Learner Engagement in eLearning appeared first on Aptara Corp.

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. – The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)

According to CASEL, a leading expert in SEL, science has shown that students who have been exposed to SEL have improved attitudes, positive classroom behavior, and do better on achievement tests. They are also less likely to have conduct problems or emotional distress.

Many teachers and administrators have been loosely implementing SEL in schools for quite some time. Student and teacher physical interaction provides a baseline emotional support that can be meaningful and long-lasting. As Dr. Scott Cascone, superintendent of the West Orange, NJ school district said “most teachers are nurturers.” To become more intentional about SEL, many school districts have embraced mindfulness. Lani Rosen, a mindfulness expert, has been providing training and support to schools in CT for the past several years. Dr. Cascone also instituted a Mindful Minute program, courtesy of Yoga Playhouse, during the Spring lockdown where he would work through a mindfulness exercise online to students once a week.

However, systematic SEL integration has not always been at the forefront, as academic achievement has taken priority. Dr. Cascone says that what they “have failed to do, almost across the board, is to have a fidelity to systemically changing our school districts to (support mental and emotional health).”

As students abruptly moved from in-person to online learning last Spring, the school “machine” was reimagined. This has allowed some schools to refocus on SEL since it may be what is lacking most in this new model, especially when both teachers and students may be experiencing higher stress levels, death of loved ones, and anxiety about the future. “When we opened our school (in September), we didn’t start with content, we started where the kids were coming from and what they were bringing to the table and being mindful of that,” said Dr. Cascone.

Teacher engagement and training are critical for this kind of work as well as encouraging their self-care and mental health. Dr. Cascone said that they  “…wanted to start from a place of stability and security recognizing that if people were stressed and worried and in fear, how could we possibly begin this school year on the right foot.”

While the desire to incorporate SEL is there, and schools are focusing on student and teacher mental well-being, Dr. Cascone believes there still needs to be a systemic shift for long-term success, as follows:

“Interlocking spheres of influence are necessary. This change cannot just exist within the walls of the school. It needs to be a community effort and ensure the parents are involved as well so we can call work synergistically.”

And once a program is implemented, how can one determine its effectiveness?  Melissa Schlinger, VP of Programs and Practice at CASEL, thinks that assessing SEL could be useful if done at an institution level, to determine areas of focus, but should not be used for individual remediation. Overall success shows up differently at different developmental stages but, generally, can be seen in improved attendance, fewer disciplinary issues, better engagement, and- in the upper grades- higher graduation rates.

It’s also important to remember that SEL is always evolving to address our changing world. Ms. Schlinger outlined several areas of improvement that are needed as SEL continues to take center stage:

The goal of highlighting Social Emotional Learning is to promote a holistic approach to teaching and learning. As Dr. Cascone said, “We retrofit SEL into an existing system when this needs to be the core of what we do; the lens through which we view everything. It must be a top priority above everything else on an ongoing basis”.

Some existing tools, reviewed by CASEL, include:

Facing History and Ourselves

EL Education

Lions Quest, Skills for Adolescence

Responding in Peaceful and Positive Ways

A Chance in the World Integrated SEL Curriculum

Social-Emotional Learning in Open Court Reading​

Note: Information for this blog was taken from a webinar hosted by Aptara with the same name.

The post Social and Emotional Learning in the Time of COVID: Staying Physically Distanced but Emotionally Connected first appeared on Aptara Corp.

The post Social and Emotional Learning in the Time of COVID: Staying Physically Distanced but Emotionally Connected appeared first on Aptara Corp.