The rising aspect of online learning

The necessity to move our classes online made educators explore and experiment actively with new tools, methods, and collaborative formats. At the same time, the boundaries of the classroom, the campus, and traditional categories like ‘at home’ and ‘abroad’, ‘domestic students’ and ‘international students’ have become more fluid. Internationalization has rapidly come within every lecturer’s reach as classrooms the world over can now be connected. In this blog post, four experts in the field of international education provide some key ingredients for enhancing international online teaching and learning beyond the pandemic.

Connecting classrooms and creating opportunities for international collaboration:

Online classrooms have grown more open and accessible as they are no longer restricted by institutional, municipal, or national boundaries. Online education allows students and lecturers to participate from anywhere in the globe. Online tools also make it much easier to communicate with teachers and students from other countries. This allows us to do more international co-teaching, invite guest speakers, include other viewpoints, and connect online classes with other classrooms across the world.

Making use of diverse student body:

It is now feasible to purposely form different courses, groups, or teams to enable a (temporary) multi-perspective learning environment since it has become much easier to gather students together for a length of time. Our student body's variety may be used to infuse cultural, local, or disciplinary viewpoints, expertise, and first-hand experiences into our online classes.

Cross-cultural online learning by instructional design:

Although it may be simpler to form diverse groups online, getting students to mix, share, and interact in an online environment is just as difficult. As a result, consciously designing courses that emphasize cross-cultural contact and collaboration is critical. Consider the goals you want to attain and the type of contact that will be required. A well-designed collaborative online learning assignment necessitates a mutual dependence relationship in which both student groups have equal status, for example, each group has specific knowledge or skills that are required for the task's successful completion, and/or students take on different roles within the task and rely on one another to complete it.

Use your synchronous time intentionally:

Online education involves a thorough reassessment of how courses are planned, what students perform in synchronous Teams or Zoom meetings, and what activities are better suited in synchronous and asynchronous (out-of-class) formats. Asynchronous input and synchronous interaction are used in many blended learning models and collaborative online learning methodologies. Consider how you may use your online sessions to feed, deepen, or enhance your students' asynchronous learning by designing them as quality time.

Take time for reflection on online intercultural learning:

Simply being exposed to other cultural ideas does not inevitably lead to intercultural learning, just as it does not lead to intercultural learning in a physical classroom or on a trip overseas. It's critical to include chances to zoom out, reflect on, and make sense of online intercultural encounters as a source of transformational intercultural learning that may broaden our student’s horizons without (necessarily) requiring them to leave their homes. Providing reflection models to our students aids them in making sense of the event and transferring their newly gained abilities to other situations.

Creating a safe, inclusive, accessible online learning environment:

Online platforms may be intimidating, especially when meeting individuals for the first time. We lose the social cues that we used to get from being in a physical situation, and communication can be uncomfortable and misunderstood. As a result, maintaining a secure and inclusive learning environment is critical, and it takes much more time and effort when done online. The willingness of pupils to engage in cross-cultural contact is crucial. By committing time to icebreakers, assisting students in developing relationships with lecturers and each other, and making ourselves accessible to students before and after class, we can provide the framework for this. Furthermore, higher education institutions must investigate and handle concerns of privacy and accessibility while developing online education protocols. To provide a safe place for debate and interaction for both instructors and students, ground rules must be established and constantly enforced.

Preventing isolation by increasing the presence of instructors:

Students should get the impression that the lecturer is standing beside them. It shouldn't feel like the route is on auto-pilot. Students feel more connected to teachers who speak to them directly via instructional videos, as though in a one-on-one chat. Another way to interact with the audience is through videos, which provide a feel of an instructor's personality.

Instructors should contact students who haven't signed into the course in a while to see what's up. The pupil may require assistance or encouragement. Students will feel less alone as a result of these touchpoints, and they will be less inclined to drop out of the course. Instructors should make it as simple as possible for students to contact them via email. Students are encouraged to speak up if they have concerns or questions at a regularly scheduled "office hour."

Consider hiring TAs to check in with students to see whether they're on track, find out if they need help, and collect feedback on the course in high-enrollment courses. The students that feel exhausted or isolated can contact service companies like online class help in New Hampshire or take my online classes for me in New Hampshire for the best academic help available online.

Delivering bite-sized, spaced learning:

Deliver course information in bite-sized bits to make it easier to swallow and remember. The science that backs up the chunking concept, according to Jeff Hurt, is as follows:

"Our attention span is 10 minutes, according to neuroscience." After then, our focus begins to weaken. The greatest technique to learn is to break knowledge down into ten-minute chunks and then give learners 10 minutes to process it."
By spreading out content, students will be able to recall and review it, therefore committing it to their long-term memory. Deliver material in a variety of formats, including videos, voice-over slides, audio, text, and panel discussions, to keep their minds engaged. The students that have difficulties in learning online can contact online class help services like take my online classes in New Hampshire or do my online classes for me in New Hampshire.

Making time for fun:

Learning is a serious business—in certain cases, it's a life or death situation. However, it can be made a fun event that students will remember and share with others.

The association's online courses must provide a unique and engaging experience to compete in the crowded online learning field against Coursera and EdX, schools and institutions, LinkedIn and Lynda.com, and hundreds of other for-profit firms entering the industry. This will build a learning experience that stands out in the marketplace if these engagement factors are included in the online learning programs.