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While technology has allowed students and educators to benefit from personalized learning by giving them the flexibility of offering online courses, completion rates are dismal.
According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, only about 58% of students who began college in 2012 were able to get their degrees after six years.
And this is for traditional school set-up. Among those attending online courses, only about 13% complete their degrees. As more students choose to go the online route, this poses a significant issue for online course creators and online educators.
Students failing to finish their courses would not be able to benefit from what their education has to offer. What can educators do to prevent this from happening? Here are some ideas:
Use the Paint by Numbers Strategy
Have you noticed the growing popularity of paint-by-numbers products being sold by online sellers? Do you know why they are famous? They allow novice painters to create stunning pieces by merely following the numbers that they have to paint on.
You can use this strategy to make sure that your topics can be easily digested by students who may have difficulty grasping complex subjects. This will give them the drive to see their output realized.
Promote a Learning Community
Studies show that educators that integrate virtual teams as part of their online course produce highly engaged students. These students have the highest likelihood of completing their online courses.
One of the downsides of attending online courses is the isolation that most students feel. It is part of human nature that they are more likely to participate once they feel like they are part of a community where they can interact with like-minded people. Some of the strategies that you can use are encouraging your students to join class-centered discussion rooms and forums.
Feed the FOMO
Another way of motivating your students to complete their courses is to feed the students’ “fear of missing out” attitude. Once students failing to attend their classes see that their colleagues are sticking to the program and are doing well, they would feel motivated to finish their course.
One way of doing this is by sharing individual accomplishments and projects from the program. You can do this by showcasing model students in your forums.
Allow Students to Feel Accountable
Have an accountability mentor check-in with your students to see how they are doing and assess whether they are going at the right pace. These mentors can ask what areas they are finding it hard to cope up with the lessons.
They can also offer help if needed. If you, as an online educator, can provide live advice and support on a one-on-one basis, the better. Self-directed learning can sometimes benefit students. Have a look if this is applicable to your students.
Rewarding Success
Once your students achieve success, they strive harder to work so that they attain more success. Make sure that your course would have enough challenging tasks that would encourage your students to push their limitations.
These tasks should not be so challenging that they become frustrating. Conquering difficult tasks students give them a high level of satisfaction and make them believe in their capabilities.
Be Wary of Attention Span
You have to understand that most students who choose to go the online route have a busy schedule. As such, their attention span is shorter, and educators need to consider creating short but meaningful courses.
Ideally, online course videos that are less than 10 minutes long have higher completion rates. Adding more would negatively impact viewing rates.
Once you have done everything else and completion rates are still low, you may want to analyze your content and delivery method. It would be best to get feedback from your students to understand what you can improve.
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