Strategies to Inspire and Motivate Your Online Course Attendees

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Online learning is growing increasingly popular.

As people continue to search for convenient ways to expand their skills and knowledge in the digital world, eLearning opportunities stand out as the best solution.

Thanks to the growth of the web, and the availability of various course-building software solutions, anyone can build an effective course today.

Unlike traditional classes, users also have the power to take lessons at a time that suits them and control various aspects of their learning.

The biggest problem with online learning for would-be educators is that the popularity of the medium has created a lot of competition.

If you want to stand out and make your course a success, you’ll need to motivate, inspire, and engage your students.

Here’s how you can do just that.

Connect With Students and Give Feedback

People can often achieve more in educational environments when they receive custom feedback and support from a committed educator.

Though it’s possible for you to use videos and images to share information effectively with your audience, it’s also worth giving them a platform where they can put what they’ve learned to the test.

Setting assignments and adding quizzes to your online course will help your audience to experiment with their new skills and see the clear value of your course.

It’s also a chance for you to see how well your students are progressing with the educational content and offer feedback.

For instance, you might notice that a particular student in your digital marketing class didn’t get great scores on their assignment about social media.

Sending a message where you can share some extra educational resources with that student and guide them on what to do next will create a more personalized learning experience.

Offer a Range of Resources

As a would-be educator, you probably already know that different people absorb information in different ways.

Some of us respond best when we’re presented with visual content, while others respond better to face-to-face conversations with educators.

Although you can’t create a different course for every kind of learner in your audience, you can provide a range of resources that can support everyone.

For instance, you might curate lists of articles that students can read after watching one of your videos to expand their understanding or use pictures and graphs as visual representations of data.

Some online educators even allow their students to arrange for one-on-one video calls for them when they need to ask specific questions about a topic.

Create a Community

One of the best things about school, college, or any learning environment, is being able to connect with friends and like-minded people.

If you want to ensure that your students remain committed to the learning experience you’re offering, creating a community is a great way to do that.

For example, if you’re holding a course about marketing trends, you can launch a discussion forum on your website where people can come to talk about their latest assignments about marketing automation, or discuss recent lessons that you’ve published.

You could also build your own groups on social media and invite students to come and get involved.

Creating a community gives your students another reason to feel invested in your course or online education experience.

It’s also a great way for you to get a sense of what your customers like and dislike about your courses.

You can read up on comments left by the community to figure out where you need to improve.

Start on the Right Note

From the moment a student signs up for your course, you need to ensure that you’re establishing the right tone.

Think about the onboarding experience you use to welcome your student into the learning environment.

How do you set expectations with that initial welcome message or email? Do you have a quick call or video conversation with students to get them started?

Maybe you could record a video where you take your students on a virtual tour of the online course environment.

You can show them where they can find resources, how to upload assignments, and where they can interact with fellow classmates.

The right onboarding experience is your chance to make your students feel more comfortable in the environment you’ve built for them.

It’s also your opportunity to answer any questions that your customers might have straight away.

Keep Learning and Improving

Finally, when you run an online course, it’s crucial to pay attention to your students, and their responses to the activities and experiences you deliver.

Most online course creation tools today will allow you to access reports and analytics which show you what kind of lessons your students like the most.

Conversely, such tools can signal when students are most likely to lose interest in your course.

You can also track things like how often your students come back for a second course after finishing your first one and pay attention to the reviews they give you online.

No one’s going to be better at telling you how to keep your students inspired and motivated than your students themselves.

With that in mind, make sure that your students have an easy way to leave feedback and that you have a system in place for measuring important engagement metrics.

Get Out There and Teach

Teaching your own courses online has never been easier. Anyone can create an online educational experience today.

All you need to do is make sure that you’re doing the right things to keep your students engaged, invested, and inspired.