Mastering the digital realm is a must for any business that wants to thrive in today’s fast-changing landscape. It can help you stay ahead of your competitors and connect with your audience.

E-learning enables students, employees in training and casual learners to take part in organized instruction regardless of their physical location. It also allows them to access content on their own time.

Online Quizzes

Online quizzes provide immediate feedback to learners and enable them to identify areas of weakness in order to improve their knowledge. Quizzes also encourage critical thinking and promote learning through problem-solving skills.

Unlike traditional paper-based tests, online quizzes can include a variety of question types such as multiple choice, drag-n-drop matching, short answer and sequencing objects. This makes them fun and engaging for students and helps reduce test anxiety.

The fun factor of online quizzes can be further enhanced by incorporating images and videos. This enables learners to associate answers with visual representations of the information they want to remember, thereby helping them memorize it more effectively. It also gives them an opportunity to get a feel for the questions that will be included in their exam.

Video Lectures

Video lectures are an effective tool for introducing new concepts and enabling students to reinforce key points. However, they should be used as one part of a blended learning environment and not replace class time activities or face-to-face interactions.

It is important to use visuals to maintain student interest and to make your video lectures as streamlined and edited as possible to minimize the amount of information presented. You should also avoid the 'talking head' lecture style that is so common with traditional videos and instead incorporate graphics and charts into your content to maximize student retention.

Studies that have investigated media diversity within video lectures indicate that the incorporation of multiple forms of content can lead to a more meaningful learning experience for students. Generally, students report that they do not find problems with connecting different types of media during the same lesson (Costley & Lange 2017a).

Discussion Forums

One of the most common e-learning tools is an online discussion forum. However, instructors must think carefully about what learning goals they hope to achieve with this tool.

For example, instructors often use discussion forums as a means to improve learner work quality. Learners submit assignments to the instructor and other learners in a discussion forum for feedback, which then informs their own final submission.

Other uses include providing a safe space for discussions, or giving learners a chance to interact with each other through group work. For example, a leadership course could have different groups explore various aspects of leadership and then share their findings with the larger class. The ability to easily integrate with other software and platforms can also make a difference in the effectiveness of a discussion forum.

Self-Paced Modules

Unlike in-person learning, on-demand learning lets learners access course materials whenever they want. This is especially useful for companies with employees distributed across multiple time zones and for students taking classes online.

Using a learning management system (LMS), instructors can provide their students with the core learning content via modules that are easily accessible and effective. These modules may include short explainer videos, talks, or podcasts that present core concepts and offer opportunities to test understanding via polling and virtual pinboards.

This approach allows learners to break courses into smaller chunks that they can work on at their own pace. This is helpful for learners who experience test anxiety and struggle to keep up with a traditional course schedule. It also accommodates learners who want to learn more quickly or require more time to grasp the material.

Collaborative Online Tasks

While collaboration in online learning may seem elusive, researchers and teachers have found that collaborative activities result in positive student performance outcomes. These activities encourage learners to work at a higher level of thinking and develop the social interaction and supportive eLearning community that are necessary for effective distance education.

One effective collaborative online learning strategy is the think-pair-share technique. Instructors use this strategy by dividing students into pairs and providing them with an open question that they can discuss. They then share their thoughts with a partner and, in turn, with the class through an online discussion board thread.

Another strategy is the Jigsaw technique, which allows instructors to chunk content into multiple parts. This allows teachers to assign each group a part of the task, and then have each group present their understanding to other groups.