There are many community-building benefits of holding live online meetings in your course. Learn how to make the most of these sessions.

Links mentioned in the episode:

The activity for this episode is to think about your online course or one you’re developing. Outline three live sessions and include the following points. 1) What material was just covered, so you know what the Q & A might be like. 2) What extension to that material you can offer. 3) And what activity you might be able to do with students to deepen the learning. So your three live sessions outlines will have three bullet points each.

Then share one outline in the comments. Be sure to give some context so that we can give good feedback. Review other comments and offer feedback as you see a need. I look forward to reading your comments.

If you prefer reading this post, visit https://lauravcoulter.com/using-live-online-meetings-to-build-community/

If you'd like it in video form, visit https://youtu.be/zrV4ubJxTZ0

Reflection is making meaning of our experiences. It allows students to review their understanding, make connections, and draw conclusions about what they learned and how it applies to them. That’s big stuff. 

In this episode, we look at ways to bring reflection into an online course. 

The activity for this episode is to brainstorm five reflection questions that you might insert into your course. The first three are going to be the hardest to come up with but you should be able to flow after that. Feel free to brainstorm more than five. 

Then post two of your reflection questions in the comments of the video. Be sure to give us context so that we can give good feedback. Read the other responses and provide feedback as needed.

You can watch this episode as a video, if you prefer.  Or read it as a blog post. 

Download my free ebook, Online Course Creation Made Easy: 25 Activities to Engage Your Online Learner

Generating your own answers to questions is much more powerful than selecting an answer from a list. It engages your brain differently. Take advantage of how the brain works.  This episode gives some examples of how use this design strategy in your online course.

The activity for this episode is to think about your course. If you already have a course and have a multiple-choice question in it, re-work it so that students generate their own answer rather than choosing one of your options. If you don’t yet have a course developed, think about a topic you are going to cover and write three potential questions that you could use to help students generate their own answers from the learning.

Then share one open-ended question in the comments. Be sure to give us context for the question. That will help us give the right feedback. Please read and respond to other comments as you see a need. I look forward to reading your responses. 

If you prefer watching this episode as a video, visit https://youtu.be/KcaZR6_VMfA  

If you prefer to read it as a blog post, visit https://lauravcoulter.com/generating-your-own-answers  

Download my free ebook: Online Course Design Made Easy: 25 Activities to Engage Your Online Learner at https://LauraCreatesCourses.com

Microlearning is breaking larger topics into very small chunks, maybe a 2-3-minute video, an infographic, or a page of text. Personalization is when learners are able to move through the material as they see fit. The two together are powerful partners in learning.

The activity for this episode is to think about a specific topic in your course. How small can you break down the pieces of that content? Break your topic down into the smallest possible pieces and label how you might best convey that piece. Will you use a video, an infographic, etc?

In the comments below, let us know whether microlearning might work for some or all of your content. Join the conversation by responding to other comments.

Mentioned links: Learning & development: Across the generations 

People have preferred ways of learning. As a course creator, you need to understand the learning preferences and how to leverage them.   

This episode explores how you can design to meet your learners preferences and why you should.   

The activity for this episode is to think about something you plan to teach in your course. How would you provide the information to your visual learners? Your auditory learners? And your tactile learners?  

Then share your ideas with the community in the comments of the episode video. Read the other comments and offer support and feedback as you see a need.   

If you prefer watching this on video, visit Ep. 9 Learning Preferences 

If you prefer to read this in a blog post, visit https://lauravcoulter.com/design-for-student-learning-preferences/  

Check out my website at https://LauraCreatesCourses.com 

Download my free ebook Online Course Creation Made Easy: 25 Activities to Engage Your Online Learner

Adult learners are very different than K-12 learners. Our lives are full of more responsibility than most of us imagined we would have. That's why we have to look at adult learners differently than younger learners.

This episode explores the seven adult learning principles and how you can address them in your online course creation. In no particular order:

You can also watch this as a video or read the blog post. 

The activity for this episode is to think about yourself as a learner. Can you find examples from your own learning experience that match with an adult learning principle or two? Jot down as many examples as you can think of.  

Next, join the community conversation in the comments of the video. Share one of your examples and how it connects to one of the principles. I look forward to reading your example.

Spaced learning is a learning strategy that takes advantage of how the brain works. As a course designer, you can take advantage of spaced learning to help your students retain what they learned.   

Ep 2. Learning Activities

The activity for this episode is to think about your course and design two different spaced learning activities that you might use in it. You may not end up using these at all, but this is good practice and we know how important practice is. Design the activities and reflect on why this activity would help students.  

When you're done, choose the one that you either want most feedback on or the one that you really liked the most and post it and your reflection in the comments of the Ep 7 Spaced Learning video.   I want you to read what others wrote as well because that's going to help you gain insight into other how course creators think and it may inspire you. I look forward to reading what you wrote and contributing myself.

Can blogging create community in an online course? The short answer is yes, if you design it that way. This episode looks at ways to use blogging in an online course as both a learning activity and a way to build community between your students.

The activity for this episode is to brainstorm as many blogging activities or topics you can think of for your online course. Can you hit 50? They are not all going to be good, but there will be some gems in there if you dig deep.

Choose one of your activity ideas and post it in the comments with a brief explanation of why you chose it. Be sure to read and contribute to the conversation!

You can read the companion blog post at https://lauravcoulter.com/can-blogging-create-community-in-an-online-course 

If you prefer this in video version you can find it here: https://youtu.be/BPO1Cr1r8u0

Discussion board challenges are regular activities that help move the learning forward, allow students to practice, and develop community support. That's a lot of wins for one learning activity.   

The activity for this episode is to come up with three challenges you might use in your course. You will need to include what the students will be practicing for each challenge. And you also need to decide what feedback is most likely to be needed in this challenge.   

Next, choose one of those challenges and post it in the comments of the Ep 5 YouTube video. Browse through the comments to see what others wrote. Ask questions, provide feedback, or offer kudos. Join the community conversation.

You can watch this as a video.

Or read the companion blog post, Discussion Board Challenges Are Much More Than Just a Challenge.

You can also download my free ebook Online Course Creation Made Easy: 25 Activities to Engage Your Online Learners.

Using open-ended questions on discussion board can give you insights into student thinking. The trick is to ask the right questions to get what you need as the instructor.

The activity for this episode is to write two open-ended discussion board questions that you might use in a course you are creating or hope to create. It can be a multi-part question.

Then choose one of the questions to share in the comments below the companion YouTube video and explain why you chose to ask that question and what information you hope to glean out of it about your learners or their misconceptions. 

You can download a free copy of the ebook Online Course Creation Made Easy: 25 Activities to Engage Your Online Learners at LauraCreatesCourses.com 

Read the companion blog post here: https://lauravcoulter.com/what-can-you-learn-from-discussion-board-open-ended-questions?/