Distance Learning, mLearning, Digital Education, Technology

The sudden move to remote online instruction, coupled with social justice issues plaguing the United States, has forced college and university instructors to grapple with what it means to be a good…

“If you want to learn something quickly, you need to immerse yourself in that thing and immediately implement what you’re learning.”
Benjamin P. Hardy
“How To Learn in Two Days What Normally Takes Six Months”

Why is content curation so relevant for learning?

Teachers who want to learn more about teaching with technology will find this Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), Introduction to Technology-Enabled Learning (TEL), informative and engaging. Using up-to-date learning design and simple, accessible technology, the course runs on an easy-to-use learning platform available via the Internet. The course is designed for teachers who want to build on their knowledge and practice in teaching and learning with technology. It will run over five weeks and requires approximately three to five hours of time each week. Designed to accommodate teachers’ busy schedules, the course offers flexibility with options for learning the content. You will learn from readings, videos, discussions with other participants and instructors, meaningful exercises, quizzes and short assignments. Certification is available for those who wish to complete all required exercises and quizzes.

Digital readers unconsciously read text on a page or on a screen in an F or fast pattern. Most adults in the western world have been conditioned to unconsciously read text in a Z pattern. Today’s digital generations read in a pattern that’s very different from the way we learned in school.

Catch up on the rest of the series: 

Reinventing Learning for the Always-On Generation - Part 1: Why are kids different today?

Reinventing Learning for the Always-On Generation - Part 2: The Nine Core Learning Attributes of the Digital Generations: A Primer

Reinventing Learning for the Always-On Generation -  Part 3: Digital learners prefer receiving information quickly

Reinventing Learning for the Always-On Generation - Part 4: Digital learners prefer parallel processing and multitasking

Reinventing Learning for the Always-On Generation - Part 5: Digital learners process pictures, sounds, color and video before text

Reinventing Learning for the Always-On Generation - Part 6, Attribute #4: Digital learners prefer to network and collaborate

How to learn, via fifteen minute text and audio 'blinks' that you can dive into whenever you have a spare minute.

Above all, introducing computer science projects and activities can bring a new, experimental hands-on element to many science lessons. This integrative approach also helps students who do not have a CS elective in their school, or who cannot add a CS elective due to schedule conflicts or space availability. (Many schools have limited CS elective classes due to a teacher shortage.)

The next big transformative tech surge may well come in the form of virtual reality. But what exactly is virtual reality? Simply put, it’s immersive first person software that transports the user to a whole other space. They can operate within that space as if in reality, but the difference is that space is actually digital. It is different from Augmented Reality (AR), which layers data over our reality to produce a new experience of our actual world. The popular game Pokemon Go is a great example of AR in action.

Post walks you through the features of some of the interactive video tools that can take learning experience to a different level.

Technological advancements, have an instrumental role to play for the future of education. Get into the know of the latest trends.

Notably, Gen Z ranked YouTube and video as preferred methods for learning by large margins over millennials. In fact, YouTube was second only to teachers as a learning tool, and ranked higher than lectures, in-person activities with classmates, learning applications and books.

More and more organisations are choosing to complement their face-to-face inductions online or move to an entirely online induction model.  Here are 3 reasons why…

“The Day 1” experience

Sometimes it’s the time it takes to set new starters up on your systems or finalise the paperwork, sometimes it’s not having enough people start around the same time to justify the cost and resource of running a face to face induction session.  Whatever the reason, it’s rare that new starters experience a consistent, formal induction on their first day.

Sure, there’s the office tour, the meet and greets, but how do they understand where your organisation is headed, the values that drive you, and what’s expected of them… from day one?  Or even before their start date?

An online induction means these all-important messages that set the scene and communicate who you are and what you do are delivered from the get-go. This can include video of your CEO or MD talking conversationally about what your organisation’s vision and values mean to them. From Day 1, your new starters can have the impression that senior leaders are approachable and accessible.

Streamlined content

Often the content that new starters need to be aware of is housed in multiple locations: your web page, your intranet, your shared drive, in old emails, in people’s heads.  A new starter needs a map.

An online induction corrals all that must-know, or must-know-where-to-find information in a cohesive way.  It signposts people to the places they can access the information now, and return to later as needed. And if they need to find it later… it’s the most up to date version, not a new starter manual that is out of date as it’s too hard to maintain.

Getting connected

There is so much opportunity to connect new starters to each other and encourage that sense of belonging to a ‘cohort’.  Consider allocating someone the responsibility of being your “Induction community manager” and taking advantage of the discussion groups on your LMS, or standalone social networks. 

This means you can dish out work-integrated challenges or activities for them to complete, and come back to post and share their insights amongst the group.  Moving your induction online means new starters can form connections with colleagues across geographical and departmental boundaries – at a fraction of the cost and potential time lags involved in achieving this face to face.

To read more about moving your induction process online click here. And see a vignette of one of our Inductions.

Learn more about how to move your induction online

Sarah Davie is the Global Design Lead for The Learning Factor. Sarah has a passion for Onboarding and Induction solutions. She is an experienced learning consultant with a demonstrated history of delivering for clients from large Corporate organisations, Government sectors, global Consulting Firms and boutique Learning Agencies. 

This the fifth in a series of blogs looking at online language... What is it? How is it being used? Why do we need to teach it? Here Esther looks at why we need to teach online language as part of digital capability and basic literacy.