E-learning and the Human Connect refers to the balance between utilizing technology for education and preserving interpersonal connections within the learning experience. With the rapid growth of online learning platforms, it’s important to maintain the human element in education, as it plays a critical role in fostering engagement, collaboration, and a sense of belonging among learners.
E-learning offers numerous advantages, such as accessibility, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. However, it can sometimes lead to a sense of isolation, reduced opportunities for face-to-face interaction, and challenges in building relationships with peers and instructors.
To address these challenges and maintain the human connect in e-learning, several strategies can be employed:
Interactive learning platforms: Choose e-learning platforms that promote interaction, collaboration, and real-time communication among learners and instructors. These can include features such as video conferencing, live chat, discussion forums, and group projects.
Personalized learning experiences: Create personalized learning paths for students based on their needs, preferences, and goals. This can involve providing individualized feedback, offering various learning resources, and tailoring course content to address diverse learning styles.
Foster a sense of community: Encourage learners to engage with their peers and instructors through online discussion boards, virtual study groups, and social media channels. This can help build a supportive learning environment, promote collaboration, and reduce feelings of isolation.
Incorporate multimedia content: Utilize a variety of multimedia content, such as videos, podcasts, and interactive activities, to create engaging learning experiences that cater to different learning styles and preferences.
Blend online and offline learning: Combine e-learning with face-to-face interactions when possible, such as through in-person workshops, seminars, or networking events. This can help strengthen relationships and facilitate more meaningful connections among learners and instructors.
Ever since the integration of technology and human life, there has been a widespread notion that we are losing the human touch. There is no doubt that technology has advanced and at the same time simplified many aspects of our life on earth. However, does this benefit come without a price to pay?
Multiple mediums, devices and channels have come to help us stay connected with each other. This innovation have bridged the geographic, time, convenience, cost and continuity gaps and facilitates instant communication. But with these gains did we lose, empathy, compassion, depth, genuine concern and other human emotions. In this blog we will refer to many interesting facts which can help us get deeper insights on E-Learning and the Human Connect.
Due To E-Learning, Have We Lost the Human Connection.
By Lindsay O’ Neill
Traditional, in-person learning is a very human experience. Many classroom instructors, when teaching online for the first time, tend to try to do a straight transfer of materials from in-person to online. The instructor might record their lectures, post them online, and think that’s enough, but it’s better to format online materials so that their students can interact with the materials in the way that works best for them. ‘Teaching presence’ is both the act of developing an online course and then facilitating it. Instructor presence is important because it helps motivate students and reminds them that they’re part of a learning community. Careful development of an online course includes thinking about what students need to learn, how they’ll learn it, how they’ll know they learned it (via assignments and feedback), and how the instructor will help them along the way.
n line with the observations made by Lindsay O’Neill if the necessary transitional steps are not taken, then we can certainly expect a major loss in the human connection. Few remedial points suggested in the same article are as follows
- Humanize your learning experience with instructor presence and empathy
- Learner – Instructor and learner – learner connection to be constantly encouraged
- Flexible learning and Assignment options
- Include a wide range of content materials to avoid monotone and mundane mode of learning
- Develop more inclusive assessments with constructive competition to promote a healthy environment
The Ongoing tussle between technology and people’s readiness by – John B Horrigon
Since the late 1990s, inequalities in tech adoption have been characterized as the “digital divide,” and the focus has been mainly on the binary “haves versus have knots. However, there has recently been a pivot in the technology adoption discussion that looks at people’s preparedness, such as their digital skills and their trust in technology, which may influence their use of digital tools, separate and apart from their access to them. The term often used to capture these factors is people’s “digital readiness. When organizations, such as libraries, think about digital readiness, it is usually about whether people have the skills to use information technology, historically speaking the technology always surges ahead in the beginning and the readiness of the people follows it, in days to come.
This Observation made by John B Horrigon remains true to this day as the world is experiencing a sweeping transformation especially in the e-learning domain.
Below are some interesting statistics about people’s confidence level in embracing new technology.
How confident people are in using computers, smartphones or other electronic devices to do the things they need to do online.
- 54% of internet and smartphone users said they are “very confident.”
- 32% said they are “somewhat confident.”
- 10% said they are “only a little confident.”
- 4% said they are “not at all confident.”
Research finding data from Pawresearch.org.
Creative ways of providing the H-Factor by giving individual attention to learners by Dr. Stacey Gonzalez.
We must ensure that we are intentional in our design of online learning spaces that provide human connections and emotional support for both learners and trainers. Here are a few simple adjustments which can be easily applied during virtual live sessions (i.e. zoom, Google meets, etc.) to build socially connected and emotionally supportive online learning spaces.
- Have a welcome screen ready
- Have a inclusive ice breaker
- Have collaborative norms like dividing them in groups/teams to do certain activities together
- Be Genuine in your intention and approach
- Have social breaks in between
- Have a well timed session
- Use personalized and customized presentations
As spelled out by Dr. Stacey Gonzales, it is really important for us to have the (H) Human factor.
Of course all our sessions may have different number of learners. More the number of learners it is more difficult to have the human touch. That is why we need to be careful in choosing the batch size for a learning session. It is a better idea to divide the group into small groups so that they can connect with each other and you can also connect with them as groups.
One of the best ways is to be organized in maintaining a log of having a one to one session with your e-learning learners. All opportunities to display their talents or abilities in the class should be distributed equally to everyone. No one should feel left alone and everyone should be listened to. Being on top of this helps indeed.
Summary
in summary, e-learning and the human connect involve balancing the benefits of digital education with the need for interpersonal connections. By incorporating interactive and collaborative elements into e-learning experiences, educators can maintain the human touch and foster a more engaging, supportive, and effective learning environment.
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