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Supporting eLearners

Instructors set out to support their students throughout a course to the best of their ability. This need to support eLearners is even greater for online instructors, as the online environment significantly affects the learner experience, especially regarding interactions between instructors and students. Furthermore, each student’s learning background, skills, and motivations can either minimize or increase the impact of the online environment on their learning experience. Online instructors who recognize which student skills and motivations can help with the learning process will be better equipped to support their eLearners.

Why is it important?

The online environment's impact on eLearners is due to two main factors: the requirement of technology and the physical separation of instructor and students. The first factor means that students must be proficient with technology to access course materials and communicate with others. The second factor—the physical separation—means that students have increased autonomy over their learning process and, with that, increased responsibility and need for self-discipline. They might also have increased anxiety regarding the learning process. All of these elements require heightened attention to support online learners.

How to put it into practice?

Instructors face both challenges and opportunities when it comes to supporting eLearners. Although they must take into account the same technological and physical factors of the online environment that impact the learning experience for students, instructors have the opportunity to counteract those challenges for students through a variety of support structures and strategies:

In an online course, learner supports have three main goals:

  1. Acquaint students with the online learning experience.
  2. Address obstacles that interfere with learner success.
  3. Provide contact information or links to people or services that can help the learner.

Here are a few specific examples of support for learners:

  • student orientation
  • welcome letter
  • course organization and rhythm

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Keywords:
support, needs, students, online, scaffold, orientation, welcome, letter, principle, example,
Doc ID:
121287
Owned by:
Karen S. in Instructional Resources
Created:
2022-09-13
Updated:
2024-08-23
Sites:
Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring