How to Use Zoom More Effectively to Increase Engagement in Your Course

How to Use Zoom More Effectively to Increase Engagement in Your Course

Much of the excitement around online learning emphasizes its possibilities for asynchronous learning (where each learner learns at their own pace and often on their own schedule) and mass learning (where potentially thousands of learners can take a course at the same time). However, this can get a bit…lonely. Can the sense of community and the relationships that are so important in in-person learning be replicated in online learning? Can online learning allow for social learning, where learners gain from their peers’ perspectives and experiences?

Creating learner communities or cohorts could be an answer. A cohort is a group of learners that progress through a course together. In in-person learning, cohorts are usually groups of students who have all the same classes and schedules. In an online environment, an entire group of learners taking a course could form a single cohort, but smaller groups often work best to create a sense of community. Let’s look at some common questions that instructors have about creating smaller cohorts within the larger class.

How large should a cohort be?
There has been much research on the significance of class sizes, with the majority finding that smaller class sizes translate to better learner outcomes. High instructor involvement tends to predict better student involvement, and instructors can generally interact at an individual level with 30 learners at most. Does this hold true for online learning, as well? It very likely does.

There are many factors that affect cohort size: university or school policy, the technical limitations of the online course platform, the kind of course and course content, the instructor’s preferred teaching style, and the learners’ preferred methods of learning. For instance, a heavily discussion-based philosophy course might need much smaller cohorts than an entry-level marketing course. Regardless of the size of the class, smaller cohorts of 5–20 learners tend to be beneficial.

Depending on the size of your class, you might decide to have your entire class be a single cohort or to split learners into smaller groups.

How should learners be split into cohorts?
This choice depends on the course structure, the kinds of assignments, and learner preferences. You might want to split by geography, so that learners have the potential to interact in person. You can ask learners to form their own cohorts, or you might use the online platform or some other mechanism to create cohorts at random to eliminate any possible bias. You can form cohorts based on class schedules, the other classes your learners are taking, or (especially for learners who are also working) work schedules. A diversity of ages and experiences might benefit the cohorts.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to this. If you find that a particular learner is struggling in a cohort, you could change the learner group or even have that person work independently. It’s up to the instructor to figure out what’s best for the class.

What can instructors do to create better online cohorts?
When learners have met face-to-face, working and interacting in smaller groups generally follows naturally. People sit together in class, commute, and eat together. In online classes, the mechanisms for getting learners to interact naturally like this need to be established by instructors.

Whether your cohort is the entire class or smaller cohorts within a class, you should keep the following in mind.

Create opportunities for learners to work together
Use the small-group discussion feature in online courses to get learners to talk to each other once or twice a week.
Assign group projects and presentations to members of a cohort to get them to work together.
Get learners to conduct peer reviews of each other’s assignments.
Encourage learners to form study groups within their cohorts.
Make cohorts responsible for passing on class information and announcements.
Establish cohorts for the long term
A smaller cohort should remain the same for the duration of either the course, a semester, or a year. For longer courses, semester-long cohorts might be useful so that learners get to interact with different people over time.
If you have multiple cohorts in the same class, use competition
(Note that these methods may work for some learners and not for others. If you begin to use these methods and find that they don’t work or that learners consider them a burden, be flexible and discontinue whatever doesn’t work.)
Make each cohort a “team” and have the cohort teams compete against each other in class quizzes, average assignment scores, and other activities.
Get learners in a cohort to pick a team name or mascot.
Use the dashboard and leaderboard features that most online platforms have to maintain a leaderboard of the different scores of the cohorts in your class.
How do cohorts benefit learners?
While higher education has only just begun to use online courses on a large scale, professional courses and continuing education courses, which often have learners with full-time jobs, have been online a lot longer. MBA programs, in particular, have long offered cohort learning models, both online and offline. Some studies have shown a correlation between learner cohorts and increased retention and course completion rates.

Increased engagement: Smaller groups tend to lead to better learner engagement and participation. (However, this is greatly dependent on the type of course and the learner background. Some learners benefit more than others.) Learners in small groups have more opportunities to participate in class and interact with each other.
Greater learner collaboration: Group interactions allow learners to help each other through difficulties with course content, address queries themselves, and only approach the instructor when their peers cannot help.
More informal learning: Interacting and working with peers gives learners more skills than the course content by itself. They share and discuss ideas among themselves, argue their points, and learn to come to a consensus. They give each other feedback, as well, instead of relying only on instructor feedback.
Peer support: The benefits of cohorts extend beyond academics and into everyday life. Peers can motivate each other to complete coursework, sympathize with difficulties, and provide support with the challenges of balancing study with life, which might include work and a family.
The education system is as valuable for teaching life skills and interpersonal skills as it is for teaching what’s strictly in the curriculum. Creating learner cohorts is one way to bring this aspect of in-person learning into the online classroom.

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Much of the excitement around online learning emphasizes its possibilities for asynchronous learning (where each learner learns at their own pace and often on their own schedule) and mass learning (where potentially thousands of learners can take a course at the same time). However, this can get a bit…lonely. Can the sense of community and the relationships that are so important in in-person learning be replicated in online learning? Can online learning allow for social learning, where learners gain from their peers’ perspectives and experiences?

Hero Image

Creating learner communities or cohorts could be an answer. A cohort is a group of learners that progress through a course together. In in-person learning, cohorts are usually groups of students who have all the same classes and schedules. In an online environment, an entire group of learners taking a course could form a single cohort, but smaller groups often work best to create a sense of community. Let’s look at some common questions that instructors have about creating smaller cohorts within the larger class.

How large should a cohort be?

There has been much research on the significance of class sizes, with the majority finding that smaller class sizes translate to better learner outcomes. High instructor involvement tends to predict better student involvement, and instructors can generally interact at an individual level with 30 learners at most. Does this hold true for online learning, as well? It very likely does.

There are many factors that affect cohort size: university or school policy, the technical limitations of the online course platform, the kind of course and course content, the instructor’s preferred teaching style, and the learners’ preferred methods of learning. For instance, a heavily discussion-based philosophy course might need much smaller cohorts than an entry-level marketing course. Regardless of the size of the class, smaller cohorts of 5–20 learners tend to be beneficial.

Depending on the size of your class, you might decide to have your entire class be a single cohort or to split learners into smaller groups.

How should learners be split into cohorts?

This choice depends on the course structure, the kinds of assignments, and learner preferences. You might want to split by geography, so that learners have the potential to interact in person. You can ask learners to form their own cohorts, or you might use the online platform or some other mechanism to create cohorts at random to eliminate any possible bias. You can form cohorts based on class schedules, the other classes your learners are taking, or (especially for learners who are also working) work schedules. A diversity of ages and experiences might benefit the cohorts.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to this. If you find that a particular learner is struggling in a cohort, you could change the learner group or even have that person work independently. It’s up to the instructor to figure out what’s best for the class.

What can instructors do to create better online cohorts?

When learners have met face-to-face, working and interacting in smaller groups generally follows naturally. People sit together in class, commute, and eat together. In online classes, the mechanisms for getting learners to interact naturally like this need to be established by instructors.

Whether your cohort is the entire class or smaller cohorts within a class, you should keep the following in mind.

  • Create opportunities for learners to work together
    • Use the small-group discussion feature in online courses to get learners to talk to each other once or twice a week.
    • Assign group projects and presentations to members of a cohort to get them to work together.
    • Get learners to conduct peer reviews of each other’s assignments.
    • Encourage learners to form study groups within their cohorts.
    • Make cohorts responsible for passing on class information and announcements.
  • Establish cohorts for the long term
    • A smaller cohort should remain the same for the duration of either the course, a semester, or a year. For longer courses, semester-long cohorts might be useful so that learners get to interact with different people over time.
  • If you have multiple cohorts in the same class, use competition

    (Note that these methods may work for some learners and not for others. If you begin to use these methods and find that they don’t work or that learners consider them a burden, be flexible and discontinue whatever doesn’t work.)

    • Make each cohort a “team” and have the cohort teams compete against each other in class quizzes, average assignment scores, and other activities.
    • Get learners in a cohort to pick a team name or mascot.
    • Use the dashboard and leaderboard features that most online platforms have to maintain a leaderboard of the different scores of the cohorts in your class.

How do cohorts benefit learners?

While higher education has only just begun to use online courses on a large scale, professional courses and continuing education courses, which often have learners with full-time jobs, have been online a lot longer. MBA programs, in particular, have long offered cohort learning models, both online and offline. Some studies have shown a correlation between learner cohorts and increased retention and course completion rates.

  • Increased engagement: Smaller groups tend to lead to better learner engagement and participation. (However, this is greatly dependent on the type of course and the learner background. Some learners benefit more than others.) Learners in small groups have more opportunities to participate in class and interact with each other.
  • Greater learner collaboration: Group interactions allow learners to help each other through difficulties with course content, address queries themselves, and only approach the instructor when their peers cannot help.
  • More informal learning: Interacting and working with peers gives learners more skills than the course content by itself. They share and discuss ideas among themselves, argue their points, and learn to come to a consensus. They give each other feedback, as well, instead of relying only on instructor feedback.
  • Peer support: The benefits of cohorts extend beyond academics and into everyday life. Peers can motivate each other to complete coursework, sympathize with difficulties, and provide support with the challenges of balancing study with life, which might include work and a family.

The education system is as valuable for teaching life skills and interpersonal skills as it is for teaching what’s strictly in the curriculum. Creating learner cohorts is one way to bring this aspect of in-person learning into the online classroom.

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<div><img class="scale-with-grid" src="https://ansrsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Build-an-Online-Community-with-Learner-Cohorts.jpg" alt="Hero Image" width="1024" height="100%"></div>
<br/>

<p>Creating learner communities or cohorts could be an answer. A cohort is a group of learners that progress through a course together. In in-person learning, cohorts are usually groups of students who have all the same classes and schedules. In an online environment, an entire group of learners taking a course could form a single cohort, but smaller groups often work best to create a sense of community. Let’s look at some common questions that instructors have about creating smaller cohorts within the larger class.</p>

<h4 class="firstHeading">How large should a cohort be?</h4>

<p>There has been much research on the significance of class sizes, with the majority finding that smaller class sizes translate to better learner outcomes. High instructor involvement tends to predict better student involvement, and instructors can generally interact at an individual level with 30 learners at most. Does this hold true for online learning, as well? It very likely does.</p>

<p>There are many factors that affect cohort size: university or school policy, the technical limitations of the online course platform, the kind of course and course content, the instructor’s preferred teaching style, and the learners’ preferred methods of learning. For instance, a heavily discussion-based philosophy course might need much smaller cohorts than an entry-level marketing course. Regardless of the size of the class, smaller cohorts of 5–20 learners tend to be beneficial.</p>

<p>Depending on the size of your class, you might decide to have your entire class be a single cohort or to split learners into smaller groups.</p>

<h4 class="firstHeading">How should learners be split into cohorts?</h4>

<p>This choice depends on the course structure, the kinds of assignments, and learner preferences. You might want to split by geography, so that learners have the potential to interact in person. You can ask learners to form their own cohorts, or you might use the online platform or some other mechanism to create cohorts at random to eliminate any possible bias. You can form cohorts based on class schedules, the other classes your learners are taking, or (especially for learners who are also working) work schedules. A diversity of ages and experiences might benefit the cohorts.</p>

<p>There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to this. If you find that a particular learner is struggling in a cohort, you could change the learner group or even have that person work independently. It’s up to the instructor to figure out what’s best for the class.</p>

<h4 class="firstHeading">What can instructors do to create better online cohorts?</h4>

<p>When learners have met face-to-face, working and interacting in smaller groups generally follows naturally. People sit together in class, commute, and eat together. In online classes, the mechanisms for getting learners to interact naturally like this need to be established by instructors. </p>

<p>Whether your cohort is the entire class or smaller cohorts within a class, you should keep the following in mind.</p>


<ul>
     <li><h5 class="secondHeading">Create opportunities for learners to work together</h5>
           <ul> 
                <li>Use the small-group discussion feature in online courses to get learners to talk to each other once or twice a week.</li>
               <li>Assign group projects and presentations to members of a cohort to get them to work together.</li>
               <li>Get learners to conduct peer reviews of each other’s assignments.</li>
               <li>Encourage learners to form study groups within their cohorts.</li>
               <li>Make cohorts responsible for passing on class information and announcements.</li>
           </ul>
      </li>
      <li><h5 class="secondHeading">Establish cohorts for the long term</h5>
            <ul>
                <li>A smaller cohort should remain the same for the duration of either the course, a semester, or a year. For longer courses, semester-long cohorts might be useful so that learners get to interact with different people over time.</li>
            </ul>
      </li>
      <li><h5 class="secondHeading">If you have multiple cohorts in the same class, use competition </h5> (Note that these methods may work for some learners and not for others. If you begin to use these methods and find that they don’t work or that learners consider them a burden, be flexible and discontinue whatever doesn’t work.)
            <ul>
                 <li>Make each cohort a “team” and have the cohort teams compete against each other in class quizzes, average assignment scores, and other activities.</li>
                <li>Get learners in a cohort to pick a team name or mascot.</li>
                <li>Use the dashboard and leaderboard features that most online platforms have to maintain a leaderboard of the different scores of the cohorts in your class. </li>
            </ul>
      </li>
</ul>

<h4 class="firstHeading">How do cohorts benefit learners?</h4>

<p>While higher education has only just begun to use online courses on a large scale, professional courses and continuing education courses, which often have learners with full-time jobs, have been online a lot longer. MBA programs, in particular, have long offered cohort learning models, both online and offline. Some studies have shown a correlation between learner cohorts and increased retention and course completion rates. </p>

<ul>
          <li><strong>Increased engagement:</strong> Smaller groups tend to lead to better learner engagement and participation. (However, this is greatly dependent on the type of course and the learner background. Some learners benefit more than others.) Learners in small groups have more opportunities to participate in class and interact with each other.</li>
         <li><strong>Greater learner collaboration:</strong> Group interactions allow learners to help each other through difficulties with course content, address queries themselves, and only approach the instructor when their peers cannot help.</li>
         <li><strong>More informal learning:</strong> Interacting and working with peers gives learners more skills than the course content by itself. They share and discuss ideas among themselves, argue their points, and learn to come to a consensus. They give each other feedback, as well, instead of relying only on instructor feedback.</li>
        <li><strong>Peer support:</strong> The benefits of cohorts extend beyond academics and into everyday life. Peers can motivate each other to complete coursework, sympathize with difficulties, and provide support with the challenges of balancing study with life, which might include work and a family.</li>
</ul>

<p>The education system is as valuable for teaching life skills and interpersonal skills as it is for teaching what’s strictly in the curriculum. Creating learner cohorts is one way to bring this aspect of in-person learning into the online classroom. </p>";s:5:"align";s:7:"justify";s:12:"align-mobile";s:0:"";s:9:"column_bg";s:0:"";s:8:"bg_image";s:0:"";s:11:"bg_position";s:20:"no-repeat;left top;;";s:7:"bg_size";s:4:"auto";s:13:"margin_bottom";s:0:"";s:7:"padding";s:0:"";s:7:"animate";s:0:"";s:7:"classes";s:0:"";s:5:"style";s:0:"";}}}s:4:"attr";a:9:{s:8:"bg_color";s:0:"";s:8:"bg_image";s:0:"";s:11:"bg_position";s:20:"no-repeat;left top;;";s:7:"bg_size";s:4:"auto";s:7:"move_up";s:0:"";s:7:"padding";s:0:"";s:13:"column_margin";s:0:"";s:14:"vertical_align";s:3:"top";s:5:"class";s:0:"";}}}}}
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Much of the excitement around online learning emphasizes its possibilities for asynchronous learning (where each learner learns at their own pace and often on their own schedule) and mass learning (where potentially thousands of learners can take a course at the same time). However, this can get a bit…lonely. Can the sense of community and the relationships that are so important in in-person learning be replicated in online learning? Can online learning allow for social learning, where learners gain from their peers’ perspectives and experiences?

Hero Image

Creating learner communities or cohorts could be an answer. A cohort is a group of learners that progress through a course together. In in-person learning, cohorts are usually groups of students who have all the same classes and schedules. In an online environment, an entire group of learners taking a course could form a single cohort, but smaller groups often work best to create a sense of community. Let’s look at some common questions that instructors have about creating smaller cohorts within the larger class.

How large should a cohort be?

There has been much research on the significance of class sizes, with the majority finding that smaller class sizes translate to better learner outcomes. High instructor involvement tends to predict better student involvement, and instructors can generally interact at an individual level with 30 learners at most. Does this hold true for online learning, as well? It very likely does.

There are many factors that affect cohort size: university or school policy, the technical limitations of the online course platform, the kind of course and course content, the instructor’s preferred teaching style, and the learners’ preferred methods of learning. For instance, a heavily discussion-based philosophy course might need much smaller cohorts than an entry-level marketing course. Regardless of the size of the class, smaller cohorts of 5–20 learners tend to be beneficial.

Depending on the size of your class, you might decide to have your entire class be a single cohort or to split learners into smaller groups.

How should learners be split into cohorts?

This choice depends on the course structure, the kinds of assignments, and learner preferences. You might want to split by geography, so that learners have the potential to interact in person. You can ask learners to form their own cohorts, or you might use the online platform or some other mechanism to create cohorts at random to eliminate any possible bias. You can form cohorts based on class schedules, the other classes your learners are taking, or (especially for learners who are also working) work schedules. A diversity of ages and experiences might benefit the cohorts.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to this. If you find that a particular learner is struggling in a cohort, you could change the learner group or even have that person work independently. It’s up to the instructor to figure out what’s best for the class.

What can instructors do to create better online cohorts?

When learners have met face-to-face, working and interacting in smaller groups generally follows naturally. People sit together in class, commute, and eat together. In online classes, the mechanisms for getting learners to interact naturally like this need to be established by instructors.

Whether your cohort is the entire class or smaller cohorts within a class, you should keep the following in mind.

  • Create opportunities for learners to work together
    • Use the small-group discussion feature in online courses to get learners to talk to each other once or twice a week.
    • Assign group projects and presentations to members of a cohort to get them to work together.
    • Get learners to conduct peer reviews of each other’s assignments.
    • Encourage learners to form study groups within their cohorts.
    • Make cohorts responsible for passing on class information and announcements.
  • Establish cohorts for the long term
    • A smaller cohort should remain the same for the duration of either the course, a semester, or a year. For longer courses, semester-long cohorts might be useful so that learners get to interact with different people over time.
  • If you have multiple cohorts in the same class, use competition

    (Note that these methods may work for some learners and not for others. If you begin to use these methods and find that they don’t work or that learners consider them a burden, be flexible and discontinue whatever doesn’t work.)

    • Make each cohort a “team” and have the cohort teams compete against each other in class quizzes, average assignment scores, and other activities.
    • Get learners in a cohort to pick a team name or mascot.
    • Use the dashboard and leaderboard features that most online platforms have to maintain a leaderboard of the different scores of the cohorts in your class.

How do cohorts benefit learners?

While higher education has only just begun to use online courses on a large scale, professional courses and continuing education courses, which often have learners with full-time jobs, have been online a lot longer. MBA programs, in particular, have long offered cohort learning models, both online and offline. Some studies have shown a correlation between learner cohorts and increased retention and course completion rates.

  • Increased engagement: Smaller groups tend to lead to better learner engagement and participation. (However, this is greatly dependent on the type of course and the learner background. Some learners benefit more than others.) Learners in small groups have more opportunities to participate in class and interact with each other.
  • Greater learner collaboration: Group interactions allow learners to help each other through difficulties with course content, address queries themselves, and only approach the instructor when their peers cannot help.
  • More informal learning: Interacting and working with peers gives learners more skills than the course content by itself. They share and discuss ideas among themselves, argue their points, and learn to come to a consensus. They give each other feedback, as well, instead of relying only on instructor feedback.
  • Peer support: The benefits of cohorts extend beyond academics and into everyday life. Peers can motivate each other to complete coursework, sympathize with difficulties, and provide support with the challenges of balancing study with life, which might include work and a family.

The education system is as valuable for teaching life skills and interpersonal skills as it is for teaching what’s strictly in the curriculum. Creating learner cohorts is one way to bring this aspect of in-person learning into the online classroom.

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