Online learning can be massively beneficial for students and online teachers alike. However, there are also numerous downsides to online learning.
For instance, many students find it difficult to concentrate during online classes, especially if the lessons are dull. It’s important to make your online classes fun and engaging.
Otherwise, students may find it hard to engage with the lesson. This may result in students becoming bored, meaning that they don’t absorb much information.
So if you want to make your online lessons enjoyable, simply use these techniques and you will know that how to make online learning fun and engaging!
How To Make Online Learning Fun?
Add Activities
When teaching online, your classes shouldn’t just be massive lectures.
This is particularly true if you are teaching kids, as they likely won’t have the capacity to sit and listen for hours on end.
Therefore, we recommend breaking up the class by adding activities at different intervals.
Basically, this just means that you should give your students something to do other than just sitting there listening to you talk.
For instance, class discussions are a great method of breaking up your lessons. Just make sure that you find an interesting topic for discussion.
Otherwise, your students will likely find these activities tedious instead of enjoyable. Another great activity is class presentations.
Thanks to online meeting platforms, such as Zoom, Skype, and Google Teams, these presentations are even easier to do online than in person.
Make Your Classes Interactive
During in-person class, it’s more typical for the classroom teacher to spend most of their time speaking while students listen.
However, this technique may not be optimal when teaching online. After all, getting your students to read in silence won’t work well online.
This is because these techniques aren’t interactive. Interactive lessons allow students to engage with the visual materials.
Not only this, but interactive activities allow students to have virtual learning fun and contribute to a collaborative online classroom experience.
This is much better than passive learning. The good news is that online learning offers lots of different interactive learning opportunities.
This includes quizzes, digital escape rooms, and online debates. Be sure to experiment with some of these techniques to get your online students involved.
Even if your students are quite shy and don’t want to speak during an online class, you can encourage them to use dialogue boxes.
Group work is also a great way to interact with students. Teamwork will improve the communication skills of your students.
Additionally, it allows students to break down complicated tasks by working together.
Ensure That Your Classes Are Manageable
Your students will rapidly become bored during a long lesson. This is because shorter lessons will give your students more opportunities to re-energize their brains.
Many online classes are less than 30 minutes long. At the very least, you should refrain from having classes that exceed 1 hour.
Though timing is always important in online teaching, it is particularly crucial for online learning.
After all, students will often have shorter attention spans when they are remote learning.
Generally speaking, one of the best strategies for ensuring that your lessons are manageable is to avoid having slides filled with loads of text.
This is because students likely won’t be able to read all of this text. Plus, these extensive explanations can cause your key points to become lost.
A good way of determining whether your lessons are digestible is to test them on a friend or family member.
If they become bored during your lesson, this could be an indication that you may need to split the class into more bitesize chunks.
Moreover, you can use lesson planning or drawing tools to ensure that your classes are more engaging and students stay focused.
Nearpad, Planboard, and Evernote are among our favorite apps for lesson planning.
If you want to have longer lessons, it’s a good idea to break the lesson into different learning activities.
By having different activities, your students won’t become fatigued.
Be A Compelling Teacher
Your online teaching style is one of the main factors that will affect whether or not your students find your online lessons fun or miserable.
To give your students a more online classes fun learning experiencesf, you should be a confident, lively, and enthusiastic teacher.
This is particularly true if students are going to have to watch you on their screens for a long time.
Students should also feel as though they can approach their teachers. After all, your students may have questions that need to be answered.
If you are unapproachable, students might not feel comfortable asking you questions.
Ask Questions
Perhaps one of the simplest ways of getting students to have fun is to ask questions. It’s an easy way of getting students to engage with the content.
Plus, these questions allow teachers to determine what their students know. This will potentially illuminate gaps in their knowledge.
To encourage your students to get the answers right, you can set rewards.
Though this can be harder to do online than in person, you might be able to find a suitable reward for your students. This could include digital stickers.
If a student gets a question correct, this could also enhance their self-esteem. This will help to motivate them in class.
Not to mention, many students will thrive in a friendly yet competitive online environment.
To maximize the enjoyment of your students, you should ask interesting and engaging questions.
A great way of getting your students to engage is to ask them what they think or feel about a subject.
After all, everyone’s response will be a little different. In fact, any open-ended question is better for student involvement.
Utilize Feedback
Regular feedback is a great way of gauging how useful your lessons are for your students.
Not to mention, you can determine how much fun they are having during these lessons. Every student will learn slightly differently.
Therefore, while some students may enjoy and benefit from your learning style, others might not find it as useful.
Feedback is a brilliant tool for online learning. There are lots of different platforms that you can use for feedback, such as SurveyMonkey.
Once you have received this positive feedback, you can begin implementing changes that will enhance how much fun your students are having.
Use Visuals
When teaching online, you will likely be using a webcam. This is an excellent excuse to have some fun.
Many online learning platforms, such as Zoom, allow people to change their backgrounds from learning how to Weld to learning Braille..
Though a plain background may be better for minimizing distractions, this doesn’t mean that you can’t occasionally have fun with your backgrounds.
For instance, you might want to start every class with a fun and wacky background.
Though it can be tempting to turn off your webcam during online classes, you must refrain from doing this.
The majority of students will find it challenging to connect with a teacher if they cannot see their face. As a result, they will likely feel uninterested.
If you are using slides, it’s also important for them to have strong visuals.
You shouldn’t make your visuals too distracting, but they should also be interesting enough to grab the student’s attention.
The visuals of your slide will include a list of different factors, including the font, design, and color of the text.
You should go for a slick and presentable look, but try not to make the slides too mundane.
You can easily add to the visuals of your slides by including pictures and graphs. Furthermore, videos can be both fun and educational.
Keep Calm
Online learning can be a little intimidating, particularly if you are new to this style of education. Yet, it’s important to remain calm.
When teachers are in a good mood, students are more likely to follow suit.
So even if you aren’t in a good mood, you should try to stay cheery when teaching online so that your students will have more pleasure.
It’s especially vital to stay calm when things go wrong. After all, online learning is prone to technological difficulties.
When things go wrong, simply maintain a cool disposition.
Give Your Students Goals
Learning goals are essential for students. They give students something to work toward.
Thus, when they achieve these goals, your students will experience a sensation of completion.
As a result, they will feel like they are getting something from this online learning. These goals can include both short-term and long-term aims.
Your short-term goals can change every lesson, while long-term goals should cover the entire course.
Online progress monitoring tools are great ways of ensuring that student is engaged in the virtual classroom and assigned objectives.
When your students achieve these goals, you should praise and reward them.
As mentioned, it can be difficult to find suitable online rewards, but praise can be enough to boost the mood of a student.
Maximize The Potential Of Videos
As mentioned, videos are an essential tool for online learning. The combination of sounds and images is a great way to engage students.
Research shows that 98% of students believe that videos create a more personalized learning experience.
So to engage your students and give them a break, add a short video to the lesson.
Ideally, the video should be informative yet enjoyable. Of course, it will also need to be relevant to the subject matter.
Even a quick search on YouTube can help you to find some beneficial learning videos.
So if you wish to energize your online classes, a short video can make a world of difference.
Instead Of Lecturing, Have A Conversation
Our final tip is to have a conversation with your pupils instead of lecturing them.
Though lecturing can be beneficial and allows you to give students vast amounts of information, it can be a little dull.
Plus, your pupils can’t interact with the material, since they will only be making notes. Therefore, we advise transforming your lectures into conversations.
The difference between a conversation and a lecture is simple; a lecture is one-sided while a conversation involves more than one person.
As a result, a conversation will encourage students to get involved with the subject.
These discussions are a great way to see how much of the topic your students understand, as well as highlighting how they feel about a subject.
By having a casual conversation, you can encourage even shy students to get involved.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Online Learning Better Than In-Person?
The truth is that it’s impossible to say which style of learning is better.
This is because there are advantages and disadvantages to both online and in-person learning.
Therefore, while some people will benefit more from one style, others will prefer a different style of education.
Here are some of the advantages of online learning:
- Increased flexibility, especially in terms of organizing online classrooms.
- A broad range of online courses that often aren’t accessible in person.
- You can study wherever you want, including from your bedroom.
- It’s not limited by geographical factors.
- Increased time management in the online classroom.
However, there are also some disadvantages to online learning. This includes:
- It can feel very isolating from a social point of view.
- Students need to be self-disciplined.
- Technological problems are fairly common.
Are Online Classes Boring?
Unfortunately, many students find it harder to concentrate when learning online than when learning in person.
The reason for this may be that students are forced to look at one screen when learning online. This can create an incredibly repetitive learning experience.
Luckily, as online learning becomes increasingly popular, teachers are becoming better skilled at making these classes engaging.
To make certain that your classes are fun, simply follow these top tips.
How Can You Avoid Boredom When Studying Online?
Boredom is inevitable when studying online. This boredom can lead to procrastination. To avoid this, it is important to give yourself a break.
Even a 5-minute break will be enough to refresh your brain. Alternatively, a short walk can prove incredibly helpful.
Final Thoughts
As an educator, it is vital to make lesson plans for your online classes so that they are fun and engaging.
So if you are worried that your students will become bored during your classes, use these methods to ensure that they are having a fun yet efficient learning experience!
Online learning can be massively beneficial for students and teachers alike. However, there are also numerous downsides to online learning.
For instance, many students find it difficult to concentrate during online classes, especially if the lessons are dull. It’s important to make your lessons fun.
Otherwise, students may find it hard to engage with the lesson. This may result in students becoming bored, meaning that they don’t absorb much information.
So if you want to make your online lessons more enjoyable, simply use these techniques!
How To Make Online Learning Fun?
Add Activities
When teaching online, your classes shouldn’t just be massive lectures.
This is particularly true if you are teaching younger students, as they likely won’t have the capacity to sit and listen for hours on end.
Therefore, we recommend breaking up the class by adding activities at different intervals.
Basically, this just means that you should give your students something to do other than just sitting there listening to you talk.
For instance, class discussions are a great method of breaking up your lessons. Just make sure that you find an interesting topic for discussion.
Otherwise, your students will likely find these activities tedious instead of enjoyable. Another great activity is class presentations.
Thanks to online meeting platforms, such as Zoom, Skype, and Google Teams, these presentations are even easier to do online than in person.
Make Your Classes Interactive
During in-person classes, it’s more normal for teachers to spend most of their time speaking while students listen.
However, this technique may not be optimal when teaching online. After all, getting your students to read in silence won’t work well online.
This is because these techniques aren’t interactive. Interactive lessons allow students to engage with the learning materials.
Not only this, but interactive activities allow students to have fun and contribute to a collaborative learning experience.
This is much better than passive learning. The good news is that online learning offers lots of different interactive learning opportunities.
This includes quizzes, digital escape rooms, and online debates. Be sure to experiment with some of these techniques to get your students involved.
Even if your students are quite shy and don’t want to speak during an online class, you can encourage them to use dialogue boxes.
Group work is also a great way to interact with students. Teamwork will improve the communication skills of your students.
Additionally, it allows students to break down complicated tasks by working together.
Ensure That Your Classes Are Manageable
Your students will rapidly become bored during a long lesson. This is because shorter lessons will give your students more opportunities to re-energize their brains.
Many online classes are less than 30 minutes long. At the very least, you should refrain from having classes that exceed 1 hour.
Though the timing is always important in teaching, it is particularly crucial for online learning.
After all, students will often have shorter attention spans when they are studying remotely.
Generally speaking, one of the best strategies for ensuring that your lessons are manageable is to avoid having slides filled with loads of text.
This is because students likely won’t be able to read all of this text. Plus, these extensive explanations can cause your key points to become lost.
A good way of determining whether your lessons are digestible is to test them on a friend or family member.
If they become bored during your lesson, this could be an indication that you may need to split the class into more bitesize chunks.
Moreover, you can use lesson planning tools to ensure that your classes are more focused.
Nearpad, Planboard, and Evernote are among our favorite apps for lesson planning.
If you want to have longer lessons, it’s a good idea to break the lesson into different learning activities.
By having different activities, your students won’t become fatigued.
Be A Compelling Teacher
Your teaching style is one of the main factors that will affect whether or not your students find your online lessons fun or miserable.
To give your students a fun learning experience, you should be a confident, lively, and enthusiastic teacher.
This is particularly true if students are going to have to watch you on their screens for a long time.
Students should also feel as though they can approach their teachers. After all, your students may have questions that need to be answered.
If you are unapproachable, students might not feel comfortable asking you questions.
Ask Questions
Perhaps one of the simplest ways of getting students to have fun is to ask questions. It’s an easy way of getting students to engage with the content.
Plus, these questions allow teachers to determine what their students know. This will potentially illuminate gaps in their knowledge.
To encourage your students to get the answers right, you can set rewards.
Though this can be harder to do online than in person, you might be able to find a suitable reward for your students. This could include digital stickers.
If a student gets a question correct, this could also enhance their self-esteem. This will help to motivate them in class.
Not to mention, many students will thrive in a friendly yet competitive environment.
To maximize the enjoyment of your students, you should ask interesting and engaging questions.
A great way of getting your students to engage is to ask them what they think or feel about a subject.
After all, everyone’s response will be a little different. In fact, any open-ended question is better for student involvement.
Utilize Feedback
Feedback is a great way of gauging how useful your lessons are for your students.
Not to mention, you can determine how much fun they are having during these lessons. Every student will learn slightly differently.
Therefore, while some students may enjoy and benefit from your learning style, others might not find it as useful.
Feedback is a brilliant tool for online learning. There are lots of different platforms that you can use for feedback, such as SurveyMonkey.
Once you have received this feedback, you can begin implementing changes that will enhance how much fun your students are having.
Use Visuals
When teaching online, you will likely be using a webcam. This is an excellent excuse to have some fun.
Many online learning platforms, such as Zoom, allow people to change their backgrounds.
Though a plain background may be better for minimizing distractions, this doesn’t mean that you can’t occasionally have fun with your backgrounds.
For instance, you might want to start every class with a fun and wacky background.
Though it can be tempting to turn off your webcam during online classes, you must refrain from doing this.
The majority of students will find it challenging to connect with a teacher if they cannot see their face. As a result, they will likely feel uninterested.
If you are using slides, it’s also important for them to have strong visuals.
You shouldn’t make your visuals too distracting, but they should also be interesting enough to grab the attention of your students.
The visuals of your slide will include a list of different factors, including the font, design, and color of the text.
You should go for a slick and presentable look, but try not to make the slides too mundane.
You can easily add to the visuals of your slides by including pictures and graphs. Furthermore, videos can be both fun and educational.
Keep Calm
Online learning can be a little intimidating, particularly if you are new to this style of education. Yet, it’s important to remain calm.
When teachers are in a good mood, students are more likely to follow suit.
So even if you aren’t in a good mood, you should try to stay cheery when teaching so that your students will have more pleasure.
It’s especially vital to stay calm when things go wrong. After all, online learning is prone to technological difficulties.
When things go wrong, simply maintain a cool disposition.
Give Your Students Goals
Learning goals are essential for students. They give students something to work toward.
Thus, when they achieve these goals, your students will experience a sensation of completion.
As a result, they will feel like they are getting something from this online learning. These goals can include both short-term and long-term aims.
Your short-term goals can change every lesson, while long-term goals should cover the entire course.
Online progress monitoring tools are great ways of ensuring that students are meeting these assigned objectives.
When your students achieve these goals, you should praise and reward them.
As mentioned, it can be difficult to find suitable online rewards, but praise can be enough to boost the mood of a student.
Maximize The Potential Of Videos
As mentioned, videos are an essential tool for online learning. The combination of sounds and images is a great way to engage students.
Research shows that 98% of students believe that videos create a more personalized learning experience.
So to engage your students and give them a break, add a short video to the lesson.
Ideally, the video should be informative yet enjoyable. Of course, it will also need to be relevant to the subject matter.
Even a quick search on YouTube can help you to find some beneficial learning videos.
So if you wish to energize your online classes, a short video can make a world of difference.
Instead Of Lecturing, Have A Conversation
Our final tip is to have a conversation with your pupils instead of lecturing them.
Though lecturing can be beneficial and allows you to give students vast amounts of information, it can be a little dull.
Plus, your pupils can’t interact with the material, since they will only be making notes. Therefore, we advise transforming your lectures into conversations.
The difference between a conversation and a lecture is simple; a lecture is one-sided while a conversation involves more than one person.
As a result, a conversation will encourage students to get involved with the subject.
These discussions are a great way to see how much of the topic your students understand, as well as highlighting how they feel about a subject.
By having a casual conversation, you can encourage even shy students to get involved.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Online Learning Better Than In-Person?
The truth is that it’s impossible to say which style of learning is better.
This is because there are advantages and disadvantages to both online and in-person learning.
Therefore, while some people will benefit more from one style, others will prefer a different style of education.
Here are some of the advantages of online learning:
- Increased flexibility, especially in terms of organizing classrooms.
- A broad range of courses that often aren’t accessible in person.
- You can study wherever you want, including from your bedroom.
- It’s not limited by geographical factors.
- Increased time management.
However, there are also some disadvantages to online learning. This includes:
- It can feel very isolating from a social point of view.
- Students need to be self-disciplined.
- Technological problems are fairly common.
Are Online Classes Boring?
Unfortunately, many students find it harder to concentrate when learning online than when learning in person.
The reason for this may be that students are forced to look at one screen when learning online. This can create an incredibly repetitive learning experience.
Luckily, as online learning becomes increasingly popular, teachers are becoming better skilled at making these classes engaging.
To make certain that your classes are fun, simply follow these top tips.
How Can You Avoid Boredom When Studying Online?
Boredom is inevitable when studying online. This boredom can lead to procrastination. To avoid this, it is important to give yourself a break.
Even a 5-minute break will be enough to refresh your brain. Alternatively, a short walk can prove incredibly helpful.
Final Thoughts
As an educator, it is vital to plan your lessons so that they are fun and engaging.
So if you are worried that your students will become bored during your classes, use these methods to ensure that they are having a fun yet efficient learning experience!
