Learning How to Learn Online

Lo and behold, The Synchronous Trainer’s Survival Guide, by Jennifer Hofmann of InSync Training, includes a section on “Learning How to Learn Online.” The book, geared toward facilitators of “live and online” training for adults, provides an introduction to the tools and techniques used in what it refers to as “the synchronous classroom.” Hofmann uses a terrific analogy in her introduction; classroom learning is to online learning as a theater production is to a television show. She points out that early television mimicked theater until we figured out that there was more to it than that. Some are, at this stage, further ahead than others in figuring out how to use online learning in ways beyond classroom methods.

Chapter 6 takes the focus off the trainer’s perspective to look at the participant experience. Hofmann makes the point that participants need to adapt their expectations and develop new skills when preparing for online learning. Needs such as doing the prep work and creating a workable workspace can come as a surprise to the inexperienced. She recommends that facilitators start their own process of learning to teach online by becoming an online participant. Great advice, IMHO, that will provide invaluable insight. She also recommends that facilitators offer their own version of “Learn How to Learn Online” as a prerequisite for other training classes. This session should include a chance to explore the tools used (whiteboard, audio and/or chat, breakout rooms, polling, etc.); a review of the ground rules for communicating; guidelines for participants on setting up their environment; and an explanation of policies on prep work, participation, and handling interruptions.

Hofmann writes a bit in this chapter and more elsewhere in the book about communication differences between classroom and online interactions. For example, online we lose the ability to signal that we have a question by looking quizzically at the instructor. It can be frustrating to find ourselves functioning without the simple visual and verbal cues we take for granted when interacting in person. This has been something I’ve been very aware of in my first months as an online student. I hope to get a bit further into this topic in a future post.