The development of technology enables more and more ways to communicate over the network. Research shows that the success of online learning is connected to the success of interaction: the more interaction, the better the students commit to their studies. The lack of interaction or one-sidedness and the lack of a sense of community are often the reason for dropping out of online studies. We will tell you about the stages of starting an online study and give tips for them based on our own observations based on practice.
The challenge of university studies offered online is a high dropout rate. For example, in the joint online studies of universities of applied sciences, only 38% of students successfully completed the course. There are many reasons for suspensions, such as low commitment or the student’s weak time management and self-direction skills. One factor that increases the student’s commitment and motivation is the pedagogically well-implemented study orientation phase. It creates a positive and learning-encouraging atmosphere.
The student can get an inspiring and meaningful first impression from a well-filled study implementation description. The first online meeting with the teacher and other students is also important in terms of commitment. The study implementation plan, is updated with the implementation information before registration for the studies begins. The creation of the implementation plan is started by updating the start and end times of the study. The exact teaching times will be added to the system later, after the group-specific timings have been confirmed, and the education planner will publish the calendar entries for students to see.
The study implementation time must be early enough, because before the publication of the study calendar entries, implementation time information is the only source of information for students. The necessary basic, descriptive and evaluation information is written in the implementation plan. With the help of a versatile and accurate teaching description, students have the opportunity to find out the content of the study and its importance in terms of their own degree. Using the implementation plan, students build their schedules.
The study implementation plan is also an important tool for management, study supervisors, tutors and study secretaries. It is quite common for tutor teachers to look at implementation plans for different studies with students. Students must be able to convey information about the central arrangements related to their studies as early as possible. To help planning implementations, an implementation checklist has been prepared for the personnel intranet. The checklist contains detailed work steps before the start of registration, before the start of the study period, during the study and at the end of the study and after the end.
