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Online learning has grown in popularity due to the proliferation of digital tools and efficiency. Students can now access a variety of courses online and learn in a much faster and more convenient manner. Students in online courses can learn at their own pace, in their environment, and without traveling to a physical classroom.
While the online classroom has many advantages for students, it also has some drawbacks. Monitoring student progress is a significant challenge for teachers. This means that the teacher must assess students’ understanding of concepts, ensure that students turn in assignments on time and frequently log into the classroom, and check in with students to get their perspectives on the class.
Online teachers must operate in a significantly different manner to ensure that their students progress and to identify and assist students who may fall behind.
This article will review four methods for educators to track student progress in online learning.
4 Online Methods For Monitoring Student Progress
Tracking student progress is an essential component of teaching. This function becomes easier and more effective with online learning tools.
While grades are still an important indicator of how well your students understand the material, many other tools and techniques will provide you with even more information about their progress.
Tracking student progress involves several variables, including grades, attendance, and participation. Online learning tools have several ways to track students’ progress.
1. Frequent Evaluations of Taught Concepts
This is a simple method for determining levels of comprehension and lesson retention. Following the completion of lessons, open and closed-ended questions on the lesson topics can be asked via a Q&A session or interactive techniques such as quizzes and games.
This will provide insight into the amount of fast, medium, and slow learners, allowing educators to timely intervene to calibrate lesson understanding and retention.
Setting learning objectives and reviewing them once a month also assists educators in gaining an accurate picture of student progress.
2. Examine The Data
Data collection in an online classroom is frequently easier than in a traditional classroom. Most major learning management systems allow you to see when students logged in, what they accessed in the course, and for how long.
Using Google Classroom or other software that does not provide a paper trail is acceptable. There are still numerous ways to use the data to gain insight into how students perform.
Students’ general activity and engagement are important, just as it is in the classroom. When teachers are in a physical setting, they can tell who is engaged and who is not.
An instructor can check online to see if students have responded to texts, turned in work, and attended live lessons. If they are engaged but have low grades, there is most likely a learning gap. A phone call or an appointment to work one-on-one with the student can do wonders.
If they are not engaged at all, the grade is less important because even if they appear to understand the class content at the time, that does not guarantee that they will continue to understand.
There is no structure in place if there is no precedent that students are expected to respond to their instructors, turn in their assessments, and attend class times (if there are any).
3. Communicate More Often
Communication with the teacher is one area where online students differ significantly. Students in traditional classes have face-to-face access to the teacher and can meet after class to ask questions or get quick clarifications before working on an assignment.
This is not the case in an online class, so instructors must actively communicate regularly with students to keep them from falling behind.
They can accomplish this by contacting students who have not logged into the online classroom in a long time to ensure that everything is going well for the student.
Another action that teachers can take is to assist students in obtaining technical assistance, if necessary, to avoid student frustration, which could lead to incomplete work.
Teachers should contact students who miss assignments to find out why. If the teacher believes it is warranted after speaking with the student, they may offer some grading flexibility.
The best way for an online teacher to keep students up to date is to interact with them regularly, whether through the classroom, private email, or phone calls.
Other questions an instructor can ask to elicit student participation include:
- What part of these lessons was the most difficult to grasp that week?
- What is the most difficult aspect of taking an online course?
- What is your favorite aspect of studying from home?
- What would you change about the actual course if you could?
With questions like these, instructors can gather valuable information from students.
4. Software Platforms
Using technology to track lessons and concepts provides insight into when to speed up or slow down online lessons. Aside from physical forms of feedback collection to track class progress, well-structured classroom management software tools can also assist instructors in gaining a deeper understanding of their student’s performance and progress.
Compared to traditional teaching methods, educational platforms can assist educators in making online learning more successful and less stressful.
In a virtual world, determining student development and grasping skills taught is more difficult. Because each student is unique, educators must use a combination of traditional and digital methods to obtain a qualitative and quantitative understanding of their learning paths.
Tracking student progress is a great place to start when looking to improve the quality of the educational experience through regular and constructive feedback.
What Astria Learning Can do For You
Our team of experts at Astria Learning can meet your needs for OPM services. Our goal is to maximize learning opportunities for your students while minimizing interruptions to learning.
Are you ready to assist students in reaching new heights? Our OPM solutions can fast-track your growth and help you reach revolution more quickly. Contact us to learn more.
