In E-Learning, participants are often left to their own devices. That’s why today we present three exercises where participants learn together online. Including concrete examples – there’s surely a suitable exercise for your training or coaching!
Yes, cooperative online learning works!
Are you considering offering your training or coaching as E-Learning? Then rest assured: the exchange between learners works wonderfully online too!
Especially in E-Learning, where participants generally learn very self-organized online, cooperative exercises provide a welcome change. Interaction with others promotes transfer thinking and solidifies what has been learned in the long run.
Therefore, today we present three special online learning exercises for your E-Learning or blended learning that you can easily integrate into your online course!
Card Game
The rocket pack for blended learning
You can find 27 more exercises for blended learning in our rocket pack: 40 methods on 40 cards. Including online material with extra tips and real examples!
1. Exercise: The Virtual Discussion
Time required for...
creation: 30 minutes
participation: 10 minutes
How it works
The virtual discussion is particularly suitable for topics where participants may have had different experiences. To spark the discussion a little, pose a somewhat provocative question. Important: Don’t frame the question too narrowly so that participants can respond more elaborately and engage with one another!
Tip: Better than a pure text question, in online learning, is a concrete example, such as a video clip or an image.
This is what the exercise looks like in the online course with blink.it:
Cooperative exercise in online learning: The virtual discussion. Presented in the blink.it learning platform.
Effect
Participants should actively engage in the discussion. This promotes commitment to online learning. With a good question and motivation from participants, a detailed discussion can ignite here.
Warning: You are the moderator – keep an eye on the discussion and intervene if there are inappropriate comments or even insults! If the discussion isn’t getting started properly, you can ignite it with your own comments.
2. Exercise: It’s better to go tandem
Time required for...
creation: 45 minutes
participation: 45 minutes
How it works
The “tandem” is a reciprocal 1-to-1 coaching between participants. This exercise works best in blended learning – so if you have additional in-person sessions alongside E-Learning. This way, participants can pair up in the seminar and organize themselves together. This can also work completely digitally. As the trainer or course leader, your task is to regularly pose stimulating questions and offer additional support.
In tandem, participants can discuss their learning goals and successes, clarify simple comprehension questions, or give each other tips.
This is what the exercise looks like in the online course with blink.it:
Cooperative exercise in online learning: It’s better to go tandem. Presented in the blink.it learning platform.
Effect
This exercise promotes self-organized online learning again. However, due to the tandem work, a higher commitment arises. Participants take turns being the coach and ask their tandem partner about their learning progress. This change of perspective additionally promotes new viewpoints on the topic.
Warning: A clear call to action is always important – and especially so for this exercise! Provide the tandem pairs with regular concise and easily understandable tasks that they should complete by a certain time.
3. Exercise: Suggest me an exercise
Time required for...
creation: 15 minutes
participation: 30 minutes
How it works
Flip the script completely! In this exercise, the participant should completely put themselves in your shoes as a trainer: What would be an exciting exercise for the current topic? How could participants meaningfully apply what they’ve learned in everyday life?
Important: You don’t need to prepare much for this, but the timing is crucial! Especially towards the end of the training, you can use this exercise to bring your participants a bit out of their comfort zone. At the same time, you can check their learning progress and understanding of the respective topic.
This is what the exercise looks like in the online course with blink.it:
Cooperative exercise in online learning: Suggest me an exercise. Presented in the blink.it learning platform.
Effect
Putting yourself in the trainer’s shoes means a good piece of self-reflection: How far have I come as a participant, and how can I ensure that what I’ve learned is also solidified in the long term? With “Suggest me an exercise,” you can reach individual participants who may have pedagogical skills themselves and can contribute good ideas.
From theory to practice: Put the best ideas into action! For example, you can present the top three ideas and let participants choose one that they should complete by the next meeting / by a certain time.
With these three exercises from our rocket pack, you achieve a varied and simultaneously effective cooperative learning experience for your participants in online learning. Just give it a try!
