Schools without walls

The pandemic shifted the gears of the whole world from face-to-face communication to remotely accessing almost anything online. This also paved the way for the boom of learning platforms. It gave students and learners alike to have flexible options when it comes to education. People can now get a degree or get additional education to learn a new hobby, language, or courses that will help them advance in their careers.

Most online learning platforms offer self-paced courses that will let the learners access the classes anytime and anywhere. It allows people to better manage their time and do urgent tasks during the day. Learning platforms also allow the students to learn new technical skills and be more adept with technology. Lastly, it also connects the student to other people who are enrolled in the same course and builds relationships not limited by space and time.

Since there are a lot of online learning platforms available you should be wise in choosing the right one for your needs. Here are some online options that you should consider for an online learning platform:

LMS

Learning Management System or LMS is one of the major components that you should carefully look at when planning to study online. LMS serves as an online classroom where instructors can hold classes, upload readings, video, and play audio. It should be efficient in delivering materials and be able to develop in different formats. This means that they should manage to provide materials from MS office documents to videos and other third-party applications.

In addition, LMS should be capable of both synchronous meaning at the same time; and asynchronous not at the same time interactions between students and learners. The LMS usually demands high-speed connectivity and strong bandwidth. Some features that you a basic LMS should have are the following:

● Analytics

● Apps

● Assignment submission

● Grading

● Instant messages

● Online calendar

● Online quizzes

● Widgets that allow connections to social media

Here are some tools that LMS should also have:

● Discussion pages

This feature enables students and teachers to create threaded discussions. These discussions are useful for answering general questions about the course. It also allows students and teachers to meet and interact with each other. Discussion pages can also be used by instructors to link books and grade books.

● Chat rooms

This will be a good addition for learners who are working at the same time as the synchronous class. Any learner can drop in at a certain time and ask instructors in the LMS. This is a good way to establish connections even without seeing the instructors during class hours.

● Grade Books

The grade books in the LMS should be easy to use for easy access.

Available social media platforms and community

There are now a lot of social media channels available to connect and communicate with people and these platforms are utilized for learning purposes too. Here are some of the main reasons why platforms like Facebook should be used for community pages:

● Cost-efficient

Social media platforms are mostly free.

● Less bandwidth intensive

Social media platforms support low bandwidth communications for learners and instructors to be able to do synchronous and asynchronous conversations. Students can even access the community through their smartphones

● Familiar and easy to use

Almost everyone already has a Facebook page or has a social media account and there will be little to no learning curve at all. Both learners and instructors are familiar with social media platforms.

Technology and applications used

The online learning platform should have good technology for their LMS. It will be best too if there is an application that learners and instructors can easily access anytime. You should check the video-conferencing application that they are using. It should be fast and allows conferences and webinars. There should also be other options aside from video conferencing and applications for learners who are leaning towards audio options.

Ease of access

This is one of the most important factors when choosing an online learning platform. It should be easy to access the content and courses anytime that’s convenient. The videos should be captioned with ease and being considerate of the students’ needs.

There are numerous learning avenues and channels where people can access education, so why online learning platforms? Here are simple and relatable answers:

● Career advancement

One of the main reasons why online learning is great is because you can study any time at your convenience. Having additional courses might be the extra push that you need to advance in your career and get promoted. You may be busy with work in the morning and going for online learning platforms is the best option because it allows you to study at your own pace without the pressure of attending classes at a specific time of the day.

● Additional skills

Online learning is also made available for those who wish to have additional skills that they can use in their daily life. If you are looking for a hobby and want to learn more about it without the hassle of leaving your home because of the pandemic restrictions, online learning is for you.

● Limited access for face-to-face learning

The pandemic made most of the world stop and stay at home to be safe. There are a lot of restrictions all over the world and not everyone can go and meet people on demand. Online learning is the best way to learn without ever leaving your home. This is also good for children and immunocompromised people who are wanting to learn but are not allowed to go out.

Conclusion:

Online learning platforms open a vast variety of opportunities for everyone and not only for children or workers but even for those who can’t communicate with people face-to-face. When considering online learning, you should research carefully and consult professionals. They can help you with the things that you consider before deciding to apply or starting studying online. IntellAdapt is an adaptive online learning platform that is designed to make education effective, engaging, and efficient. Let us help you with your learning journey.