How to Combine Online Classes with Live Interaction

For a growing number of schools, offering online classes is an amazing way to present material to students. A question that many have asked us is, “What about the interaction that you would normally have in a classroom setting? How can we give that experience the students, while allowing them the convenience of an online education?” A great way to give the students the best of both worlds, is to offer weekly webinars or conference calls.

If you deliver online lectures and additional content by the week, a good thing to do is schedule a weekly conference call or webinar. This gives the students an opportunity to ask the instructor any questions they may have, and also talk to other students in their class about certain materials. These calls can be recorded, and put online in your Learning Management System so students can go back and listen at a later time. It will also then be available for those students who were not able to attend the call.

Another way to add live interaction is online chats. Teachers can set specific times they can be available in a chat room, and students are invited to join and ask questions. The transcript of the chat can then be made available to the students if they ever need to revisit a particular conversation.