Exploring the benefits and alternatives of cohort-based learning for online environments
As the reality of increased online learning environments sets in, it’s important to note the opportunities that these virtual experiences can give us in our knowledge development and mobilization. How we engage and interact in these learning environments does not have to be disconnected, even though you’re interacting through a screen from a remote location. In fact, there are many ways that online learning design can function to make you feel even more connected to not only the material and content, but also the people you are sharing this virtual experience with.
How can we hold onto the part of learning that is important to so many of us – the human connection? How can learning continue to be a social learning experience? One way to maintain this essence is by adopting cohort-based learning.
Cohort-based learning: A Community
Let’s start by grounding ourselves in the concept of cohort-based learning. What is this type of learning exactly and why should we want to implement it in our online learning environments? Well, according to the Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, cohort-based learning is defined as ‘a group of individuals who enter a program at the same time, proceed through all classes and academic program requirements together, and complete the program as a group.’
This type of learning environment helps to create a sense of community and a space that invites social interaction and active learning by heavily engaging the learners. Elements of cohort-based learning may include instructor-led live sessions, learning tools and resources, or live discussion boards to facilitate real time interaction and knowledge sharing with peers. The way such a course would be designed is driven primarily by ensuring social opportunities are made available to learners so that their learning is led by engaging with others, in a peer-to-peer fashion.
Benefits of cohort-based learning
When traditional ‘asynchronous-heavy’ online course delivery no longer maintains the learner’s engagement or interest, and you’re losing the motivation of your students, it may be time to shift your approach to add cohorts to the learning experience. This shift would provide an added layer of flexibility for learning because it aims to present content in a variety of ways that can meet diverse learning needs. With this in mind, new courses can also be intentionally designed from the outset to use pockets of collaboration that help to engage, motivate and encourage continuous learning improvement to reach optimal student success.
These social activities provide opportunities for both autonomous work and ownership in ones’ learning, but as it is not completely self-paced. By adding elements such as live meet up sessions to discuss the content with other learners can help spark continued interest in the material. These live sessions can also function as a way to collect ongoing feedback (formative assessment) on how the students are digesting the material, which can provide the instructor with indicators of how to adapt the course moving forward, tailoring the course to the cohort as it progresses through its learning cycle (LogicEarth).
Implementing cohort-based learning in online courses
It’s time to review some dos and don’ts that can help you execute the integration of cohorts in online environments:
Do design this learning experience to make meaningful use of the synchronous (live) moments with peers.
Don’t use this time for delivering instruction. Instead, use this time for collaboration, discussion, questions, storytelling, peer-to-peer interactions, and more.
Do provide synchronous support for your cohorts from an instructor or facilitator.
Don’t forget to use live video conferencing tools like Zoom, Google Hangouts or Microsoft Teams to help in course facilitation and delivery.
Now, what if cohort-based learning is not feasible for your course, but you’d still like to maintain human interaction? Don’t worry, we got you covered! Here are some alternative ways that can support online social learning. If your organization doesn’t have the capacity to support cohorts or the connectivity of your learners isn’t sufficient for video-conferencing, consider using these other approaches and techniques to building in human connection:
Video and audio messaging assignments
Creating groups on social media
One-on-one coffee meetups for those who can connect in-person
Partner assignments or group assignments
Office hours for instructor
We hope you’ll make use of these tips and tricks to help successfully implement and engage your learners in your next cohort-based learning online course! To learn more about our work related to cohort-based learning, check out our case study with Information and Communication Technology Council of Canada (ICTC) on creating a cohort-based Work-Integrated-Learning program for university students across Canada.
