K12 online learning has carved its own niche in the educational industry today by making education convenient and accessible for all. Additionally, it is facilitating educators with all the necessary tools needed to improve learning outcomes, like data-backed assessments and personalization.

However, since digital learning involves the use of devices with screens, it is easy for students to get distracted and lose track of their course. How, then, can educators make it more engaging for young learners?

Let’s look at six key best practices that educators and educational institutions can put to use to enhance engagement in K12 online learning for young students.

Table of Contents:

Importance of Engagement in K12 Online Learning

Distraction can take away a lot from learning. Especially when it comes to learning through digital media, the students have plenty of opportunities to give in to distractions. Creating an environment of high engagement is important because:

  • Helps with Motivation: Higher levels of engagement are crucial to keep the students motivated about learning. The more engaged a learner is in the lesson, the more motivated he is to actively participate and perform. Motivation is a by-product of higher engagement levels.
  • Helps Them Learn Better: An engaged student absorbs the lessons like a sponge, enabling them to learn and retain the lessons better. This is crucial to help them progress through a course smoothly, without having to frequently revisit certain concepts of a lesson.
  • Helps Them Excel at Assessments: Better engagement leads to better performance on assessments. Engagement helps enhance the concentration and focus of a student on the lesson, enhancing their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
  • Lowers Absenteeism: When the lessons are engaging, the students are motivated to attend every class and session. There is less absenteeism, in turn promoting better learning and motivation levels.
  • Promotes Positive Association with Learning: A higher engagement level is crucial to creating a positive and nurturing environment in a classroom that promotes learning and encourages participation.

Key Best Practices to Enhance Young Student Engagement in K12 Online Learning

Here are some of the best practices that professionals advise for enhancing student engagement in eLearning:

1. Creating an Inclusive and Supportive Online Environment

Digital remote learning does take away some level of personal interaction that occurs in a classroom. As such, the primary best practice on the part of educators would be to ensure that the online learning community they create is inclusive, supportive, and encouraging for all participants.

You can try conducting regular introductions or a general chit-chat session for 5 minutes before/after each class. By encouraging students to share their thoughts, backgrounds, experiences, etc. with the class, you are creating a familiar, supportive environment for the students.

2. Utilizing Technology

In this digital age, educational institutions cannot afford to miss out on the gifts of digital education. It is important to partner with capable and reliable technology providers who can set up the requisite digital infrastructure to facilitate the new modes of K12 online learning.

You can look for capabilities such as technological infrastructure, integrability of the platforms, and additional services like staffing and course building to make the right choice. Utilize modern technologies to empower students to take control of their educational journey, thus enhancing engagement.

3. Employing Gamification in Education

Gamification is the process of turning educational modules into game-like interactive experiences of which students can be a part. It promotes healthy competition and offers a rewards-based learning mechanism which works well to enhance engagement.

You can gamify a lesson by introducing trivia or pop quizzes in a lesson, displaying a progress bar and milestone-based rewards for the students, etc. For the younger students, you can experiment with game-based learning (for counting or learning the Alphabet, for example).

4. Creating Organized Online Courses

One of the most disengaging aspects of any learning journey is an ill-designed course. The flow of the lessons, activities, and associated assessments needs to be seamless and connected. This way, the students remain engaged with the module instead of jumping back and forth through the course to look for relevant knowledge that can help them learn.

The key is to design a course that flows well and covers all the necessary topics that are required for progress through the subject.

5. Personalizing the Learning

Personalization is the key to creating high engagement in students. Consider this situation: your classroom consists of students from diverse nationalities and capabilities. Some students have trouble progressing quickly, while others speak a different language. In such a situation, you can provide lesson personalization tools like translators, read-aloud features, or self-pacers to empower the students to learn in their own way.

Personalization powered by AI enables adaptive learning for the students which helps them adjust the lesson difficulty according to their progress and learning capacities. This is an excellent way to enhance engagement.

6. Introducing Interactive Elements

Another best practice you can adopt to make sure students stay engaged is to ensure that your course has interactive materials incorporated into it. Make use of videos, images, audio, music, animations, graphics, etc. to display a lesson through various perspectives to the students.

Interactive elements encourage students to participate in learning, thereby increasing the engagement you create during a lesson.

Make Engagement Easier With Modern Digital Solutions

Online learning presents the educational industry with a plethora of benefits. However, these benefits are reaped best when the technology is used properly and with student-centered learning as the driver.

Implementing K12 online learning to enhance engagement is made easier by partnering with the right technology providers, like Hurix Digital.

Hurix Digital empowers educators with innovative digital solutions that help enhance student learning, and increase engagement and outcomes. You will be able to benefit from their courseware development services, editorial services, assessment and staffing solutions as well in addition to gaining reliable K12 online learning technologies.

To learn more about how Hurix Digital can help enhance student engagement, visit the website or book a discovery call with us today!