What are some effective strategies for facilitating synchronous e-learning sessions?

Prior to the session, I plan to focus on integrating activities that activate prior knowledge, introduce key vocabulary, and stimulate reflective thinking. During the training, I strategically decide when to incorporate case studies, role-play, note-taking opportunities, or scenario-based questions. The overarching objective is to create an environment where learners actively engage with and apply the skills and concepts being taught. I find it beneficial to plan for a Q&A session or incorporate a poll/quiz to gauge understanding and reinforce key takeaways toward the end. Of course, this is an overly-simplified and broad approach, but I often pull these considerations out of my "tool bag."

In the realm of online education, synchronous e-learning sessions present a unique set of challenges and opportunities for both educators and participants. In my opinion, to ensure a dynamic and engaging learning environment, implementing effective strategies is crucial. I would say that interactivity is a cornerstone of successful synchronous e-learning. Leveraging chat features, polls, and questions will definitely contribute for a participant engagement, while incorporating multimedia resources like videos and images enhances the overall interactive nature of the session. Variety in activities, including hands-on tasks and case studies, sustains their interest and promotes a comprehensive learning experience.

Part of the synchronous sessions can be devoted to collective discussions between the teacher and the learners, where he/she asks them to give back what they have understood from the online courses. This is very stimulating and reinforces collaborative learning. You can take advantage of tutoring sessions or group exchanges with learners to obtain feedback on the entire pedagogical system offered to them, by asking them to give you their comments and suggestions for improvement: balance between online and face-to-face sessions, relevance of explanations given in the course and self-assessment exercises, etc.

A helpful analysis tool to build meaningful, synchronous eLearning sessions is to understand what communication processes need which media synchronicity. Do you plan learning processes that are more about sharing information and connecting it with your prior knowledge? That works best with low synchronicity media. If you want to dissolve ambiguities, create a shared understanding in a learning group, etc. - then high synchronicity media work best. Zoom is a high synchronicity medium. You can of course also include activities, that require low synchronicity, but make sure that you plan enough time for processing this information in your session. Otherwise, the learning process will stay rather shallow. See also "Media Synchronicity Theory".