First steps as e-learning tutors: time management

The objective of the energizing tasks is to guide and keep our students motivated throughout a course. As in life, in the online training the organization becomes especially important:

THE UNIVERSE ALREADY TENDS TO CHAOS,

LET US NOT HELP IT!

(or at least not in our courses).

The factor that will occupy us today is "time", in particular, the correct management of time in training. It may seem banal, but a proper timing greatly increases the chances of a course’s success.

What do we mean by "time management"?

It simply refers to planning prior to the start of the training action, in which we have clear what will be done, when and what resources we will use for it.

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO GAIN FROM THIS PLANNING?

• Security: Order provides security. Imagine an online course in which you participate as a student, enter the platform and find the activities presented randomly in folders with a multitude of subapartados, would you feel sure to carry out all the activities? Haven’t you forgotten any?
• If the student is clear about the "rules" of the course, he or she will feel safe. As tutors we must tell you what to do, when and how to develop it. 
• We will be clear from the beginning what they will be and when we will take our steps. It is about setting up a roadmap of the course that we will probably have to leave at some point, but always to return to it.
• We’ll avoid chaotic situations. Imagine not having stipulated the dates of delivery of the tasks, it is the last day of course, we have a problem: your mailbox is full of different tasks to evaluate...crazy!
• It will help us to provoke events to unfold naturally, everything will happen according to the plan (as Hannibal Smith would say: "I love it when a plan comes together").

What temporary information will we present to our students?

Our training and experience as online tutors has taught us that the most basic information to present to our students and students in terms of programming is:

• Course start and end date
• Date of completion of each activity: tasks, questionnaires, evaluable participation in the forums...
• Date and deadline of delivery of the tasks.
• Schedule of the chat sessions that are planned: day and time of connection.
• Estimated date of study start for each training content.
• Estimate of the weekly time devoted to the course.
• Date of opening of the training satisfaction survey.

eHabilis has a tool that allows us to program the presentation and visualization of teaching materials according to several factors, including a given date.

How are we going to work on the platform dynamizing the course in terms of "time"?

At the beginning of the course:

• Presentation: As tutors we must introduce ourselves and welcome the participants to the platform itself, for this we can use the Forum type activity in which the students will be able to present themselves to us and their companions.

During the first week we must ensure that:

• Everyone has "installed" correctly. Everyone should feel comfortable with the usability and functionality of eHabilis. We will be able to create an eHabilis Help Forum to solve all the doubts that may arise on these issues.

• Everyone has ever connected. This check can be done by viewing the list of participants where we will check the last connection of the user.

Al inicio del curso:

• Presentación: Como tutores debemos presentarnos y darle la bienvenida a los participantes en la propia plataforma, para ello podemos utilizar la actividad tipo Foro en la que los estudiantes podrán a su vez presentarse ante nosotros y sus compañer@s.

Durante la primera semana debemos comprobar que:

• Todo el mundo se “ha instalado” correctamente. Todo el mundo debe sentirse cómodo  con la usabilidad y fucionalidades de eHabilis. Podremos crear un Foro de Ayuda eHabilis que sirva para resolver todas las dudas que puedan ir surgiendo sobre estos temas.
• Todos se han conectado alguna vez. Esta comprobación podemos realizarla visualizando el listado de participantes donde comprobaremos la última conexión del usuario.

Throughout the course we will have to schedule the following tasks:

• Weekly to monitor the progress of each student.
• To review daily, participate and respond to all the doubts raised in the forums, giving rise to new contributions and energizing the activity in them, always without being excessively present, as it could become a self-conscious to the students.
• Reply and send private messages daily. The delayed response of messages can lead to anger and demotivation of the learner. When you enter eHabilis, a popup will warn you of the new messages you have received.
• Set up some chat session in which to interact with students in a synchronized way.
• On a weekly basis, we will have to draw up reports on student participation and evaluation.

In eHabilis we have several functions of extraction of reports that will facilitate us the work in great measure

With the completion of the formative action will not finish our activity as a tutorial, a couple of days later we must:

• Get the final statistics on participation and evaluation in the course
• Something important: evaluate the participants!

And as always when we finish a project we will prepare and deliver a final report of the course to the client who has charged us with tutoring and energizing the course: don’t forget!