The Importance of Introductions
You likely wouldn’t walk into a classroom already reading a book, lecturing, or playing a video. Instead, you’d come in, say hi, and say something like “today we’re going to…”. Even online, it’s important to give that introductory bit, maybe even more important. Learners aren’t mind readers, and if you aren’t immediately available to answer questions, the lack of introduction or connecting material can be confusing for learners. Where do they start? What do they do? What are they supposed to be learning? These are all questions that an introduction can answer!
Unfortunately, introductions are often overlooked when designing online learning. While the content itself is most important, a strong introduction can engage learners, provide context, and outline what learners are going to learn. Introductions, even brief ones, can make a huge difference for your learners’ learning experience.
Hook
A strong introduction can hook your learners and pique their interests. Start with a thought-provoking question, an inspiring quote, or a fun game. Engaged learners are far more likely to complete the lesson and learn from it, so catch their attention!
Context
We’ve all been in those classes, lectures, or professional development courses where you find yourself wondering what the point is. To avoid this, use an introduction to activate prior knowledge with a question, connect it back to what they’ve been learning previously, and give the why for the content you’re about to go into. Giving a few sentences of the background context can make a huge difference!
- Giving learners the context of what they are doing, what it’s about, and why it’s important will make them more likely to follow through and complete it. Make sure all of your learning is purposeful and meaningful, and communicate that to your learners ahead of time.
- Activating prior knowledge gives them a strong foundation to start from, and ensures they don’t feel blindsided by what follows. It can also give you a quick diagnostic of where the learners are at so that you can tailor your teaching accordingly.
- Connecting it to what they have already learned, or will learn next, helps to provide continuity from class to class. It makes the learning path clear and ensures they know where they are in the journey.
Note: Introductions don’t just help at the beginning of a lesson or course. The same goes for your content, too. You likely wouldn’t just play a video in class and say nothing about it. You’d start with some variation of “This video is about ____. Think about ____ while you watch.” Adding even one sentence before an activity, reading, or video can help to provide that meaning and instruction to learners.
Outline
An introduction page is the perfect spot to outline the upcoming learning for learners as well. Provide the learning outcomes or learning goals right at the start so that learners have clear, actionable statements to work towards. Make it clear if they will be assessed on this content, and how. What will this lesson include? Do they need any additional materials to do this lesson that they should gather before starting? How long will it take them to complete? The more predictable you can make your lesson, the better.
Introductions are easy to overlook, but even just a short one can make a big difference in learners’ understanding and their ability to navigate their learning experience. What is your favourite way to start a class?
Reacties
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Hey @Amanda Reg769,
Definitely agree with this wonderful blog post about the importance of having introductions in the course!
A Brightspace tool that we definitely have seen a lot of educators share a spotlight on is the Video Note tool. We have even partnered with the NYU to shine a spotlight on the different workflows that can be achieved with the Video Note tool in Brightspace.
I would love to hear from other educators how they might incorporate the introduction bit in their online courses.
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You are right, Amanda, an introduction sets the tone. In my face to face classes, I knew that students would be 'shopping around' for classes in the first couple of weeks, so I wanted initial classes to be engaging. I carry this practice online, so like you, look for a hook. For example, in an instructional design class that was to focus on ways to gather data, including observation, I started with a video of a card trick. It was my way of getting my learners immersed in the idea of observation by showing them what they might be missing while observing. Then, in the lesson, I could pull from their joint experience of my card trick to illustrate a few points. Plus, who doesn't like a little magic!
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I think Intro discussions are a great place to discuss metacognition, too! Online learning requires that extra bit of motivation, and I think it's helpful for students to be introduced to and/or consider metacognitive strategies that they might use during the course. Then, you can check in during the final week and they can reflect on how the strategies did or didn't work for them!
