Don’t take our word for it – instead, consider this. According to this report, whereas self-paced courses have completion rates as low as 3%, cohort-based courses often see completion rates of over 90%.
It is true that you can study from the comfort of your home using a laptop, with self-paced learning. However, you do not get to interact with others, and there are no peers to clear doubts, keep you motivated throughout the course.
Group-based learning increases learners’ social interaction, which creates a sense of belonging among them. This leads to increased student satisfaction, greater engagement, and a quality education.
In this blog, we will delve in-depth into cohort-based learning, including its definition, benefits, how it works, how Airmeet can support it, and more.
What is Cohort-based Learning?
Cohort-based learning is a popular learning model in which a group of learners – a cohort – takes courses together and completes them at a shared pace. A cohort can be as small as a handful of people or as large as a hundred individuals.
Typically, group-based courses begin and end on specific dates so that a small and fixed group of students can progress together. In this learning model, a group of students collaborates in real-time, working on group projects and supporting each other to complete assignments.
How Does Cohort-Based Learning Work?
The “cohort” often buys a specific online course or enrolls in live training programs in order to achieve their learning goals. All students in the group begin the course at the same time, move through the content at the same pace, and progress together. Instead of studying alone, they learn and complete the course with their peers because learning in a group makes it easier for students to absorb and implement new information and skills into their work.
Benefits Learners Gain From a Cohort-based Learning
Gain Peer Support
When learners study in groups, an environment is naturally created that encourages interaction, collaboration, and mutual support among peers. In fact, learning becomes way more fun when students have a supportive community of people around them. Since all are working on the same material, if anyone gets stuck, they can get immediate help from someone in the group. Plus, they can clarify doubts, provide immediate feedback, and motivate one another to complete the assignments.
Enhances Teamwork Skills
In group-based learning, students have to work together to complete assignments, projects, and problem-solving activities, which helps enhance their ability to work as a team. Moreover, they engage in real-world case studies, explore problems, brainstorm solutions, and collectively reach a conclusion, which strengthens their teamwork abilities.
Expands Professional Network
Although the learning goals of the cohort are the same, they come from different backgrounds. In the cohort program, they engage in collaborative projects, group discussions, and problem-solving activities, which naturally build rapport.
When cohorts learn together, they continuously interact with each other and collaborate to complete projects, whether it is online or in-person programs, which help students to grow their professional networks.
Improves Soft Skills
Cohort-based learning often includes group projects, group discussions and collaborative activities that allow students to interact more with each other, which improves their communication, listening, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.
When students’ soft skills improve, they are better able to collaborate with others, work effectively with colleagues, and quickly adapt to real-world collaborative environments, which are critical for professional success.
Gets Encouragement to Complete the Course
Based on this report, 58% of online cohort members who participated in one study agreed that relationships with classmates encouraged them to continue with the programme, and 94% stated that discussions increased their interest in course issues.
In this model, students enroll in courses, study, complete assignments together, as well as help each other out, creating a supportive environment where students are encouraged to complete courses.
Learners get strong social support from peers where they can set realistic goals, discuss challenges, go over the root of the problem, and gain immediate feedback on their progress, experiencing a supportive environment, which increases the likelihood of course completion.
How Airmeet Can Support Virtual Cohort-based Learning?
Airmeet is an all-in-one virtual and hybrid event platform that focuses on creating interactive learning experiences. This platform is highly scalable, easily accommodating thousands of students per training program.
Plus, it offers a comprehensive suite of features that facilitate collaboration, interaction, and community building among groups of learners.
Let’s see what features Airmeet offers to host a cohort-based learning session that is informative, interesting, and engaging.
1) Interactive Virtual Stage
Airmeet offers an interactive virtual stage so teachers can present their content live with HD video and audio streaming. It ensures the instructor can carry out their training sessions in a professional manner.
Using a virtual stage, teachers can share their screen, show training slides, infographics, and videos to train and educate students in a dynamic and engaging way.
If necessary, tutors can invite students to a live stage and allow them to speak freely, share their viewpoints with others, and even share their screen with the host’s permission.
2) Branding and Customization
Your online training program will stand out and be attractive thanks to Airmeet’s superb branding and customization. You can incorporate your brand logo, color, font, and theme into various areas such as virtual lobbies, main stages, breakout rooms, networking spaces, and reception areas to represent your brand identity.
You can add a welcome video to welcome the cohort to your training session. You can also add a stage backdrop, which will be displayed when the session is live.
With our branding and customization features, you can connect your learners to your brand, creating a strong emotional connection that lasts long after the session ends.
3) Engagement Tools
Airmeet offers various engagement tools such as live chat, real-time poll, and Q&A to make the learning session more interactive. Through a Q&A session, learners can ask direct questions to the instructor and address their queries instantly, as well as upvote others’ questions. Tutors can conduct polls and encourage learners to vote and get poll results in real-time.
Beyond that, Airmeet offers other engagement features too, like “raise hand,” which allows the learners to join the speakers on the live stage and pose relevant questions; and “emoji reaction,” which allows learners to express their emotions to speakers using emojis like applause, laughing, hearts, and thumbs up.
4) Breakout Room
To give cohorts a collaborative learning area in a virtual setting, Airmeet offers a breakout rooms feature. It allows you to divide the cohort into smaller groups so they can engage in more intimate discussions.
With fewer people in the room, individuals have more opportunities to speak, ask questions, share ideas, and express their thoughts. Leveraging the breakout room feature, you can build a stronger sense of community and camaraderie among cohort members.
5) Advanced Networking Tools
To replicate the in-person networking experience in a virtual environment, Airmeet offers a suite of networking features such as speed networking, social lounge, and fluid space. Through speed networking, learners can connect with a lot of other learners in a short amount of time.
Students can create their own discussion tables through the ‘Social Lounge’ and connect with like-minded individuals to discuss their project work. After the main session, cohort members can gather at virtual tables to discuss what has been learned.
Through fluid space, you can host informal meeting sessions that are not tied to a table and allow learners to join any conversation that interests them. Teachers can additionally create private roundtables or discussion tables with up to 50 students and engage them in an in-depth discussion. Our networking capabilities will encourage students to learn together and build a strong community within your cohort.
6) Gamification
Airmeet offers gamification elements like points, badges, leaderboards, and challenges to bring fun and excitement into your cohort-based learning program.
All of these gamification features can make the learning interactive and fun, which helps students absorb and remember information more effectively. Airmeet’s gamification tools will turn your session into a dynamic and highly engaging one.
7) Event Mobile App Capabilities
Airmeet offers a mobile event app, allowing cohort learners to effortlessly access the online training program from their smartphones or tablets. The Airmeet event app is accessible on both the App Store and the Play Store, allowing iPhone and Android users not just to attend the training program but also to access & download material and participate in group activities.
8) Privacy and Security
Airmeet puts a strong emphasis on privacy and security, implementing an array of ways to protect user data. The platform is ISO 27001:2022 certified, which demonstrates compliance with international security standards. It also complies with the GDPR and the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.
On Airmeet, participants are allowed access only after guest authentication. The virtual event software takes security seriously, including robust measures like strong encryption, AWS infrastructure, and more.
9) 24/7 Customer Support
Airmeet prioritizes customer experience, providing you with robust support to make sure your training session runs without a hitch. Airmeet offers 24/7 email ([email protected]) support for technical issues, along with chat support. Plus, a dedicated “Customer Support Lounge” for immediate assistance.
Airmeet provides “AirCare Services” for more thorough assistance, which include stage management, event setup, in-event technical support, in-depth platform training, and hybrid event consultation.
Furthermore, Airmeet has an extensive online knowledge base packed with articles, FAQs, and tutorial videos that address a variety of topics, such as the organizer guide, attendee guide, speaker guide, and beyond.
10) Learners Analytics and Reporting
Airmeet provides robust learning analytics and reporting features to gauge the success of your cohort learning program. Once the session ends, you get access to the event dashboard, where you can track various data such as attendance, learners’ engagement, like chat activity, poll responses & number of questions asked, top sessions, material downloads, and more.
Additionally, you can track various reports, such as the master report, Q&A report, chat report, and lounge report, to know the effectiveness of your online session and areas of improvement, as well as build a personalized follow-up plan in order to maintain a strong relationship with the cohort.
Final thoughts
Cohort-based learning is an amazing learning model that not only brings the shared purpose of students together but also builds a strong sense of community between them.
Group learning creates an environment that encourages students to acquire fresh knowledge and master new skills. It continuously engages the learners in collaborative projects, activities, and discussions, which help them absorb learning material better. When students learn together, they interact on a daily basis, fostering a strong sense of unity that may be extremely inspiring and supportive.
One of the major benefits of group learning is that students learn from each other’s perspectives, experiences, and unique viewpoints, which is invaluable for gaining a comprehensive understanding of a subject matter.
FAQs
The instructor serves as a mentor, facilitator, and advisor in a cohort-based learning environment. They not only educate learners and facilitate real-time discussions, but they also provide continuing guidance and assistance to ensure that students progress in their studies. Instructors engage the learners through group projects and collaborative activities, as well as help the cohort to achieve their learning objectives.
- Online cohort courses that are designed with cohorts in mind, where all students begin and complete the course together.
- A bootcamp is a short, intense program where a group of students follows a structured curriculum and completes hands-on projects together.
- Executive education programs are designed for working professionals and are offered by universities or business schools.
- Corporate training that companies offer to their employees to upgrade their skills, increase team bonding, and grow together.
- Mentoring and fellowship programs where individuals with shared aspirations gather to gain valuable career advice from an experienced mentor.
