TEACHING ONLINE CLASSES: 15 tips for achieving success in the virtual classroom.
Are you
a teacher who is now in a position where you need to adapt to teaching online?
Do you have more questions than you do answers? Do you feel totally lost in a
virtual classroom and find the whole concept impossible to grasp? If you do,
please take the time to read my article, it is based upon 6 years of teaching
online classes to students of all ages through my own institute.
I first
wrote this article back in 2014 when my wife and I were invited to teach online
classes to groups of English teachers who were located in Ecuador. They were
looking for B2 level international exam preparation classes as well as
methodology workshops.
At the
time, we were the owners of a successful language institute in Trujillo Peru,
and we felt that it was a good way for us to expand our business whilst better
utilizing our team of teachers. We already had experience with online classes,
specifically for engineers who lived in isolated mining camps in the Peruvian Andes,
so in our minds, this was a mere extension of a service that we were already providing.
The
first 3 months of these classes was a learning experience, and over the months as
the classes grew, and they started to include younger students, even children,
well, our approach and methodology had to adapt to meet the needs and expectations
of our various students.
Now it is 2020, and
over the past few weeks, due to the CORONA VIRUS, there has been an increasing
numbers of schools and universities across the world announcing that they are moving
to virtual classes. This has required hundreds of thousands of teachers, who
have never taught online, working to adapt their face-to-face lessons online.
Designing online
courses, preparing the necessary materials, searching for appropriate support
materials is not easy, it takes significant time and effort if it is going to
be successful.
Today I am in the
thick of this whole process, because apart from the fact that my wife and I are
still the owners of a language institute that teaches traditional and online
classes, I am also the Headmaster of a large Bilingual ib school that was
required to adapt our entire 2020 educational calendar to online classes.
It is
for this reason that I decided to revisit this article that I wrote all of
those years ago and to update it based upon what I have learned throughout the
last 6 years.
Whilst
online classes are complex, and the methodology is often very individual
depending upon the teacher, I hope that you find the ideas and suggestions
helpful. Whilst it doesn’t answer every question that could be asked, and this article
was never written specifically for the thousands of teachers who teach online to China, it outlines our
experiences and what we have learned, as teachers, in our own classes.
I hope
that you enjoy the article and learn something that will help you.
1. Invest in good equipment
Just because you are working from
home online doesn’t mean that you need to be less than professional in any way.
Whether you like it or not, you are going to be judged based upon the professionalism
of your class. If you have a camera that’s cheap or old or a headset with a bad
microphone, the video and audio quality won’t be sufficiently professional and
the quality of the class will ensure that the students suffer. Even though
working from home has much more casual elements than when you work in a school
or institute, you always want your set-up to look professional. First
impressions are important and heavily influence the mentality of your students.
2. Dress to impress
Just like with your equipment
needing to be in the best condition, so is your personal appearance. Make sure
that you wear neat, clean clothes that are professionally appropriate. Brush
your hair, shave if you are a guy, and don’t wear a singlet or t-shirts,
especially those with pictures on them. A shirt or polo top will always look
more professional and presentable than casual clothing. If you are representing
an institute or school, and they have a uniform, wear the uniform in your
classes. If you don’t normally wear a uniform in the classroom, then wear the
same style of clothing that you are normally expected to wear.
3. Be aware of your environment
When choosing a location to sit
and present your class, remember that through your camera, your students can
see quite a bit of what is happening behind you. Make sure that you are sitting
in an area that is free of personal distractions behind you. Don`t sit in front
of your bed, untidy shelves, dirty walls, old or ugly curtains, bathroom doors
that your relatives can walk out of etc. Don`t teach on the beach, in a
restaurant, or in a public park, remember, you are a professional and your
students expect professionalism. Whilst teaching online classes brings your
students into your personal realm, just be careful exactly how much, and
exactly what you share.
Some platforms such as ZOOm allow
you to display a photo as the backdrop for your class. If you are working for a
school or institute, use their logo as your background. If not, then choose a
suitable photo that will instill an impression of professionalism into your
class.
4. Find a good program / platform and perfect it!
There are many different programs
and platforms available for teaching online classes. Some of these programs are
suitable for any form of education from kindergarten aged children through to
university students. Whilst there is a large choice to choose from, some of the
most popular for online classes include:
Zoom is a web-based video conferencing tool with a local,
desktop client and a mobile app that allows users to meet online, with or
without video. Zoom users can
choose to record sessions, collaborate on projects, and share or annotate on
one another's screens, all with one easy-to-use platform. With ZOOM, there
are also interactive screen features that allow the students to control the
mouse and interact.
ezTalks Webinar is the reliable and hugely popular virtual classroom
software perfect for both students as well as instructors. This
inexpensive and simple-to-use virtual classroom software will allow the
institutions, colleges, universities to organize live classes and share
important knowledge. It also includes many useful and powerful features.
Skype is an IP
telephony service provider that offers free calling between subscribers and
low-cost calling to people who don't use the service. In addition to standard
telephone calls, Skype enables file
transfers, texting, video chat and videoconferencing.
Blackboard is a
mobile app that enables you to view course content, grade assignments, connect
with students in discussions, and interact with your class in Blackboard
Collaborate. The app, which is primarily for higher education, is available for iOS and Android mobile devices.
Google Hangouts is a unified communications service that allows members
to initiate and participate in text, voice or video chats, either one-on-one or
in a group. Hangouts are built
into Google+ and Gmail, and mobile Hangouts apps are
available for iOS and Android devices.
Adobe
Connect is a
suite of software for remote training, web conferencing,
presentation, and desktop sharing. It includes some powerful
features and permits a lot of add-ons plus customizations to their system. All meeting rooms are organized into 'pods'; with each pod performing a
specific role (e.g. chat, whiteboard, note etc.)
Edvance360 Learning Management
Software is a
cloud-based learning
management system that provides
online learning programs for
schools, higher education and corporate training departments. The system features
online lesson management, progress tracking, online certificate generation, along with an in-house
social network.
When choosing a program / app, search
the web, evaluate the options, have friends help you by having mock online
classes and see which of the programs best meets your needs.
Once you have chosen the program that
you would like to use, study it, learn its features and perfect how to operate
it. Have practice classes with friends and family, make yourself an expert so
that you are not only able to instill confidence in your students, but you are
also able to completely meet their educational needs in the most successful way
possible.
5. Choose additional support
materials wisely.
One of the biggest problems
teachers encounter when they first start teaching online is they are unprepared
with additional materials. This often causes them to do emergency GOOGLE
searches ultimately choosing a website with the most attractive heading. If you
are using websites to reinforce skills or to improve your students learning
experience, then the best thing to do is to search for, and then choose a
selection of websites that you know are high quality and suitable to what you
are teaching. The choice of bad materials can destroy your classes and your
reputation.
6. Adaptability of materials
When preparing materials such as
PowerPoints and Prezi, make sure that they are suitable for students who only
have a cell phone or tablet. If the materials are crammed with materials, and
the lettering is too small, then it is extremely difficult for students to
study. After making materials, test them out on your own cell phone or tablet
to ensure that they are able to be read and understood.
7. Be prepared for the class.
Because these classes are online,
it is only logical that the foundation, or support for most of your classes
will be program or web based. Today, the web is full of websites and programs,
there are literally hundreds to choose from, and the best ones to choose will
of course depend upon your teaching style and your requirements.
Before starting your online
teaching, search the web for the what you believe could be the best programs to
support your classes. Programs such as Kahoot, Evernote, Dropbox, Class Dojo, ABCYa.com,
FunBrain.com, PBSKids.org, Poptropica.com, Kids.NationalGeographic.com,
GameClassroom.com, Arcademics.com. ect are
very popular with language teachers. When you combine these with videos from Youtube
or Ted ect, you are able to form a very successful base for your classes.
Another option of course is to
use a language teaching based platform as the basis of your classes. There are
many available online, some that are available on the internet are free, but
most have a modest cost that can of course be passed along to your students.
There are platforms developed by publishers that support language books as well
as standalone platforms that do not require a book. Generally speaking, the
most professional way to use a platform is to have each of your students invest
in the platform which of course replaces the standard book that is used in
traditional classes.
Once you have chosen the
program(s) that you believe will support you in your class, then the only thing
left to do is to make sure that you utilize them by preparing relevant, high
quality materials and presentations to enhance your students learning
experience.
Just remember, preparation is the
secret to a successful class, and when you prepare them properly, then you will
not only maintain your students, but the amount of students that you teach will
increase, as will your income.
8. Be comfortable. A good table
and chair are your best friends
When we are completely prepared,
and everything is comfortable, then our classes will be the best that they can
be. Don`t rest your computer on your bed, on your lap or on your sofa.
Initially you may feel comfortable, but this is a recipe for disaster.
Remember, you are a teacher, a respected professional and like a classroom, you
must be prepared and set up in a comfortable, professional way.
Set yourself up on a suitable
table, one with enough room for you, your computer and any additional papers
etc that you need to teach your class. Next, find the most comfortable chair
that you can so that no matter how many hours you are online, you don’t suffer
physical stress and the related pain that accompanies it.
If your conversion to online classes is something that you believe will last
for a while, then go out and invest in a good table and chair to help make your
environment professional and comfortable. Remember that as teachers, we must be
positive and upbeat at all times, a reality that can be difficult to maintain
when we are suffering from the pain associated with bad posture, hard plastic
seats, back pain from laying on a bed or sofa for hours or from having to continually
bend down to pick up papers from the floor because our laptop is balancing on a
bar stool. Be prepared.
9. Never rely on your memory,
always record a few notes about each student
When teaching online it is more
than possible that you could have a lot of students, especially if you are
replacing regular classroom classes. In that scenario, you could teach up to 30
students per class, 4 or 5 classes a day, five days a week. After just the
first day, the students and all of the details all starts to mix together into
one huge, confusing memory. Apart from any mandatory administrative system that
you may be given to use in your class to register attendance, contents ect, in
addition, set up some sort of personal system and try to keep a few notes about
each of your classes and students in a notebook or on a spread sheet. If you
found out during a previous activity that a student loves travelling, or
creating art or they told you that their birthday is on the 15th of
June, then make a little note for yourself so that you don’t forget. Also, if you
find out that some of your students are having problems with something
specific, or they have a weakness in a certain skill, write that down too.
10. Approach each class in a
happy and enthusiastic manner
One of the reasons why so many
teachers like online classes is because it’s purely about the students and the teaching.
It is about finding happiness through the teaching of a new language, through
experiencing personalized student growth, and through those lightbulb moments
when you know that your student(s) finally understand what you are teaching
them. Always smile, be happy, maintain an upbeat personality and give your student’s
unlimited positive comments of support and congratulations. Your positive
attitude will spread into the hearts and minds of your students.
11. Set
reasonable expectations
When you create
activities, you should make sure that they can all be answered in the allocated
time and with the learning resources and materials that you provided. When you
ask students to write a summary, draw a picture or complete a worksheet you
should make it clear and easy to understand as this will produce the best
outcomes and responses from your students.
12. Make classes interactive.
For online classes to be successful, especially when they are being taught to
children or teenagers, then they need to be interactive in every way. Create
PowerPoints or Prezi presentations that are colorful, that include sound
effects, that have content that allows for open-ended questions to expand the
learning experience or that have embedded videos to increases the students
desire to participate.
In addition, invite
students to bring items from the home into the class. If you are teaching
colors, they can bring things that are different colors. If they are learning
numbers, they can bring a certain amount of different items to practice counting
etc. Also, it is good for the teacher to bring physical props to class as well
to support the interactivity of the class.
Another way to create
an interactive environment is to invite the family to be a part of specific
activities such as through the creation of videos for homework. I have had my
students create cooking videos, interview family members about specific topics,
give video presentations etc.
13.
Always show faces
Research has shown that classes are always more successful when teachers and
students show their faces as it invites that personal element into the classes.
Insist that all students have their cameras turned on at all times throughout
the class.
14.
Give clear, specific instructions
Unlike a regular classroom
where it is easy for students to put their hands up when they have a question
or problem, online classes, especially with groups, have a different reality.
For this reason, when giving instructions in the class, it is very important
that they are clear, complete and are able to pre-empt any questions that the
students may have. Giving clear instructions is one of the most important
elements in a class when achieving good time management.
15. Classroom management
When teaching groups of students online, classroom management skills, whilst similar,
are different due to the fact that your students are being influenced by the
environment of their home. Teachers need to set rules such as putting up hands
to answer questions, only students who are asked by the teacher can speak, have
students mute their microphones to prevent environmental noises in the class,
set strict time limits for each activity, and most importantly, don`t fill the
class with too many activities.
Whilst classes with
individuals or small groups of adults can achieve a good level of productivity,
large classes of children don’t always achieve the same amount of productivity
as they would in a regular class. Test your class, find a comfortable level of
daily achievement and create or set an amount of activities that you know they
can complete during the class.
In closing, I
hope that this article is of some assistance for those teachers who are now
facing the reality of having to teach online. It`s not easy, it requires a lot
of adaption, but in the end, if it is done correctly, you can continue to
provide your students with that valued education that they need to prepare them
for their future lives.
Good luck and
good teaching.
David White
Managing Director English For You
Language Institute Trujillo Peru
Headmaster American School
Trujillo Peru.
THANKS VERY MUCH ! INTERESTING ADVICE !
ReplyDeleteTeaching Online Classes: 15 Tips For Achieving Success In The Virtual Classroom. >>>>> Download Now
Delete>>>>> Download Full
Teaching Online Classes: 15 Tips For Achieving Success In The Virtual Classroom. >>>>> Download LINK
>>>>> Download Now
Teaching Online Classes: 15 Tips For Achieving Success In The Virtual Classroom. >>>>> Download Full
>>>>> Download LINK VU
tks for the tips, useful
ReplyDeleteEnlightening!
ReplyDeleteINTERISTING
ReplyDeletevery inspiring post it is very helpful to us thanks for sharing this information to us keep it up
ReplyDeletehttps://ontesol.com/teach-english-online/
very useful and practical advices
ReplyDeleteGood guidance. Well written post. Teaching types of sentences should also be made available online.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to learn new thing wherever I find. Join global language learning community.
ReplyDeleteVery Very Informative Blog..!!! Keep Writing and Sharing The Amazing Content
ReplyDeleteBest Online Yoga Private Classes In USA
Best Online Yoga Classes In USA
very informative blog.
ReplyDeleteonline learning has become an essential during the pandemic
I just found this blog and have high hopes for it to continue. If you want to teach online and earn money, you can teach online classes from home and earn money in India.
ReplyDeleteonline teaching jobs from home
how to teach online ,
online tutoring jobs for students ,
how to become an online tutor ,
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. After all I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon! butcher meat online
ReplyDeleteTEACHING ONLINE CLASSES: 15 tips for achieving success in the virtual classroom.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post for teachers...
Teachers can try out these tips...
Well, read our blog - Top Key Features of Online Classroom Management System
online classroom management system
Nice post Thanks For Sharing This Article.With the Best Online Quran Academy, you may take Online Quran Classes for kids and adults online. Learn Quran online with Quran teachers and Quran tutors who are experts in the subject. QuranEasy is an online platform that allows adults and children to learn the Quran from the comfort of their own homes with the help of trained online Quran tutors
ReplyDeleteOnline teaching is the process of educating others via the internet. Various methods can be used, such as one-on-one video calls, group video calls, and webinars. Anubudh’s live class platform enables you to launch your own business by selling your courses from your own branded application through our online teaching software.
ReplyDeletevirtual class platform
live class app
online classroom platforms
virtual classroom software
virtual classroom platforms
online live class platform
online class platform
online teaching platforms for schools
live online class platform
online live classes app
live virtual classroom platform
best virtual classroom platform
Yoga for kids is a beautiful practice that allows your child to relax while cultivating open-mindedness and reaping overall health advantages. Although yoga for kids has been practised for thousands of years, the focus on children's yoga is pretty recent and rising. Therefore, yoga is a wonderful present to offer your children since it builds personality and body knowledge from a young age. In addition, children are natural Yogis; they are incredibly flexible. Their capacity to believe and trust helps them accept yoga's lessons in a motivating and inspiring way.
ReplyDeleteQuranEasy is an online platform, which offers Quran Learning from home for kids and adults by certified online Quran tutors. Our mission at Quran Easy is to incorporate the latest methods of teaching to provide our students with the most effective way of learning.
ReplyDelete