In the last two years, almost all sorts of teaching and learning have been taking place online. Be it pre-schools, schools, colleges, coaching centres or even additional courses, Online lessons have now almost totally replaced traditional classroom teaching. As a teacher, many facades of teaching changed and how evaluations were to be done, how assignments were to be graded changed as well. If you are a teacher, by now you might have surely mastered the devices and applications that can be used to teach online. But if you are someone who is just stepping into the teaching career and wish to make the best first impression or if as an existing teacher you wish to make online lessons better for your students, then this article is just for you. In this article, we will be sharing with you some tips on how to teach online and make your lessons valuable for students.
While an online classroom might look simpler to people and an activity that can be conducted, whenever and wherever, there is a lot of effort that goes into conducting an online class. In this article, we will be sharing tips with you for steps to take before scheduling a class, during a class and after the class. This will help you cover every aspect well and ensure that the online class is a great experience for you as well as your students.
Before starting an online class, you must:
- Plan The Class: Planning the class in advance gives you space and time to prepare the course content that you will be sharing within the duration of the class. It also helps you in planning the methods you will be using to deliver the lessons. This could include finding relevant videos, e-books and other material and also preparing any assignments or quizzes you would also like to conduct. While planning a class teachers consider microlearning principles as well and keep in mind the attention span of the students.
- Choose the Required Tools: This includes choosing the best platform for conducting the class and the features of the platform that will be used. The teachers must also do a test run to avoid any interruptions due to network issues. This helps in saving time and keeping the class focused on the topic.
- Send Invites and Set Rules: Teachers must send the invites for the class well in time, so the students can revise previous lessons and be on time. While sending out the invites, make sure to communicate the instructions for the class and set the ground rules for the same.
During the class, the teachers can follow these tips:
- Begin the Class With a Discussion: If the students get engaged and involved at the beginning of the class, it will be easier for you to keep them attentive throughout. To ensure that the students listen to what you have to say, you must begin the class with a discussion that makes the students interested in the topic and lets them stay active during class
- Record Your Classes: One of the best features of online classes is that every class can be recorded. Recorded lectures are not only beneficial for students who might miss the class but also useful as reference material and revision material for when the students come back to the topic later.
- Ensure Safety And Security: When creating a link for a classroom, make sure to only add the necessary users. Create a waiting room to control who enters your classroom. Always keep a check on the chatbox to make your virtual classroom a safe space.
- Show Your Face: It is very important to turn the video on. While a virtual class does tick mark all the boxes for teaching and learning tools, human connection is still important.
- Introduce Interactive Activities and Assignments.
After conducting the class, a few tips you can use are:
- Communicate with the students regularly.
- Ask for Feedback: This is an important step as honest feedback from students will help you improvise more and optimize the lessons.
We hope you would implement some of these steps in your next online classroom and these tips help you in making your lessons more valuable and fun.