If you are a teacher or aspire to be one, you mostly do it for the love of teaching. If you love teaching but because of varied reasons cannot make time for it, you can start teaching online using an online teaching app, in the comfort of your home. You just need a good and stable internet connection and you are good to go, create a classroom anywhere, anytime!
The benefits that online teaching provides are many- from helping you generate extra income to providing you with comfort and convenience. However, to avoid making mistakes and be better at them, you should abide by some principles.
Principles to Follow to be Better at Online Teaching
1) Plan Your Classes
Online classes make time fly faster. Students would look forward to learning as much as possible in the given class hours. Hence, to be able to use the class hours in the best possible way, you should plan your class.
2) Learn Technological Skills
Since you are teaching online, you should learn the basics of using the technology. You should know about the features and functionalities of the apps for classroom that you use, recognize technological errors or issues, etc.
You may or may not be tech-savvy, but if you want to teach online, you should meet the basic requirements related to technological skills.
3) Setup Workspace
You can indeed teach from anywhere, however, setting up a dedicated workspace makes it easier. You will also feel comfortable and your students will be used to the background.
Make sure that the place is away from disturbances and is a quiet space. Also, ensure that the background is well set up, the lighting is good and you have all the necessary types of equipment necessary for teaching.
4) Be Good at Communication
The mode of teaching should not be a factor impacting the communication between you and your students. You should communicate regularly with your students. You should introduce yourself, ask interactive questions in between classes, give feedback and remind students of homework.
5) Motivate Your Students
Students feeling demotivated for different reasons is normal, especially when they have to learn online in isolation. As an online teacher, you should motivate them in every way possible.
Some students may not like the subject that you teach, encourage such students by making the subject interesting using various teaching methods.
You can read out motivational quotes, share “thoughts of the day” before starting the day, arrange games and ranking charts weekly, etc. to motivate them. You can also share stories of learned professionals, scholars, celebrities and even yours or any other common man that serves the purpose.
6) Give and Take Feedback
Feedback for very necessary for growth and development. You should give feedback to the students on their performance and behaviour timely. Remember that your feedback should contain good pointers as well and should be communicated in a way that does not sound harsh.
Also, you should ask for feedback from the students and implement those in your classes to enhance the learning process.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, there is no “right way” of teaching online even if the subject mentions it. However, there are some “correct ways” and basic principles that you must incorporate into your online teaching process to make it right.
