You want to meet people; you zoom call. You want to text someone, you WhatsApp.You want to do an online search for anything; you Google it. Technology surrounds us, not a day goes by without WhatsApp, YouTube or the internet.
While the digital class was trying to decipher its ground with teaching in India. It reached new frontiers with covid. Everyone was exploring alternative ways to continue the class and to continue teaching.
While many states are figuring out the ideal mix of physical classes versus online classes, many are not still comfortable with the physical class. On the other hand, online classes have become a pain in the neck for teachers. For some, it was the technology and for others; it was the uncertainties in classes.
Since many of us are still struggling to teach online, here are some tips and tricks to help you teach online effectively:
1. Plan Your Classes
You and your students are not sitting face to face. And you might be miles apart. The way to cater to the students who are miles away differs from the one who is in the same room. So, as a teacher, you cannot just pick up any topic that comes to your mind. Further planning becomes vital to set the tone of the online classroom. Make sure that students know the syllabus and schedule of the class. They should also have the required materials for the class beforehand, which can allow the students to prepare. Also, since these are tough times for all of us, you can go easy on the deadlines for assignments and projects.
2. Interactive activities
As Online classes are limited to you and your students, they can become somewhat monotonous. It is not always easy to keep the kids excited or create an environment where they can focus on what's being taught. So one way to keep your class engaging is by making your content more interactive. For instance, you can add things like flashcards, graphs, or stories to make your content fun. This does require a considerable effort on your part, but the results are always encouraging. Plus, it would allow your students to engage more with the subject matter, which is always a good thing.
3 Let The Students Do The Work
One goal of teaching is to keep your students engaged with a particular topic as long as possible. To achieve this, you also need a medium that enables you to keep their interest levels high. A study conducted at Harvard University concludes that “Students in ‘active learning’ classrooms learn more than they think”. So the more time a student spends on the topic, the more they learn. To achieve this, you can begin by giving your students opportunities to engage and discuss it further with their classmates. They can also grade their friends’ assignments, debate on different aspects related to the topic, or even engage in some fun games to understand more about the subject.
4. Working Environment
We all know how back-breaking it is to work from home. It takes the right environment and self-discipline to keep from making it a nightmare. You are here at your table teaching or working on the material for 80 percent of your time; you need this place to be well lit, comfortable ergonomic seating and free from distraction. Your place should encourage productivity out of you.
5. Right Learning Management System
Last but not the least, one of the vital is your school management system. A School Management System for School is an online learning platform that helps schools to function at the highest potential. The tool gives access to education resources, course materials, classroom materials, assignments.
It is novel to all, so be prepared with the tool, familiarize yourself with the system and how to work on it. This is because no matter how simple the technology may seem, sometimes it can get overwhelming because of its novelty and structure. This makes the role of technical support equally important for both teachers and students. A detailed guideline on how to reach the support team and make the best use of their expertise will also be very helpful.
The platform is used to help from kindergarten to coaching institute to sail efficiently, by making classes reach remote places in the country.
You could use tools like google classrooms, Edumarshal or allLearn, which is a free classroom management platform and can be accessed through your web browser or even WhatsApp.
Online teaching is one medium that any modern teacher needs to be comfortable with. Considering that tools are getting easier to use by the day, the learning curve is next to nothing. All one needs to do is get started.
Do comment on how you liked these tips, share this among your friends, and let me know if you have any more tips that could be useful for everyone in the teaching community.