Online teaching is helping tutors worldwide in transforming the lives of millions of learners. As many learners can’t access world-class education due to lack of access or as it is expensive, online classes serve as an alternative to pursue education. Online education creates a virtual environment where learners can gain knowledge by attending classes from the comforts of their home.
Compared to the traditional teaching method, online teaching wins as it is popular and accessible in every corner of the world. It not only provides excellent opportunities to students but also to tutors as a lucrative revenue source. As the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the closure of schools, now is the right to join the revolution and transform the lives of your target students.
Tips for teaching live online classes
If you are looking for how to conduct live online classes, either one-to-one or group classes, several factors are to consider. Your content in an online course will be different from what you present offline in a similar setting. Teaching classes in a live setting allows you to interact with your learners directly. Here are some of the tips that help you effectively conduct live online classes to improve student engagement and ensure the content is delivered and absorbed effectively.
Offer frequently validation
Keeping the student’s engagement is important in an online teaching environment, especially in a live setting. To help build self-efficacy in learners, build moments of validation in your online classes. This is really significant if you are taking an introductory topic that can see high drop-off rates due to learner discouragement. Provide early and frequent validation to keep the engagement and improve student retention.
Build on existing knowledge to create a relationship
Plan on your lessons for online classes to find key shared points of knowledge to avoid repetition. It also allows students to connect new ideas to pre-existing knowledge or already what they know. This helps to improve comprehension in the lessons you teach and to boost student retention. Create a clear outline plan before you come to teach your first live online class of yours. Have a proper understanding about your target audience and their concerns to create the most efficient and comprehensive lesson plan in advance of the class.
Actively engage and involve students
Student engagement must be the priority when you are tutoring students, but it is also more challenging. Think about creative ways to draw students into the content and show that their significant input will go a long way.
Taking online classes- Steps to follow
Identify your skills
This one is more of a prerequisite rather than a step. Before starting to take your first online classes, identify and define your skill set. Find out in which niches you are an expert in so that you can teach your students the best possible way List down the subjects and topics you are comfortable with and do research on the topics your target learners prefer.
Choosing a topic for your first class
You might be an experienced tutor and an expert in any subject area. But before you take your first class, it is essential to know what your learners are looking for. Conducting research will help you identify your student needs so that you can select a topic that addresses the same.
Here is how to find out what your learners are looking for:
Use Google suggest– The simplest and straightforward way to identify your student needs is to use Google. For example, if you are teaching maths for class 10, do a google search on the same. Google will show what learners are looking for in your topic.
Choose the platform to host your online class
It is critical to select the right platform to host your classes based on your requirements to conduct live classes. One of the ways is to leverage a third-party eLearning platform to host online courses and live classes. However, relying on a third-party platform has several limitations, mainly due to lack of flexibility.
The second and most recommended approach is to rely on classroom management software that helps you to create a virtual classroom where you can host your live classes. Tutoring software is a readymade solution that comes with both basic and advanced features to build a full-fledged tutoring platform with capabilities for both tutoring and learning. Suppose you are looking for a smart suggestion. In that case, PinLearn is one such professional software that comes with an interactive whiteboard, content management system, custom branding, live class hosting (Both one-to-one and group classes, self-paced online courses, chat system, monetization, and a lot more.
Set up a good tutoring environment to conduct online class
Be it traditional or online classroom; learners like to learn in an engaging classroom. Hence, it is important to set up a good work environment to conduct your online class.
Here are some tips you can use when taking online classes
- Keep your camera at the right distance so that you are clearly visible to learners.
- Conduct live classes in a closed environment where there are no external disturbances.
- Make sure there is robust internet connectivity to ensure uninterrupted online classes.
- Turn your video camera and start interacting with your learners. To maintain student attention, make sure you take directly to the camera; this helps to create a personal connection with your students.
Create lessons for your online class
This goes without saying; quality online content is a must when you are conducting live classes for your learners. The best way to create content for your online classes is to know your students’ likes and present information in the way they like.
If you don’t like taking live classes alone, you can combine them with online courses. Include a combination of texts, videos, PDFs, infographics, etc., to make your content interesting and engaging to your learners at the same time.
The next step is to record your lessons which is helpful for several reasons. These recordings may prove to be valuable resources if some students are unable to attend your class and want to catch up with the session.
Set ground rules
Successful online classes take a well-planned tutoring strategy. You need clear structuring, and it requires rules that help you limit unwanted distractions and interruptions, which ensures a safe learning environment for your learners in turn.
Make sure you discuss these set rules with your learners before making your expectations clear.
Conclusion
Embracing modern technological advancements and making the leap into taking live online classes can be challenging. While online classrooms have some limitations, live classes come to tutors’ rescue, opening new learning experiences. It won’t be easy, but you can create engaging live online classes by following the tips discussed in this blog. Good luck and happy tutoring.
