THE ART OF TEACHING ONLINE

Online instruction is new to many teachers, and for good reason. In just a few years, it has grown from an academic experiment to a recognized alternative to traditional classroom learning.

Teaching online is different from teaching in the classroom as it requires a different type of facilitation.  In a nutshell I will take you through some of the basic traits I have noticed since teaching online.

One of the difficulties for students these days is they do not have the opportunity to use their newly acquired English skills with a native speaker and additionally have no need to speak it, unless their job foresees this. They probably don’t have enough time to attend a  regular English class or travel to an English speaking country. So the online learning is a great alternative.

Teachers need to be flexible and human in their dealings of students. You are likely to come across many different cultures, religions and personality traits. So it is important that you are able to communicate with a variety of different people. Communication skills are very important in online teaching, and this can open the doors to the modern type of teacher, the so called traditional teachers may find it not to their liking.

The use of webcams are not compulsory in classes, and some teachers prefer not to use them as they can be distracting and not always important, whereas listening plays an important role to these types of lessons. So not only does the teacher have to be a teacher, but also a great communicator and know how to get a student talking, and what makes the student tick so to speak, not always easy during the first few lessons, but as soon as a student feels at ease and forgets the barrier of monitor, microphone and headphones, the setting is ideal and the virtual classroom seems nothing more than a traditional classroom, but set in your own home.

The teacher needs to have some basic computer skills as she/he will need to be able to use a virtual classroom and its tools, upload courses and lessons. Having said that it is not necessary being a computer geek and designing your own lessons as there are plenty of ways of adapting offline courses or using web based printables or handouts.  The important thing is that the lessons are as student-centred and as interactive as possible. If you do need some initial advice and practice of how and what to do, during this month only you can join up for half price to E-Teacher’s Academy.

Technology can play an important part in an online teacher’s success, once the lessons  become frequent. I would recommend to anyone who is about to embark in online teaching in having a smartphone. Depending on the model, you can keep all your contacts in one place, have e-mail instantly and keep in contact with your students online with the various instant messagging clients. I personally find this fundemental for organizing my day,  especially if you have this kind of  ‘mobile online office’ it makes your life a lot simpler. I have tried several smartphones but the one I am most attached to is the BlackBerry simply because it has all the features I need, and push e-mail which is a must for any professional whatever line of business.

For invaluable links posted by teachers and educators www.teachertuesday.info

If you teach or are learning online please share your experiences. Aniya

Image flickr