Opportunities To Teach Online – Part 3

This is the concluding post on how to become an online tutor. We hope you have enjoyed reading the post. You can check Parts 1 and 2 in Blog.

How to Become an Online Teacher or Tutor

The following tips have been provided to help you prepare and become an online teacher, educator, or tutor.

Knowledge of the Subject and Teaching

In order to get onto online education as a tutor, you do not need to be a teacher, though this will definitely help. What is important is your knowledge of the subject and passion to impart the same to others. These are important because you need to have the ability to design the course or courses.

Getting Familiar with Technology

To teach online, you need to be familiar with the appropriate technology, both hardware, and software. So, the first thing is to invest in the right hardware and software. You need a good computer, with a good internet connection at least. You can subscribe to a learning platform that has a Learning Management System that is suitable for your needs. There are many options out there.

Good Planning

Teaching online, like traditional teaching is about considering how you will prepare your students for success. So you will need to plan your course and how you will reuse online content. You will also need to develop a teaching approach that will best meet your students’ needs.

Ability to Motivate Students

Motivation plays a big part in the learning process as we all learn differently. Though some students can motivate themselves and learn new things easily, others may not be like that. So, it is important to think of ways to get all of your students motivated in order to get the best out of them. This may include giving extra points for online discussions or optional assignments. Deadlines may also help push forward your more unmotivated students. Your goal is to find ways to help your students get the most out of your class without the benefit that a physical presence brings.

Ability to Communicate and Work Well with Others

You need to maintain a consistent online presence. For this reason, communication is essential in the online classroom environment. Interaction and engagement are crucial in online learning. You will need to Introduce yourself and give your students the opportunity to also introduce themselves. Since the online platform is not a traditional teaching environment, it lacks the human touch. By doing this, it helps to bring the human element and warmth into your classroom. Without having a teacher physically with them, students may feel nervous. Make sure your students know the best methods and times to contact you. You can try to ease this by answering questions in a timely manner and providing plenty of instruction and feedback.

Creating an Enabling Learning Environment

Working remotely can be challenging. Without the perfect environment and a good amount of self-discipline, working from home can become a nightmare. This can be avoided with a little planning. You will need to create a workspace specifically designed for work only. This space must be friendly and encourages productive work behaviour, and be free of distractions such as television as well as distractions from family members etc. You can use natural lighting and an ergonomic chair to make your workspace convenient and comfortable.

Ask for Students Engagement and Feedback. 

It is important to find out what the needs of the students are. The approach known to be adopted by best instructors is to set up their courses so that it gives the students the space to pursue self-paced learning. As education is moving more online, your students would probably have experienced online education. with this experience, they may be able to give you feedback on how to develop or present the course. For this reason, it’s very important to listen to your students as their input can make a big difference by encouraging students to take ownership of the process.

Enabling Engagement through Discussion

Online classrooms, as mentioned before, run differently from traditional classrooms. They can feel and lack the human touch. Initiating and encouraging discussions can make you understand how your students feel in class. You will need to encourage participation, much like you would in a physical classroom. There are many ways you can encourage participation such as discussions, posting lectures, assigning reading materials, monitoring progress, and feedback. It is important to get your students involved and engaged so that they can get more out of the course.

Get Answers from Experienced Online Teachers.

Chances are that someone has taught this subject or course before you. So, you are not going to be the first person that teaches the subject or course. So, you may be able to use their existing asynchronous content or learn from them in order to avoid waste of time and effort.

You can get help from them and get tips and tricks from them. There are many ways you can do this such as joining groups, networks, or forums, etc.

Having Appropriate Class Size

Similar to physical classrooms, it is important to know how many students you will be teaching, as it will affect your lessons and assessment. For instance, if you have a large class, conducting tests and essays may be difficult to grade. However, technology can make a difference. So, you need to find out and used the right system that meets your needs best.

Class size will also affect asynchronous and synchronous learning. Synchronous teaching occurs where the teacher is present at the same time as the students. A common example is a face-to-face teaching environment. But this can also take place in online learning, using video conferencing and live chat or instant messaging. Asynchronous teaching takes place online, where study materials are posted online and learners work through them in their own time, communicating with each other and the teacher via discussion boards or forums, or even by email.

If your course involves presentations, you will need to consider whether you will have enough time for students to do a presentation individually in a live session, where your class size is large, or whether your technology can handle it. Another consideration is making provisions for students who have missed classes by having available recordings of live sessions that students can access.

Vary Assignments for all Learning Styles.

With online learning, it may be more difficult to get to know students’ learning styles individually. You can try to include a variety of assignments and course materials to make sure every student has an opportunity to learn in the way that’s best for them. This is another area where your knowledge of your Learning Management Systems (LMS) can help, as you can use it to track your class performance on different types of assignments and gain a better understanding of how the students are learning. You need not forget that some demonstrations involving a whole classroom cannot be done when students are not in one place. However, with online teaching, you have the opportunity to include videos in your lectures that may not be appropriate in a traditional classroom setting.

This concludes the article on how to teach online. Hope you have found it useful. Good luck on your online teaching journey!

Teachable Online Learning Platform

Teachable is a great online course platform that helps you to create, sell, and manage your online courses. It has grown into a platform where people with specific skills use their knowledge to create robust courses.

Dedicated Online Tutoring Job Website

You may also find Tutorjobsonline.com helpful since it is an online job portal that can link you with the available jobs. You can choose from various jobs that are available, depending on your skills. Click on the link below to take to you to the site where you can find out more about how to get online teaching jobs.

References

Agarwal, A. (2019). Three Education Trends That Will Revolutionize The Workplace In 2019. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/anantagarwal/2019/01/02/three-education-trends-that-will-revolutionize-the-workplace-in-2019/#741f2a026363 [Accessed 17 Apr. 2020].

Alton, L. (n.d.). Workplace Changes Are Accelerating: Why And What Millennials Should Do About It. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/larryalton/2018/02/01/workplace-changes-are-accelerating-why-and-what-millennials-should-do-about-it/#5687e6122def [Accessed 17 Apr. 2020].

eLearning Industry. (2016). 7 Tips On How To Prepare For Teaching Online. [online] Available at: https://elearningindustry.com/7-tips-prepare-for-teaching-online [Accessed 20 Apr. 2020].

George, S. (2017). Smarter With Gartner. [online] Gartner.com. Available at: https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/6-ways-the-workplace-will-change-in-the-next-10-years/ [Accessed 17 April 2020].

Gourani, S. (2019). This is How the Future of Work-Life Balance Will Look Like. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/soulaimagourani/2019/05/03/this-is-how-the-future-of-work-life-balance-will-look-like/#1c308c6134ce [Accessed 28 Apr. 2020].

Martin (2018). Education – United Nations Sustainable Development. [online] United Nations Sustainable Development. Available at: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/.In-text citation: (Martin, 2018)

McCue, T.J. (2018). E Learning Climbing To $325 Billion By 2025 UF Canvas Absorb Schoology Moodle. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2018/07/31/e-learning-climbing-to-325-billion-by-2025-uf-canvas-absorb-schoology-moodle/#2f3123673b39 [Accessed 20 Apr. 2020].

Sciencedirect.com. (2012). Lifelong Education – an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. [online] Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/lifelong-education [Accessed 15 June. 2020].

SkillScouter. (2019). 79+ Staggering Online Learning Statistics  [2020] [UPDATE]. [online] Available at: https://skillscouter.com/online-learning-statistics/ [Accessed 20 Apr. 2020]

Totaljobs.com. (2019). Superflexibility – the work-life balance rules are changing | totaljobs. [online] Available at: https://www.totaljobs.com/insidejob/work-life-balance/ [Accessed 28 Apr. 2020].

‌World Bank. (2019). World Development Report 2019: The Changing Nature of Work. [online] Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2019. [Accessed 17 April 2020]