Being a teacher is not easy. Being a successful teacher is even more difficult. The field of education has undergone a great deal of change in its ways of teaching. Especially since the coronavirus pandemic, when schools and college campuses were shut down, locking millions of students and teachers out of the classroom, across the entire nation, the preferred mode of education, for the most part, has shifted to online teaching.
Educators today, are required to teach online more than ever. However, teaching methodologies suitable for traditional offline classrooms are not always effective while teaching on an online teaching app. In order to be successful as an online teacher, one needs to accustom themselves with the tried and tested ways that are effective while teaching in online mode. Before embarking on your career as a successful online teacher, ensure that you have all the requisite resources such as a computer/smartphone, an internet connection, and have access to the best app for online teaching. There are some great online teaching apps available on the internet which are absolutely free of cost and provide innovative and practical tools like online teaching through mobile, digital whiteboards, automated attendance, seamless teaching in low data mode, automated fee collection system and likewise, to simplify the task of teaching online. Apart from this you also need to learn about the best practices of teaching online which are discussed at length in this article. So, without further ado, let us take a look at things you can do to become a successful online teacher.
In online teaching, you do not physically share the same space with your students. Therefore, you must use digital tools to make your presence felt in the classroom. In order to have a strong presence in your online classroom, you need to employ a wider range of communication methods and also need to check up on your students periodically as required. You can enhance your digital presence in your students’ lives by using various communication channels such as messenger, email, forums, discussion boards and likewise. Moreover, you should let your students know about how and how frequently will you be communicating with them. This makes the students feel your presence and that inevitably improves their sincerity and engagement with the class.
Inculcate an Active Learning Environment
Student engagement with the learning process is key for being a successful teacher. An active learning environment, which places the student at the center of his own learning, allows you to achieve just that. In his report “Principles of Effective Online Pedagogy”, psychology professor Bill Pelz indicates that learning is directly related to the amount of time students spend being engaged with the study material. You can create an active learning environment in various ways. For starters, you could ask them to participate in group activities, discuss topics and resources, assess each-others and their own assignments, and join online discussion boards. Above all, do what you feel might be helpful in enhancing the student participation in the classroom and in their own learning.
Personalized Attention
Every student is unique. Teaching methods which work for one student might not be successful with some other student. As a teacher, your aim should always be to create course materials which cater to a wide array of learning styles. Moreover, you must ensure to periodically reach out to each student and assess their quality of learning, be open and ask them gently if they need any help with something. You should include various types of media such as audio, video, text, graphics and likewise while preparing your lessons. This helps in reducing monotony and also supports students with varied learning styles.
Feedback
An effective feedback loop is must in order to truly assess the situation on ground. As important it is to provide timely and effective feedback to your students, it is equally important for you to actively seek feedback regarding your teaching from your students. This will ensure that you don’t go too far away on the wrong track or use a method which is not working for your students. This will help in achieving a high level of students’ classroom performance.
These are few best practices which any online teacher should look to incorporate in his teaching regimen. Certainly, if you follow these practices diligently, you will become a truly successful online educator in no time.
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