Nowadays, many people are taking advantage of social distancing to learn a new skill that’s related to their jobs or simply for the sake of taking up a new hobby. For online-only instructors, this is a great opportunity to attract learners, and yet this poses a great challenge as well. Particularly, they need to motivate learners to complete practical tasks in the absence of a physical classroom and one-on-one training sessions. Online courses usually lack that element of urgency to finish tasks on time as there are no external factors that can push learners to do more. Despite this, online courses aren’t going anywhere as they are now the most convenient way to learn or develop a new skill, from the safety of our homes. As a consequence, this content is going to guide you how teachers make online lectures more effective for students in order to engage them to learn. Here are the 4 tips of online teaching strategies that instructors should focus on.
Awareness of several course types is the first tip to have an effective online class. In Lecture-oriented Courses, you ought to create and upload your materials before teaching. Prerecording can also be as engaging as the best live lectures: you can do multiple takes, edit the recordings, and integrate graphics or animations. Besides, when presenting your lectures, create a detailed agenda, including how much time you will ask students to spend on collaborative work, solo writing, or group discussions. In addition to lecture-oriented courses, in theCase-based Courses, what you should do is to keep your students in front of you. For example, Zoom’s gallery view lets you see thumbnails of 25-49 students at a time. You can also move from screen to screen to see even more. Making small group discussions can also attract your learners in theCase-based Courses. Another course type is Hand-on. A practical online course with hands-on tasks is the best way for your learners to quickly gain new skills. Motivating learners to complete them is another story.
The second tip of having an effective online lecture is using videos for material. You can use videos in a variety of ways in online courses. They can play a valuable role in helping your students achieve your learning goals while also accomplishing important secondary goals, such as enhancing motivation, building community, and establishing presence. Also, online-teaching videos can be created by yourselves; otherwise, you can download from other sources, such as YouTube.
Another tip to make you be a great distance instructor is having ability in engaging students remotely. One ability is reading the room. Instructors should be more diligent about pausing and asking if anyone else has more thoughts before jumping to the next topic. Amplifying your course with guest speakers is also a helpful ability. Online, experts are one click away. Inviting guests to join your course session can promote engagement, diversity, inclusion, and enthusiasm. Moreover, while you are having online explanation, considering asking students to turn on video as a key part of participation, since it is easier to engage with the class if you can see them, and students are more likely to pay attention if they know they’re on camera. Having a stretch time during online lecture is also a necessity. Consider encouraging students to “stretch” every 20-30 minutes for 30 seconds. It can be harder to focus attention on a screen than in a classroom, and you and they will benefit from a brief moment of physical activity.
The final tip of being an effective online lecturer is that you should to track your students’ assessment. Assessing student learning is an essential component of effective teaching and learning in the online environment. To assess your learners’ understanding can be varieties. For example, you can provide instant feedback by using quizzes, experiment with assignment types and rubrics, or use gradebook and to keep track of student progress.
In conclusion, teaching online courses isn’t arduous as that many people think; however, it requires different types of interactions with students. To have an effective lecture, instructors need to be able to use different methods. Plus, video provision is a good way to encourage students to enjoy your class. Tracking your students’ assessment very often by using varieties of quiz creator software is also essential. Consequently, instructors should keep their online course more engaging so that students will not face the struggle during the course.