The year 2020 has proven to be quite the whirlwind. With a worldwide pandemic on our hands, remote teaching and distance learning have gained a lot of traction lately. And if you’re used to teaching in person, the transition to this new norm of online education may prove to be a challenge.
I’m going to cover a few basic guidelines that you can take to make your online teaching experience a bit easier.
Be Flexible
As an educator who is transitioning to online teaching, remember to have flexibility for yourself and your students. This may be new territory for the both of you.
A classroom provides a controlled setting where you and your students can have structure. With this gone, it’s hard for most students to juggle home life and academics. And for some, homelife can be much more challenging than others.
Issues with family, lack of food, financial hardships, access to technology, etc. are all factors that you need to take into consideration while teaching. Have flexibility and try to understand that your course most likely is not the center of your students’ universe. Have some empathy and show support for your learners.
Be Passionate
As an online teacher, you must be passionate more than ever about your work. You will be missing the element of physical human interaction, and at times it can seem hard to be excited about teaching from behind a computer screen.
Try to keep your students engaged. Remember, even though your learners may be physically distant from you, it’s still your job to help facilitate and guide their learning. If you don’t show your passion for teaching, how can you expect your students to be passionate to learn?
Form Good Habits
One of the best practices when it comes to online teaching is to form good habits. Since you won’t have your normal planning period, set aside time for “office hours”. Manage your time wisely and make sure you form a habit of abiding by your office hours every day. This allows you time to plan your lessons and grade assignments. If you don’t, you may start to become overwhelmed with the amount of work that piles up.
You’ll have a lot of distractions at home (spouse, children, pets), and forming good habits such as time management will help keep you on track to being more efficient and effective.
Have Academic Awareness
No matter where they are, students have several learning styles. It’s easy to forget when you’re creating your online lessons. If you’re human like everyone else, you’re most likely creating assignments and assessments that can be given to all your students.
But get out of that “one size fits all” mindset. You still need to differentiate your instruction and curriculum to help your students be successful. Be aware of the specific needs of your learners, even if they are miles away from you now.
Have your students collaborate and work together. It’s vital to keep a sense of community going. It helps to build rapport and lasting relationships. Socializing is also a huge part of going to school that is often forgotten.
These are just a few tips to help you along your journey to online teaching. You’ll find new tricks and methods that work best for you. Just keep in mind that you are putting the needs of the student and yourself first.
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