Learn from two of VEDAMO’s top online tutors and find out their tips for successful online teaching.
First-hand online tutoring experience
Whatever you may read about a given subject, the best solution is to try it for yourself. You can also follow the recommendations or advice of a successful online tutor that you trust. That’s why we are offering you the first-hand experience of two well-known online tutors that use VEDAMO.
Tips for successful online teaching by Gus Worth
Gus is a highly experienced writer and educator who has worked in universities for nearly 20 years and was first published at the age of six. He currently works in the English Department at the American University in Bulgaria and he also writes extensively for the web and in print for many companies.
Here are some of his useful insights:
- A great teaching platform needs to have easy to find tools, as well as clear and intuitive ways to share documents, screens, listen to audio files, and to communicate effectively. It is good to try to quickly overcome the challenge of using technology.
- Most kids love playing with computers and for them this is normal. Use this to your advantage and get rid of the boring black and white text that they cannot concentrate on. Make your lessons come alive. Let them see and do. When working with kids, a good teacher should stimulate them to use their imagination and should make the lessons enjoyable, and I definitely feel that online teaching can make that part easier.
- A good teacher knows that preparation is almost everything. If you have prepped well, far fewer problems arise.
- Allow extra time for teaching every time. Do not schedule another class immediately after one is due to finish. If something goes wrong, like the power or internet goes out, and you have to connect to the backup internet, this can eat up minutes meaning you have to add time at the end, which can mean students trying to log on to the next class while the current one is unfinished.
- Once you get over your initial skittishness, you can start to think about all the wonderful things you can do with a good online system and all the things the school told you you can do in your training.
Tips for successful online teaching by Vesela Vasileva-Stoeva
She teaches English and IT related subjects online. Her students range from young children to professionals wishing to upgrade and further develop their knowledge. She has over ten years of active online tutoring practice using a variety of available online technologies.
Here are some of her useful insights:
Here are some of her useful insights:
- Every new online tutor should be passionate about online teaching and learning, they should embrace and explore the possibilities presented by the technologies, and they should incorporate these technologies and diversify.
- Game-based assignments are highly valued and enjoyed by young learners, while group work such as discussion-based activity is viewed as helpful by more mature learners. Adult learners can express themselves in a better way and prefer to engage in intellectual/argumentative assessments rather than games.
- The successful online tutor empowers nondigital users to give it a go and tries to engage them in this different and unusual environment, to amuse, motivate, and guide them through their e-learning experiences.
- It’s really important to balance and use a particular multimedia source in accordance with the learning and teaching objectives. This is what makes one multimedia resource effective and efficient in comparison to another.
- Finally, online tutoring in the virtual classroom adds to the quality of teaching and learning, increases productivity, and allows you to see results and modify material on the spot.
TABLE OF CONTENT:
- Tips for successful online teaching by Gus Worth
- Tips for successful online teaching by Vesela Vasileva-Stoeva
