{"id":4474,"date":"2018-06-21T16:32:40","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T16:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/knowledge\/?p=4474"},"modified":"2022-12-19T14:40:02","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T14:40:02","slug":"distinguishing-online-teacher-advises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/knowledge\/distinguishing-online-teacher-advises\/","title":{"rendered":"Distinguishing yourself as an online teacher - Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having fun in the classroom<\/h2>\n

Fun is an amorphous concept. Fun in the classroom is even more so. People associate it with laughing\u00a0but this is not true at all. Laughing is just one aspect of having fun. You can have great fun doing\u00a0something serious and challenging without even smiling. I would go out on a limb here and say that\u00a0having fun is simply doing something you like. So only one person could be having fun in a class. The\u00a0desired effect is for all to have fun, teacher included. The magic times when that happens are great.<\/p>\n

To give an example, I was teaching recently in a physical classroom in a company\u2019s office, and the non- participants heard laughter regularly and some of them approached me and said they wanted to join the\u00a0class the next time. However, I was worrying a bit that the students were enjoying the jokes a bit too\u00a0much and were maybe not making as much progress as I would have liked. Maybe you can chase\u00a0popularity too much by making people laugh at the expense of their learning.<\/p>\n

If students are focused, absorbing the material, and not even noticing the time passing, then you have\u00a0hit the jackpot. They are having fun. I have mentioned before about tailoring classes to suit learning\u00a0styles, this will help.<\/p>\n

\"Online
Online teacher advises: Having fun in the classroom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What will also help is what you enjoy about what you teach. What attracted you to your discipline?
\nWhat makes it fun for you? Think about this deeply. Try to put across that feeling. If you are enthusiastic\u00a0and having fun the students will pick up on that and can get caught up in the flow. I strongly believe the\u00a0best teachers are the most enthusiastic about their work.<\/p>\n

Teaching teachers<\/h2>\n

Over the past 10 years, I have taught many teachers how to use various online systems, from the early,\u00a0mostly text based ones such as Atlas, through to Blackboard and more direct ones like Vedamo. I have\u00a0to put my hand up here and say I have never taught anyone to use IM\u00a0(instant messaging) as a teaching platform although I\u00a0have myself taught often through Skype. IM is a cheap, easy way to teach and a surprising number of\u00a0schools use them. They have their limitations, though. A whiteboard, grading, forums, tests and other\u00a0aspects are where they fall down.<\/p>\n

I will concentrate here on using dedicated systems because I feel that a career as an online teacher will\u00a0truly only happen that way. A good school, that looks after their teachers and students, and upgrades\u00a0their software to make it future proof, is far more likely to survive and adapt than those who rely on IM\u00a0to deliver their needs.<\/p>\n

Teachers are often quick to pick up things as they have been in education all their lives. Strangely\u00a0enough, though, some don\u2019t like going back into the role of students. Try to pick up on that and allow\u00a0those ones as minimal instruction as you can get away with. Allow them to learn by themselves as much\u00a0as possible. With some teachers, who are tech savvy, I have got through the training modules in double\u00a0quick time, with others, more technophobe<\/a>, it can be painfully slow and frustrating. Accept this and your\u00a0life will be easier. Let the quick ones through quickly while assuring them you are available in the future,\u00a0and be patient with the slow ones.<\/p>\n

The reality is that no-one masters a system after the training. Only by using it can they acquire true competence. Try to pick up on any teacher who is reluctant to ask for help, and they can be both technophiles or technophobes, and reassure them that you are aware that mastery comes with using, and emphasise that you are available and happy to remind them of anything. Those that don\u2019t want to ask for help are a bugbear for anyone training them and being aware of this means that you can try to\u00a0overcome it. You have to be approachable and patient.<\/p>\n

In the modern world of tech, everything is changing, and so will the software, requiring refresher courses, learning and remembering how you taught the different teachers in the past will make it easier to upgrade their skills. Separating them into technophobes and technophiles is one way. Those that like to learn by themselves and those that like plenty of instruction is another. The objective is to make sure they use your system correctly and, crucially, to the best of its abilities. You will always need to monitor them and systems such as Vedamo allow you to monitor invisibly. Gently get them to do things right without annoying them and you will have a happy team of teachers.<\/p>\n

\"Online
Online teacher advises: Teaching teachers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Teaching one to one<\/h2>\n

If you can get individuals willing to pay well enough for your needs then one to one is an easy and cheap way to go. IM teaching works well with one to one and, of course, it is free. You only need to coordinate with one student and flexibility can be very high. Here a word of warning, though, teaching one to one is intensive and tiring. Generally, I would advise against long classes because of that. Try and have your classes as short as possible and more of them as that will combat\u00a0student fatigue. The fact that you don\u2019t have to travel means you can get away from the old academic hour restriction. Classes can be anything from 5 minutes upwards. And of course, if you specialize in shorter classes you may be able to charge more per hour and it becomes more economically viable.<\/p>\n

\"Online
Online teacher advises: Teaching one to one<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of course, dedicated systems are also great for one to one instruction but there will probably be a cost. It all depends what you wish to do. Dedicated systems have a host of extra features that make comprehensive teaching possible. If you are happy with IM then it can work but professional instruction does require all the things that can be done with a professional system. As long as the cost per class is reasonable it should be worth it to use the best system.<\/p>\n

All the other areas mentioned in this series apply to one to one but many things are easier. You can tailor a class exactly as they like it. You can find out their learning styles quickly and utilize that. Another point is that as a classroom teacher, maybe you didn\u2019t shine. However, as a one to one instructor, you could find your forte. Maybe it is you. It is certainly worth trying. They say everyone has a novel within them, and maybe everyone has a teacher inside them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having fun in the classroom Fun is an amorphous concept. Fun in the classroom is even more so. People associate it with laughing\u00a0but this is not true at all. Laughing is just one aspect of having fun. You can have great fun doing\u00a0something serious and challenging without even smiling. I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":4842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[946,912],"yst_prominent_words":[6722,1100,76,6711,5978,6710,6709,6716,1653,118,6549,6717,6720,46,528,6719,6721,490,1097,6718],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4474"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4474"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39209,"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4474\/revisions\/39209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/media\/4842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4474"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vedamo.com\/wp-apiendpoint\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}