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How To Take Live Classes Online – 5 Tips To Get Better At Live Classes

Are you a teacher wondering how to take live classes online in front of a camera? Learn the tools, tips & platforms you need to take live classes online.


How To Take Live Classes Online

As a tutor, you know how to create lesson plans & teach in a classroom.

But now, you wonder how to take live classes online in front of a camera!

You may also want to know about the tweaks & tools you need to make your live classes interesting.

So, in this article I will give you a checklist of 5 pro tips on how to take live classes online.

This is how the article is structured:

SECTIONS WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
Essential equipments
for Live classes
Internet speed, gadgets you need
Setup for your Live classes Lighting tips, camera angles for live classes
Best practice tips for
taking Live classes
Best practices, lesson plans to make engaging live classes
Live class free softwares Use free softwares & conduct Live classes
Use Learnyst for your Live classes Know the benefits of using Learnyst for your online classes

Let us begin with the first step:

Essential Equipments For Live Classes

Internet

If you want to interact with students live, you need a fast internet connection.

First go to fast.com and check your internet speed connection esp: your download & upload speed.

To conduct live classes, you should have a minimum internet upload & download speed of 4Mbps.

Below is a table on the recommended & minimum speeds for your needs:

CLASS TYPE
(voice & video)
MIN SPEED
(download/upload)
IDEAL SPEED
(download/upload)
Private (1-1) class 128kbps/128kbps 300kbps/300kbps
Small class of 3-5 people 2Mbps/128kbps 4Mbps/512kbps
Large class >10 people 4Mbps/128kbps 8Mbps/512kbps

Gadgets

Once you have a strong internet connection in place, the next step is to know the gadgets you need.

GADGET REQUIREMENT FEATURES COST
Laptop To conduct live classes you need a laptop with a good processor, RAM, hard disk space and screen size. Processor: i3/i5/AMD A8/A10
RAM:
>4GB
Hard Disk: >500GB (preferred SSD)
Screen size:
>15 inch & resolution (1920×1080)
INR 35,000 – INR 50,000
Mouse To move between slides or annotate a mouse is required. (Using laptop mouse-pad isn’t convenient) Pick any wired or wireless mouse INR 200 -INR 700
Microphone You need a mic aka microphone to capture your voice clearly to your students Pick a good collar microphone compatible with laptop. (Pick one with 80 Hz to 15 kHz frequency range) INR 300 -INR 600
Webcam
(optional)
You can use your laptop/mobile camera. Pick one that gives 1080p for laptop INR 1000 -INR 5000
Pen Tablets (Optional) To handraw images, animations or write math problem on laptop screen, you can use a pen tablet device Wacom brand is a preferred pen tablet INR 3000 -INR 7000
Mobile Holder/Tripod If you are using mobile, this will keep your hands free & present live video easily Go for a foldable tripod INR 400 -INR 500
Studio Lights
(Optional)
To remove shadows & to make videos bright Check for studio Lights INR 5000
Camera Lens
(Optional)
Attachable wide angle
lens for mobiles
Check wide angle
lens for mobiles
INR 2000

To summarize, below are the essential equipments you need for your Live classes:

  • Internet Speed > 4MBPS
  • Laptop Spec: 500GB SSD/HDD, > 4GB RAM
  • Mouse: Preferred Wireless
  • Microphone: Freq > 80 HZ
  • Camera: Any mobile Phone with >12MP Camera & 64GB memory
  • Mobile Phone Holder: Flexible Tripod

Setup For Your Live Classes

Quiet Room

Choose a spot where you have less noise from outside & a good lighting.

Lighting

You should adjust your lighting & reduce the shadows falling on your face. Refer to this video on how to adjust lighting naturally.

Camera Angle

Your camera lens should meet your eyes. Its best to keep the camera angle facing you.

Related Post: Importance of Videos For Online Teaching

Best Practice Tips For Taking Live Classes

Overcome camera shyness

While this part maybe easy for teachers, speaking in front of camera makes you more conscious. Watch this video to know how to talk in front of the camera

My personal tip is: rehearse 3-4 times & to smile while talking.

Prepare materials for your Live classes

The best way to take live classes online is by asking questions to your students.

In your lesson plan, prepare questions, polls or any worksheets you want your students to answer during your Live session.

If you are using a tool like Zoom, use poll option to create interaction.

You can even get your students to respond to your questions with a “yes” or “no” response in the chat window.

Create lesson plans for Live classes

Now that you have prepared the materials, plan how you will deliver the lessons.

The best practice is to start by greeting your students for the first 1-2 min.

Once, that is done, you can start with the agenda for your live class.

Create your lesson plan to include the questions you want to ask & structure your lecture like this image below.

Lastly, use Q&A, rewards, or handouts or worksheets or rewards to motivate your students.

To create a lesson plan structure, you can use this free tool called Xmind.

Rehearse your points

On the week/days before the live classes, keep a camera in front of you (no need to turn it on) and simply rehearse as if you are talking to a student.

If want to ask a question 15 min after the start, include that in your practice drills as well.

Practicing in front of the camera also makes you more comfortable and also helps you avoid using filler words like “ums”, “errs”, “aahs” during presentation.

Related Post: 8 Handy Tips From Expert Online Teachers

Live Class – Free Softwares

So, now you have the materials for live classes, a good recording place & the lesson plans. Now, it is time to look for a software for streaming your video live to students.

Zoom

Most teachers use Zoom for live classes. It has features to ask polls, chat with students & even use whiteboards. Zoom has a free plan for a certain limit.

OBS

If you want to conduct live class with a whiteboard or PPT on your background (just like in a classroom), you can consider using a tool called OBS, integrate it with Zoom.

JamBoard

If you are like most teachers, you may like using a virtual whiteboard.

Jamboard is a free tool where you can upload images, write, annotate & explain concepts to your students.

Related Post: Ultimate Tools To Teach Online In 2020

Using Learnyst For Live Classes-Benefits

If you want to sell courses, track student progress, get payments credited to your bank account, then you should use an LMS platform like Learnyst.

What Learnyst does is, it will simplify all the steps for you. For ex:

Organize your contents

Organize all your contents neatly as courses, mock tests or bundles. Create paid/free courses or tests.

How To Take Live Classes Online

Schedule weekly or monthly Live classes

Looking to conduct live classes on every Thursday from July-August? Not a problem. Just click the live video choose Learnyst Live & schedule a date and time and save. No need to install any 3rd party tools. Its simple.

How To Take Live Classes Online

Once scheduled, Learnyst will automatically notify your learners via email or sms.

How To Take Live Classes Online

Integrate 3rd partly Live Streaming Tools

Do you already use a 3rd party tool like Zoom, YouTube Live to stream live session? Not a problem. You can easily integrate them with the platform.

Sell your live class as an online course

You can even add the recorded videos of your live lectures into an online course & share it with your students.

How To Take Live Classes Online

Get 100% course sales credited to your bank account

Learnyst levies 0% transaction fees on your course sales. So, what ever you earn gets credited to your bank account directly with our integrated payment gateways.

We support upto 7 payment gateways including stripe & paypal.

Secure Streaming

At Learnyst, we specialize in securing your contents with watermarking features so you can be assured of your contents security.

So, if you want a platform to try out Live classes, you can signup for our 14 day trial and explore us. We have helped 800+ teachers to grow their academies online.

Related Post: Launch branded teaching apps like Byjus

Conclusion

So, with this, we have come to the end of how to take live classes online article.

To conclude, we identified the minimum requirements for starting a live classes.

Then, we saw the tips to create a good ambient environment for live class.

We followed it with the best live class etiquette’s, lesson plans, materials, softwares & the platforms required to run your live classes.

I hope this helped you and gave you a good insight on how to take live classes online.

If you want an all in one platform that handles everything for you & helps you focus on your core specialty of teaching then you should sign up for a free 14 day trial with Learnyst

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