Teach Online – What Students Want From You

Two kids in my neighborhood talked “how I wish there were signboards hanged all over the school walls even for teachers just like they have so many for us. Not to do this! Not to do that!”.

Phew! Raised your eyebrows right? But your students are not school goers. You will have many working professionals having no time to sit in a class room to acquire more skills. So they opt for online courses for to the flexibility that it has to offer. Believe me they get bored much quicker than kids.

So, you should know how your student actually wants you to teach online. Don’t worry, since you teach online you definitely have an edge. You can’t see those snoozed out faces. But it will affect you in a different way. So, I strongly recommend you must go through this “Don’t” list. You will soon realize that even while you teach online you can earn boredom of students. Be wise to adapt solutions and be your learner’s favorite.

1. Eliminate boredom -If you give lengthy introductions to your lessons it is pure Boredom. Get to the point as quick as possible. Let your introduction by short but very crisp and impressive. It should make the students jump into the virtual classroom and forget that they are in front of the monitor. Teaching online need not be a one way traffic. Engage your student mentally into it. Try to get commendable voice into your video lessons while designing your courses.

2. Bring in humor – Always have that little bit of humor side of you turned on when you teach online. Even you cannot tolerate a serious news bulletin for more than 10 minutes. So, you should know how it feels for others when you make that serious face. Stay lively through out. But that doesn’t mean you have to keep on cracking jokes all the way through. Knowledge coated with humor sinks in well. That’s the only idea here.

3. Don’t impose – Is one course mandatory to take another? It works if it is really necessary for students but otherwise it is not a good idea at all. Students might end up enrolling for none. Also, don’t  impose a survery form on students. When you are very keen on knowing how you are doing they might just be least interested. Just be glad if they can spare some time to give a feedback, leave them alone otherwise. Be professional in your approach towards teaching online that way and marketing your courses.

4. Be Communicative – Don’t create spams. If you have any new course that is relevant to a student then definitely suggest them to preview your course once. But don’t spam their inboxes with course promotional emails. That’s not the way to be communicative. Talk to them about what they are really looking for and suggest them the courses personally. It shows you are communicative. They love teachers being communicative.

5. Stay Organized – Don’t over stuff. Don’t dump too much of things in single course. You might think you are sharing more knowledge but simply pouring it down is a waste when the container is not big enough to hold. You only make mess that way. Instead be organized and design courses such a way that students are benefited from each lesson they take up. When they realize they learnt something out of a lesson they are automatically  motivated to move to the next one.

Perseverance is the key to teach online and make it a big success. An ounce of determination can bring in a great difference in your teaching and helps you attain what students are really looking for.