It’s nothing new that the virtual world and online classes have become attractive for education.
Just stop and think: nowadays, every higher education institution has at least one portal to publish students’ grades and share class materials.
On top of that, many provide institutional email accounts for both teachers and students, to integrate and make communication between them, and with the institution itself, easier.
Online classes have become increasingly common. Distance learning has been on the rise for years now, and in some countries, distance-learning enrollment already accounts for a significant share of total higher-education enrollment.
Online or distance-learning classes happen through platforms that stream image and audio in real time.
The typical setup looks like this: the teacher sets up a virtual classroom and invites all the students in the class, who access the link provided at class time to get to the content.
The biggest challenge in this process is adapting, since teachers and students often had little or no contact with this kind of teaching before. With that in mind, I decided to share a few important tips for creating the best online classes.
Tips for Making Online Classes More Engaging
The online format requires classes to be more dynamic and to the point. All so that students don’t lose focus or interest while watching the content.
After all, teachers are competing with other channels that can pull students’ focus away, like TV and phones, as well as with the fact that students will be watching from the comfort of their homes. Sometimes even lying in bed!
So, some teaching adjustments need to be made, don’t you think?
Slides as a Guide
The traditional slide presentation, which is quite common in in-person classes, not only can but should be used in online classes too.
Slides are essential for guiding both teachers and students through the topic, and they make the content easier for the class to visualize and absorb.
That said, while slides are essential for guiding the class, on their own they can make the virtual environment feel monotonous.
Picture yourself, as a teacher, talking for over an hour while presenting slides to the class. Remember that students are at home, and you can’t grab their attention as easily as you could in a school or college setting. That’s why it’s important to think about extra resources to make your online class more dynamic.
Videos Hold Attention
A survey commissioned by Google and carried out by Provokers found that the vast majority of people regularly watch videos online.
So, how about adding videos to your slide presentation that show how a given topic works in practice?
Nowadays, there’s an endless amount of material available for free on platforms like YouTube. Who knows, you might find an ad, a news story, or an explainer video there that gets your class thinking about the topic.
Explore Other Formats
You can also share your computer screen so students can follow along as you read an article, look at a comic strip, or read a short story…
Let your creativity shine.
Equipment for Teaching Online Classes: What Should You Use?
To teach an online class, you’ll need some basic equipment:
- Microphone
- Laptop
- Camera or webcam
Sometimes, just having a laptop is enough to broadcast your online class, since these devices come with a built-in webcam and microphone.
It’s also possible to teach online classes from a smartphone. However, you may run into limitations exploring everything the internet has to offer, like presenting slides and videos.
Choosing the right equipment will help your broadcast quality be the best it can be.
One important tip is to always test your equipment before starting the class, okay?
Now that you know how to make your class more engaging and what equipment you need to broadcast it, have you thought about which platform to use?
3 Platforms for Teaching Online Classes
Here are a few that have been widely used by teachers. This way, you’ll have the chance to get to know them, try them out, and decide which one best fits your needs.
Google Classroom
Google Classroom is a Google tool for managing content shared in the classroom.
As the name suggests, “classroom” refers to the space where teaching happens.
There are two versions of this tool: free and paid. Both require a Google account, for teachers and students alike.
The paid version is generally purchased by the institution, and access is granted through an institutional email.
Even in the free version, Google Classroom seems to meet teachers’ and students’ needs quite well, making the experience feel as close as possible to an in-person class.
Within each class, you can post messages and announcements, answer students’ questions, assign activities with or without tests, grade them, and send out grades individually.
You can also track the progress of a thesis or research paper through the activities feature Google Classroom offers. Who knows, by the end of the semester, the student might be ready to publish it?
And, of course, the most important part: broadcasting classes live through Google Meet, which integrates with Classroom.
Google Meet
Google Meet is also a Google platform, and it integrates with Google Classroom, as mentioned above.
Widely used by companies for remote meetings or video conferences, it’s a solid option for live broadcasts.
By logging into your Google account, you can create a room in Google Meet and invite people through the generated link. In this case, students don’t need a Google account themselves, only whoever creates the room.
There are tools that can help with the broadcast, such as: changing the layout (how you see other participants on screen), recording, enabling captions, listening to audio through your smartphone, and sharing your computer screen with the other viewers of your class. This way, everything you’re seeing, they can see too.
One tip is to ask students to keep their microphones off, so there isn’t excess unnecessary noise during the broadcast.
It’s important to remember that the equipment used by whoever is teaching the class should be good quality, so the broadcast runs smoothly.
Unlike Google Classroom, Google Meet is just a virtual video conference space. It doesn’t let you create a full “virtual classroom” environment with assignments and grades for the class.
Microsoft Teams
Another interesting option is Microsoft Teams. It’s a proposition very similar to Google Classroom, but video conferencing happens within the platform itself, and there’s the option to run timed test quizzes.
Access works both from a computer and a smartphone. Just download the app, available for Android and iOS.
The free version includes the essential tools, which are generally enough to cover classroom needs: video conferencing, chat with the class, and personal and team file storage. However, class recording and scheduling aren’t available in the free package.
An interesting factor is that the Office suite (Excel, PowerPoint, Word) is integrated into the tool. Students can develop activities using these programs’ formats and submit them to the teacher.
It’s worth noting that creating an account for educational use generally requires an institutional email, that is, one using your institution’s domain.
Try to adapt, whenever possible, activities normally done in person in the classroom to the virtual environment. Assign activities, readings, and encourage students to write summaries and reviews. All to encourage your students’ knowledge production.
Do you know of other tools for online classes? Want to share with us what’s been working, and what hasn’t, in your online class? Get in touch! We’d love to hear from you!
At first, it might seem a bit more complicated, but we can already tell you: it’s all a matter of practice and getting to know the platform.
And online, you can teach a class on just about anything! We’ve seen online English classes, Spanish classes, cooking classes, drawing classes… not just college or school classes. Who knows, maybe it’s time to dust off that old dream of teaching a class on a specific topic? The time is now! Go for it!
