Covid-19 has changed and affected almost everyone’s lifestyle. Not only the adults but also the children’s academic career has suffered a lot. The mode of offline teaching is much different from online teaching.
Both the teachers and students had problems initially, but now things are much better. Schools have made the curriculum according to the online learning that is helpful for the teachers and students.
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- Topic: Humans Of EdTech
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The school authorities should ensure that the teachers and students don’t face any problems in online sessions. However, many issues still exist in remote teaching. Many teachers need guidance and suggestions regarding which online platform to use and the best tools that can make online learning more effective.
There are many tools for hosting live classes, but selecting the best one becomes tricky. Some teachers prefer to host live classes, some prefer a pre-recorded session, and some prefer to send in the form of pdfs.
Suggestions for hosting live online classes
- For live online classes, you can use Zoom, Hangout, Google meets, Microsoft apps, and many such. The tip here is to make sure the webcam remains open all the time. A student can switch off their camera and move around, but a teacher cannot. This way, the students will not lose their interest and concentration easily because they’ll constantly find you on the screen. The students are less likely to get bored quickly.
- The second most crucial point is the position of your webcam. It should always capture the whole face because it is obvious the students don’t want to see your head or nose for the rest of the class. The tip here is to look at your webcam rather than looking at the screen. Whenever you explain any concept, follow this tip so that the students can focus more on your teachings.
- The main problem in hosting online classes is that the students cannot be involved in the class primarily because face-to-face interaction leads to question and answer sessions. So to make the students get involved in the online classes, try to include some check-in questions in between and motivate the students to participate by asking a question or clearing any of their doubts. For example, you can ask them to give the answer to any question asked in between or give the answer yourself and ask them to verify it.
- Make the last fifteen minutes of your classes to interact with the students. Encourage students to unmute themselves and ask questions or share anything if they want to. In these fifteen minutes, you can also give a briefing about what to start the next day or discuss any topic that has already been taught in the past. In this way, the students are updated and find things easy and manageable.
- There are always some technical errors between the live sessions, and it’s very typical. Frankly, you cannot avoid these technical errors because they might not always be at your end. It could be the viewer’s end. If possible, you can use another device and begin with it to avoid any further problems.
- If your internet speed is not that fast, then take measures like sitting at a place where your internet works better or asking your family member not to use the internet at the same time to avoid internet lagging.
Suggestions for having pre-recorded sessions
- The easiest way to have a recorded session is to have it on the whiteboard. For this, you need a tripod to place the camera in the proper position and start recording. You can write on the whiteboards while speaking at the same time. In this way, the student will have the session just like regular offline learning. If you have a youtube channel, you can post the recorded video for a larger audience.
- Another tool called Flipgrid enables you to record a short video and gives you some extra features to add things in between to make the video more engaging.
- Another one is Loom, which I recommend. It is simple to use as it easily captures your screen and records the video, and its link could be instantly shared with the students.
Some tools for hosting live online classes
- Due to the pandemic, Google has increased its facilities on apps like hangout and meet. It can include as many as 250 people at a time. You can also record your live sessions and save them in your drive for future purposes or for those students who failed to attend the live class. The recorded live sessions can also be shared on google classroom from which the students can take reference in the future.
- Microsoft has also increased its features and could help you to hold live classes. You can also hold a series of webinars at your convenience. It also supports the recording of the live class.
- Apart from Google and Microsoft, many people are also preferring Zoom to hold online sessions. It provides all the features from handing over 100 people at a time to record and share the session for the ones who missed it.
Some tools for having pre-recorded sessions
- The easiest or the simplest way to have a recorded session is having it on the whiteboard. For this, you just need a tripod to place the camera in the right position and start recording. You can write on the whiteboards while speaking at the same time. In this way, the student will have the session just like normal offline learning. If you have a youtube channel then you can post the recorded video on it for a larger audience.
- There is another tool called Flipgrid that enables you to record a short video and gives you some extra features to add things in between to make the video more engaging.
- Another one is Loom, which I personally recommend. It is simple to use as it easily captures your screen and records the video and its link could be instantly shared with the students.
Photo by Julia M Cameron from Pexels.
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