As an online tutor you’ve got many things to do, setting up your platform, planning your sessions but possibly the most important task is to develop teacher presence and bring your positive energy into online lessons. Learners need to be able to:
1- Meet you & Connect with you: When starting a new class it might be harder to establish and build rapport online than in the face-to-face classroom. Try to make some time to start each lesson with a ‘1-minute check-in.’ Maybe talk about how you are feeling, what you’ve been doing and get learners to respond either in the chatbox or with the microphone.
2- See & Hear you: make sure that you allow some time for learners to check that they can hear you and each other and that they can see the screen. A pair of good headphones and webcam could be a good investment. And don’t forget about where you are sitting when teaching as lighting has an impact (as well as the background…). If for certain reasons you can’t use cameras, make sure you and your learners upload a profile picture so learners can still see you instead of a black screen! It’s a nice idea to change all profile pictures on a weekly basis, which can lead to a personalized guess & chat stage to get reconnected after the weekend.
3- Expect & Experience you: it is important that you clearly communicate your expectations about learners’ behaviour during online learning as well as their learning schedule. Not only do they need to know what time their classes start, but they also need to know what to download before and/or complete after class. To do this you can create other channels to stay in touch with your learners, for example you could use Whatapp, Google classroom, Edmodo or your own LMS. Sending learners a reminder before the lesson might be useful too! Having routines for each session means learners know what to expect and can help build learners’ confidence. And don’t forget that online lessons might be more demanding on you, as you need to keep your enthusiasm and encouragement up to create that positive learning environment!
4- Trust you: Maybe the most important one of all! Now that we are teaching online it is even more important that learners know why we are doing certain activities & tasks as we don’t want lessons to turn into a coffee club! A thorough needs analysis with a new group is key if you want to meet learners’ needs and provide content that is relevant and meaningful for your learners. Monitor carefully, take notes so you can give feedback, and support learners after a session if needed to move their learning forward. In summary, online teaching is still teaching. Don’t get hung up on the latest cutting-edge technology because it is still about being there for your learners and making sure they feel you care and facilitate their learning!