Virtual classrooms have become the new norm for education during the pandemic. Teachers from every school have to adjust to this new reality to ensure students keep learning even in the absence of a physical classroom setup.
Thankfully, there are various digital solutions to help teachers conduct online classes without much hassle. One such tool that has revolutionized the online learning market is a Learning Management System (LMS).
For schools, the in-house learning management department always looks for learning solutions that can be accessed both online and offline, so that students can go back to a particular course whenever they want. It should be easy to use, affordable and accessible from all kinds of devices.
When picking an LMS for your student learning needs, make sure to check its entire set of features. For instance, consider iSpring Learn. It provides detailed reporting of student progress based on their assessment results. This is a very valuable feature that helps teachers understand the impact of the online class.
While an LMS fulfills the delivery and execution part of an online classroom session, it's not the only thing that ensures the students have a great learning experience. The teacher too should know how to capture their audience’s interest and make learning an engaging process.
Being a great virtual teacher doesn’t just mean knowing how to navigate an online learning platform. It’s much more than that. Here are 4 things that every great online teacher knows which can help you ensure students love your sessions:
Encourage interaction
A long one-sided lecture is very difficult to endure and does nothing to invoke the students’ interest. Great teachers always make sure they are interacting with the students and keeping them involved through discussions.
This keeps students alert and ensures high engagement. For this, an online teacher needs interpersonal skills like clear communication, active listening, and the ability to recognize if a student is confused.
Compel students to think
Your job is to help the students think for themselves. A good teacher is the one who teaches, a great teacher will push students to think for themselves and expand their learning experience.
When you are able to engage the students with the learning content, it will give them enough understanding to discuss the topics being taught and pose questions on them. This will enhance their knowledge and lead to higher understanding of the topic.
Add humor in the right places
Learning doesn’t have to be a snoozefest for the students. It can be fun and entertaining if the teacher knows how to add humor into a situation. For instance, using a funny TV series reference to explain a complex topic is a great way to help students learn.
When students are made to learn with humor added in the right place, it increases the rate of information retention. But it is important to add humor only if it is appropriate and not at the cost of someone’s feelings.
Build connections with the students
A great online teacher takes the effort to develop a connection with every student. This helps them understand if the student is responding well in the online classroom or not.
Since virtual learning often makes students feel isolated, you need to reach out to them to ensure they participate in the session. This will build faith in the students that they can seek guidance or share an issue with you without feeling uncomfortable.
Conclusion
For online teachers, it is necessary to let go of the self-expectation to be perfect. Just like the students, you will fumble or make small mistakes while operating the software. As long as you are engaging the students and ensuring they understand everything that is being taught to them, you don’t need to bother about perfection.
