5 Tips to Make Your Teaching Experience Smoother and More Effective Online

To be a teacher requires passion... and tons of patience! We are responsible for ensuring that all the knowledge and information needed are well imparted to our students.

I spent 6 years teaching online, and it was no easy task! The job was something I believe I excelled at, and I loved it. However, there were times I felt like I was not giving it my all like there were things I could've done better. Yes, I struggled a lot trying to organize my schedule, my relationship with my students, and my overall performance.

The Joy and Pain of Teaching

Whether at school or online, teaching is a noble, albeit overwhelming undertaking that can drown you in backend tasks if done wrong. It's not enough that I have survived the day doing classes-- I knew I also needed to make sure I have a working system that allows all forms of communication between me and my students to flow effortlessly.

For many teachers, managing classes nowadays meant inevitably utilizing online teaching methods and solutions, what with the rise of online education and its undeniable advantages. This is a challenge that not only applies to those who are bound to teach primarily using the internet but also--not surprisingly--to those who teach in physical classrooms. Whether we like it or not, the internet is a technology that teachers are meant to use.

Each student deserves to be guided fairly about their progress at school--there's no argument for that. But really, it's easier said than done. I had to deal with people of different personalities/capabilities on a daily basis and so it became evident that coming up with a unique strategy for every single one of them is required to maximize their learning potential. That in itself is already a very big task to do and there are no compromises. That said, I also had to be realistic with learning about the solutions available today that can mitigate or eliminate the chances of not delivering what's expected of me as a teacher of modern times. I realized that the solution to my problem lies in taking another look at the smaller tasks at hand and trying to improve them one by one.

Fortunately, there are proven ways to help make your online teaching experience smoother and more effective.

Tips That Can Help Make Teaching a Lot Smoother and More Effective Online:

1. Set clear expectations: You need to make sure that all the course goals and rules are communicated well with your students to avoid confusion and help them stay on track. Create a group online (e.g. Facebook Group) that will serve as a common room for everyone where important announcements and activities will be posted.

2. Establish a routine that your students will be familiar with so that they understand what to expect and what is expected of them in terms of collaborative and individual work. Make use of online platforms and/or tools that are familiar and accessible to everyone like Google, Facebook, Teams, and the like.

3. Keep a digital calendar that's accessible to everyone in the class. Make sure to give yourself and your students a reasonable date for their assignments and project deadlines.

4. Encourage students to communicate with each other. Don't forget to include yourself in this equation, of course. Group chatrooms, emails, and the like are great tools you can use to ensure you can always check in with your students.

5. Harness the power of technology that's available for teachers like you. Take advantage of screen capture, media sharing, and presentation tools that are sure to benefit you and your students. VideoCom is an all-in-one platform designed to level up your teaching experience by providing a complete app and cloud solution to record, share, and engage more effectively. I encourage you to take time to learn about VideoCom, you will love what this app does-- I'm very sure of it!

Sometimes I can't help but be amazed at how I survived the challenges of teaching. I have since changed my career path and am now on a mission to take advantage of today's technology to make communication easy for everyone, but I am so glad I learned these during my years teaching-- when you think about it, these are all invaluable tips that also serve as lifehacks you can use in many other situations. Although I wish I had known about all these sooner, It was all good for me in the end, as hardships are there to build character.

I hope these tips will help you establish an amazing online teaching experience as they did with mine!