The main sets of tips and tricks for developing engaging learning resources for online teaching are summarized according to their field of application. In the remote context, students’ interest is crucial for the success of the educative process. The Virtual Classroom is a suitable environment for applying winning strategies for engaging in online teaching.
Schooling professionals should consider their own image, the comfort of the online environment, the usability, and ease of handling the technological tools, and the individual and team aspects of students’ performance and behavior. They should be able and confident to transform the learning process into an interesting game of challenge and inspiration.
Contents
- 1 Introduction to the challenges of developing engaging online teaching
- 2 Groups of tips and tricks for engaging in online teaching
- 3 Best online self of the teacher
- 4 Comfortable remote environment
- 5 Consistency, interactivity, and ease of use
- 6 Community and autonomy of participants
- 7 Challenge, inspiration, and play
- 8 Conclusion
Introduction to the challenges of developing engaging online teaching
In the Virtual Classroom, even more than in the physical one, it is crucial how schooling professionals develop and apply the education resources in order to create and increase students’ engagement. successful online learning techniques consist not only of interesting materials with high educative value. A piece of knowledge or a task can be of excellent teaching quality and still have a poor impact in terms of generating students’ interest. When the tutors want their virtual learning to be appealing and thus effective, they should put in place winning combinations of content, planning, and attitude.
Groups of tips and tricks for engaging in online teaching
The large variety of possible tips and tricks for engaging in online teaching could be summarized according to several topics depending on their field of application. Here are the main groups of skill sets that schooling professionals should develop to increase students’ participation through the remote education process.
Best online self of the teacher
In the virtual context, the tutor’s image is vital for students’ engagement. Presentable looks, flawless body language, inspiring tone of voice, and expressive mimics count much more while teaching remotely, than in the physical classroom. It is best for the educators to be present live, to appear relaxed, confident, and prepared.
They should emanate patience and understanding while making sure to be focused and centered throughout the teaching session. The Virtual Classroom environment makes all this very easy with its variety of settings for cameras, microphones, and available activities for every participant in an online teaching session.
Comfortable remote environment
Privacy and comfort are crucial to the process of learning from a distance. The relaxed atmosphere of every participant’s own home space is crucial. Together with the use of appropriate sound and video equipment, it can condition higher engagement in online teaching.
Of course, it should be combined with the comfort of a user-friendly remote environment. The Virtual Classroom’s intuitive interface allows convenience for both tutors and students. Having control over audio and video streams, options for sharing different materials, and access to outside resources – all those features add up to a user’s comfort.
Consistency, interactivity, and ease of use
Modern software applications and interactive tools present innumerable possibilities for engaging courses, topics, and tasks. The practice has proven that brevity and conciseness are mandatory if the tutors want online teaching to be attractive. Successful engagement strategies imply breaking down the knowledge and assignments into more accessible elements – short videos, quick access to images, and direct links to external material.
Interactivity is of major importance, especially in a remote context. Students should be encouraged to participate, be proactive, share feedback, evaluate and self-evaluate. All those functionalities are supported by the interface of the Virtual Classroom. Moreover, the online whiteboard allows keeping track of teaching sessions and having the resources always available and editable.
Community and autonomy of participants
successful strategies for engaging online teaching focus on teamwork, as well as on individual performance. On the one hand, tutors should foster team spirit and build communities This is easily performed through discussion forums, workflow distribution, enhance of collaboration and communication. In the Virtual Classroom, educators can split big projects into a variety of smaller tasks and assign them via the Breakout Rooms option. Autonomous chat channels allow the personal, group, or public communication and feedback.
On the other hand, teachers have to develop students’ personal skills and enhance their individual performance. The Virtual Classroom’s option for granting leader, tutor, or manager roles within a project increases everyone’s interest in a complex assignment.
Challenge, inspiration, and play
The overall success of any online teaching engagement strategy depends very much on the dynamics of the education process. The teacher should inspire, give choice, build trust and support the students.
Competitions can be beneficial when applied correctly and assessed properly. Graphic tools can be used to measure performance, and personalized or public feedback will build a healthy contestant environment where the students strive for better results.
The teachers should ask questions and initiate freedom of choice. The most attractive tools available to schooling professionals, especially in online teaching, role-play, quizzes, games, and simulation of real-life scenarios. In the Virtual Classroom, those can be pre-set, fine-tuned, and re-used in order to kindle and keep the interest of the students.
Another important aspect of the learning process is the work–rest balance. Breaks are inseparable from the teaching schedule and should be given when needed. The Virtual Classroom allows the assignment of timed tasks, the tracking of activities, and the monitoring of students’ presence. Those features help the tutor to build and increase engagement.
Conclusion
A lot of skills are required to increase the student’s engagement in the context of online teaching. Educators have to be aware first of all of their selves and tune that to their best. They must make comfortable and easy use of the technologies and tools involved in the process, emphasizing on interaction.
Another challenge is the balance between giving autonomy to the individual students and creating a community with a strong team spirit. The tutors should encourage playing and having fun within a respectful and goal-oriented online teaching environment. They must engender inspiration and create beneficial competition. The more engaging the online teaching, the more attractive, valuable, and successful it becomes for the students.