It is difficult to make the change from classroom teaching to online teaching as there are many differences in classroom conduct. The classroom teacher can physically engage the students in a dialog, can host group workshops and can use direct eye contact when communicating with their audience. These things are lost when teaching online classes, but there are several things the instructor can do to ensure classroom success.
Power Point Presentations in The Online Classroom
One great thing about the newer online courses is that instructors are able to download visual material directly to the online classroom. This means that writing those power point presentations is a skill that can be transferred from one classroom to the next.
Things to remember when writing presentations for online courses:
- Don't overload the slides with too much text. It makes the presentation looks cluttered and may either confuse or dissuade the student.
- Do use visual aides to help reinforce the information being presented (pictures, charts, graphs, examples). The visual aides will help demonstrate the material being presented. It's important to provide listeners with a strong visual representation of he material.
- Include links to relevant information. A great thing about online instruction is that the web can be utilized directly from the classroom. Students can click right on the links and peruse the web pages are the instructor explains their significance or directs the student through the website.
- Use video links where appropriate. Students can join in and watch the video while the class is happening and then the group and meet back in the chat room to have a discussion.
Other Tools and Tips for Online Lectures
The basic presentation is the meat and bones of the lecture, but there are many other ways to engage the students in a virtual classroom. Often, the students can hear the instructor giving the lecture and the instructor can also allow other students to speak, but for the most part the communications from students come in text form. The instructor can speak to the class and the class can respond with text.
Pausing periodically to either ask questions or make sure the students are comprehending the material is very important when in the virtual classroom. The instructor can' see the looks on students faces to gage whether or not they're absorbing/understanding the material. So, they must rely on text. Asking questions gives the audience a chance to participate and lets the instructor know how many students are actually listening to the lecture.
Most virtual classrooms have many other tools to ensure students are participating. Instructors can open chat windows and ask students to discuss things. This is a great way to get a nice dialogue going. If the class is large, it's better to break them into smaller groups and then monitor the different chat windows.
Classrooms often offer options to quiz or test students during a lecture. This is another great way to see who is listening and how much of the information is being absorbed. Instructors can also poll students to see who's struggling or just to gather information/feedback on a specific topic.
As an online instructor it is important to reach out to the students to make sure they're on task. There is no way to know who is struggling and who is doing well if the instructor doesn't take initiative and ask questions. It is also important to use the technology and resources that are available! The features of online classrooms may vary from school to school, but there are always many different tools for the instructor to utilize!
Jessica Gleason - Jessica Gleason is merely a woman walking through life with words. She lives to write and writes to live. She has an affinity for cats and ...
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