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By necessity, teachers and trainers have had to find their way in the world of online education over the past year. Maybe for you it was a fun new experience where you got to test the latest teaching tools and experience the benefits of teaching online. Or maybe you were at a loss as to where to start or how to keep in touch with students while ensuring educational quality. Avoid these mistakes in 2021 and use our tips for online teaching.
No matter how you view online education, you've probably already had a lot to do with it, and the online classroom will continue to be used a lot in 2021. In the past year, students showed understanding when online teaching didn't go quite smoothly didactically or technically. After all, it was a period of trial and error for everyone. Now that you've practiced online teaching for a while, there are some things you really can't go wrong with in 2021. In this blog Sophie Smit, LOL consultant at Learning Connected, explains the common mistakes when teaching online. More importantly, she gives you tips on how to avoid them and how to increase the quality of your online lessons and your students' enjoyment of learning.
Mistake 1: Login when the class starts
Please make sure that you are present in the online classroom 15 minutes before the start of the class. This gives you enough time to prepare your teaching materials and set the correct participant rights. You don't want students to see you fumbling with the sharing of a PowerPoint presentation or a student simply muting you while you are talking.
Also, to create a safe learning environment, it is important to be the first one present in the online classroom. Make sure your camera is on when the students enter and welcome them personally. This way the students feel seen and you keep an eye on how the students are doing and if they are ready for class. Placing students in a waiting area, as offered in Zoom and some versions of Microsoft Teams, can be a solution. Then you decide when everyone enters the classroom. This way you can be sure that the students only enter the class when you are ready for it and you are not still slurping away at your cup of coffee 
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Finally, leave the online classroom so that all students have had an opportunity to ask questions.
Mistake 2: Only being able to speak for yourself
Do you find it so tempting to spend the whole lesson talking? Or to cram as much theory and information as possible into one lesson? It may sound easy, but it's not effective. According to the learning model 70-20-10 (Jennings, 2011), 70% of what people learn is learned through experience and practice, 20% through interaction with others and 10% through formal learning. So it's important for students to get started themselves! Especially with online education, where students are more likely to wander off and you have a harder time monitoring whether they are following the lesson, gaming, or filling up their online shopping cart.
So how should it be done, you may ask. Interaction and varied work formats are the key words for engaging students in the lesson. Make sure you explain each lesson as little as possible in class and think about how you can incorporate the theory into a fun interactive assignment. Create a quiz, hold a brainstorm in the chat, use a whiteboard or have students present themselves. It may help to use external websites or programs, such as Kahoot, Mentimeter, Padlet, Lesson Up or Sendsteps.
Another fun way is to split the group into subgroups or break out rooms. More and more programs offer this option. Give students clear instructions at the beginning of the lesson and have them work together in small groups on an assignment or project. Meet again at the end of the lesson to discuss the findings.
In short, make sure your students are working harder than you are!
Mistake 3: Not knowing the buttons in the online classroom
Do you still not quite know your way around the online learning environment or the online classroom? Then it's high time to change that! Every online learning environment has various options, often specially geared towards education. It is a shame not to make use of these. So be an adventurer and go exploring in the online classroom by pressing different buttons. You will probably discover many new functions and possibilities that facilitate online teaching and help to create interaction.
Many teachers work with Microsoft Teams. For example, did you already know that in it you can open a whiteboard where you and/or your students can draw and type? That you can let students control programs on your computer? That you can have students break up into subgroups and you can control these groups? That the chat has many features from gifs and listings, to tables and markers? That you have a pointer for on your PowerPoint? That you can schedule assignments and quizzes? That students can work on one file at a time? That you can integrate a host of other apps into Microsoft Teams? That you can download a participant list? And this is just the tip of the iceberg!
Mistake 4: Not paying attention to your online presentation skills
Maybe you don't really care how you sit behind the webcam, but realize that your students are looking at you the whole time. It is distracting for them and not very pleasant to see your double chin or an unmade bed in the background all the time. . Check how you are doing with your online presentation skills. Can you tick off all the points?
✓ Make sure the webcam is at or above eye level, no higher than the hairline.
✓ Don't sit too close to the camera and make sure the camera can capture your shoulders and the whole face.
✓ Check that there are no spots on your webcam.
✓ Make sure the light comes from the front and not from the back
✓ Use a neutral or contextual background, such as a wall
✓ Dress comfortably and wear something appropriate for your audience. Also avoid busy clothing with checks or stripes.
✓ Look into the camera (and not at the video images on your screen) as often as possible.
✓ Make yourself comfortable. Sit up straight with good posture and try to relax
Want to know more about digital presentation skills, in this blog you will read the 10 most important tips & tricks.
We wish you the best of luck with these tips for live online teaching in 2021!
Want to know more about Effective Live Online Teaching? Check out our training. Or wonder what the added value of online teaching and the online classroom is? Then read this blog.
