How to Plan Virtual Classroom
Virtual classrooms have helped in overcoming the boundaries and geographical barriers that teachers and tutors face.
Teaching is entering new realms and educating students has become a lot easier and difficult at the same time.
The sudden shift to online teaching calls for upskilling.
While it might be overwhelming for a lot of teachers, you can ace teaching in virtual classrooms and online teaching with the right planning and preparation.
Today, we will talk in detail about how to plan a virtual classroom, we” ll also look at what are some interesting ways to start a lesson.
Without further ado, let’s delve deeper into the topic.
How to Plan Virtual Classroom- 8 Awesome Tips to Help You
If you are apprehensive about online teaching and skeptical about whether you can do it or not, one small piece of advice, DO IT.
You don’t have to be tech-savvy to make your way through online teaching.
You might encounter slight glitches and bumps along the way, but you are going to get good at it.
Teaching and learning go hand in hand. You just need to learn a few things and you are good to go.
Do A Thorough Research
Before you start online teaching and get into virtual classrooms, conduct proper research, and understand the environment.
Get to know your students, ask questions like when they are online or when they have access to the internet and likewise.
You should also research on the platform that you are going to use for online teaching.
In a country like India, it is advisable to choose an online teaching platform that consumes minimum internet data.
If your online teaching app is excellent, the rest will fall in place.
While doing the research, it is of paramount importance to understand what your students expect and how much they can take in one class.
Researching and understanding is quite essentially, a continuous process. You may have to alter your strategies along the way.
Get A Decent Internet Connection
An uninterrupted internet connection is a key to the success of online teaching.
This is quite self-explanatory. You don’t want your classes to be interrupted and leave your students hanging.
This will bring down the effectiveness of teaching. Not just during the classes, you need to be in constant touch with your students and a good internet connection is inevitable.
As discussed in the first point, choosing a platform that does not drain internet data is equally important.
Teachmint is one such platform optimized for India.
Upskill yourself
Analyze your knowledge about virtual classrooms and whether you can find your way around technology.
It’s always better to upskill yourself and learn about things such as how to troubleshoot when something isn’t working or what to do when your students complain they can’t hear you and likewise.
Get familiar with the platform you have chosen.
Choose a simple and easy to understand online teaching app so that you can learn the proceedings without any difficulties.
Spend some time on upskilling your technological knowledge.
Create a Schedule and be Organized
As the saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail. You need to have a schedule in place so that there’s no bustle or confusion.
Be organized and communicate the schedule with your students. Once you create the classroom plan, recheck it to ensure that there are no overlaps.
If you handle multiple online classes, create separate folders for each class and schedule assignments and tests accordingly.
Again, choosing a holistic online teaching platform will bring ease and effortlessness to the table.
With automated attendance marking, automated grading, classroom management tools, and more, Teachmint is a simple and secure platform to conduct your online classes.
Prepare and share content & resources
Give your students an idea about what you will be talking about in the class.
Unlike the normal classroom set up, your students will be confused and it will help them if they know beforehand what they are going to learn.
With multiple online teaching tools, you can create interesting videos and presentations and share them with your students.
If you are thinking of what are some interesting ways to start a lesson, here are some ideas:
- Give your students a quick 1-minute challenge to talk about the topic
- Incorporate games and group activities
- Start with a story
Set up a Demo Class
The virtual classroom set up might be new to your students as well. They might not be familiar with the platform that you have chosen.
Conduct a half an hour session or so that details what they should do and how they should do it.
Your students should know what is expected out of them. Only then will you be able to see the desired results.
Involve your Students
Make your students participate in the classes and involve them throughout the lesson. It is important that you keep the classroom open for interaction.
In a traditional classroom, you will be able to pick on nonverbal cues and understand whether the students are involved or not.
It is hard when it comes to virtual classrooms and the best way to overcome this challenge is to involve your students in the entire process.
Practice
Not everyone is comfortable in front of a camera. Virtual classrooms are significantly different from facing the students in real-time.
In order to make yourself familiar with the camera and the virtual set up, record yourself and listen to the classes.
You are your best judge and when you practice and record your classes, you will be able to identify what’s working and what’s not.
Conclusion
When you create a classroom plan, always bear in mind that your primary aim is to make sure that your students understand the essence of the lesson.
Employ a student-first approach. Not meeting your students face to face may pose some challenges, in the beginning.
However, proper planning and preparation can help you overcome these challenges with ease.
What’s pivotal is to choose the right platform like Teachmint.
Teachmint is an all in one solution for managing live classes, online teaching, and more.
With features like automated attendance marking, automated grading, and inbuilt LMS features, it makes the lives of teachers easy.
We hope the 8 tips on how to plan a virtual classroom helps you to ace online teaching.
If you have any questions for us, please do drop them in the comments section.
Happy Learning
Happy Teaching!
