You don’t have to be a computer whizz to be a great online teacher in 2022. Unfortunately, the need to switch online took us all by surprise and we didn’t know what to expect or how to adapt. In order to make things easier and help fellow educators, we created this guide with everything you need to know about online teaching in 2022. Let’s go through the different parts of online education and also see which are the best educational tools for each occasion.
The Ultimate Guide to Online Teaching in 2022: Overview
- How Will Online Education Evolve in 2022?
- Why Teach Online in 2022
- How to Start Teaching Online in 2022?
- Great Additional Tools for Online Teaching in 2022
- Online Education Gets More Exciting for Students in 2022
1. How Will Online Education Evolve in 2022?
More educational platforms are being created as the demand gets higher. Following the tendency, we will have better established learning communities with even more resources. Right now we mostly rely on chatrooms, servers, and systems that we were already using before the pandemic. However, those tools weren’t specifically created for online education on such a large scale. It’s safe to say we can expect better and more suitable tools very soon.
For example, Ivy League universities have already invested time and resources into creating a better online learning environment that they are debating to maintain for some of their programs even after the pandemic is over. In addition, just before the beginning of 2022, Mark Zuckerberg is also planning to invest in the development of VR technology available to the public with higher connection speeds. This VR shift from gaming to education means that soon we could immerse ourselves in virtual classrooms that almost seem like the real thing.
With all of this in mind, it doesn’t seem that education would simply return entirely to the traditional style once the pandemic is over.
2. Why Teach Online in 2022?
Let’s focus more on why teaching online is not a bad thing and pinpoint the key advantages.
Switching to online teaching might be intimidating at first especially for tutors with decades of experience in traditional teaching. There are different apps, programs, and websites for this purpose. However, it might be frustrating at first when you’re not sure where to start. Fortunately, the tools are pretty easy to work with and intuitive. It usually takes less than an hour to understand the basics and a couple of days to get used to. The educational software is user-friendly, and there’s a lot of community support with forums, tutorials, and explaining videos on YouTube YouTube.
So what are the benefits of online teaching?
Customizable Classes
Nowadays most people, especially students, use prerecorded video tutorials, lectures, and reviews on YouTube and other platforms to gain knowledge and skills in fields of interest. In many cases, when students struggle with subjects that they couldn’t understand well in class, they would go to the internet to find answers. They might also have specific interests in different subjects that they’d want to develop. This is because each student has interests, strengths, and skills, learns at a different pace, and requires a different learning experience.
The traditional method usually involves introducing new material, practicing the new skill, and students demonstrating what they’ve learned. Unfortunately, the class then moves forward regardless of how many students who didn’t understand the material get left behind.
In traditional education, it’s harder for a teacher to facilitate the academic success of each student personally.
However, online education offers the flexibility to make personalized education possible as it offers students the freedom to learn independently, customize a curriculum and experience the subjects at their own pace.
You can be everywhere
One of the biggest benefits of online teaching is that each participant can do it in the comfort of their homes. Distance doesn’t mean anything anymore and you could tutor students who live in other parts of the country while drinking coffee still in your slippers.
Save time
As a logical conclusion to the previous argument, you also save time from driving to school. With the click of a button, you can switch from one student or classroom to another. In addition, you can give virtual activities to your students. For example, you can play educational movies about your subject or go on virtual tours together.
Pro Tip: You can visit almost any place with a virtual field trip
You’re in demand
There is a great demand for remote teachers, and the supply is fairly low. The value of your work and contribution to education is paid accordingly.
You can reuse materials
You can record your lessons, share screenshots and pictures instantly. Reusing your lectures saves you from repeating the same material for different classes ten times a week.
Video courses as a side hustle
Platforms such as Udemy, Skillshare, TutorMe, Coursera, and Courses.com, have always been the first place to go to learn a new skill or master a subject. Needless to say, today these platforms are more popular than ever.
You can take advantage and create your own courses. Whether you create a course dedicated to each field you’re knowledgeable about, or multiple courses about a field you’re proficient in, this will be a valuable asset. On one hand, you can use those courses for the online classes you already have. While on the other, these courses mean additional profit. Depending on the quality and value, they will reach people from all over the world.
3. How to Start Teaching Online in 2022?
In this section, we’ll focus on where to start. Depending on your set of skills, experience, and preferred method of tutoring, you’ll find which form of online teaching best suits your teaching style.
3.1. Online Teaching for Experienced Teachers
If you have a lot of experience behind your back, the best way to get new students is to make your expertise well known to them. If you are using an online teaching platform or any form of social media/blog posting, put a little bio section with past work experience and means for your students to contact you.
Get familiar with the different software you will be using. You can find detailed tutorials on YouTube about all of the popular ones like Google Classroom, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Discord.
3.2. Online Teaching for Freelancers
Having decades of experience as a traditional teacher isn’t the only way to get students. As a freelancer with credentials, you will naturally improve the quality of your teaching with each class. In the meantime, you can start by checking out some of the top platforms that offer teachers the chance to get into remote teaching, tutoring, instructing, and mentoring.
When it comes to promoting yourself, there are two proven ways.
Advertising yourself on social media, chatrooms, and freelancing websites.
This includes Facebook groups, LinkedIn, and even subreddits. You already offer a meaningful and valuable solution to a problem, so what’s left is to make people know about it. By being active in the community, your future students will find you.
You can also create a profile with freelancing websites like Upwork and Fivver. The more work you do there, the more ratings you will have. If you get a lot of good five-star reviews these websites will even promote you organically.
Creating a website
Having a professional website is a huge advantage when it comes to looking professional. If you don’t have the skills the design and code a website from scratch or the budget to get an agency to do it for you, there are still plenty of free online solutions for creating websites easily without writing a single line of code. Wix and Squarespace are popular tools for the occasion.
3.3. Online Courses
This is the best way to get passive income. You will put work upfront to create an awesome course (or even better- multiple awesome courses!) and then reap the profits.
If you do know a lot about a topic of your interest, you can make a complete full course about it. In case the topic is too complicated and one course won’t be enough, even better. This means you can record multiple courses on that topic. By taking inspiration and insights from other educators, you can try to be one step ahead with more comprehensive material for the students.
4. Great Additional Tools for Online Teaching in 2022
Tools like Zoom, Google Hangouts, and the other usual suspects are good enough. However, there are other engaging solutions for online teaching that you can add to your arsenal. We listed 10 online tools for a wide range of educational purposes that you can check and improve your program.
1. K12 Resources
If you want free high-quality information about a vast number of different topics, made by specialists in their fields, this is the place to go!
- Pricing: Free
2. Amazing Educational Resources
Here you can find almost everything you are looking for and also benefit from a great community in social media.
- Pricing: Free
3. Digital Whiteboard
This is an online interactive digital notebook designed by teachers for real-time collaboration.
- Pricing: Offers a Free Plan
4. Shared Google Docs
Students can have a shared document to work on and edit together.
- Pricing: Free
5. Google Forms
This tool is perfect for creating online forms, questionnaires, and, of course, online tests and exams.
- Pricing: Free
6. Plagiarism Checker
Grammarly offers one of the most accurate plagiarism checkers you can use and its algorithm isn’t as sensitive.
- Pricing: Free
7. Wooclap
A collaborative platform for classes, conferences, and training sessions.
- Pricing: Free for k12 teachers, $6.99 per feature, per month for non-k12 teachers
8. Stopwatch
Free online countdown tool with classroom timers.
- Pricing: Free
9. No Hands
This online tool can help you select a student’s name randomly.
- Pricing: Free
10. Adobe Character Animator
This is the tool to go when you want to create lectures with animated characters, that can move, gesture, and lip-sync in real-time.
- Pricing: Part of Adobe Cloud, Free trial
In addition, you can also read our article on technology in education where we review some of the key areas teachers and educators can utilize that technology to create value for their students, and also save time and effort.
5. Online Education Gets More Exciting for Students in 2022
Remote learning has become the preferred method amongst students from all around the world, of different ages and interests. It is just too convenient, constantly developing and there are undeniable benefits. Let’s see exactly why.
Cost-effective
Education costs have been rising exponentially, especially in universities. This is a huge obstacle in front of many students on their way to pursuit their dreams, and study for the carrier they want. Fortunately, there are now more resources, masterclasses, and means for online learning, that make it possible for many students who can’t afford higher education to gain the skills they want regardless.
Easy to adapt
We are being exposed to technology from very young ages and with costs of production going down, we will be seeing this trend only rising. Kids nowadays know how to use a phone and a computer from a ridiculously early age, which will make it even easier for them to adapt to learning from the same devices they already use.
If it exists, you can learn about it on the Internet
In classical educational institutions, the subjects might be limited. In high school, we have next to no control over what we study. When we get into university, we can choose the direction of our studies and a few extra courses. However, once you go online, nothing is off-limit and personalized education is more possible and easier than ever. You can learn almost everything you want about any topic because now you’ve tapped into the greatest storage of information with millions of people creating different courses every.
Students can graduate from university without even going there
If you get accepted into a prestigious university that offers online education and diploma, this is the biggest advantage as students don’t even have to move to another country to get there.
Online teaching is more efficient
Students have full control over learning and can do it at their own pace online. If they know more about a subject they can do it faster without waiting for the rest of the class to catch up. It’s the same in case they’re having trouble, as they can slow down, and do more research without the social pressure.
Microlearning
Online students can choose very specifically what they study. If they need to learn a specific thing about a topic they won’t need to enroll in a full class.
Technology Practice
Technology is constantly evolving and no matter the age, it is not only useful but mandatory for all of us to develop our computer skills.
In conclusion
Online education has undeniable benefits for both teachers and students. As with everything else we have little control over, we can make the best out of it and create a flexible and engaging online class environment for everyone. In 2022, we are getting more tools, more resources, and more perks that we never thought possible before.
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