Tips for Teaching in the Online Classrooms of the Future

The past several years have brought hundreds of incredible technological advances into education. Many of these are perfectly exemplified by Empire High School itself, which has gained a lot of recognition for being the first laptop-oriented, digitally-based high school in the country. Still, many schools and colleges around the country are beginning to take the next step and move toward exclusively online classrooms.

While the possibility of online classrooms offers many new opportunities, it also provides a potentially different situation for teachers, who must debate how to best manage an online classroom.

Needless to say, it is very different from traditional forms of classroom management. One of the most notable differences between a conventional classroom setting and an online classroom setting is the lack of face-to-face, daily interaction between teachers and students. In an online classroom, the teacher may be little more than a name on a computer screen, and this could be daunting or intimidating to some students because they would not understand their teacher’s demeanor or personality to the same extent as they would understand a teacher who they see every day in a conventional classroom.

This lack of knowledge and familiarity could prevent students from truly feeling comfortable with their teachers, and maybe even inhibit them from doing things like e-mailing the instructor to ask for clarification on an assignment, requesting help with a technical issue or asking for an extension due to extenuating circumstances, among other things.

Social presence is a really significant aspect of online classrooms. Here are some ideas for teachers to try with their students:
 

1. Write a welcome letter to your students and upload it to the online course homepage at the start of the semester. This can help online students feel engaged with the teacher and the class right from the start, as they are feeling the instructor’s presence immediately, even though they are not seeing them face-to-face.



2. Introduce yourself. A personalized introduction could go a long way into making a good first impression on students, as teachers know that it is important to gain and hold their students’ attention right at the start of the semester. This introduction could take many forms. It could be a paragraph introducing yourself by means of a biography, a picture, likes, dislikes, and insights into your personality (fun and humorous? Serious and thought-provoking?), and what defines you as a teacher and makes you unique.
   
   This could be supplemented even further by a link to a homepage, if you have one, or even an audio clip or a video clip of the introduction in order to add even more of a tangible, relatable quality to the online classroom.
    


3. Utilize e-mail frequently. In online classrooms, e-mail is a great way to communicate with students, and it is highly versatile as well. There can be e-mails sent to the whole class, to certain groups or even to individuals. Class e-mail can be used as a kind of broadcast system, for important announcements, like schedule changes or offering widespread clarification to an often-asked question regarding a certain assignment.
   
   Group e-mail can be utilized to give students guidance, feedback on group projects, or ideas, and individual email can be used for almost any situation, like answering individual questions, giving feedback or constructive criticism on assignments and discussion posts, motivating students to keep up the good work or try a little bit harder and following up with students for special situations.



4. Be active on the discussion boards. The vast majority of online classrooms feature discussion boards of some sort, and while nearly all instructors must monitor students’ posts, it can be really beneficial to get involved in the discussion and engaged in the conversation. Teachers can comment on students’ posts with feedback, constructive criticism, responses, and thoughts on their writing, maybe even with a few questions that explore or challenge why they have come to that particular conclusion. This can help even further in encouraging them to think and guide their learning than simply typing up a discussion prompt at the beginning of the discussion period and then reading everybody’s responses when the discussion has closed.



5. Use creative, innovative new tools. The Internet can be extremely versatile, and some teachers of online classes have tried using blogs with their students, in which the students and teachers create blogs and they interact and present work through the blogs. Both students and teachers can have fun and develop a sense of creativeness and achievement when they create their own tools, and through using these features, it can lead to more interaction between students and between students and teachers.  Some new interesting sites like Blogster or Pixton can allow students to create comics or virtual conversations. These tools can really add to the classroom and create diversity in projects.



6. Encourage students. At the end of the course, include a concluding remark and best-wishes statement. At the end of the class, like after the final exam or project or other types of conclusive learning activities, always remember to send all your students an e-mail or a widespread class announcement. This can be a pleasant, considerate way to end the class on an upbeat  note, congratulating the students on their achievements throughout the semester. From the initial welcome letter and introduction to the wrapping-up best-wishes statement, the teachers can demonstrate their increased social presence and interaction and involvement with the students from the beginning to the end of the class.

Social presence and interaction will always be a crucial part of learning, whether it is in a traditional classroom setting or an online classroom. In contrast to the previous misconception, by using these methods, it is entirely possible for students and teachers to have strong, valuable, and engaging interactions in an online classroom. In conclusion, teachers can succeed, and students and teachers can both benefit from every single one of these tips, as online classrooms become even more prevalent in the future.
 

About the author: Anushka Mohideen is a senior at Empire High School.