This is me, in my office. And this is the view that my students have during lessons. A little over two years ago, just before we were all told to stay at home, I switched to teaching online. I’d done a little online teaching before, but most of my lessons were conducted in my students’ homes. It was nice to get out and about, to meet families and pets, and to sit with each student, easily passing books and papers between us.
So I must be keen to get back to working in the old way, right? Well, not exactly. Although, of course, we have all learned to value real, face-to-face human contact much more highly after so much enforced separation, there are many advantages to teaching online.
- Timing: I turn up to lessons on time, every time. No getting stuck behind tractors or having trouble finding a student’s house. We use all 60 minutes of every hour because we are both seated and ready for the lesson to begin.
- Resources: I work from my own office, surrounded by my own books and a multitude of other resources. Although lessons are planned in advance, students often have questions or last-minute requests and, when I travelled to teach, I often wished I could bring all my books and papers with me. Now, everything is at my fingertips.
- Efficiency: With tuition going online, students and parents have been able to search much more widely for their ideal tutor. I now have students all over the UK and beyond. And now that I don’t have to spend time travelling, I have more time to see more students.
- Fewer distractions: Over the past two years, we have all become used to working on Zoom. Everyone is used to the need for a quiet room for online sessions. My students often use headphones or earbuds to ensure they can hear me and block out any background noise.
But what about the negatives? Isn’t it less personal to teach and learn online?
To tell you the truth, this is what I thought, in the beginning. However, those of us who teach online have developed the ability to connect with our students and keep them engaged even though we are not in the same room. It may take a little more focus and effort at first, but it becomes natural. I also use all sorts of props which I keep in my office, to help with explanations and examples.
As long as the teacher or tutor makes sure that the student is participating throughout, makes the lesson relevant and interesting, and brings their own interest and passion with them, online teaching can work extremely well.
Of course we all know that it’s not ideal to spend hours and hours looking at screens so we need to make sure that screen time is a good investment. An hour with the right tutor or teacher is much better use of screen time than an hour playing games or aimlessly surfing!
I’ll be staying online for the time being. For me, it’s the best way to provide great teaching and tutoring to students far and wide.
