Online learning has become quite popular recently. If you too have decided to teach an online class you first need to understand how to structure it. In this post, you will learn the best tips to structure your online class to benefit students and yourself. So keep on reading.

Tips To Structure Online Class For Teachers

Understand Your Students:

Understanding your students is a must. If they want to discuss topics such as “I need someone to take my online class for me”, you ask them why and analyze everything. If you are taking a virtual class then chances are that you are aware of your student’s strengths, weaknesses academic backgrounds as well as family backgrounds. Based on this, understanding your students is not tough. And because of this, you can easily create a lesson plan to suit their requirements.

If you are a teacher of an online course the students you teach come from all across the world. They speak different languages and have different reasons why they choose to study the course you are teaching. Therefore, it will generally take you extra time to adequately examine who your audience is will help you structure an online class that actually means something to them.

Set a Clear Goal for the Class:

A clear objective is important if you want students and you as well to remain focused throughout the lesson. You should stress the objective of the class from the beginning to your students. This will help them stay on track. The aim of your lesson must concern what your students will be able to achieve at the end of each class and the overall course. For example, you can help your students learn a new skill or learn about a new concept.

To set a clear aim, try starting with “I want my students to become capable of…”  This will ease the procedure of specifying the content regarding what should be included in the lecture.

Use A Ton Of Visuals:

Retaining the attention of students while teaching a class face-to-face is hard enough. How can you make an impact when you are not even there? Therefore, incorporating visuals in your online class structure will help you a lot.

Here are a few ways you can incorporate visuals into your lessons:

You can create a video explaining a topic rather than handing out typed documents. You can also add captions and transcriptions which is very useful for students with hearing disabilities. This will generally help students to remember the highlighted areas. If you find it pretty time-consuming to make a video then finding a relevant video will definitely help you out. A few places to look include:

• YouTube Learning
• BBC Bitesize
• National Geographic Education

Graphic organizing is yet another way to both simplify a difficult concept and get students’ attention during the class.

Furthermore, use an online whiteboard. In physical classes, you can always use a whiteboard to make diagrams, mind maps, and what now. Students also heavily associate white and blackboards with education therefore having an online whiteboard is beneficial for you because it has the same functions.

Another way you can add visuals in your online class is by making presentations. It is bound to improve students’ engagement You can not only explain an entire lesson using a presentation but you can also use it to assist highlight important facts, during an online class. The most common application you can use to make a presentation in Powerpoint.

Last but not the least, make use of visual props during your online class. These props can be anything from flashcards to real-life items which you can easily find in your home.

Keep Your Lectures Short:

Time management is very important to achieve your goals in a set time frame (Helpwithdissertation, 2021). Giving a lengthy lecture when it is not benefiting the students will on mess up your time management. A lengthy online lecture will get boring or overwhelming at some point and students will find it harder to comprehend the information. For example, if you are giving a lecture regarding “Pay someone to take my online class services” only mention the most important factors in detail.

Moreover, multitasking behavior and distraction can already undermine the effectiveness of distance courses (Guijosa, 2019). And opting for lengthy lectures will only cause more damage to the lecture’s effectiveness. Most topics do not need to be explained in detail so it is better not to exaggerate them. Just keep the lecture interesting shirt and simple so that all students can understand it. This way you can structure your online lectures successfully.

Clear and Consistent Structure:

A clear and consistent structure is absolutely sentential if you want to keep students engaged and focused in the lectures. You have to be aware at all times of your lessons, what they will be covering, how much time each topic will take etc.

A good way to maintain a clear and consistent structure throughout your lesson is by creating an overview outlining all tasks, modules, tools, due dates, and much more from the beginning. In other words, you need to develop a solid lesson plan. This will assist you in identifying main topics and arranging them accordingly as modules or units that have a good flow.

Give Assignments and Homework:

Giving assignments are an important part of education and is an effective way to assess the students based on what they have learned. In online learning, you can make this assessment by including collaborative activities.  You should ask students to work in groups and interact with each other as they work toward understanding something. This will improve their understanding and enhance students’ memory.

If you are worried that your students will cheat during online assignments you can give them activities that are mainly focused on researching and creating.

Conclusion

Now that you know the best tips on how to structure an online class, make sure to implement them in your teaching.