In all honesty, being an online tutor is a relatively new field of work. However, to be successful at it, the tutor must employ more than a few techniques to find one that best appeals to his audience.
Effective principles
In online education, there are multiple teaching methods, which can be useful. It is the reason why, predominantly, the results in any virtual classroom depend more on your personal style or experience. Here are a few tips and recommendations by some of the EduWorldUSA instructors, homework instructors, language instructors, and other experts in the field, which may help.
Do not forget that you are the teacher
As it is you who is educating the students, you have to be patient and acknowledge the fact that the audience is not going to self-educate themselves. Further, in an online setup, students need proper mentoring and guidance to learn the new concepts and subjects.
Be proactive
For an online tutor, it is always about the dynamics and strategy. Understand your audience, and prepare the course material accordingly. The best way to achieve success in your online tutoring is to prepare knowledgeable content and deliver it interactively and engagingly, says TFTH online educator.
Further, it is always best to break down complex concepts into smaller information for more effective results.
Make some ground rules
The most important feature of an online class is flexibility. However, you need to set some ground rules and adhere to them. Have a teaching pace, but always be there for your students at the time that they are expecting you.
Further, successful online tutoring is possible only when there is two-way communication, which flows effortlessly.
Moreover, you need to understand the pace of the student and slow down or rush accordingly. It is because different students have varied understanding levels. So, planning your pace accordingly will help.
Keep a tab on their progress
In a virtual classroom, there are different rules for assessment. It is good to allot homework and team projects, says Anaida, an online teacher with FineGrades. Well, these assessment tasks are pivotal to examine the growth and pick-up of the child. So, this information can be both motivating as well as satisfying for you and your students.
Safety is mandatory
In an online space, safety is vital. You, as a teacher, need to create a safe learning space for your students. Always be polite and keep your manners intact. Simultaneously, it would be best if you were open and blunt about what behaviour you expect from the students and their expectations.
Challenges are important
When you are taking an online class, it is obvious that the student expects to gain some knowledge and insight from this class. It would be best if you got them into thinking.
So, you need to involve them and ask questions in several different ways. Let them wonder why what they are thinking might not be on the right lines. When you challenge the conventions, you will achieve a more motivated and active virtual class.
Familiarity
Try to relate every complex concept with a familiar thing. For instance, you can relate physics or chemistry to everyday objects. When you establish a connection between the subject and something familiar, the student tends to grasp things quickly.
Further, get them into thinking about what newer ways could be employed to achieve similar results. The more personalized you make the concept or a subject, the higher are the chances of an increased understanding.
Problem-solving
The students always like staying connected with the real-world. Time and again, you should give the students a problem of the real world to solve, says Raina, a TAE online tutor. Well, let us understand what Raina is trying to say here. When you discuss a current situation, they feel relevant and believe that their opinions are important. This will make them interested in the subject. It will invoke a discussion, which you can gradually relate to your concepts and take them to a conclusion.
Action
To make the session more insightful for the students, connect political, social, scientific, or religious issues to your subject. It allows the students to express what they feel. This will also expose them to other students' opinions, which may not be similar to theirs.
Moreover, as directed to take action, you need to engage your students and nudge them to be proactive. Make sure you keep inspiring them all through the session.
Perspective
As a tutor, you need to be evolved in your thinking. Thus, we would never recommend you to be stringent with popular archaic beliefs. Experiment with newer ideas, and teach your students to think out of the box. When you inculcate alternative thinking, it broadens their level of knowledge. For this, you can use activities that may be engaging for them.
For instance, role-playing is an excellent activity that helps to seek a newer perspective. How about them aping a different student for the day?
For success as an online tutor, the idea is to keep trying new things, and you will know what works best.