These are some upcoming webinars on synchronous and asynchronous learning:
- Oxford University Press - https://elt.oup.com/events/global/synchronous-teaching-your-first-online-lesson?cc=it&selLanguage=en&mode=hub
There are excellent blog posts by Sandy Millin on teaching communicative English lessons online:
- Sandy Millin's blog post (14 March 2020) - https://sandymillin.wordpress.com/2020/03/14/ideas-for-adapting-group-lessons-to-working-on-zoom/
Reflecting on my first-hand experiences
Many things have been written or said about 'how to use (an online platform)' and exploiting various functions for lesson activities, such as chat, file sharing (worksheets and activity role cards), screen sharing, breakout rooms, virtual whiteboard, and so on. I'm not going to repeat them in this post.
I'd rather like to share some less discussed aspects of teaching online:
Tech check - training the learners
- It's not a bad idea to spend 5 to 10 minutes of the first online lesson on tech check. Students get to try out various functions one by one. The idea is to let them become familiar with a new online platform.
Look at the bottom of your screen. Do you see the menu bar? Click on 'Chat'.
If you're on a smartphone, click on 'Participants'. Then you'll see 'Chat'.
- This is a good opportunity to lower learner anxiety substantially. Progress is often made more quickly once everybody is comfortable with the new classroom environment.
- Another nice warmer would be a communicative activity (information gap/exchange) - with the language that a particular group of students is already able to produce. This provides further opportunities for them to get used to communicating over their webcams.
Expectation management
- Bear in mind we always use visual clues to formulate ideas of what a person is doing. A small webcam window, however, gives us greatly reduced clues. Markers of intention can fill the expectation gap, so that everybody knows they're waiting purposefully but not aimlessly.
I'm going to share my screen with you.
In a moment, you'll see three photos on your screen.
- Is everybody waiting for everybody else to start talking? Students can actually be trusted with their turn-taking and self-control abilities. Once set up properly, the teacher as the moderator can stay muted in discussions and brainstorming activities. Students talk among themselves and the teacher intervenes only when necessary.
- Stop webcam is another useful function when you play videos and/or audio using screen share. Students can be told about your intention before they start. This can minimise distractions and the teacher can take a breather!
Over and out, more on this later!