Many schools in China have switched to teaching online for the time being. Actually, a lot of teachers are becoming more and more curious about online teaching.

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While it sounds quite simple, online classes are a bit more complex than they seem to be. I’ve been teaching online for years and that’s why I decided to share these 5 tips with you to create the best online class experience for yourself and for your students. To watch this video on Youtube, click here. 

1. Platform. Choose the platform that works best for you, your students and your school. Pay attention to:

• How many students can join the session?
• Can all your students access the platform? (for example, if you are accessing from outside of China)
• Is it mobile-friendly?

2. Tools. Get a set of tools that will help you do your work better:

• A tool for organising and executing your work. You might want to consider a platform that allows you to add your colleagues and students online. I personally use Trello but a free version has a limited number of people that can join. 

• A tool for collecting students’ answers or homework – I use Padlet and Trello.
• Make a written or video guide for your students on how to access and use the tools. 

3. Content. Adapt your content to online teaching.

• Break your class into smaller time segments: 5 min information – 5 minutes interaction: action/games/exercise. Do not do lecture-style – your students will fall asleep or get distracted too easily – they are very comfortable at home and they’ll have a short attention span.
• Use questions! This is one of the best ways to keep your students engaged and active. Maybe you will not get the answer you want but you’ll make the student think of the questions and a possible answer.
• Create your own body language – hand gestures that your students can use to signal that they are on the same page with you (ex.thumbs up to signal that they can hear you).

4. Make a PPT or any slides for guiding your students and making it easier for them to get engaged. It also makes students feel that you’ve prepared well:

• use only keywords on your slides
• add pictures and tables or graphs and spread them out in your PPT. At the Global Competence Online Project I introduce Sustainable Development Goals with this picture: 

… and Project Management tools with this table:

5. Ask your students to take photos of how they do homework so you can make a collage out of all the photos at the end of the month. You’ll need to remind them and far not everyone will send photos but it’ll be a great motivation for some students – photos of my students. In fact, take a picture of your own class preparation too!

What do you think is most important when it comes to teaching online?

*This article is not sponsored, I mention the tools that I’ve been using myself for the last few years.*

Author: Margarita Lukavenko

<<中文>>

由于目前疫情的影响，学校开始进行在线教学，而学生也转向了在线学习。因我从事网络教学多年，在此提供5点建议，希望能帮助你为你的学生打造更佳的在线课堂体验。

1. 选择最适合你、你的学生和学校的平台。关注以下几点：

–多少学生可以同时在线?

–所有学生都可以使用该平台吗?(例如，如果有人从中国境外访问)

–移动交互体验是否友好?

2. 获取一套可以帮助你更好地完成工作的工具:

–用于组织和执行工作的工具。可以考虑一个平台，使你可以在线添加同事和学生。——Trello

–收集学生答案或作业的工具—— Padlet和Trello

–为学生制作有关如何使用这些工具的书面或视频指南。

3.使你的内容适合在线教学。

–拆分课堂：5分钟讲解– 5分钟互动:动作/游戏/锻炼。不要采取单一讲课的方式——你的学生会很容易睡着或分心——他们在舒适的家里注意力持续时间会很短。

–善用提问!-这是让你的学生积极参与的最好方法之一。也许你不会得到你想要的回答，但你会让学生去思考问题并尝试获得可能的答案。

–创建身体手势语言，使你的学生可以表明他们与你同步(例如，竖起大拇指，以表明在听)

4. 做一个ppt来指导你的学生，让他们更容易参与进来,这也会让学生觉得你准备得很充分:

–只在幻灯片上只显示关键词

–添加图片、表格或图形，并运用到PPT中(SDGs图片和Project Management表格)

5. 让学生拍下他们做作业的照片，这样你就可以在月底把所有的照片拼贴起来，这个需要提醒他们。并不是每个人都会发送照片，但将照片上传到“我学生的照片”这样的方式可以激励到一部分学生。实际上，也可以给你的班级合影留念!

Author: Margarita Lukavenko

Translator: Zoe Cao