The Ultimate List of Effective Online Teaching Methods
Online Teaching Methods

Traditional forms of teaching around the world are changing rapidly with the advancement of technology. Even in physical classrooms, technology has taken on a bigger role, changing how lessons are delivered and received.  

While there are numerous teaching methods, most of the traditional methods used in class can be applied equally efficiently online. However the teaching method you select will change based on your teaching philosophy, objectives, subject area, and classroom demographics. 

In this post, we’ll list down x effective online teaching methods that’ll help simplify the delivery of your virtual lessons.  

Online Teaching Methods 

Listed below are some of the most effective methods of online teaching.

Presentations

Presentations, like in the physical classroom, are one of the most common methods of online teaching. This technique helps make a more significant impact on students – most of whom are visual learners – than a teacher simply relaying information out of a textbook. 

Most importantly, presentations allow you to incorporate visuals (images, GIFs, videos, etc.) which makes it easier to deliver and comprehend complex information and data while making the lesson more engaging. Plus you can also share your presentation with the students after the lesson for revision and studying. 

Presentation Template
Presentation Template (Click on the template to edit it online)

Here are a few presentation tools to get started with 

Online, presentations are more effective when delivered over video conferencing with a tool like Zoom or Google Meet

Resources 

Jazz Up Your Presentation: 6 Ways to Put an End to Ugly Charts and Graphs

Online Whiteboard

Online whiteboards have risen as a popular choice to virtually emulate the in-person classroom experience shared between teachers and students. They offer an infinite canvas, shape libraries to create different diagrams and charts, pre-made templates, sketching, typing, image import options, etc. 

Unlike the traditional whiteboards, they also let you digitize the content created, hence allowing you to re-share them and refer to them at a later time. You can also collaborate with students on the same canvas in real-time which paves the way to 

  • Carry out assignments 
  • Brainstorm around lessons
  • Mind mapping
  • Do interactive exercises such as quizzes 
  • Review homework and leave feedback 

Find out more about how to successfully use an online whiteboard for teaching

Live Online Classes

Technology has made it straightforward to deliver lectures online even if you are not in the same room as the students, replicating many of the elements of face-to-face interaction. 

Using video conferencing tools you can connect and communicate with students across the globe to deliver lessons. Incorporating an online whiteboard, you can make the classes even more engaging.

Lectures tend to put students in a passive role. Therefore to keep students engaged throughout the class online; 

  • Be prepared by outlining the content of the lesson 
  • Ask questions during and after the lesson and leave time for students to answer
  • Carry out discussions around the topic and encourage students to participate actively
  • Make use of graphic organizers, images, posters, videos, visuals, etc. 
  • Break down the main topic into sub-parts which will allow you to deliver the lecture in smaller chunks making it more effective in terms of keeping the students focused and engaged 
  • Set clear guidelines for online class etiquette for students to maintain 

Pre-Recorded Video Lectures   

The benefit of pre-recorded lectures, as opposed to the live ones, is that the former allows the students to learn at their own pace at any time without the presence of the teacher. It also gives them material to go over during revision.

The teacher or instructor, on the other hand, can use the videos to avoid repetitive teaching between different classes. 

To create effective pre-recorded lectures; 

  • Start with a script. Outline the talking points and what should go on each slide.
  • Practice as necessary. Unless you are confident enough to do it in one go, rehearse what you will be saying prior to recording.
  • Keep it short. If the video is longer than 20 minutes, consider breaking it up into smaller videos. This will not only come in handy when uploading them online but in case you need to replace the content with new information, it’ll be easier to re-do a few minutes video than an hour-long one.  
  • Have everything ready before recording. Make sure that you are in a place devoid of distracting noises and backgrounds, and that your script and props are in place.
  • If you are recording your screen, make sure to have closed unnecessary tabs and apps that may send you notifications.
  • Maintain good eye contact with the camera and a tone you would use in a normal one-on-one conversation 

Flipped Classroom 

The flipped classroom has become one of the most popular teaching methods in education during the past few years.

It entails a strategy opposite to the traditional class format; here the students are required to review class material prior to the actual lesson, hence reserving actual in-class time to put what they have learned into test with teacher-guided activities such as debates, problem-solving, in-depth discussions, quizzes, etc. 

Videos have become a core element in the flipped classroom model.  While many teachers create videos of their own, some also use videos created by other teachers. Video-sharing platforms such as YouTube can be utilized to share these among students.

Some of the other effective techniques for the flipped classroom include,

  • Online quizzes – help students self-regulate what they have learnt and further improve their comprehension of the subject 
  • Polls – help students reflect and analyze what they have learned by polling their own choices 
  • Infographics – increase student engagement and enhances memory 
  • Mind maps or word clouds – allow students to brainstorm around topic areas and develop their thinking skills 

Game-Based Teaching 

Game-based learning is a popular technique used to improve student engagement and retain attention. This approach helps reduce student anxiety and increase their involvement, especially when teaching complex concepts. It also paves the way for weaker students to develop their competences by interacting actively with their classmates. 

And in online teaching, games help close the gaps in the interaction between face-to-face learning and online learning. Depending on the game you select, here are a few tips to keep in mind when carrying it out online, 

  • Ensure that all students in the virtual classroom have access to the same set of data. You can share your screen or communicate them to your audience using a video conferencing tool 
  • Use the chat option to take down concerns and questions of students and clarify and you can answer them live  
  • Allow students time to reflect their answers and discuss them with other group members by breaking down the game into subsequent periods 
  • Allow students to carry out discussions using chat platforms such as WhatsApp, Skype, Slack, Facebook, Zoom breakout rooms, etc. 

Class Blog 

A blog can be a great place for students to share what they have learned in the form of in-depth articles. Students can work on blog posts individually or in groups. It’s a great strategy to improve students’ research skills and encourage them to explore self-learning. 

The teacher can also use the blog as a platform to share learning material for the lessons.  

Live Chatting 

Live chatting is another great way to replicate the real-time discussions that take place in the classroom. Platforms such as Slack, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, etc. allow students and teachers to communicate and brainstorm around lessons. The chat itself will provide the students with information for revising before exams or assignments. 

Make sure to set clear guidelines to ensure that all students get an equal chance to communicate their ideas and pose their questions.  

Discussion Boards and Forums

These tools provide students the space to share what they have learned or what they want to know more about with others in the classroom including the teacher. 

You can maintain different discussion boards for individual lesson topics, so it’ll be more organized. You can create one easily with an online visual workspace like Creately and share it with all students with one public edit link giving everyone quick access. 

You can also create separate Slack channels, Facebook groups, or Whatsapp groups for forum discussions.    

Any Other Online Teaching Method? 

Online teaching has paved the way for new models of teaching and learning. With the world-wide school closure caused by COVID-19, the process only has accelerated. As students and teachers explore new ways to deliver and receive lessons virtually, we hope these techniques will help you explore something new and do it more effectively. 

What other online teaching methods have you incorporated into your virtual classroom? Let us know in the comments section below. 

This post is a part of Creately’s series on remote teaching. More resources you would find useful include,

7 Effective Remote Teaching Best Practices

Essential Remote Teaching Tools for Conducting Effective Online Lessons

The Ultimate List of Visual Teaching Strategies

The Ultimate List of Graphic Organizers for Teachers and Students

The Ultimate List of Visual Creative Thinking Techniques

The Ultimate Guide to Visual Note-Taking for Students and Teachers

Essential Remote Teaching Tools for Conducting Effective Online Lessons

The sudden transition to remote teaching has left many teachers, as well as students, faced with various challenges, from not having access to the internet to finding the proper tools to overcome the boundaries of online teaching. 

We have compiled a list of tools that you can use to enhance your experience with teaching online, or remote teaching as popularly referred to these days. You can go through the list and select the ideal online teaching tools for your remote teaching goals.

Remote Teaching Tools 

Familiarizing yourself with how the tool or platform that you use works, is as important as selecting the correct tool. 

Explore each tool and learn ways to maximize its utility to create a better teaching experience.  Your students will depend on you to instruct them on how to use the platform themselves.  

There’s a range of remote teaching software available out there, and from them, we have chosen the best ones and categorized them based on their primary purpose.

Online Communication Tools

Effective communication is the key to successful teaching and learning, whether in a physical classroom or a virtual classroom. However, maintaining online communication with not one, but over twenty students is undoubtedly challenging.

Communication platforms help overcome it; they enable communication with larger groups, with video conferencing, instant messaging, audio calls, virtual rooms, and more, with any device and from anywhere. 

Some of the tools in demand are,

For a better teaching experience with these tools,  

  • Create an agenda or a plan for each online class and share it prior to the lesson  
  • Clearly explain the online etiquette students should follow during the class and what is expected of them prior to or at the beginning of the lesson 
  • Have all microphones, except for the person who is speaking, muted. This helps cancel out the distracting noises and retain the focus of the students. Anyone who needs to speak can make a gesture to catch the attention of the speaker without interrupting them.
  • When delivering a presentation or sharing an image, document or file, give some time for students to take down notes, to view or go through them.

Online Whiteboards 

Online whiteboards or digital whiteboards help emulate the classroom whiteboard/ blackboard experience with the students. Most of these tools offer an infinite canvas with shape libraries for creating different types of diagrams, charts, graphs, and other visualization purposes (i.e. creating posters, graphic organizers, etc.).  

Creately is widely used by educators for a variety of purposes: 

Creately Editor - Creately for Online Teaching Tools
  • As an online whiteboard where teachers and students can collaborate on the same canvas as they visualize ideas, concepts, etc. Moreover, students and teachers can connect via in-app video conferencing and track changes each other makes with real-time mouse tracking and change previews. 
  • Create a variety of diagrams and visuals (i.e. dichotomous key maker, graphic organizer generator, visual lesson plan templates, etc.) needed for presentations, lessons, assignments, etc.  
  • To share documents with students and colleagues for their output and feedback (with in-line comments) 

Work Planning Tools

Maintaining a work schedule is even more important when you are working from home; especially during stressful times, a solid routine can help maximize the use of your time. You can use time management and scheduling apps like Google Calendar and Calendly to streamline: 

  • Creating schedules to use in  your online classes or for personal use  
  • Creating schedules of online classes and keep everyone notified of dates and times.  
  • Scheduling appointments with parents and students; avoid double-booking a slot 
  • Inviting parents, students or colleagues for online events (i.e. webinars) 
  • Creating lesson plans and sharing them with students, administrators, and colleagues. 

Learn how to create a lesson plan using Google Calendar here.

Social Media Channels

Social media channels provide a great platform for teachers, students and parents to stay connected. 

Channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, etc. allow the creation of exclusive communities or groups teachers can leverage on to  

  • Communicate and maintain presence after online class hours  
  • Share and store important information, presentations, and resources related to lessons 
  • Conduct Q&A sessions 
  • Encourage students to maintain communication among themselves and engage with each other while studying or doing homework  
  • Conduct live events such as webinars (with Facebook or Instagram Live)

Document Management Tools 

From test papers to lesson plans, there’s an array of documents teachers have to maintain regularly. A central location to store, organize, and manage all these documents is essential to properly keep track of them, especially when you are teaching remotely.  

Tools such as GSuite, MS office, OneDrive, Dropbox, and Evernote simplify the process of maintaining the documents you own. 

  • Store all documents, files, etc. in the cloud which allows you and your students to access them with any device from anywhere 
  • Neatly organize documents in relevant folders and subfolders making it easy to retrieve them 
  • Quickly share files and documents with anyone with a single link or as a file. You can also adjust permission settings, changing them to Edit, View, and Suggesting mode on GSuite apps.
  • Collaborate with students on editing and reviewing documents, add comments and suggestions and track changes with version history

Online Video Tools

YouTube and Loom are great online video tools for creating and sharing videos with your students. You can use these tools in a number of ways; 

  • Record your online classes or lectures and share them with students 
  • Students can re-watch the videos if they were absent or during exam revisions. You can also have the video recorded prior to the lesson and have it shared with the students when you are on leave  
  • If you are teaching the same lesson to different classes, you can make use of a pre-recorded lesson to avoid repetitive teaching 
  • Encourage students to learn independently with pre-recorded video lessons. The chance of students learning a concept better is higher when they understand it on their own 
  • Share links to existing video resources online

Online Quiz Makers

Whether you are teaching online or in a physical classroom, quizzes are a great way to check a student’s performance.  Online quiz makers make it easy to, 

  •  Create, format, and share assessments online
  •  Create answer sheets which allows you to easily track and score answers of each student 

There is a plethora of online quiz makers that are both free and paid, starting from Google Forms.

Find more useful online quiz makers here.

Online Homework Platforms 

One thing that is most challenging when teaching from home is keeping track of students’ homework. 

Homework can come in different forms; essays, speeches, tests, etc.  You can use a combination of the platforms above to get students to submit their homework. 

  • Google Docs – for essays and other written assignments 
  • Zoom, Skype, and other video conferencing apps – for verbal assignments 
  • Loom, YouTube, Prezi, Google Slides – for videos and presentations 
  • Google Classroom – Distribute assignments, grade and send feedback

Did We Miss Any of Your Favorite Online Teaching Tools? 

Most of the online teaching tools listed above are free or you can try for free and see how it works for you. Invite a colleague to explore the tools and select the ones that best suit your teaching objectives. 

What other remote teaching tools do you recommend? Let us know in the comments below. 

This post is the second in our article series on remote teaching. More resources you would find useful include,

7 Effective Remote Teaching Best Practices

The Ultimate List of Visual Teaching Strategies

The Ultimate List of Graphic Organizers for Teachers and Students

The Ultimate List of Visual Creative Thinking Techniques