PREPARING FOR AN ONLINE CLASSROOM

Delivering online doesn't have to be a harrowing experience. Here are some preparation tips for making online learning a pleasant and rewarding experience for all.

1: Prepare access - ensure students know when and how to access your webinar or teleconference. A group email or online message is useful and can be used to help students with preparing for a topic. Before you begin it's also really important to RAISE learner interest by offering a "juicy" tidbit or piece of information - something which might surprise, interest & motivate your audience for the upcoming event. Try using shocking headlines, Questions, Powerwords - think about 'What's in it for them' - why in the world would they want to spend 1 hr or so at your event.

2: Provide some information via video or reading content to give some background PRIOR to your event/ session. This is a 'Flipped Classroom' approach which gives students an opportunity to get familiar with the topic and also a useful tool for RAISING interest/ awareness of their need to learn. If your content is interesting it will serve as a'hook' & your audience will become aware of a NEED to LEARN more.

3: Create a slide deck to organise your thoughts and to give your session structure. By arranging your content you can plan for the exact content that you will present, the practice opportunities for your students as well as the engagement activities that you will offer. with Prezi, Powerpoint, Keynote, Acrobat or other presentation programs you can easily insert videos, links, pictures and use a range of templates, styles and colors to make your presentations more interesting. A slide deck can be easily recorded and voiced over into a video - which brings us to the next point.

4: Prepare some video content that you can play to supplement your online delivery. By pre-preparing you become the MASTER of your content & will feel much more comfortable about your content. You can think of it as a way of collecting all your assets (inputs e.g. slides, videos, cartoons, audio, music ect) - and play them all as one file which you can pause and start at will. 

Pre-recording is also an excellent strategy for engaging with your audience. As the video plays, you are free to respond in chats, ask lead questions or to prep for your next activity. Definitely useful for taking the pressure off by reducing the amount of LIVE delivery time. There are a range of fine video recording tools including Spark Video, Adobe Premier Rush and Camtasia. These softwares allow you to bring together a wide range of assets into one place and definitely make for more interesting viewing. Join our free webinar this week for tips on how to pre-record your next video.

If your online portal allows upload of a pre-recorded video - it reduces time lags, buffering and improves the experience, especially if some of your audience members have a low bandwidth. 

5: plan for audience engagement! Create opportunities for interactivity, communication and calls to action. There are so many great softwares available for creating a brilliant online learning experience, allowing for games, quizzes, case studies, reflections, group break-out sessions, discussions and much more. The possibilities are truly endless and it's useful to think of how you best engaged students in your 'physical' classroom - and then of possibilities for modelling that experience online. For great tips, suggestions and individualized support get in touch with our community and receive weekly multi-sensory online teaching tips & for ENGAGING the brain.

6: Finally make an effort to control your delivery environment. This includes getting a hold of good equipment if you can. Having a good microphone is relatively inexpensive and makes a massive difference on the audio quality & the way your audience experiences the session. Think about the last time you enjoyed a fuzzy connection... There are good webcams available from $50 which can be attached to laptops to improve on visuals. Good lighting and a neat background certainly improves the flavor and you may want to consider a green screen so that you can change the background behind your image. For more info on workspace set-up, send us a message & we will send you our free 'going digital' toolkit.

Reduce the amount of background noise where possible although we all face the new situation of having barking kids and screaming dogs at home. That's another great reason for pre-recording as you can choose to record when others choose to snooze...

Whilst your webinar or telegraph is in session - ask your family to KINDLY (or with polite threats...) to refrain from internet usage so as to free up bandwidth for your delivery.

And that's all for today. Have fun with this and see you on the road. Stay tuned for next week's blog which delves into the exciting topic of audience ENGAGEMENT!!! The universe is your oyster and you can model almost any activity from a physical classroom - to an equally awesome online experience.