6 Things I’ve Learned from Teaching Online

I’ve been teaching online for just two weeks.

I, by no means, have all the answers. However, I do remember the growing pains and the learning curve I’ve experienced the past two weeks. Hopefully this blog can help you start teaching online yourself or understand what those new to teaching online are experiencing.

Context

Welcome to the COVID-19 quarantine.

To quickly recap my situation, Martin and I live in Shenzhen, China. On January 17, we left for our one-week Chinese New Year vacation in Boracay, Philippines. During that week, the coronavirus became worldwide news. Instead of returning to Shenzhen, we spent the next week in Manila, then three weeks in Bali, and now three weeks in Penang, Malaysia. Thankfully, I brought my computer with me to Boracay to finish writing my grad school papers. Without my computer, I probably would have had to return to Shenzhen.

My school announced its spring semester would be delayed by one week and all courses would be taught online for now. I’ve also been told that because the outbreak is worldwide now I should wait to return. A 14-day quarantine is mandatory for all people entering China from many other countries – Malaysia included.

I teach English as a Foreign Language to freshmen at a college in China; they are all a CEFR B1-B2 level. I already know most of my students, and I only have 26. My students are in a special Australia-based program which means that they have at least 17 hours of English classes every week – compared to just 1 hour a week for most other majors. I teach their writing, speaking, and listening classes; each class meets twice a week.

My students are all located in China, but I’m in Malaysia – which is important because I am outside the Chinese firewall.

Lesson 1: Choose technology carefully.

Most schools are scrambling to deliver their classes online. My school was no exception. There is no consistency with the technology platforms we are using.

If you get to choose your platform, think about the activities you use in class and write down their characteristics. While jigsaw discussions are probably unrealistic, thinking about how you can get students to work in pairs or small groups is not.

My situation is complicated by China’s Great Firewall making Google Docs inaccessible and Zoom unreliable. I asked a Chinese teacher which platforms she recommended and I’m using those. Neither are perfect. Both are in Chinese (more on that later). Both work well enough. I use Tencent’s 腾讯课堂 for our live classes. It allows me to share my screen or PowerPoint presentations with the students. They can hear me talking and they have a chat box they can use. I use Moso Teach’s Cloud Classroom 云班课 for sharing worksheets, audio files, videos, and other resources. I also use WeChat for basic communication with my students, which I have always done. The only thing that is new is using WeChat for small group discussions instead of just announcements.

Technology can help you with some administrative tasks, like attendance, but it will increase your workload.

Lesson 2: Manage your workload.

I usually begin our class time with a 45-minute live class. I use this time to review what we’ve learned and teach new concepts. During the last half of class, students complete the activities in the Cloud Classroom.

While I’m only in the live classroom talking with my students for about half of our class time, I spend an excessive amount of time checking homework and preparing activities.

I had expected technology to make homework checking easier. Not so. I spend a lot of time waiting for a picture of their work to load, trying to figure out how to mark the incorrect answers, and then even more time waiting for my marked picture/comments to post. So what would have taken me 2 minutes per student now takes me 10 (up to 3 hours more!).

For basic homework, I’ve started asking students to correct it themselves. It’s been a lot of trial and error to figure out the best way to set this up in the Cloud Classroom, but when they do correct their own work they learn more and I get back some time. Now, I make the assignment due a few hours before our class time so that I have time to review their answers and address any common mistakes during our class.  

It’s difficult for me to remember all of the assignments. I have assignments I want to prepare, those that have already been prepared but not yet assigned, those that they are working on, those that they have finished but not yet graded, and those that have been graded. Multiply that by three different classes, and I have no idea what is going on. If I were at home, I’d use my white boards to keep track of everything. As it is, I’ve just got random notes everywhere. I need another week or two to figure out how to manage this.

My students also don’t have access to our course books. So all of the content of our courses is coming from me, adding to my workload.

Lesson 3: Ask for feedback.

I didn’t realize how much I rely on nonverbal feedback when teaching. Just by looking at my students and feeling the vibe of the room, I can get a good idea of their engagement level and comprehension.

But I can’t do that online.

Now, I have to be much more careful about how much homework I assign and how I explain things. I have to anticipate problems more. Fortunately, I know which students I can check in with to get reliable feedback. I ask about how the technology is going, the homework workload, the interest in the content, and what they need from me to help them learn. This is not something Chinese students in general are used to sharing with their teachers, so I am thankful that I’ve already developed a relationship with them.

Lesson 4: Start slowly.

As you are learning how to teach online keep in mind that your students are also learning how to learn online. As a grad student in a distance learning program, I know how many new study skills I had to develop in order to keep myself organized and be successful in learning online.

While it is tempting to use all the bells and whistles in an online classroom platform, keep it simple. Try out just one feature at a time and then ask your students for feedback. Even something as simple as assigning a worksheet to an audio recording has several technology implementation options. Keep reminding your students that you are also learning. Change is the only constant, and we should all remember how to be patient and flexible.

Lesson 5: Find new ways to engage your students.

Eye contact, proximity, body language, elicitation, and concept checking either don’t work online or have to be done differently. Because Chinese internet is slow, I avoid using videos (no gestures for me!) and I don’t switch between sharing a website and sharing a PowerPoint often.

What has worked is playing short audio clips and asking a specific question that they can easily type in the chat box. For more complicated questions, I give students a few minutes to formulate an answer before asking several students to share their answers in the chat box. This week I’m going to try showing a question on my first PowerPoint slide and asking students to write a response to that question as their way of checking in at the beginning of class.

On the Cloud Classroom, the live discussion feature was interesting. I posted a few discussion questions at the top and then was able to watch students share their responses to those questions. Unfortunately, only large group discussions were possible, but they were able to record audio messages to simulate an actual discussion. I also liked that it was easier to remove myself from the discussion. Students couldn’t look at me for approval or feedback. They had to lead the discussion without me.

In the future, I plan to use this function with fishbowl discussions. I’ll ask a group of students to answer one of the questions while the others make notes about what they observe. Then we’ll switch groups. Even though this removes the voluntary nature of participation in the discussion, it might be easier for the observers to pay attention. Or not… Teaching is an exercise in trial and error.

Lesson 6: Set clear expectations.

It is important to allow yourself and your students to make mistakes. After all, this is how we learn. At the same time, be firm with what you expect from your students. Let them know what you can see (I know who arrives late and who leaves early; I know how long a student has spent on a given assignment). Not understanding how to do something is not an excuse for not trying. I expect my students to ask me questions (using WeChat) whenever they don’t understand or have technology problems. I don’t accept late assignments.

Is it possible that they share answers? Of course. This is not a new problem. I’m not so concerned about this because they ultimately are expected to acquire the language points. The tests – which are 70% of their grades – will show me who learned from the assignments and who did not. (If you are wondering – I’m hoping the midterm and final exams can be completed in person…The speaking exam is easy to do as a one-to-one video conference. The listening and writing exams are more difficult to ensure validity.)

Bonus Lesson: Overcome language barriers.

The fact that the platforms I use are all in Chinese should not be minimized. This naturally adds to the workload and is taxing on my brain power.  

I’ve been living in China for 4 years, so I have developed ways to deal with this. I can read a few characters; however, many of the characters on these platforms are not ones I already know. Google Chrome automatically translates the Cloud Classroom website for me. This is not possible in applications; so the Tencent Classroom isn’t translated, and when I use the Cloud Classroom app on my phone I can’t read it. I can use my phone to Google translate my computer screen, and Martin’s phone to translate my phone if necessary.

The biggest problem has been my students’ names. Usually, we just use their English names in class. But they’ve all had to use their Chinese names when setting up their Cloud Classroom profiles. Thankfully, their student ID numbers are attached to their names. If I have a hard time reading simple characters like 作业 (homework), then I’m not going to be able to read complicated names like 薛泓键. I have a list of their ID numbers and their English names which I refer to often. Thankfully in WeChat and the Tencent Classroom, they’ve been able to use their English names.

I’ve always been curious about teaching online.

This new state of affairs wasn’t daunting to me but a fascinating challenge that has enabled me to broaden my teaching skills. I’m not trying to be a perfect teacher. I’m just trying to do my best to help my students improve their English. I am excited to begin my third week of teaching online. I know I’ll continue to discover new ways to engage my students, new ways to manage the workload, and new ways to use the technology. All of this learning is motivating for me.

Yet – if you are feeling overwhelmed with the task of teaching online, know that you just need to start small. Be patient with yourself and be patient with your students. Celebrate the successes you do have – I did a little dance when I figured out how to find the attendance data. Learn from your mistakes – make students correct their own work.

If you have any more tips for teaching online, please add a comment below. Let’s learn from each other.