This is not a guide of ‘how to teach online’. It’s not a helpful go-to guide to list the things you need, the way to do it, the way you need to talk. No no no. It isn’t meant to be helpful to people who are thinking about, currently doing it, or any such position in between. It may have some elements of a guide, people may find it useful in some aspects. It is more of an observation and a critique of how teaching online is so different than teaching in the classroom. There are some ways that it is better than the classroom. For the teacher, mainly, it has to be said. You can sit on yer bum online and no one bats an eyelid. In a classroom, if you do that you may well get a rather damning critique from some sort of superior who may well put your name forward for re-evaluation training. Or worse, a classroom observation.

So, for the teacher, online teaching is a dream. You don’t use half as much energy as you do in the classroom. And therein lies the trace of the reason why online teaching is not as effective as the classroom kind. The saved energy from not being in the classroom cannot be used fully online. This means that the level of engagement and scope that a teacher has in the classroom environment cannot be reached online. As much as people think that their ‘big’ personality is gonna make up for all that missing energy, so much effort and energy is gonna be wasted in the communication process of two computers talking to each other. An online teacher always needs to remember that the student is probably viewing the class on a smartphone. In a room in a small flat that is not specific or cordial to participating in an online class. These considerations are vital to consider before planning a class.

So, what do I want to say about online teaching? Well, compared to the classroom it is a quiet place. It is quiet not only because of a lack of noise but also the lack of control of the noise coming from the location of the student. At best, that student may be in an empty room. With no talking coming from another room, and the student is sat, attentive, constantly, in front of the computer. The student is maintaining eye and ear contact so that the lesson is running smoothly and the aims of the class are being achieved. This is, of course, dreamland. It does have it’s classroom relation. I am basically describing a perfect class. Whether it is online or in the classroom, there is always a scenario where the students and the teacher combine in a perfect symmetry. The main difference is that in the classroom you have more control of the situation.

Control. What a wonderful word that is. When you consider how much control the parent of the student, or the student should it be an adult student, has it is astonishing how often a situation develops online where it is as if the student did not have any pre knowledge of the class, and is left in a flappery of no suitable place to sit, noisy family gathering ongoing, unable to locate any learning material, participating in an ongoing conflab with his/her mum/Dad/Wife/Grandma etc. Or, and this is the lowest scenario an online teacher can find him/herself in. The student is not even at home. The student is in a restaurant with more family than you can shake a stick at. Families who don’t stop talking to the student, who don’t stop talking to each other. Who actually talk more while the class is on than I think they would if the class wasn’t happening.

So what can I say about online teaching? Not a lot. It’s like teaching in the back of a taxi most of the time. The student is driving the taxi and is constantly being distracted by the road ahead. The journey ends when the student says it does, and you leave the taxi/class usually disoriented hoping that you have reached your destination and the driver is happy with the ride. If that is a confusing analogy it is because most classes online are exactly that. A ride in the dark. It is not all bad. In the next instalment I will paint a prettier picture of the online teaching experience.