Teaching online has its difficulties and teachers have shifted classes online as the pandemic engulfed the world in the first half of 2020. Some teachers have bemoaned the change while others have risen to the challenge and taken it in their stride. Perhaps, now is the time to reflect and take stock of the past half a year.
Instead of dwelling on the difficulties and the bad cards that we were dealt with, we are here to spread some positivity by considering the benefits of online teaching for teachers. Yes, the transition to online teaching is difficult. There is something about a physical classroom and the ability to read students’ body language or to look students in the eye that cannot be replicated through video-conferencing.
Yet, there are upsides to online teaching that we never expected as well. In this article, we will cover seven benefits of online teaching from the perspective of teachers:
- Flexible work hours
- Work from the comfort of home
- Increases students’ access to teachers
- Teachers experience a fall in administrative work
- Opportunities for teachers to earn more from online tutoring websites
- Maintains a record of online tutoring sessions
- Easier for teachers to update course content
1. Flexible work hours
Flexible work hours is one of the top benefits of online teaching. Once lessons are online, teachers no longer have to wake up before 6 a.m. to be in school by 7.30 a.m.! Depending on the after school activities teachers are committed to, some may only return home late in the evening past 6 p.m.
With online classes, teachers can save on travel time and we can plan or structure extra activities according to our availability. It is more convenient and the time saved can be devoted to helping weaker students, marking scripts, or even more downtime with our families!
However, teachers who are devoted to their students’ welfare have to beware of over-commitment and burn out. Teachers should block off timing for ‘me-time’ to recharge. Without adequate rest, teachers will gradually see a fall in their capacity to help students as well.
2. Work from the comfort of home
Online teaching is great for teachers who can turn a corner of their homes into an office. Teachers can roll out of bed, put on a presentable shirt or blouse, and be ready to conduct lessons. Students and teaching colleagues will never know what teachers are wearing below the waistline!
When working from home, teachers can enjoy the benefit of shaping their work environment to their desire. If the weather is too warm, turn on the air conditioning unit. If your study room is getting too stuffy, shift to a room with a wider space. Your working environment is fully under your control.
That being said, teachers should demarcate home offices from living spaces to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Otherwise, teaching at home may become more of a burden than a plus point!
3. Increases students’ access to teachers
The common worry teachers have is that weaker students who were struggling to keep up with the pace of lessons before may now fall further behind. Contrary to this belief, students have seized the opportunity of online learning to seek help from teachers more often than they otherwise would have.
Anjali Hazari reports in the South China Morning Post that:
“Online learning provides students the opportunity to hide their learning disabilities from classmates, which can be a welcome relief from the unwanted attention they receive in their face-to-face classes.”
In other words, teaching online has ironically made it easier for teachers to identify and provide more guidance for students who face difficulties with the course content.
As teachers, we do not know what students are unsure about if they do not speak up or approach us after class. There may be a mismatch between what we think students know and what students truly understand. Online teaching bridges this gap and makes it easier for teachers to address students’ queries.
To increase communication between students and teachers, there are even applications such as HeyHi’s online whiteboard with built-in scheduling and calendaring features. HeyHi is an educational application where teachers host virtual classes with a shareable whiteboard or canvas as its dominant feature.
The online whiteboard service includes video-conferencing services to make it convenient for teachers to host online classes with HeyHi without requiring a secondary application to host meetings.
The calendaring feature on HeyHi is useful because teachers can input the timing that they are available, and students can use the link to their teachers’ calendar to book consultation slots. HeyHi will then automatically create a meeting session and dispatch an email with the details to both the teacher and the student who signed up for the slot.
With this calendaring system in place, students will come to teachers for help within the set timings that teachers indicate.
4. Teachers experience a fall in administrative work
It is an open secret that teachers spend more time filing papers and handling administrative works than they spend teaching. Over the years, teachers have absorbed more clerical duties as schools gradually streamline their procedures.
On top of teaching, marking, and planning lessons, teachers have to draft proposals, account for the school’s spending, and input daily attendance.
With online teaching, schools have fewer face-to-face activities and events that require paperwork. Technology is another reason why teachers now have more time to teach instead of fussing over paperwork.
With HeyHi’s online whiteboard, teachers no longer have to waste five minutes of every lesson reading names aloud to account for students’ attendance. HeyHi’ automated attendance taking feature tracks students as they enter the virtual classroom. Instead of keeping tabs on students, teachers can leave it to the application to handle it!
For more tips and tricks for teachers to reap the full benefits of online teaching, please refer to ‘9 Online Teaching Tips and Tricks’.
5. Opportunities for teachers to earn more from online tutoring websites
Online teaching also benefits teachers by opening up additional income streams through online tutoring. With websites such as iMath, Chegg, and The Princeton Review, teachers can register as an online tutor and the respective platforms will match them with students who pay for video consultations.
For more information, please refer to our guide about how to start giving online tuition.
6. Maintains a record of online teaching sessions
With so many classes and consultation slots within a day, it can be difficult for teachers to keep track of what they say to each class. Fortunately, teaching online gives teachers the luxury of recording classes for future reference.
If students are unable to attend an online class, teachers also do not have to devote additional time to arrange makeup lessons. These recorded lectures can be shared with absent students with little trouble for teachers.
As of this writing, online whiteboard recording is still in the pipeline for HeyHi and has not been implemented yet. However, there are other ways that teachers can record video lectures for students. Some of these third-party screen recording applications include Loom, Panopto, and Quicktime.
Please refer to our in-depth guide on how to create an online whiteboard recording for more information.
7. Easier for teachers to update course content
As teachers, we know how annoying it is when we have printed our course notes only to find several typos in them. It appears unprofessional to make these corrections with a pen. It is worse if these mistakes remain uncorrected and students wind up learning the wrong concepts.
Fortunately, online teaching means that the course materials we upload to online teaching platforms can be easily swapped out for the corrected versions. It is also possible to build on and update existing resources to ensure that our online resources remain relevant to the syllabus.
Summary
This article has walked you through seven benefits of online teaching for teachers:
- Flexible work hours
- Work from the comfort of home
- Increases students’ access to teachers
- Teachers experience a fall in administrative work
- Opportunities for teachers to earn more from online tutoring websites
- Maintains a record of online tutoring sessions
- Easier for teachers to update course content
Online teaching has its downsides and its challenges, but there are plenty of benefits to be reaped from online teaching as well.
To be better positioned to enjoy these benefits, we recommend that teachers use HeyHi’s online whiteboard to conduct online lessons. HeyHi is a shareable whiteboard that enables multiple students to collaborate in group discussions through video-conferencing while writing on the whiteboard for others to view.
For instance, students can upload their worked solutions and present their answers to the class. Afterwards, teachers can take over and annotate on the document with a different coloured pen. Alternatively, students can work together in groups to draw mind maps that demonstrate their understanding.
The possibilities are endless with HeyHi’s online whiteboard and we are still improving the service to deliver the best for our customers!
HeyHi is an all-in-one application that simplifies the process that teachers have to go through to teach online. Whether teachers need to schedule consultation sessions, facilitate student discussions, or teach complicated concepts, HeyHi’s online whiteboard is equipped with almost everything you will need!
Participants can join meetings in browsers, or they can download the application from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.
If you are interested in giving HeyHi’s online whiteboard a try the next time you teach online, please request a demo or even experience the user interface for yourself!