Showing posts with label Online English Tutoring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Online English Tutoring. Show all posts

Saturday 11 August 2012

Determining a breakthrough teaching mechanism for English online tutors





You might have observed that in all my blogs I have always given priority to innovation in education methods. The simple reason for that is we are moving into a revolutionary phase where things will become outdated quite quickly. Hence, there is always a need for something new and exciting to make students interested in the subjects. More so; in case of theory subjects like English where students do not find it interesting to read the whole bunch of chapters to get the story. The tedious job of an online tutor is not only to depict the information in the English chapters through interesting means but also deliver knowledge to the students in such a manner that they want to study the chapters again and again. Now this is a challenge especially for young children in Std. I to VIII. As the age of a child increases the curiosity factor decreases. Hence, this is the period when children want to learn something different. So the tried and tested methods of teaching will never work for these children.

I know if you are a tutor yourself, you are wondering and saying to yourself I have been a teacher all my life and now you come up with your own thesis claiming the online teaching mechanism has flaws? You are right my friend. Although you have been teaching since a long time things change and people change. The same teaching mechanism cannot be used for the current generation as they are quite smart and know everything about the new technology. They like to experiment a bit since early childhood and learn through their own experiences. From what I have learned so far I can say very bluntly that we have never learned the art of understanding the minds of a child. The only thing we are interested is in making our future generation a bunch of crammers who go to college get their degrees but at the end of the day when you ask them basic questions that are relevant in the practical world they are clueless. We do not want our future generation to be book-wormers we want them to learn through practical experiences. More so by making them experience the same things that they learn in theory.

One way of doing that is through animation-based e-learning. Now I know this idea looks ridiculous but believe me if you are a child aged 8 years of age you will love to see the Tom and Jerry series on cartoon network or Duck tales series which used to telecast earlier. Now the only reason I am giving these examples is because every story in English language in primary education has a moral behind it. If we try to depict it in an interesting manner in similar lines to these cartoon series it will make students see the animations again and again. This way; online tutors do not have to spend much time on making students understand the topics. Moreover, students can revise the chapters by going through the animated series of chapters again and again thereby reducing the burden on parents. Students will study without any force and will literary ask for more and more chapters in the digitalized/animated format. The quizzes can then be taken after a specific interval to gauge the success of this concept. I feel that this can work and will prove to be a major hit in future. Children as it is are not happy with books.

Practically speaking, I see so many toddlers carrying loads of books in their schoolbags. It is so ridiculous but their own weight is far less than the weights of the books. Isn’t it our duty to see that the children are not overburdened with studies? This is the age which we as mature adults remember now and share our experiences with our peers and friends saying those were the happy days without any pressure. Now, if your own child is burdened with the kind of education which is being provided will you be happy with it? Moreover, I have also seen parents sending their children to private tutors which increase the burden on children tremendously. Because now they have do over-time by completing the class work, homework and the tuition work. Is n’t it a sin to burden a child with so much of pressure? Can’t we creatively think about an education system which is free from books and provides practical exposure to children so that they can become future managers, leaders and so on?

Story-boards are also interesting concepts wherein you make children learn about the subjects through stories in the form of sequential animated images. But if we make it even better by providing them with animated cartoon characters to depict the chapters it will be a great hit amongst children. Even the parents would love it. Online tutoring will improve because now you will have to increase the creativity quotient and think out-of-the-box to resolve the concerns of the children differently than the traditional ways of communication. But that is something which I will be discussing in my next blog. For now I will sign off with a statement which has made me think about this concept quite seriously:

“OUR FUTURE GENERATION IS SERIOUSLY FACING THE FLAK RIGHT NOW IN TERMS OF LACK OF INNOVATIVE EDUCATION TECHNIQUES. HENCE, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO THINK OUT-OF-THE-BOX TECHNIQUES TO INCREASE THE BENCHMARK OF ONLINE EDUCATION AROUND THE GLOBE.”


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PracTutor
12806 Townepark Way
Louisville, KY 40243-2311
United States

Friday 3 August 2012

Four Illuminating Guidelines For Successful Online Teachers

Online learning has become a trend in recent times. With that the importance of online teaching has increased. In this article; we look at various guidelines which will be helpful for successful online teaching.

Online education has become a holy grail for many K-12 educators. With the advancement in technology, e-learning has become 21st century learning tool which not only provides enchanted learning but it also transforms education to another level. Hence; online teaching has become one of the most important jobs in recent times. There are special sets of skill and attitude required for online teachers. Let us look at some of the key criteria required to become a successful online teacher:
  • Personalized contact: Classroom teaching and online teaching are totally different from each other. In classroom teaching there is a huge opportunity for the students to have one-on-one interaction with their teachers. But in case of online teaching, the only way to make your message personalized is through email. Online teachers need to have a far greater confidence and emotional security in terms of their professional competency. Online teachers need to work hard to personalize their message as far as possible so that students do not think of it as a robotic interaction.
  • Know thy students: It is always advisable for the online teachers to know the strengths and weaknesses of each of their students individually by communicating effectively with the students. This will help them to have clear and to the point communication with the students. They can even track the performance of the student at an individual level.
  • Lose complete control: Classroom teaching enables teachers to gain complete control over the students and get the task done beautifully. However; in case of online teaching, there is no control over the teaching pattern. The students have the choice of selecting independently when to study and take quizzes. Even in traditional classroom teaching there are chances of cheating more so in case of online teaching. But if the online teachers are able to convey their message to the students about the satisfaction and benefits derived from the courses then there is a tremendous potential for them. But if coercive techniques are used to extract information from the students then it becomes very difficult for the online teachers to get the desired results.
  • 24 x 7 support: Online teaching is more of a lifestyle than a job. It is very difficult for online teachers to set reasonable boundaries on their workday. If a student runs into trouble the basic instinct is to help them as soon as possible. Majority of times online support is asked by the student from 10 pm to midnight.
Online teaching is a specialized job. It not only caters to providing innovative education solutions to the students instantly; but it also takes the sphere of 21st century learning to another level.

To learn more about PracTutor follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/PracTutor, http://www.practutor.com

PracTutor
12806 Townepark Way
Louisville, KY 40243-2311
United States
http://www.practutor.com
http://hardik.practutor.com