Amidst the pandemic, schools, teachers and tutors have all had to go online to deliver lessons, but has this worked?
Well, it really depends on a couple of things - who you ask and if students have the facilities at home.
Let’s just say the students do have the correct facilities at home.... So the question is - does online teaching/tutoring really work?
To be honest, until I had to do it because of COVID, I never thought it would work as well as it did.
I felt that I could go through more in less time and in more detail - yes it was definitely more intense for me, as per the safeguarding rules of my college, I wasn’t allowed to have my camera on and neither were the students - so sometimes it did feel like I was talking to a screen.
However, some things happened that I didn’t realise would occur;
1. I was able to ask questions to the students and they were told to write their answers in the ‘private chat’ so only I could see them.
What this meant as a teacher, I was able to see exactly who had understood the content and I would be able to know if I needed to go over anything again straight away - sometimes in a classroom environment, it is not possible to ask every student a question, whereas online, everyone can answer the same question/s. Furthermore, for those who had understood the content, I could ask them more difficult questions, just as I would in a classroom.
Additionally, the students didn’t feel insecure about answering questions in front of their classmates as some students do, as no one else could see the answer apart from me.
2. Students who normally didn’t ask questions in class because they were too shy or not confident, would ask me questions in the ‘private chat’. Again, this was because other students wouldn’t be there to hear their questions.
3. I could ask students to answer exam questions in the ‘private chat’, and I could give them individualised feedback for the questions.
4. Finally, when I wanted to have a class discussion, I was able to ask students to write in the chat so all the students could see.
So what about students chatting to each other and not listening to the teacher?
In zoom (the platform that I use), you are able to turn off the chat to others so students can only chat to me, the teacher, and not each other.
Personally, I enjoyed teaching online so much that it encouraged me to open my online tutoring business - Biology Academy (www.biology-academy.com) where I am able to do one-to-one online tutoring as well as group tutoring in my specialised courses.
The cons of tutoring
There are many people against online tutoring and below are some of the cons.
1. It is not a substitute for a classroom.
2. Students cannot do interactive activities that are not online, such as, biological practical's or model making.
3. Students cannot have discussions in the ‘normal’ way and talk to their peers.
4. Although group work is possible on online platforms, it is not possible to do traditional group work as students would do in a classroom.
I completely agree with the above and that is why online teaching should not be taking over classroom teaching unless there are dire circumstances, such as, the pandemic. However; I think it is an excellent platform for tutoring and to enhance learning.
Lets face it, the world is going online, so many online courses etc, everything is googled. So why not online tutoring.
My online tutoring course
As I said in my previous blog, when undergoing group tutoring, it is important for all the students to have the same goals, this is why my A level Biology exam preparation course is only for those who need to achieve an A or A* in A level Biology to get into their course at university.
If you would like more information about the A level Exam Preparation Course, please click on the link below to take you to my course website.
Please let me know if you have any questions or want me to write about anything in particular with regards to teaching or A level Biology.
For more information on the differences between one-to-one tutoring and group tutoring, do have a read of my blog, ‘One-to-one Tutoring Vs Group Tutoring’ (https://aartibioacademy.wixsite.com/blog/post/one-to-one-tutoring-vs-group-tutoring)
Aarti