Contents

Introduction ....................................................................................................... 3

Tools You Will Need to Teach an Online Training Session .................................. 4

Other Useful Online Tools .................................................................................. 8

Tips and Advice for Teaching Online ................................................................ 10

Videos for Online Teaching Tips ....................................................................... 12

Useful Blog Posts on online Teaching ............................................................... 13

Finding Training Course Materials for Online Teaching .................................... 15

Example of the Corporate Training Materials .................................................. 17

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Introduction

This is a free online teaching guide brought to you from Symondsresearch.com.

We provide support for freelance & corporate trainers, human resource

managers, and business owners.

We hope you find this free mini-guide useful!

Dr Paul Symonds & Dr Valeria Lo Iacono (2020)

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 Tools You Will Need to Teach an Online Training Session

In addition to a reliable computer, there are a few more things you will need to
teach online.

A Web Conferencing Platform

Are you already familiar with using Skype for making videos calls to friends or
family? If you are then you have already been using what in effect is a web
conferencing platform. Skype video in fact is very popular for people teaching
1-to-1 online.

Other web platforms include Zoom (it has become very popular in the recent
years) and there are other web conferencing platforms such as WebEx, Adobe
Connect, and GoToMeeting.

If you are going to teach a live session online, a web conferencing platform is
necessary.

Most web conferencing platforms allow you to communicate with your

participants via video, audio and written chat and to screen share.

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Some platforms though have additional features that will allow you to run a
training session almost in the same way as a face-to-face session.

One of such features is called ‘breakout rooms’. This feature allows you to split
your participants into small groups so that they can work together with only
the people in that group. In this way, you will be able to facilitate small-group
discussions and activities.

Another very useful tool to have is the online whiteboard with a drawing tool.
This feature allows you and your participants (even when they are working in
small groups) to write and draw. It is very useful for jotting ideas down and
drawing diagrams such as mind maps.

There are some free online whiteboards solutions available, but it is handy to
have this function as part of your web conferencing system.

Four web conferencing programs that have all these features are:

 Zoom (the most affordable of these and pretty straightforward to use)

 Webex by Cisco
 Adobe Connect
 GoToTraining

A Good Webcam
It is important to have a good HD webcam, so that your participants can see
you clearly and be less likely to get distracted.

A very good and affordable option is the Logitech C920 webcam. This camera,
which we use, gives you HD and widescreen video.

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The C920 is what we use ourselves for our Freelance trainers YouTube
Channel.

A Good Quality Microphone

You could use the microphone incorporated in your computer but the sound
quality might not be great. A better option is to use a lavalier microphone
(RØDE is one of the best brands on the market).

If you do not want to feel constricted by any cables as you teach, an even

better option is a wireless microphone, such as the RØDE Wireless Go

microphone system

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The Rode wireless microphones that you see above are what we ourselves

use, for example, in this video that we made all about ‘How to market

yourself as a freelance trainer or teacher’. Check out the audio quality in

that video.

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Other Useful Online Tools

In addition to the above essential tools, there are other online tools, some

of which are free to use, which can be handy to know about.

Files sharing services that use the cloud

These are tools that allow you to share files with other people, which are
stored over the Internet (in the so-called cloud). File sharing services are
particularly useful for sharing large files that are difficult to send by email.
These services include, for example, Dropbox, Amazon Drive and Google Drive

Organization

Diigo – It is a Chrome extension that you can use to collect, bookmark,

annotate, organize and share internet resources.

Transferring Files for Online Teaching

WeTransfer – Useful for transferring large files securely.

Online Boards and Whiteboards

Padlet – It is an online tool to create boards and share them. It works as a kind
of online board and sticky note system. Learners can collaborate online, see
the boards populate in real-time and share the content of the boards. The
boards can be populated with text, images, videos, audios and web links.

Lino – It works in the same way as Padlet, above.

Ziteboard and Aww – These are tools that allow people to collaborate visually
online, as if they were writing on a real whiteboard. Ziteboard and Aww are
two examples of virtual whiteboard online tools.

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Note Taking Online

Evernote – This is an app for taking notes and organizing, archiving and sharing
materials.

Wikis

Online wikis are platforms that allow people to build content together. They
are good for group activities. Slimwiki, for example, is a free wiki builder.

For Quizzes, flashcards, mind maps and polls – There are online tools for
creating and sharing this type of content.
For example, Socrative to create quizzes; GoConqr to create flowcharts, mind
maps, quizzes and more; Poll Everywhere for polls; Quizlet for flashcards;
Coggle and MindMup for mind maps.

*Note: Some links in this guide may be affiliate links.

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 Tips and Advice for Teaching Online

1. Practice using the tools you will use for teaching online before the session,
until you feel completely confident with those tools. This will ensure the
smooth running of the session.

2. Share the meeting ID only with people you want to attend the class, to avoid
intruders joining in.

3. Stop others from sharing their screens (specifically grant permission to your
participants during the session only for any activities that might require them
to share their screen). This is to prevent any gate crashers sharing unwanted
materials.

4. Set the virtual classroom up (in the settings) such that students join a
waiting room until the session starts.

5. Encourage participants to join ten minutes early.

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6. Look at the camera, not the screen when teaching online.

7. Test everything before you start the lesson (audio, video, any software you
use and make sure that the Internet connection is strong enough). Testing the
day before is even better so that you have enough time to find solutions as
needed.

8. Send participants any information related to the course beforehand, in

preparation for the session.

9. Ensure that the lighting in the room is good so your participants can see you
well.

10. Check that the background behind you is tidy and there is nothing there
that you don’t want participants to see.

11. Choose a quiet location.

12. Mute all participants by default to avoid background noise when you are
presenting. They can then click an icon to "raise their hand" when they want to
speak. Unmute microphones when needed. You can of course unmute
everyone when it is a class discussion or Q&A session.

For any further suggestions or advice about how to teach online, you can also
check the online teaching page on our website.

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 Videos for Online Teaching Tips

We add videos to our YouTube channel every Thursday and two videos we
recently added to the ‘Online Teaching Playlist’ are below:

Watch this video

Watch this video

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 Useful Blog Posts on online Teaching

Read this post

Read this post

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 Read this post

Read this post

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 Finding Training Course Materials for Online Teaching

Depending on the subject/s you are teaching online, you might be able to buy
pre-designed training course materials or you might have to create them
yourself.

Teaching English
If you are involved, for example, with teaching English online (i.e. TEFOL and
TEFL) then some great resources are:

 ESL Partyland - many great teaching materials for teaching English

 ThoughtCo = more great TEFL resources
 Dave’s ESL – a popular site for many years for TEFL teachers

Teaching Business and Corporate Topics (that can be taught online)

If you are looking for corporate training materials, then we have a number of
packages and you can see the full list here. These all have notes included for
teaching the courses online:

The ‘trainer’s notes’ file includes explanations on how to run each activity and,
at the bottom of each activity explanation (before the explanation for the
following slide starts), you will find suggestions on how to run each activity
online.

See below an example from the trainer’s notes of one of our course materials.

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You will also find the same explanation as part of the notes under each
PowerPoint slide and you will need to scroll all the way to the bottom of the
notes to see the suggestion on how to use an activity online.

See below an example from one of our course materials slides.

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 Example of the Corporate Training Materials

Click to view all training materials

Our courses are designed to be trainer-led and you have the option to deliver it
in person, in a traditional classroom, or to deliver it online using a web
conferencing tool, such as Zoom or Adobe Connect.

All the materials in our courses can be used to teach online as well as in
person. You can show the PowerPoint slides to your participants through your
chosen web conferencing software and you can send any handouts to your
participants via email or via a file-sharing service, such as Dropbox, Amazon
Drive or Google Drive.

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