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teachwire.net anywhere they please, whether it’s a cafe, on a bus or other location that’s not conducive to good learning. As teachers will have quickly discovered, any kind of background noise during a remote lesson can have a major impact on everyone. What’s been missing in many cases isn’t teacher training, but learner training . Pupils haven’t always been prepped on how to adjust their domestic learning environment so that it’s more suitable. There are lots of basic things they can do which might seem obvious, but are things that young people won’t always naturally understand. These might include how you set up a computer; how you arrange the room you’re working in; ensuring you have good sound equipment (or at least a headset) so that you’re not creating echo that might disturb others in the class. It’s also important for students to get the best possible speeds from their internet connection by ensuring there aren’t multiple devices using it while the lesson is in progress, and that they’re within reasonable proximity to their router. These are all simple things that can make a huge difference. on – so give them more of a reason to tune in. They can learn a lot about visual communication skills from seeing you do it well. Some of the training I’ve recently provided teachers has involved activities focused around this visual aspect; make it so that students need to turn their cameras on and complete certain communication tasks in order to progress through the lesson. How can students improve? That said, students don’t always put themselves in the best position to learn online. Those learning via a smartphone can sometimes assume they can be 5 STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING ONLINE 1. Stand up Get a stand-up desk, think about your body language and start using a Bluetooth headset, if you don’t already. 2. Make space Make sure you can move around. Think about your presentation, your body language and how you look in front of the camera. 3. Talk to teachers Get in touch with other teachers and share your experiences,successes and failures. If you can, do this online so that you can exchange advice with professionals at other schools. 4. Get social Make sure there’s an element of socialisation within your classes. Students don’t just come to school to learn – they come to meet up, make friends and build relationships. If possible, let your students have some kind of socialisation time where there’s no focus on learning, so they can just have a chat together for five minutes. 5. Start a diary Start reading and writing about what’s happening. It’s great for teachers to have a blog. Write about your experiences, write about what you’re learning, get some feedback on your blog and read what other teachers are writing on their blogs – many have faced similar issues when remote teaching and come up with great solutions. 37 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nik Peachey is an educational technology consultant, teacher, trainer and author, who runs Peachey Publications. Find out more at peacheypublications.com I M P L E M E N TAT I O N