Top Reasons Why Online Teaching Is Important

“Have we really started inhabiting the matrix?”

The setting was an upmarket coffee shop in suburban Kolkata in early 2019. The exasperation in her voice was borne out by a long, slow exhalation as Shreya reminded me of Keanu Reeves’ cult classic from over twenty years ago.

Her first brush with online teaching had been very recent and, evidently, underwhelming.  

“How on earth can such classes replace regular, classroom teaching?” She retorted, upon being told that digital teaching was likely the future of most learning.  I decided to nip the argument in the bud.

Poor Shreya was decidedly old school. The inexorable march of technology straight to learners’ study tables – via smartphones, tablets and computers – was a hard pill for her to swallow.               

Charles Darwin famously said, “Adapt to survive.” An ever-increasing number of learning institutes and companies – like Edmonger Educators – are doing just that by creating online courses.  And, much to Shreya’s chagrin, learning over the internet is the way forward in the 21^st century.

Still on the fence?

For the top reasons to embrace online teaching, just read on! As a bonus, you’ll know some useful software to get you started on the journey.

Financial Freedom via Online Teaching

Motherhood had been Amita’s childhood dream. She also had self-employment aspirations. One day, while on maternity leave from her corporate job, she spotted a curious posting on a Facebook job group involving teaching over the internet. Fast forward to a year later, Amita earns substantially while working flexible hours – from home – using her laptop.  Through a learning app, she teaches EFL (English as a Foreign Language) to adult, European students. Moreover, the separation pangs that came calling on her multiple times every workday -between 0900 and 1800 hours – are now a thing of the past. She’s a doting mother never far from her baby daughter.

“The demand for virtual teaching is exploding,” says Pragati Sharma – academic consultant and founder of Edmonger Educators. “It takes a short while to build up one’s network and get the desired volume of work, but the pay-offs are considerable and consistent.”

Also Check – 20 Techniques to Supercharge Your Online Teaching

The Comfort of Digital Teaching from Home

Before the IT boom, Bangalore was a pleasant, very mild-weathered, slow-paced city where office commutes were actually enjoyable. Alas, time took its toll! In 2019, Bangalore’s rush-hour traffic is unimaginably chaotic and the commuting times’ curve – along with the stress levels of the hapless, quotidian commuters – points skywards.

“I now have 3.5 hours per day to devote to my family, hobbies and workouts.” Thomas, an online teacher, can’t conceal the contentment in his face and voice – maybe he doesn’t want to. Before he escaped the rat race two years ago, Thomas’ job demanded he drives from Arekere Layout to Whitefield and back, 6 times a week. These days, he teaches mathematics to mostly south-Asian students using his computer: group sessions pay well; individual teaching sessions pay even more!

Long-term Work @ Virtual Teaching

Teaching virtually needn’t be a stop-gap arrangement. It can be and is done – successfully –long-term. All you need is a device larger than a smartphone (like a laptop or a tablet), a fast and reliable internet connection, power back-up for emergencies and – above all – a quiet place to work. One can also choose different projects to keep monotony at bay.

With her husband in a transferable government job, Zeenat had to move cities every few years. That took a toll on this Geography teacher’s career. But that was until her life transformed nine years ago. “I got an email – a spam message actually – looking for private tutors of Geography, for Indian students.” Enthuses Zeenat. The rest – as they say – is history. “Now, I only work 4 days a week as most classes are on the weekends. The volume is very low Tuesday to Thursday.”

Hot Job -sites for Online Teaching

So, have we got you chomping at the bits yet? Alright! Check out the following four Indian sites:

• www.vedantu.com
• www.bharattutors.com
• www.edugraff.com
• www.teacheron.com

Cool Software for Digital Teaching

Should you decide to test the waters before taking the plunge, you could choose from the following:

• Zoom:  The most popular now-a-days, this California-headquartered company is famous for a platform enabling teleconferencing, telecommuting, distance education and internet telephony.

• Cisco WebEx: One of the pioneers in the field, it was created in 1995 and acquired by tech-major Cisco in 2007.

• GoToMeeting: Built and promoted by LogMeIn Inc. this is also a popular online teaching platform.

• Google Classroom: With so many software albatrosses getting into the field, can Alphabet Inc. be far behind? Google Classroom is free for schools and enables teachers to set and review assignments.

All said and done, online learning may never render actual classrooms redundant. Yet, it is making a great case for itself as – at least – a supplement to traditional learning. Trends showing Edu-tech companies’ share prices shooting up are universal and consistent. Besides, more and more teachers are jumping on the bandwagon and plying their trade online.

Hitch a ride, or be left behind!