Effective online teaching methods from practice

However, how to teach and learn online most effectively, attracting both learners and teachers? The following article is a sharing by Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Xuan - lecturer of the Faculty of Accounting about effective online teaching methods from the practical application of the Code of Conduct for ensuring the quality of online teaching of Dai Nam University.

Both teachers and students need a set of rules to refer to and apply.

To ensure training quality in the context of having to live with the Covid-19 pandemic for a long time, Dai Nam University has proactively established a Code of Conduct to ensure quality when teaching online.

Besides, each lecturer in the teaching process will have different ways of expression, how to make the lecture attractive, attract students and finally affirm their own value before students and society...

Lecturers need to be neat about their image when teaching online.

This is the first prerequisite because the neatness of the style, interface, and space when teaching online of the lecturer is one of the measures to show the seriousness and dedication to the lesson, and also to show their respect for the students. It is also because of this prerequisite that Dai Nam organized the contest "Teach online but still nice" with a total prize of up to nearly 40 million VND to encourage teachers to pay more attention to their image in front of students, both to create the attractiveness of the lesson and also to create a good image of teachers in the eyes of students.

Record lectures during online teaching

Record lectures/content in Ms.Teams application during online teaching.

This is one of the mandatory regulations in the Code of Conduct for Quality Assurance in Online Teaching of Dai Nam University. This is really useful and effective in improving the quality of lecturers' lectures as well as the actual learning efficiency of students.

By recording lectures, lecturers can review their lectures and gain experience for the next classes. Learners can easily review the lecture content anytime, as many times as they want without having to worry too much about the quality of the connection or their health status during the class that day.

This utility has been and is being applied to the maximum and very effectively at Dai Nam University.

Priority is given to recording the lecturer as well.

During our teaching experience over 2 semesters of 4 Covid-19 outbreaks in Vietnam, we have found that video lectures that show the face of the instructor are more effective than simple narrated slides. Interspersing slides of lesson content with images of the instructor in each lesson will stimulate and attract learners more and help learners focus more on each lesson. And this is also one of the mandatory regulations that DNU lecturers must follow when teaching online.

Online activities are recorded live in real time on Ms.Teams

Ensure infrastructure and test lecture content before each lesson

Lecturers and students need to check the quality of the transmission line and ensure the teaching infrastructure before starting the class.

In addition, lecturers must ensure that they fully test the lecture content on both computers and smartphones before organizing online classes.

Lecturer shares lecture content in an online class of the Faculty of Accounting.

Make the most of existing resources and ensure that teaching resources are open access

In addition to preparing their own materials and lectures, instructors can also use available resources. For example, select good, pre-developed videos on the topic being taught that are available online and provide learners with accessible links. Using open resources helps to reduce access issues for learners. If you are unable to access any of the suggested resources, you will end up with an inbox/voicemail full of queries from learners and will end up wasting time troubleshooting these issues. Taking a few extra minutes to carefully search for freely accessible resources will help you and your students overcome these problems.

Create interactive activities that engage and engage learners

The MS.Teams online teaching software being used at DNU is capable of integrating a series of functions to create interactive activities, such as: Q&A questionnaires, poll questions, etc. Lecturers need to take advantage of these features to create more interesting interactive activities for students, avoid boredom and passivity, and increase interactivity in each lesson.

Use automated attendance tools to assess student attendance

In fact, if the lecturer informs the students from the beginning that the attendance points will be added to a test, it will help improve the discipline and punctuality of the students. However, not every lesson teachers have time to check everything. Therefore, using automatic checking and grading tools on the learning management system of the software platform in use is very effective and convenient.

Don't hide your emotions while teaching.

Teachers’ emotional openness when teaching online is a great teaching strategy. Share with your students that this is their first experience teaching online and that everyone in the class is “learning” during each lesson. Ask them to help you explicitly. Reassure them that everyone will do their best to support student learning in the most effective and efficient way possible. This will help students understand that they are feeling the same way and you will achieve some success.

Teachers and students also share their feelings in each online lesson.

Should repeat appropriate teaching style

In fact, learners in online classes do not like frequent changes in their learning style. They are happy to repeat the same structure and activities. Once the teacher has found a teaching style that works for them, repeat it every week until you return to your new class.

MSc. Nguyen Thi Thanh Xuan - Lecturer, Faculty of Accounting, Dai Nam University