Online tutoring – can you be part of this latest trend and get back to the teaching game in the new evolving scenario?
Are you looking for information on how to start teaching online? Online tutoring is a growth market across the globe right now, thanks to the pandemic, making it a great time to consider it as a career choice.
Whether you are an ex-professor, a former teacher, or a college student, if you have in-demand knowledge to share, you can become an online tutor.
However, before you embark on this career path, there are some things you need to know. And that’s what we’ll cover in this article.
Choose the right technology to teach
Once you’ve decided what subject you want to teach, the nest big step in becoming an online tutor is to find the right platform on which to communicate with your students.
It is worth mentioning that there are platforms in the online space that currently help students with their homework or studies. Students have the liberty to choose from the many homework categories on these websites, which help them complete their homework with input from their online tutor.
Students are increasingly opting for these platforms because of the convenience, and ease of us that they have to offer. You can also choose an easy-to-use interface for supporting you in your efforts to help your students learn online.
The advancements in educational technology have led to the inclusion of a mix of collaborative tools that can keep your students occupied. For example, if you choose to teach mathematics, the tools can allow you to write out equations or outline ideas during brainstorming sessions. They can also help your students and you to work on the same board for better annotation and discussion.
Cloud-based storage helps you achieve more efficient content management. It allows the proper organization and storage of your files, and also assists in the smooth use of any visual content like videos, or sharing files and screen, and also multimedia quizzes.
Looking for online tutor jobs
There are a host of online tutoring sites to choose from when looking for a job. It’s good practice to follow the tutoring job boards, and you can choose to join one that matches your subjects as well as tutoring goals.
You can also advertise your courses on websites. A specialist site can help you advertise your piano lessons online to people who are already interested in your piano lessons.
Another idea that many students have found to be useful is to seek help from your community. You can do this by choosing to share information about your plans to find a tutoring job with your friends and family on social networking sites. These sites, like Facebook, can be useful to spread the news and reach your friends and family, or use LinkedIn to reach your colleagues or your professional network.
You can also try Google AdWords to advertise directly on Google. Facebook also give you the opportunity to create an advertising platform on their site. These options will entail a higher cost for you. Posting on other online marketplaces (like Fiverr, Craigslist, etc) can also prove to be beneficial for you when looking for online tutoring work.
Price your services and get paid
Once the crucial steps of identifying the mode of teaching and the scouting for students are over, you need to decide on the amount that you will charge for your services.
If you don’t know what to charge, you can search online to find out how much others are charging for similar services for online lessons. This will give you a feel of the prevailing rates in the market.
But it’s important to note that, as an online tutor, you can charge rates that are lower than this of offline, face-to-tutors, as you don’t have the same overheads when you teach online. Once you’ve conformed your rates, you can tell students how they can pay you. This can be direct to your bank, or via an option like PayPal.
Again, reach out to the established online tutor community to find out how they handle taking payments, and ask them for any tips to follow, and common mistakes to avoid.
Course design
Course design should take into consideration various factors such as:
- Lesson structures that maximise students’ learning
- Number of participants in each session
- Duration of the lectures
- Ideal scenarios to form student groups for practice sessions
- Testing the focus and retention of students by conducting regular quizzes and tests
- Creating videos to make the learning experience more fun and engaging
So, now you have the access to some of the tools and tips to pursue your career as an online tutor. These can both help you establish yourself as a tutor, and start to think about your business strategy. So you can attract students and professionals who are seeking help to brush up their language skills or to improve their chances of competing in a competitive market.
