Are you been considering teaching online? Since quarantine, many people have taken to working online. Here are the 5 things that are most important items to make your online classroom successful.
- Lighting – You do not need to have expensive lighting, but you do need it to do the job. When I began teaching online, I learned that the key to getting balanced lighting was to have 2 light sources at 45 degree angles from the face. To make this happen, I bought 2 short desk lamps. My desk lamps worked, but they took up a lot of room on my desk. Within a month, I switched to a cheap photography lighting kit. It has been nearly 2 years and I have not had any problems.
- Background – When you teach online, what the students see in the camera frame is very important. No matter if you are in a closet, an office, or a hotel room, there would always be the feeling that you are in a classroom. When I started teaching online, I used an old projector screen as my background. I decorated it with fabric and banners to hide the screen, but it was a great way to make a cheap background. Now, my background is a 6 feet cork board that has attached legs. I found this cork board at a thrift store for $6!
- Camera – You can choose to use the internal camera on your computer or you can purchase an external camera. My first camera was the internal camera on my Dell Studio One computer. The quality appeared to be great, but when I received the Logitech C920 external camera, the difference was amazing!
- Headset – This was the first item that I purchased when I decided to teach online. A good headset makes all of the difference! If your students cannot hear you, then your class will probably not be great. I also made sure to buy a headset with a mute button so that I can quickly mute myself if I need to cough or sneeze.
- Ethernet Cable – Maybe you can teach from wifi in your home, but even the best wifi can suddenly drop. If the wifi drops during a class, you might lose your student and lose the confidence of the parent. To get an Ethernet Cable to the room that you are working from, you might need to purchase a longer wire and drill a few holes.
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