In any form of online learning, it is important to humanise the relationship you have with your students. While the tutors who are new to online instruction may be focusing on content delivery, it is just as important to become familiar with the technological tools available to you. Once you are familiar with OTAK Online Tuition Platform and its innovative Whiteboard, you can connect better with your students, organise your virtual classroom, build trust, and become more confident with tutoring online.
As an OTAK Online Tutor, you need to keep improving your skills because you want to maintain your star rating, keep existing students, and gain new ones. Here are tips you can use to polish your skills:
- Use the Right Technology
You must always have the proper set-up so you can avoid technical problems. If they happen, you should react to them calmly. You need to set a troubleshooting plan, and share the protocol with your student during the first few minutes of the first online tuition session. You need to organise troubleshooting tips on a PDF, and make sure students have access to that document on their desktop or laptop in the beginning of the session.
Watch this video on How to Tutor on the OTAK Online Tuition Platform.
You can read OTAK’s Tutor Manual or Tutor Guide in the OTAK Tutor Portal to get more tips and ideas to prepare for Online Tuition Classes.
- Familiarise yourself with the OTAK Whiteboard
The OTAK Whiteboard has been custom designed for online tuition. This custom built whiteboard and integrated booking platform by OTAK’s IT Team is not reliant on 3rd party software/whiteboard etc. A safe and convenient platform for both Tutor and Student as no exchange of information between parties ie contact details, email, phone numbers, home address or bank account details.
Watch this video on How to Use the OTAK Whiteboard and its innovative features.
- Use the Web Browser that is Right for You and a Stable Internet
A lot of platforms are optimised for a specific web browser. The OTAK Online Tuition Platform runs with any of these browsers on a stable internet. The preferred browser would be the latest versions of “Google Chrome”, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Safari. These browsers work well on most desktops and laptops.
Read this blog for more details – How to Get the Right Tech Setup for Online Tutoring
- If Something Goes Wrong, Get Back on Track Right Away
Even if you planned and prepared for the online tuition session well, you can still experience an occasional glitch. If the audio starts to echo, the video gets delayed due to your internet connection, or a laptop runs out of battery juice, you need to use a troubleshooting plan to quickly resolve problems. After that, you should get back to tutoring right away. You should not spend too much time apologising on what went wrong.
- Pay Attention to Your Student
Is your student really paying attention, or do you see them browsing social media? If you think that something is distracting them, you need to ask them about it. You should also minimise potential distractions by reminding your student to put their mobile phone away and close any tabs that are unnecessary. Aside from that, you must continue to engage your student throughout the session. You should ask them to write something on the whiteboard, or you can ask them to repeat the key points that you have just taught. Keep them engaged and responsive.
- Plan Your Material
You need to spend time planning and preparing the material that you will be using before the tuition session. You will need to save notes as pdf to share with your student or worksheets as image files for annotation.
These are very helpful tips on how you can improve as an OTAK Online Tutor and build your student base.
Register as a Tutor for FREE on otak.my to experience OTAK’s innovative Online Tuition Platform and interactive Whiteboard. Get instant access to OTAK’s students from all over Malaysia.
