Throughout their careers, professionals in the education field spend a significant amount of time receiving new training to improve their skills. And while some training materials may seem lacking, many others are eye-opening experiences that completely change the way teachers teach and students learn. One such training that positively impacts an educator’s role forever is virtual teacher training.
A good training program for virtual teaching is critical for all educators, whether they teach in a traditional classroom setting, a hybrid model, or entirely online. In fact, in today’s world, the success of a school district now hinges on its ability to properly train its teachers and prepare its students for virtual learning.
Students nowadays have grown up with technology, and it will continue to be an important part of their lives as careers increasingly require these critical skills. So it’s imperative that schools focus on teaching them early and often.
Doing so will ensure that students are prepared for their futures, but it will also ensure that school districts see dramatic increases in growth, achievement levels, student engagement, and teacher satisfaction rates as well as a decrease in wasted resources.
During a virtual learning experience, students are 2.5 times more likely to earn higher grades and 4.5 times more likely to have a positive outlook on their futures than students in a traditional lecture format.
The reason virtual learning is so effective is that it creates a higher level of engagement for all students in the classroom.
In a virtual classroom environment, teachers can easily deliver high-quality, multi-media lessons with all of the educational technology tools at their disposal. Students enjoy the interactive videos, podcasts, whiteboard work, games, assessments, and hands-on assignments, so they stay focused and put forth their best effort.
Furthermore, virtual assignments are the perfect solution for dealing with pacing issues in the classroom. Since no two students ever come into a classroom with the same prior knowledge or gain new knowledge at the exact same time, virtual learning provides a unique opportunity for teachers to create lessons that are both live and self-paced so all levels of learning are differentiated.
In a live virtual classroom, teachers can assign activities with established timeframes to complete and then move students into small groups to let the work. They can easily check in with a specific group or all groups to see how they are progressing. They can record these break out sessions if they want to review what or how each student participated in the project work.
Virtual learning saves resources and money for school districts that recognize the importance of providing a virtual learning experience to their students. Schools can offer virtual summer school without the cost of opening a brick and mortar building. This makes it more convenient for students, teachers and parents.
Teachers no longer waste and time money making endless copies of the same worksheets for all students, dragging stacks of papers home to grade, and chasing after the owners of papers with no name. The virtual classroom takes care of these activities easily and tracks everything used and completed.
With so many undeniable advantages to implementing virtual classrooms, it’s more important than ever that all educators receive the proper training in teaching virtually.
