A review of week 1 of FutureLearn's Teaching English Online course.

The best teacher is someone who is continually learning how to perfect the art of teaching and the summer break is a perfect opportunity for teachers to take some CPD courses. For those of us working in the EFL sector it is becoming clear that a significant proportion of learners are choosing to opt for online language learning courses. As a consequence of this trend many EFL teachers are looking to transfer their face-to-face teaching skills to the virtual classroom. The big question is, "How does teaching online differ to teaching in a bricks and mortar classroom?" If you want to find out the answer to this question Future Learn is offering a three week course for EFL teachers that will give you the knowledge, tools and skills to successfully transition to teaching English online.

Although I have been teaching online for a number of years I decided to sign up for the course in the belief that there is always something new I can learn as a teacher. Without a doubt, this course has given me some new ideas and methods to apply in my lesson.

The course is offered through the website www.futurelearn.com but is taught by staff from the renowned Cambridge Assessment English so you can be assured that the course content is high quality and that the trainers are experts in their field.  Lindsay Warwick and Marie Therese Swaby are the Lead Educators who skilfully deliver the course through short videos. Course participants receive great advice from a range of online English teachers who share their personal stories of the reality of teaching in a virtual environment. In addition to the instruction delivered by the Lead Educators and the input of various online teachers, learners can benefit from the mentors Cecilia Nobre and Mary Whiteside, who have extensive experience of teaching English online, and who respond to comments and questions posted by course participants. Furthermore, they contribute various articles that form part of the overall training package.

The basic course itself is free to access until the 2nd of September. However, if you wish to take the assessment activities leading to a certificate of achievement and to have unlimited access to the course materials online you will need to pay £42.00. If, like me, you do not wish to pay for the certificate, you can download some resources such as the videos and some PDF's.  You are advised to allow about 4 hours of study per week but I would argue that if you really want to thoroughly explore the tools and learning resources discussed in week one, participate in the forums where you can exchange ideas with other course users and complete the assessments then you would be best placed to allow yourself significantly longer than four hours a week.

So, let's talk about what week one involves. The focus of the first video is: "What does teaching online mean?" and this is where we are introduced to four online English teachers who tell us something of their experiences of teaching via the internet. This video really shows the scope of teaching online and the follow-up activity prompts participants to contemplate what the focus of their online teaching might be.

The motivation for choosing online teaching is another important topic tackled in week one. It's worth considering that although it can be more convenient to work from home there are some challenges to take into account. What this course does highlight effectively is that the skills required to teach online are somewhat different to the skills you would need to teach in a conventional classroom. Understanding these differences and learning how to adapt your materials and teaching methods are the keys to being a successful online English teacher and the great thing about this course is that it shows you exactly how to do just that. Even an experienced online teacher could learn something new from this course, be it a technique that makes your teaching more effective or a tool that enhances your ability to communicate with your student. When transferring to online teaching one of the big decisions to make early on in the process is whether you will work for yourself or an online company. The benefits and drawbacks of each option is pointed out in week one. If you choose to work for yourself and you're worried about how to market yourself then look out for Cecilia Nobre's article which gives great advice on the essential marketing techniques you need to master to maximising your advertising exposure. I would have liked to have learnt a little more about how to exploit social media more effectively but I have been given food for thought to get me started on the basics.

One of the most inspiring sections of the week one training is the exploration of equipment and online platforms. I have learned to never underestimate the potential usefulness and effectiveness of realia and puppets. Visual demonstrations of online platforms and tools has helped me to re-evaluate my current technological choices and I will definitely be exploring some of the products and tools and hopefully incorporating them into my teaching practice. The good think about this course is that it gives you options to consider and many of the tasks involve trying out these tools and resources and weighing up the benefits and drawbacks and then reflecting on how they might best be utilised.

One thing that is essential is that whatever platform you use for delivery you must be confident in using it! The course does teach you how you might uses specific platform features as part of your teaching strategy. There are lots of tools discussed by the teachers and if you dive into the discussion forum you will find plenty of others recommended by course participants.

Another important part of week one is the section on materials and resources for online lessons.  Teaching online forces you to think differently and imposes limitations and, as pointed out by the Lead Educators, course books and resources may have to be adapted to better fit a virtual lesson. A useful practical demonstration of how a resource could be adapted is given.

A key aspect to be considered when teaching online is privacy and security and this is covered in some detail in week 1. It would have been useful to look at the GDPR law and to examine and discuss how it might specifically apply to online teachers, although a link is given in the course.

Developing a rapport with learners, managing learners and motivating students can be more challenging and require a different approach when teaching online and this course gives some practical ideas to implement. If you're new to the idea of teaching online, then do not feel intimidated as this course is a great starting point to explore your teaching journey. The more experienced virtual teacher will be inspired to think and act outside of their comfort zone, grow as a teacher and discover some brilliant new tools, platforms and resources.

Watch out for my review of week two of the course!