Focus on

MANAGING ONLINE
LEARNING
1. What is it?
Increasingly, the first place we go for anything we need to know or learn is online.
It’s easier and faster than ever to access the tools and information we need. But for
longer-term learning goals like language learning which involve the development
of knowledge and skills over time, online learning will require structure, support,
interaction, and a teacher.
At its simplest, online learning can be facilitated just by sending assignments by email
or on a messenger app for your students to complete and return in the same way for
marking. Going further, there is a wealth of free resources, support, and easy-to-use
tools that can help you set up and run online learning. These can enable you to deliver
tasks and activities to your students, track their interaction with the activities, collect
scores to measure attainment, and even meet face-to-face online with groups or
individual students for live lessons or one-to-one tutorials.
With younger learners, you will need to enlist the support of parents. There are lots of
ready-made activities that you can send younger students to work on with their parents.
Check out the teacher support site for your coursebook on the Oxford Teachers’ Club.
There is also the Oxford Parents site where you can find tips and activities to share
with parents.

2. What types of tools are available?

Learning platforms
Google Classroom and Edmodo are very popular learning platforms that many
teachers use. They have the advantage of being compatible with tools that you can use
to create interactive materials.
If you work with older students who are regular Facebook users, you can create courses
on Facebook using a Facebook Group. Be sure to use a community group and set it to
show the content in units. This will enable you to structure your content around themes,
skills, or grammar points.

Content tools
If you want to create your own interactive content, there are quite a few different
options. You can use free tools like Educandy and Jetpack for creating games and
quizzes for younger learners. For teens and adults, Kahoot and Quizlet are useful for
creating quizzes and games.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nik Peachey has worked all over the world as a language teacher, teacher trainer,
technology trainer, and educational technology consultant. He is an award-winning
course designer and materials writer and author.

© Oxford University Press www.oup.com/elt/expert 1

Managing Online Learning
Virtual classroom
A virtual classroom enables live learning where you and your
students can see and hear one another. Teachers may be familiar
with video conferencing platforms such as Skype or Zoom, but
there are also platforms such as WebRoom.net, BigBlueButton,
and AdobeConnect that have been specifically designed
for teaching. These platforms incorporate a whiteboard and
presentations space, allowing the teacher to upload materials
for the students to see and interact with during the lesson.
An alternative option would be live streaming, which allows you
to teach live via video, and your students can interact in the
comments section. Livestreaming options are available through
YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
Messaging apps
Keeping in touch with parents and students is very important.
There are many simple messaging apps that you can use
for one-to-one or group communications with parents and
students. Many of these allow you to send attachments such as
documents, images, and videos. WhatsApp is among the most
common of the messaging apps. You can create groups for
different classes and send messages with attachments or links
to share tasks with students. You can also record your own short
audio files for the students to listen to.
Planners
Digital planners, such as calendars and to-do lists, can help
students and teachers work more effectively. Calendars can be
set to send alerts when live classes are about to start, when
students should be starting work on assignments, or when
they are becoming due. As a teacher, you could use Google
Calendar to set tasks and deadlines in your own calendar and
then send invitations to students or their parents.
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Having a to-do list on the phone or computer can also help
students to structure their online studies by breaking down
larger projects into smaller tasks that they can then schedule
and tick off as they complete them. There are some good
to-do list apps such as Milanote, which combines to-do lists
with digital sticky notes and note-taking. Planners designed for
educational use, such as My Study Life, can be used to create
schedules, track assignments, and set alerts.
Portfolios
Tracking and evaluating learning over time to see a learner’s
progress is vitally important for teachers, students, and parents.
Digital portfolios are a very useful tool for doing this. Over
time, students can build a collection of examples of written
work, project presentations, and video and audio recordings of
themselves speaking.
There are a wide range of portfolio apps and tools available,
many of which are free. Seesaw, which is more suitable for
younger learners, and Bulb, which works well for teens and
adults, are both popular with teachers and students. They are
easy to use and have mobile versions available, which makes
collecting student work much easier, as students or parents can
snap pictures of any paper-based homework to upload in the
same way as digital content.
For students without access to these kinds of tools, it is
straightforward to create a DropBox folder or Google Drive
folder where their work can be stored and shared.
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3. What are the challenges?
Access
The range of devices you and your students have access to can
vary considerably, as can the strength and cost of connectivity.
Many households may share a computer or even a mobile
phone and that can mean very limited access.
Choice
There is a huge range of tools available online to support
your teaching. Before you start looking at tools and platforms,
consider the most basic scenario for how and what you want
to deliver online. This will make it easier to select the tools that
meet your needs in the simplest way, and you can build up from
there in time.
Digital skills
Be prepared to develop your students’ digital literacy skills
along with their level of English. Don’t assume that your
students, as young people, know how to format documents or
build attractive presentations. You can make learning digital
literacy skills part of your lessons and find video tutorials in
English to help with these kinds of tasks.
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Boundaries
Once you start teaching online, you may find that your students
and even your school expect you to be available at any time of
the day and on any day of the week. It’s important to set aside
a specific part of your working day for engaging with students’
messages, to communicate this to your students, and to stick to
these boundaries. If you are picking up messages from students
on your mobile phone, be sure to turn off notifications so that
you can avoid being distracted when you are busy with other
tasks.
Space
As well as the many online distractions, there may also be
physical distractions. Finding somewhere to study or teach in
a shared living space can be very difficult. As a teacher, it is
important to try to create a quiet and well-lit space for when
you are teaching online. It might help to let any other people in
the house know when you will be teaching and for how long.
Security and e-safety
Stories of hacking, data theft, and cyberbullying are very
common in the press, and we need to be careful not to expose
our students to possible threats to their safety and security.
Using a learning platform will provide a safe closed environment
where all interaction is tracked. This can vastly reduce the
possibility of any security problems or bullying. If you need to
use external applications, particularly with younger learners,
make sure you have permission from the school and from
parents. Also be sure to check what privacy settings exist for
students and what methods they have for blocking or reporting
anything that makes them uncomfortable. It is also good
practice to have a code of conduct for students and to ensure
that they understand what is and what is not acceptable online
behaviour.
Self-discipline
For many, online learning takes more self-discipline and
motivation than classroom learning. When you can learn at any
time and anywhere, it becomes much easier to fall into the trap
of delaying study to another day. You can help your students
to build regular study habits by scheduling your courses with
regular deadlines and submission dates. You can motivate them
by sending regular reminders of when assignments are due and
giving prompt feedback on assignments. You can also include
human contact on the course – via live lessons, or by using video
or audio clips – to increase your students’ engagement with the
course.
Communication in second language
While using English only in the classroom may have its benefits,
when faced with online communication, a lack of fluency in
English can make things difficult, especially for students (or their
parents) with lower levels of English. If you can, create visual
on-boarding and support materials for students and parents to
access before they start online learning. The more images or
videos there are showing how to do the various tasks, the less
likely there are to be problems.
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Managing Online Learning
4. How can this be implemented?
Goals
Start by thinking about what your goals are and what you can
realistically achieve. How many hours of instruction do you
need to deliver in order to help students achieve their learning
goals? Will you need to deliver live synchronous learning or
asynchronous self-access learning? How much teacher support
can you give your students? Try to match what you want to
achieve with the time and resources you have at your disposal.
Access
Understanding what internet access your students have and
what devices they are using will help you to decide what
platforms and applications are likely to work for them. If they
only have limited access and mobile phones, then it might be
better to use a simple messaging app and send them tasks to
complete and return rather than designing more complex online
materials.
Tools
Once you know what you expect students to be able to
achieve, you can then decide what tools can best support them.
Especially with students who are new to online learning, try to
limit the tools and applications you use to the minimum and
use the simplest ones. As students develop confidence, you can
start introducing more complex tools and functionality.
Learner training
Be sure to prepare training materials for your students. Where
these deal with the technical aspects of navigating the tools
and applications you are using, make sure the materials are
clear and visual with short direct instructions. Learner training
for online study should also include guidance on building good
online study habits and developing a disciplined approach to
scheduling study time. If you are working with younger learners,
you will need to direct this through their parents.
© Oxford University Press www.oup.com/elt/expert
Communications
At the beginning of the online course, you may need to
communicate more regularly to provide students with necessary
training and support; but after that, try to keep communications
to the minimum necessary, e.g. for sharing news, sending
reminders of classes and deadlines, and for giving feedback.
Keep communications with parents and students short and
direct. People tend to scan digital communications for key
points, so the longer your message, the more likely the key
point will be missed or misunderstood. Try to use bullet lists
to reduce and break up paragraphs of text and highlight
key points in bold. Emails need a clear subject line that says
exactly what the message is about so that it will be opened and
read. Schedule the communication at regular times that are
convenient for the students or parents.
Human contact
You can add a human element to online learning by sending
your students short videos of yourself. Watching you introduce
new units of work or topics can help students feel there is
someone there to help them. Even a short video at the end
of an assignment or unit of work to say ‘Well done’ can help
to maintain student motivation and give a sense of teacher
presence. If you can do peer learning or live group learning, this
will enhance the social aspect of your course as students will be
able to develop their skills together.
Empathy
Be patient and supportive with your students. It can take time
to adjust to online learning and the more support you can give
them, especially in the early days, the more likely they are to
stay with the course. Creating a learning roadmap for students
with their personal learning goals can help them see what they
need to achieve and how quickly they are progressing towards
their goals. This can be done with a self-assessment grid, for
example. Review these regularly with students to ensure they
are staying on track and decide on new goals as they tick off
those they have completed.
Your time
Think carefully about how to make the best use of your time.
Supporting online learning can be very time-consuming: there
are assignments to mark and respond to, forums to check, and
online classes to plan and deliver. Try to create a to-do list of
things you need to do each day, each couple of days, or each
week, and schedule when you will do them. This will help to
ensure that nothing important gets overlooked.
5. Over to you
Managing online learning can be challenging at first. Be sure to
keep getting your students’ feedback and involve them in the
development process. Take it one step at a time and focus on
keeping things simple. You will soon find that both you and your
students are discovering new and enjoyable ways to learn and
interact together.
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Managing Online Learning

6. Further reading Talking points

Eight Steps for a Smoother Transition to Online Teaching What experience do you have of being an online
https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/eight- teacher or student?
steps-for-a-smoother-transition-to-online-teaching/
What made these experiences positive or negative?
How to Ensure a Successful Move to Online Learning What tools and applications have you used with your
https://peacheypublications.com/how-to-ensure-a-successful- students to deliver online learning?
move-to-online-teaching
Which of the types of tools mentioned in this paper
How Cellphones Can Keep People Learning Around the would you like to try?
World What do you think are your main challenges?
https://www.npr.org/2020/04/22/840337498/how-cell-phones-
What will be the main challenges for your students?
can-keep-people-learning-around-the-world
How do you think students can benefit from more online
Choosing the Right Tools for Remote Learning learning?
https://www.gettingsmart.com/2020/03/choosing-the-right-
tools-for-remote-learning/

Tools for Teacher and Learners

https://www.scoop.it/topic/tools-for-learners/

Tech Against Coronavirus

https://techagainstcoronavirus.com/

Tips for Using Edmodo With Other Apps

https://go.edmodo.com/tips-for-using-edmodo-with-other-apps

ISBN: 978 0 19 420041 7 Learn at Home Hub

www.oup.com/elt/teacher/itc

Disclaimer: The web sites referred to here are in the public domain and their addresses are
provided by Oxford University Press for information only. Oxford University Press disclaims
any responsibility for the content and teachers are strongly advised to ascertain their
suitability before recommending them and/or using them with your students.

Acknowledgements
The publisher would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce photographs:
OUP pp1 (abstract background/Tanor), 2 (LMS/Bakhtiar Zein), 3 (typing/Wavebreak
Media LTD), 4 (using tablet/Monkey Business Images); Shutterstock p5 (studying/Irina
Strelnikova).

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