How To Teach Classes Online: What Tools To Use
When you first started your business, you wondered how I could reach more people through my teaching, and you might also be wondering how to teach classes online.
There are certainly many ways to teach classes online like online teaching software from pre-recorded audio and video to PDF handouts or slides, but today I will focus on a live video classroom.
How to teach a class online through video
There are many options for online training, and the methods and tools you choose to use depend on your situation and your goals.
For example, if you need to plan, communicate and track student progress, you can use a learning management system. What is an LMS? It is a type of software that helps you organize online courses, enroll students, and evaluate your learning process.
There is something special about connecting with people who live over the Internet through video. Watching pre-recorded videos is a great educational and marketing tool for your business, but it’s a lot more powerful to take your live video streaming event to the next level.
It’s like being in someone’s living room. You will be able to answer questions in real time, and people will be able to see your passion and feel your feelings for your material and what you share with them.
It’s a good idea to teach classes online via live video as they can show you something you can’t show on a phone call or in a slide-only webinar.
The raw food business showed how to make a recipe using a live streaming event. I showed people how to make almond milk and my favorite dessert recipe.
I also recommended a live streaming event to some of my clients teaching chiropractors and other cool techniques to demonstrate visually.
You can also run an event that can display more than one presenter in real time. You can create live virtual meetings that anyone from around the world can attend.
Let’s look at the different options on how to teach classes online. There is no shortage of various systems and tools for teaching online classes, so this is your choice.
How to teach class online tools
3 Screenshots of online classes with videos
Here are some of the tools you will need in your technical tool belt to teach your online class.
The first is presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple’s Keynote for creating slides.
The second is a video recording platform, which can be done in real time with students on the other side of the web, or in a recorded format for viewing on request.
The third and most important tool is an online class delivery platform. You may be offering training and courses to businesses, or you may plan to sell courses directly to customers and students. This can be done through the WordPress LMS plugin, where you can also manage your membership and track student progress.
If you plan to pay for training, sometimes you will also need a payment provider built into your LMS or membership software. Often you want to offer recurring subscription fees, so enrolling more students and clients will keep you earning monthly income.
You may also want a membership forum or other way for students to communicate with each other.
Compare video options
There are many great options for hosting videos and integrating them into your learning management system or membership website. Here you have all the live video options.
Zoom:
Zoom is great for teaching small groups and getting everyone to interact with each other. You can also host large-scale webinar broadcast style sessions.
Ustream:
I’ve been using ustream many times to teach live demos and answer questions people enter via chat. You can also inject ustream events into your webpage.
Livestream: Livestream is also suitable for video, and Oprah also uses it on the site to stream episodes from the network in real time over the internet.
CrowdCast:
CrowdCast is useful when you want the same chat experience, but want to send other presenters live via a video feed. It’s a very well designed platform.
WebinarJam:
If you want to do a webinar-style presentation on a video or slide display, WebinarJam makes it easy. It is also useful for free training webinars leading to paid courses.
Skype: Like Google Hangouts, if you have a premium Skype account, you can also watch live videos with friends or contacts via Skype.
GotoWebinar:
If you don’t want to look at the camera but are wondering how to teach an online class with a lot of material to provide through slides, this is my choice.
Adobe Connect: Similar to GotoWebinar, Adobe Connect is a great alternative to merging videos with slides, so you can use both here too.
There are also some great pre-recorded video hosting options, such as: