Should I Go Into Online Teaching?
If you love working with students, are passionate about teaching, and are craving more flexibility, an online teaching career could be just what you’re looking for.
For classroom teachers looking for ways to move beyond the classroom, transitioning to online teaching is a natural fit. As an educator, you already have many skills to foster success in the virtual teaching environment. Becoming an online teacher can be a great way to use your skills and expertise to reach a wider audience.
You can often work from home with a more flexible schedule, eliminating commuting time and creating more work-life balance. With the explosion in online education, there are a growing number of online teaching jobs for teachers who want to leave the classroom.
What is Online Teaching?
Online teaching is a method of instruction using the internet and various digital tools and platforms. It can take many forms, including live virtual teaching sessions, recorded lectures, and interactive assignments.
An online teaching career can focus on teaching to various audiences, from K-12 education to higher education, professional training, and even corporate training.
It allows flexible learning for students who can often access course materials and complete assignments at their own pace. Additionally, for neurodiverse students, online instruction can offer greater accessibility to learning experiences and a smaller, more personalized environment.
Whether you’re looking for full-time, part-time, or freelance online teaching jobs, there are a variety of positions available. You can also focus your online teaching career on your preferred subject or area of expertise, such as:
K-12 Core Subjects (Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies, etc.)
Language Teaching
Skills Remediation
STEM
Business and Finance
Art and Design
Health and Wellness
Music and Performing Arts
What Is an Online Teaching Career Really Like?
With online teaching jobs, teachers enjoy a variety of flexible scheduling options. Are you at your best early in the morning? You can schedule your classes at that time and then go on with the rest of your day. Are you a night owl who does their best work later in the evening? Then you can set up your instructional hours in the late afternoon or evening. Weekdays, weekends, and holidays are all up to you.
When teaching virtually, students are found worldwide in different time zones. If you do your best work in the morning or the evening, then working with populations around the world is an option. Many teacher marketplaces are looking for instructors willing to work in the GMT time zones, which often translates into early mornings or later evenings in the U.S.
You can also teach online around your standard teaching schedule. With an online teaching career, you truly have the freedom to create a schedule that works best for you in the season you are in.
How to Know if Online Teaching is Right for You
Wondering if online teaching is for you? This simple checklist can support you in deciding if it’s the right fit:
✔️ YOU’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT HELPING STUDENTS AND LOVE USING DIGITAL TOOLS AND CREATIVITY IN YOUR LESSONS.
Working as an online teacher means you will be using a variety of digital technologies within your classes. From digital flashcards and games to reading assessments and even music applications, there are a wide variety of opportunities to increase student engagement. As an online teacher, you can implement a wide variety of tools and assistive technologies into the virtual learning environment to foster student success.
Using technology and using your creativity will be vital to creating engaging and interactive learning experiences for students. Since the virtual learning environment is two-dimensional, there are additional things to consider when creating and delivering instruction. High levels of engagement and interaction are essential to online teaching success. Using visuals, props, and games is highly encouraged to enhance learning.
✔️YOU ENJOY LEARNING NEW SKILLS AND INCORPORATING THEM INTO YOUR TEACHING.
If you’re the type of teacher who reads about a new teaching tool or app and immediately thinks about how you could incorporate that into your lessons, you might enjoy an online teaching career.
Creating your own classes in a digital teaching marketplace can provide the opportunity to utilize many different teaching apps and tools (without having to wait for administrative permissions!).
Many online teaching companies and marketplaces also have their own unique teaching platforms with learning management systems, classroom tools, and communication software built in. Video conferencing is crucial for online teaching success, so familiarity with programs like Zoom and Skype is recommended.
When learning new technology, having a growth mindset is essential. Trying out digital tools and platforms with a sense of curiosity, wonder, and patience can help you succeed in our rapidly changing digital world.
✔️YOU HAVE STRONG COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIP-BUILDING SKILLS.
Clear and effective communication is critical in the online teaching space. You need to communicate effectively with parents and students through written and verbal communication, as well as nonverbal cues such as body language.
Both students and parents will rely on you to clearly communicate expectations, academic performance, and classroom instructions and objectives. Providing timely and constructive feedback to students and parents will set you up for greater success.
Effective classroom teachers build positive relationships with students to understand their strengths and challenges better and create a supportive and inclusive learning environment. Relational teaching is just as important in an online learning environment. Seeking to create a digital classroom culture where students feel respected, valued, and safe leads to improved learning outcomes.
✔️YOU’RE FLEXIBLE AND ADAPTABLE.
Teaching at its core requires being flexible and adaptable. Because online teaching is built on a digital foundation, and the digital world changes rapidly, you need to be able to adapt to these changes quickly if you want to have a successful online teaching career.
You also may need to modify lessons, handle technical challenges, and adjust to different learning styles and needs on the fly. But don’t worry! Most companies and platforms will have operational standards and people to assist you during and after class if needed.
And as a teacher, you’re also likely already used to adapting your teaching methods and strategies to meet the needs of different learners.
✔️YOU’RE LOOKING FOR AN OPPORTUNITY THAT COMBINES YOUR TEACHING SKILLS AND NATURAL INTERESTS.
Taking your skills and interests from the physical classroom to the online classroom can be a way to continue doing what you love in a different environment.
Love creating curriculum? You can design a class around your interests and use that in your instruction. Have an area of teaching you’ve always wished you could do differently? You can explore that in the virtual classroom.
With an online teaching career, you can tap into your passions and the strengths you’ve developed over your years serving students.
Ready to Get Started With an Online Teaching Career?
If you think online teaching might be right for you, there are a few steps you will want to take:
Choose your subject area and target audience.
You can either choose to let the subjects you’ve already taught and the ages you’re experienced with guide you, or you can try something totally different!
Believe it or not, the very thing you love and are passionate about is a great place to start. Your only true limit is your imagination. I’ve had great success teaching subjects like Social Studies and Reading online. One of my most successful classes was about guinea pigs. (Yes, you read that right!)
Prefer to work one-on-one in specific subject areas? Consider being an online tutor, whether for a tutoring company or starting your own tutoring business. Do you have former students or other youth in your life who would benefit from tutoring? As a starting point, reach out to those families to offer your services.
Continue to grow and develop your teaching skills.
Be open to considering how you can expand on your teaching knowledge to provide fun and engaging opportunities for students in your virtual classes. Educator Forever’s Curriculum Development Foundations course expanded my abilities to craft engagement-focused lessons. My students and parents noticed, and their feedback allowed me to build my student base and, therefore, my income in my online teaching career.
Choose a platform.
Decide whether you will work for an established company or create a class of your own to market on a teaching marketplace like Outschool, Allschool, or Preply. Consider which platforms have features that are most helpful to you.
For instance, do you need to market yourself, or will they do it for you? Is the technology compatible with your current computer system? If you choose to tutor online, decide if you’ll offer your services on Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, etc.
Regardless of which route you choose to start with, there are countless opportunities waiting for you.
Looking for more guidance?
If you’re ready to explore an online teaching career, Educator Forever is here to help!
Join our Beyond the Classroom course, where you’ll learn how to find and land flexible jobs outside the classroom. You’ll also become part of Educator Forever’s wonderful community of like-minded educators.
Have questions? Contact Educator Forever anytime!
About the Author
Evonne Hall is the Program Coordinator at Educator Forever. She has spent the majority of her career in the field of education, working in public, private, homeschool, and virtual teaching roles. In 2016, she began teaching ESL online as a side hustle and grew to love the flexibility of teaching online in a variety of teacher marketplaces.
Evonne enrolled in the Beyond the Classroom course and discovered the additional ways educators could use their superhero skills. She began working in the field of curriculum development, working with TPT sellers and online ESL companies to create individualized and group offerings. With the confidence she gained, she honed in on her zone of genius to help teacherpreneurs build and grow their dream businesses. While Program Coordinator is her primary job function by day, Evonne also enjoys gardening, reading good books, and anything organizing-related.