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Sites That Can Help You Teach Online Better

By Matt Ehlers
Member, Korea TESOL (2013-17)
MA TESOL Candidate, SIT Graduate Institute

Here is a directory of websites about online teaching, which I put together over the past few weeks. It includes the following sections: 

  • Regular online teaching: This section includes entries on planning, organizing, and running an online course--when the instructor has enough time to put it together.  They include news articles and the like that give basic information on online teaching; suggestions and tips for how to plan and run an online class; guides that go into more detail on managing and putting together those kinds of courses; and problems that can arise while teaching them.
  • Emergency online teaching: Entries in this section are on putting together and running an online course when the teacher has to suddenly switch from classroom instruction to remote learning, as has happened worldwide as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Like the section on general online teaching, its entries are classified as either articles, tips and advice, guides, or problems, plus it also includes entries on the phenomenon known as "Zoom Bombing," including what it is and how to prevent it.
  • Teaching English language learners (ELLs) online: This section's entries are classified as advice, guides, and potential problems that can arise when teaching ELLs remotely.
  • Teaching learners with disabilities: Entries in this section include both advice for how to most effectively reach this group of learners when teaching online, as well as guides for more effectively educating them.
  • Synchronous versus asynchronous online instruction: Entries in this part are on the difference between the two; the first involves teaching a live session, while the other involves recording sessions and having your students watch them. 
  • Research into online teaching: This part's entries include links to studies and meta-analyses on this topic, lists and articles that summarize different papers with research on remote learning, and links to open-access academic journals that focus on online education.
  • Links to resource sites: This section's entries consist of sites with other resources that teachers can use for online instruction (general teaching, teaching ELLs, and educating students with disabilities), including programs, apps, and videos, among others.

 

Each entry in this directory is organized with the article's or list's title, its source publication, and the year it was published on top (or "n.d.," if the publication date was unavailable); its web address/URL (titled "website"); a brief summary (titled "description") of its contents; a note (titled "bias") about what kind of source it was, if its author expressed any opinions while writing it, or whom the intended audience appeared to be, based on the source publication and the article's content, or the type of article or list it was; and, when it seemed relevant, some general notes about it (titled "note" or "notes"), such as whether articles at the source in question are locked up behind a paywall, or if it includes papers that could be downloaded, and whether they open up in a browser tab or have to be viewed via a PDF reader. When applicable, I also included its length, in either pages (when written) or time (when it was a video or podcast), and quotes that seemed interesting, insightful, or relevant.

This directory can be accessed and read in full by clicking on the link for it on this page.

Good luck with your classes this semester, and stay safe and healthy. 

Note (for legal purposes): The following list was created solely by the author and is intended for informational purposes only.  Placement of an article, an entry, or a list on this collection (or lack thereof) does not constitute (or withhold) endorsement by Korea TESOL, TESOL International, or any of its affiliates, in any way, shape, or form.  

Neither the author nor Korea TESOL assumes any liability for harm (financial or otherwise) caused by using this directory.  Users are allowed to read it and share it with others; though if they do the latter, they must credit the author for creating it, and must not try to profit from it in any way, shape, or form.