Online TEFL Courses
Online Learning is becoming the classroom of choice
Brown paper packages
Before computers and the internet there was distance learning. Every three months or so, you received a brown package in the post with books and instructions for reading and assignments. Sometime later you might receive feedback on an essay, again by post. More technologically adventurous courses might have included phone tutorials and some even expected you to travel and spend an intensive (and expensive) week in some far off location.
The stigma of distance learning
Courses by distance learning in the past were never quite satisfactory. They were of course the only option for people in full-time jobs or with responsibilities at home who couldn't afford the time or money to study on a face-to-face course. And despite the fact that the quality of the education in many cases was very high (take, the Open University for example), distance learning courses never succeeded in shrugging off the stigma that they were somehow lesser than the traditional face-to-face course. For example, the degree via distance was never quite regarded in the same way as the one from a course that happened in a building. Similarly in the world of TEFL a distance course used to be considered second best.
An educational revolution
The arrival of computers and the internet suddenly revolutionised distance learning. Firstly, it reduced any delay in the delivery of materials as these could be accessed from a website or sent by email. Secondly, and more significantly, it allowed faster and more effective communication. Suddenly, if you had a question for your tutor, you didn't have to wait for a letter in the post or chase him or her by phone. You emailed your question or your latest essay and you received feedback within a couple of days. Other features of internet also quickly became a normal part of an internet-based course. Discussion forums, more commonly known as chatrooms, became used as classrooms where teachers and students could meet up for discussions and seminars. As for the delivery of content, improvements in internet speeds allowed 'lessons' to move from being text-based readings to include watching video, listening to audio and even logging on to watch your tutor giving a lecture with powerpoint.
At a tipping point
That brings us to the present. We are now at a tipping point in online learning. It is no longer the poor cousin of face-to-face training. Online learning has reached a point where it can not only equal the quality of teaching and learning in a classroom, it can even surpass it in certain ways. Its flexibility and ability to respond to individual learning needs means that it is a serious rival to traditional full-time classroom based learning.
A global solution
TEFL has been one of the first areas in education to embrace this learning revolution. Probably because online learning naturally lends itself to something that is a global phenomenon with students and teachers spread around the world in different time zones. Students can study English online using web-based tools and having face-to-face video conferences with a tutor or fellow classmates. Teachers starved of opportunities for ongoing professional development know that they can continue working and developing their teaching skills through the web.
The Cactus Online TEFL Course is a typical example of how online learning in TEFL has taken hold. You log on to the website with a username and password any time of day or night and you work at your own pace. You can repeat online exercises and receive instant feedback. You can watch video of extracts from lessons and contact a tutor with questions or for guidance. You also meet other students via discussion forums - rather like networking with Facebook or MySpace but with a shared common purpose.
The right balance
There have been drawbacks along the way for online learning. The most obvious have been technical: What happens when the internet isn't working? Why can't I download this video? About ten years ago, when I made the move from training teachers in classrooms to online, these were very real difficulties. I would spend too much of my time dealing with technical issues rather than teaching. But over the last decade the balance of time has moved entirely back in favour of teaching. More and more of an online tutor's time is spent guiding learners to the site, encouraging them to make use of all the options and making sure they learn the subject. And if a technical glitch does pop up then it's rarely anymore problematic (and certainly less frequent) than being late for your class because you were stuck in traffic - now something that never happens with online learning!
John Hughes is an online TEFL trainer and author. He has taught English and trained teachers in Poland, Italy, Austria, Malta, the UK, Argentina and Chile, not to mention all those people from around the world via online courses. He is author of many books for students and teachers and wrote both the Cactus ELA course and the Cactus Online TEFL Course.
