Teach Geography Online
If you’ve had extensive experience in geography and want to share your expertise with others, then why not do so online?
Sure, geography is associated with hands-on teaching, but the truth is that distance learning is not only possible but accessible, interactive, and entertaining. Online education has made great strides in the post-pandemic world. Better still, there are plenty of resources to help you craft curricula and courses and plenty of platforms to host them on.
Let this article be your guide to getting started with teaching geography online, including how to craft courses, find your students, and put yourself out there.
The Benefits of Online Teaching
In the past, online teaching was often viewed skeptically. Online courses were seen as inferior to classroom learning and of dubious quality. Following the pandemic, and the necessary shift to online teaching for many schools and universities, the value of these courses has become recognized. Four walls and desks aren’t necessarily needed for quality education.
Hence, it’s a good time to take your geography skills online and teach others. What’s more, it comes with several benefits:
- Your choice of hours – Teaching platforms and hosting sites don’t make the rigid demands on your time that a school or college might. There are plenty of part-time or full-time positions to choose from on teaching platforms, and different time zones mean you can teach geography as a side hustle outside of your regular job. Course creation doesn’t even need working hours.
- Creative freedom – In classroom settings, the overarching goals of the faculty and educational institute might constrain your teaching style. Online education has truly limitless potential for innovative teaching and course creation. If you can create a course that’s interactive and engaging, it’ll be a success.
- A wide audience – With an online platform, you’re no longer just teaching students in a town or even a state, but the whole world. As such, your expertise has the potential to reach a much wider audience.
- Better pay – If your courses are good and your teaching style immersive, then students will find you. Education often doesn’t pay as much as it should: Salaries are low and positions limited. Geography is a specialized field, after all. By working online, you have the potential to earn the same, if not more than teachers in top positions.
What Qualifications Do You Need to Be an Online Geography Teacher?
To teach geography in any school or college, you need some form of formal education. Most U.S. universities require a minimum of a Master’s degree in order to teach accredited courses. Schools also insist that their geography teachers have a teaching diploma or certification in addition to some higher education experience in geography.
Now, as online education is out of the formal education sector, you don’t technically need any qualifications to teach geography. However, try telling that to prospective students. In truth, either a higher education certification in education, geography, or both is vital to demonstrating your expertise in the online teaching world. Ultimately, you’ll have more immediate credibility with a qualification backing it up.
But things aren’t necessarily limited to qualifications. Experience is just as valuable. If you’ve got countless hours as a surveyor to your name, or industry-leading skill in cartography, then odds are people will be just as eager to learn from your advice.
The more demonstrable proof you can give of your education and experience, the higher your chance of employability, enrolment in your courses, and increasing your rate of pay.
Choosing Your Platform
There are many ways to teach geography online:
- You can become a tutor and guide students through their curriculum on an individual or small-group basis. This method is more personal, but does require a broader knowledge of the subject and familiarity with a student’s coursework. Sites like Preply and Cambly are good choices.
- You can join an existing organization as a teacher. This method, like most institutions, requires you to be qualified in teaching and geography. You’ll also likely be working within existing curricula and faculty guidelines.
- You can create, structure, oversee, and evaluate your own online courses. This method has less structure, but more freedom and possibilities. You’ll need a hosting site like Udemy or BlurBay to host your course.
If you’re looking to create and market your own courses, then you’ll need to choose a platform able to cater to your educational needs. Here are some questions to ask when searching:
- Does the site cater to my coursework? The platform you choose should provide tools and infrastructure that make crafting and hosting interactive content much easier. If a platform offers forums, evaluation methods, templates, and multi-platform support, your job becomes simpler.
- What are the platform fees? Some sites will charge you monthly rates for hosting, while sites like BlurBay only charge a 5% commission on every sale.
- Can I offer free samples? Giving users a taste of your geography course is essential to generating user curiosity. Look for a site that allows you to choose how much of your course to make available to prospective students.
- Is my data secure? Coursework needs to be stored securely and your account should be protected from unwanted access. Ensure the partner site can provide both.
Setting Up to Teach Geography Online
With a platform in place, you’ll need to assemble your learning materials and ensure your equipment is top-notch. Image can be important in conveying professionalism, so you’ll also want to invest in your appearance and broadcasting environment.
But first thing’s first, you’ve got to structure your teaching plan.
Lesson Planning
Whether you’re structuring your own course, or working within someone else’s, you’ll need to have your lessons prepared. When doing so, consider your area of expertise. If you know more about urban planning than environmental geography, then structure your lessons around that strength if possible. For online courses, a specialization can both set you apart and make you more marketable.
Be Prepared
Teaching online requires good equipment and a well-prepared digital classroom. Ensure that you’ve gathered all maps, charts, and data needed to teach your geography course, in addition to any textbooks you plan on using. You’ll also need to ensure that worksheets and assignments are properly created and scheduled in advance.
From a technical standpoint, make sure you have a working webcam and mic for any streaming sessions. Be familiar with the software you’re using and ensure the relevant forums, submission portals, and feedback options are in place.
Be Innovative
You won’t be the only one offering geography lessons online. Enrich your lessons with resources and activities that engage your students and keep them involved. Use digital media to their full potential. Show don’t tell wherever possible.
In addition, use quizzes, videos, slideshows, hands-on activities to get the job done. Free online resources like Google Earth and Maps can go a long way to making geography real to your students. You can also give practical demonstrations via your webcam.
To top it all off, don’t be afraid to inject your own personality into your work. You are your own brand after all, so leverage yourself.
Rates
When building an online course, consider what you’ll charge for your time and materials. Compare your rates with other teachers and courses, being careful not to price yourself too high. If you’re qualified, don’t be afraid to ask for a little more, but within reason. As your courses grow in popularity, you can increase your rates accordingly.
Market Yourself
If you belong to a company, they’ll most likely do the marketing for you. In the case of tutoring and hosting platforms, you’ll have to chip in too. Ask for testimonials from students to boost your ratings and promote your work. You can also advertise on educational forums and social media. Some tutors also start profiles on YouTube and Instagram to offer free videos and sneak peeks of their work.
Use Feedback
Your geography course may be spectacular, but there’s always room for improvement. In your day-to-day teaching and tutoring, you’ll make mistakes, encounter difficulties, and your best laid plans may not survive contact with the students. That’s all part of the learning process. The important things are to reflect, gather feedback, and improve.
To do so, you’ll need to ensure that your course, or your teaching, provides ways for students to offer their feedback. It’s not just a good way to tweak your work and teaching style, but a chance to gather some great testimonials too.
Put Yourself on the Map
If you’ve got the know-how and show-how in geography, why not let it work for you by teaching online? There are plenty of avenues to apply your skills, from individual tutoring to designing entire courses. There are students from all around the world who can benefit from learning about the world through your eyes.
And if you’re looking for a site to host your geography skills, then why not BlurBay? From books, to single videos, and even entire courses, BlurBay has the infrastructure, security, and reputation to ensure your success. You’ll be able to host courses free of charge and only pay a commission on every sale. What’s more, you choose how much of your material you want to make available to your students.
It’s a simple, flexible way to monetize your geography skills and show them to the world.
