In response to our rapidly changing and evolving environment in the face of COVID-19, we would love to support SUP Yoga teacher trainers and future SUP Yoga teachers delivering highest quality and safest possible trainings and classes.
In these uncertain times it is more important than ever to have guidelines in place to ensure fair and safe industry standards when it comes to education and safety.
Adapting a training module that was designed to be delivered face-to-face in a live environment into an online-based module comes with a whole new set of challenges.
Not everyone is tech-savvy and knows how to set up a zoom session or has the ability to re-create all educational components and content to make them fit into an online format. The support system and the overall interactions between teacher and students need to be readjusted.
To make the transition from face-to-face training to an online format as easy as possible here are our top tips to take your SUP Yoga Teacher Trainings online!
1. Choose your platform and services
This might be the scariest part when you are not that “tech-savvy”, but it might be a relief to know that there are plenty of user-friendly conferencing, video chat, meeting and streaming platforms out there.
Choose what you are most comfortable with and suits your budget! The most common ones are Zoom, Facebook Live streaming, Google Hangouts and Thinkific.
2.Get to know your technology
This goes hand in hand with choosing your platform as it really depends what devices you have available. If you only have an iPhone, Zoom might not be for you.
Also make sure your audio is working well and take your room any echo etc into consideration. If you are using a microphone, ensure it is compatible with your set up and is well adjusted. Students need to be able to understand you clearly and you would like to be able to hear your students.
Get familiar with all your devices and their capacities. How long does your laptop go without power? Is your wi-fi signal strong enough? Are you able to do some troubleshooting on your device?
Ensure you have a stable internet connection with enough bandwidth to cater for video conferencing throughout the day.
3. Always have spares ready
Microphones, adapters, cables and chargers – they all seem to be break or disappear whenever we need them the most. Have an assortment of those items close by. Also have an “emergency plan” on how to communicate with your students in case of an unexpected power outage or internet problem.
It might also be helpful to set up a “test” class with friends/family and/or colleagues prior your first online class to run through all the processes involved and to get a feel how your online set-up “flows”.
4.Create a quiet space with good lightning for live classes
Mark out your space and set up your device in a way that gives you the best frame to work with and ensures great visibility for your students. It is advisable to teach with a clean, spacious, and uncluttered background.
Try to reduce any background noise and make sure you have everything you need close by. Also make sure you test the lightning needs of your space well before the class starts and adjust if needed. Same goes for the audio: If your space has a lot of hard surfaces the sound will echo.
5. Prepare learning material and resources
Review your existing learning material and your tuition kit. Also plan out what content will be delivered, how and create a blend of live classes, pre-recorded content, and self-learning material in line with the ISYA educational curriculum (https://isyacademy.com/resources/).
Keep in mind to tailor your content to the delivery method you are choosing. Real time learning in a virtual classroom requires a very different approach to student directed self -learning.
6. Make sure all tuition material is easily accessible for your students
Choose a file sharing platform that offers plenty storage space for your content. Vimeo and Youtube are very handy to store your video files. They are also a super convenient solution to let your students stream that content in their own time. Consider recording your live stream and make it accessible for your students to re-watch.
Dropbox and Google Drive are amazing for sharing learning materials. Make sure that the content is correctly named and in a file format that can be universally read and downloaded such as .doc or .pdf. Google Doc is a very handy free resource to set up if your students do not use Microsoft Word.
7. Prepare little quizzes/questionnaires as competency assessment
Make learning fun and get creative when preparing new ways to assess your students.
Check if they are in line with the ISYA assessment guidelines and cover all compulsory topics.
8. Create a support system for your students
Without the face-2-face interaction of live classes it is more important than ever to set up an efficient support system for students. Set up forums and discussions groups through your Social Media and organise Q&A sessions before and after the training. If needed, offer one on one mentoring to your students.
9. Be prepared for technical issues
Fail to plan and you plan to fail! Organise a “tech person” ready to answer to any tech problems your students may encounter during the course. This lets you focus 100% on your students without trying to solve any tech issues that may arise.
10. Remember to have fun!
It’s a lot to take in. Remember to take a deep breath and to focus on the fun parts. Not everything will go smoothly. And that is ok!
This is just a quick guide on how to transition to teaching future SUP Yoga teachers online. Our full guide is available in our members area – just sign up for our free membership account to access this amazing resource and many more. Want to become a full ISYA member to benefit from all our member perks? Now is a time! We offer 25% discount on your first year of membership. Just use the discount code PLT4IBT1MI at the checkout!