4 Advantages to Teaching Online You Haven’t Considered

Or: A guide to cutting everyone a lot of slack and recognizing there are many more ways to teach and learn than the ones that have been more narrowly defined for us in the mainstream

When I first started teaching online, I had a dedicated following of students and had been growing my online presence for some time. The transition was still tough in many ways, and the more I talked with my fellow teachers and former teacher trainees the more I realized that the pool of challenges was even bigger than I thought. From learning to be a one-person IT crew and lighting designer, to trying to teach physical movements to tiny squares (some of them with cameras off), being a virtual teacher requires skills that many teacher trainings don’t include in their curriculum. It certainly wasn’t a module in any trainings I led.

And yet, there IS something we’ve all learned as movement teachers that translates immediately to the online classroom: adaptability. No matter what your modality, leading someone in a movement sequence requires that you see the situation with clear eyes (or discernment in yoga-speak), and choose what will help your students/clients achieve their goals from your varied toolbox of actual exercises, cues and language, and props. What if teaching online was just one more way to practice adaptability? 

If you’ve never considered the ways that teaching online could not only be positive, but help you grow as a teacher, here are 4 ideas to think about: 

Students have more agency

In a live classroom, there’s little space for students to do their own thing. Even when the teacher uses the most invitational language to modify or leaves room for open practice, the fact that other bodies are in the room, likely all facing the same way with the same props, might make even the most confident person feel awkward to break from the routine. 

Teaching online alleviates this problem because students are in their own space. They might even choose to turn their cameras off—which has its pros and cons from a teaching perspective. The pro there is that it takes the guesswork out of knowing whether they want feedback from you. If a student wants to practice with their camera off, assume first that they are making the best decision for themselves at that time, and what they gain from being in your Zoom class doesn’t necessarily have to include whether you can see them. 

Here’s how I handle the camera off situation: Encourage CHOICE. Celebrate it. I’ll say something to the effect of, welcome Sandy and Kelly! No need to turn your cameras on, I’m happy you’re here taking class the way you prefer. Jesse and May! Hi! How are you. Jesse that dog is adorable!

Practicality and accessibility

Most of my teaching career has been in New York City, where I might have had to commute over an hour each way to get to/from my classes; the same was true for my students. Cutting out that commute by teaching online has been a huge win all around, especially for folks taking care of children others in their home, or who have busy schedules for any reason (and who does that not apply to?). Being able to squeeze in a movement practice between meetings or feedings has been a gift of bringing class into the home—especially when that class is short.

Online classes also open the “door” to many more folks who couldn’t come to class because they just lived somewhere else! Having taught around the country and internationally, I met many people over the years who couldn’t be regulars in my class—and now they can. I’ve also met new students exclusively online who never would have come into my circle if I was only teaching in-person.

Seeing beyond movement

Not being able to “see” students online is one of the bigger frustrations I’ve dealt with. But it’s not entirely a negative. Among other things, online teaching has reinforced that I can “see” my students beyond looking at their bodies while they move. Showing up for a class at the same time and choosing to engage in a practice ritual tells me a lot about who they are, and how I can be of service as a teacher. I get to see the collective learning we’re all undergoing together in this new space, and sometimes that learning has nothing to do with movement! That’s seeing too. And it’s potentially a pretty joyful thing to look for.

Bonus lessons

I was talking to a regular student after class about how this transition to teaching/learning online involved having to learn a lot of other things IN ORDER to be able to continue teaching and learning movement — how to use online platforms among other things. These were like bonus-lessons we didn’t ask for (and some of us avoided on purpose).

We both noted how there was often frustration (and even grief) involved in having to learn these “bonus lessons” without a real sense of choice about it. But there we were connecting for 10 or 15 minutes in an intimate exchange after class that would never have been possible without the bonus learning we had both undergone to even know each other at all.

Ultimately, this conversation is a “what do you gain and what do you lose” type of conversation. It’s about teaching online, but also teaching, in general. I believe there’s always a trade off and that identifying the trade off is a better way to reflect on and refine our teaching than trying to find a solution. Because there is never really a “best way”—there were plenty of trade-offs to teaching in-person, too, you may recall— just ways with fewer/smaller trade offs depending on so many things. Online teaching might be more or less of a tradeoff for you, but as we navigate it together whether we choose to see it as a win or a loss might affect our ability to truly enjoy what we love doing.