Teaching History Online: A Complete Guide

Feb 2, 2024

Are you a historian or an educator with experience looking to impart your expertise with the world's students?

The teaching of history online is a rewarding and impactful way to make history come alive for all learners of age groups. In this guide, we'll walk you through the essential steps to excel in teaching history online, starting with setting up your virtual classroom, establishing the course structure and engaging students in the most effective methods.

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What is the reason you should be teaching historiography online?

If you're interested in history and can discover yourself teaching your friends and family in everyday life on the past, chances that you'd be a great candidate for an online teacher of history! There are lots of different ways that you can share your love for historical events, which we'll explore later on. First, let's look into some motivators for why you ought to consider becoming an online teacher.

History online teaching offers numerous compelling advantages for historians as well as those who wish to share their expertise in the field of history:

  • Accessibility: Online teaching of history transcends geographic boundaries, which allows educators to connect to students across the world. It means that students in regions that are remote or other countries can access quality history education that they might have missed in the past, while learning about various nations and historical events could not be taught in school.
  • The flexibility and ease of online education allows you to create your own timetable. You can decide if you want to work full-time, part-time and even as a side gig, making it suitable for those who prefer more of a relaxed timetable or are juggling other obligations.
  • Multiple learning demands History online instruction lets you to accommodate learners with a variety of learning requirements. It is your choice to decide what you would like your class to be structured, and if you want to depart from the more traditional forms of instruction. As well, you can offer additional materials, videos explanations or interactive quizzes to aid students in understanding historical concepts, making education more interactive, fun, and inclusive for many students.
  • Opportunities to be entrepreneurial - online history classes can serve as a stepping stone to entrepreneurship. You can develop your own historical courses, create educational content, and build your reputation on the web in terms of education. It is also possible to expand your offerings by selling online products or memberships to earn regular revenue. This can turn your passion into a fully-fledged successful company.

Can you earn money teaching history online?

Here's how you can set yourself apart from other online history instructor:

  • Select your subject - Decide the specific historical periods, events, topics or topics you wish to instruct on. The topics could include ancient civilizations, world wars, specific time periods, or even niche areas of the past, such as art history or economic history. The possibilities are quite literally endless!
  • Establish your price - Decide your rates for history courses or for tutoring sessions. Think about factors such as your credentials, the level of history that you're teaching and the need for your services. Consider how you'll handle payments, using the payment platform you use or other methods such as PayPal. Look at the prices other history instructors online are charging for lessons that are similar styles to yours, and determine your price competitively.
  • Marketing yourself to ensure you actually have students to teach, you'll have be willing to spend a small amount of effort in marketing your service. Advertise your history online teaching classes on social media, educational forums and other relevant sites. You might consider creating a marketing strategy, offering free webinars or historical insights using the power of email marketing to connect with the students you want to reach.
  • Display testimonials as you build experience and get positive reviews, create an impressive portfolio that showcases your achievements and testimonials from satisfied students. It builds confidence with prospective customers and distinguishes you as an experienced and reputable historian. Let everyone know that you're the best at the job you're doing.

The qualifications required to teach historical content on-line

For those who want to instruct history online, there are essentially two crucial things that you need: passion and understanding of your historic past. While there are other qualifications that are important, these two are the most crucial to succeed when it comes to teaching history online.

To be able to teach online history effectively, these are other items you need:

  • The ability to comprehend the basics of history, including the specific historical periods or topics you intend to instruct as well as the specific events you wish to cover.
  • It is recommended to have a bachelor's education in history or any related field. But, experience in the field and an interest in historical research can be equally valuable.
  • Comfort and confidence in technology are essential to develop and distribute online-based web-based content.

When you're done with the day, you want to create trust among your students. To do this, ensure you've got the credentials and expertise required to teach the subjects you choose to teach successfully. Although not required, a relevant degree in historical studies or another related discipline could significantly boost your credibility in the eyes of your students.

Steps to creating the history online learning experience you want to share with your friends

Now that we've covered all aspects of the process, we can begin planning your online history learning experience and establishing your virtual classroom.

The choice of an online learning platform

Consider whether you would like to work through an existing online education platform, your site or mix of both.

First, keep in mind these key points to consider when choosing which web-based platform to select:

  1. Course design  • Look for a platform which allows easy to use course creation tools using drag-and-drop editors, as well as templates for courses.
  2. Student management It is important to ensure that you are able to manage your student's enrollment, monitor their academic performance, and perform the administrative duties.
  3. Community-based features  Group chats, discussion boards and community forums are a great way to aid in the growth of your company and create a welcoming learning space.
  4. Content security - Choose an option that will protect your digital content from unwanted downloading, sharing, or redistribution.
  5. Evaluations, certificates or quizzes. Whether you're offering certification or tracking the progress of students, these components let you know if students are actually learning. This is especially important if you want to sell to educational clients or corporations.
  6. Support for multi-devices and multimedia - Make sure your platform lets users use smartphones if they need to as well as delivering content in a variety of formats, including video, text, or images.
  7. Analytics, reporting, and help - Examining information can aid in the student learning process, as well as let you know how well your students are engaged as educators. As well, choose an option that provides assistance with technology when required.

Find a platform which is able to meet both your current as well as future requirements. This platform will serve as the primary of all your activities including the communication of students and hosting of synchronous classes or uploading asynchronous courses.

Here is a list of the best online courses platforms:

Platform Pros Cons
  • Free plan available
  • Intuitive drag-and-
  • drop website builder
  • Strong Tools and Integrations
  • Need to market off the platform for students to discover it.
The Leap
  • Free AI-powered digital product builder
  • Focuses on mini-courses as well as d functionality
  • Link-in-bio storefront
  • More customization options over other web browsers
  • Focuses on guides and ebooks
Teachable
  • Powerful toolkit for experienced course creators
  • Effective in-built marketing tools
  • A high 10% transaction cost when using a no-cost plan
  • You will not be exposed to any audience other than your own
  • is a better choice for experienced creators of courses
Udemy
  • Students from millions of schools are already using the platform.
  • Excellent marketing support
  • In-built analytics and insights
  • Must be approved before creating classes
  • Specific requirements on length and course type
Podia
  • All digital items all at once
  • Tools for community-building
  • Lacks custom design tools
  • 8% transaction fee for free plans

Make your classroom virtual

Creating an effective online history learning environment is essential:

  • Equipment and set-up - Be sure that you are using reliable equipment such as a quality microphone, webcam and a reliable internet connection to ensure clear communication. Designate a dedicated, well-lit teaching space in your home, keeping it clutter-free and professional-looking.
  • Organize and gather teaching materials - Collect your historical books, textbooks, primary sources, and other digital resources with an easy-to-access format. Cloud storage services like Google Drive or Dropbox can assist in the storage and sharing of the materials in a more efficient way.
  • Course delivery and scheduling Create a predictable timetable for your online classes in history and clearly communicate this to students. Provide structure and predictability to promote punctuality and participation.

Plan your curriculum

The creation of a structured history course is vital to ensure online teaching success. Depending on your teaching method, style, and goals the type of curriculum that you develop will differ. It's also highly niche dependent - think about the kind of history that your specialization is, because the structure of your class depends on the subject matter you'll introduce.

These are guidelines to remember:

  • Set out your goals - Clearly outline your teaching goals and objectives in each lesson from the past or course to keep your teaching focused.
  • break it down  - Divide historical concepts into manageable chunks, making it easier for students to understand difficult concepts slowly.
  • Create engaging content - Develop interactive quizzes, presentations, and tasks that foster active learning and engagement.
  • Create assignments and assessments - Use regular assessments or quizzes as well as assignments to gauge the students' comprehension of the historical concept. Provide timely and constructive feedback that will help them improve their performance.

Involve your students

Engagement is key to effective online teaching in the field of history. If you find that the students aren't fully engaged with the material you are teaching, you'll soon start to have empty places in your virtual class. However, there are many ways to keep your students on their toes and excited for history lessons.

You can try these strategies:

  • Interactive sessions Live classes in history with interactive features and encourage students to ask questions, discuss the past, and express their thoughts.
  • Forums for discussion - Create online discussion forums, chat communities, or groups where students are able to collaborate, discuss their knowledge of the past and ask for assistance.
  • Utilize visually-based aids - Utilize historic visuals such as timelines, maps as well as primary source documents, in order to make the historical events come life.
  • Show your personality - You can promote student learning and engagement by simply being yourself, and showing your students why you are distinctive.

Additional tips to encourage student involvement are offered in the forms of course support, and include offering one-on-one support through online office hours, or in-person sessions for students who need more historical direction.

Promote effective communication

Effective communication is vital when it comes to learning history online context, since it may sometimes be challenging for students to locate all the details that they need within an online learning setting.

You must always adhere to these rules:

  • Communication that is clear It is important to ensure that the historical guidelines clarifications, expectations, and explanations are clearly communicated to prevent misunderstandings.
  • Updates regularly - Keep your students updated on historical course schedules, assignments, and any modifications that could occur.
  • Encourage questions - Establish an open and friendly historical environment where students are comfortable asking questions and requesting clarification.

Foster a sense of historical community

In an online learning environment in an online learning environment, creating a sense the community can help students be motivated to achieve their goals. Additionally, it will increase the engagement of your online history learners.

Use these exercises to create a sense belonging to a community

  • Icebreakers Start your courses in the past with icebreaker activities to help students get acquainted and establish connections.
  • Collaboration projects - Incorporate collaboration-based historical research projects that inspire students to cooperate and even within the virtual world.
  • Virtual historic events Organise regular virtual historical events for example, historical debates or special guest speakers, in order to keep your students interested and excited about learning history.

Adapt and improve

Teaching online history is a dynamic procedure. Be kind to yourself, and always remember to modify and improve the methods you use to teach. This can ensure that you remain competitive in your online teaching field, and stand out from your competition.

To adapt and improve Remember to:

  • Get feedback about your teaching method Ask your students to provide feedback on your teaching style and curriculum materials. You should be willing to making adjustments based on their input and changing educational trends.
  • Professional development - Stay updated on the most recent research in historical studies methods, tools for teaching, and methodologies by participating in classes in history online, workshops, and historical conference.
  • Be patient and flexible. Know that students have different learning paces and adjust your teaching approach accordingly. Provide extra assistance if necessary.
  • Consider the possibility of challenges and acknowledge potential challenges students may encounter when learning online. Give advice on issues with technology, provide alternative resources for students with limited tech access, and ensure your materials are accessible for all students, even students with disabilities.

Use technology to your advantage

An online learning environment is different than teaching courses in-person, especially when you're an experienced teacher.

You can leverage technology to enrich your history classes online and combat any challenges. Using interactive tools and software online can bring historical concepts to life. Examples include historic mapping software as well as virtual museum tours. As well recording live events (if you decide to offer them) is a great way as a way for students to revisit or to catch up on forgotten historical classes.

A different option is to develop a collection of historical sources, such as documentaries, podcasts, as well as reference material, in order to help your students' education.

Conclusion

By incorporating these strategies and tips into your online history teaching method, you will be able to create the most enriching and successful historical learning experience for your students and foster your professional development as a history educator.