How to use WhatsApp to give Virtual Classes? – Online classes

Since the pandemic came into our lives, many things have had to adapt to the new reality. An issue as important as education could not be the exception to that, so this also had to modify its dynamics to continue classes.

The main change that education had was that it had to adapt to a virtual modality in order to continue and in that task social networks served perfectly. Such is the case of WhatsApp that is used by many teachers today as a platform to give their classes. If you are a teacher who must adapt to virtual classes, surely you want to know how to do it and we will tell you about that today.

What do I need to give virtual classes on WhatsApp?

It will seem a bit obvious but the first thing you should have to teach in WhatsApp is a mobile with acceptable specifications that allows you to use the application all day without headaches such as running out of space or getting hung up.

If you already have a mobile with these characteristics, what follows is to configure your WhatsApp in such a way that you can take everything organized to give your classes.

Create or have a group

The easiest way to teach your classes is by creating a WhatsApp group where all your students are, because that way communication with them will be easier. If you teach in several courses, we recommend that you create a different group for each one of them where the names according to the section or subject that they will teach.

Configure roles in the group

The first thing you should set are the settings of your group and WhatsApp privacy to teach. You have to include all your students in the group, no one should be left out.

When all the students are in the group, set up simple settings like only administrators are the ones who can speakAt least this in the hours outside of class, since that way the group is not overloaded with messages.

Another thing you should do is disable temporary messages optionIf this is activated, after a while the messages that are sent will be deleted from the group. This could be negative for students as they would miss the opportunity to review important information from the group.

Put the rules in the group

You can use the group description to set the rules that everyone must follow. The rules depend a bit on the methodology you use as a teacher, but we recommend that you start by establishing a time when all the members of the group can speak.

What’s more, you must put basic rules as always, maintain respect among all, do not talk in the group topics other than those of classes or things of that style.

What ideal tools for classes does WhatsApp offer?

WhatsApp as a social network offers some things that are perfect for teaching on-line. It is not that the functions are made to teach classes, because that is not the purpose of WhatsApp, but these options allow them to be used very effectively to teach online classes.

Share audios, videos and photos up to 100 MB

On whatsapp you can send files with a weight of up to 100 MB. This allows you as a teacher to be able to send your students videos of the explanations of the topics to be studied, photos of books, PDF files, or the like.

In addition, voice or audio notes are a very good tool that allows you to effectively explain the topics to your students, so that is a good option for classes. However, we recommend that don’t send too long notesTry to send voices of less than 2 min each so that it is not tedious for the students to listen to the explanations.

Administrator interventions only

As we discussed above, WhatsApp groups have an option that only administrators can send messages. That works very well for you to close the group and that you, the teacher, are the only one who can write, because that way the group is not overloaded with messages.

Open the chat from time to time

Nor can you make the group a channel where only you speak because interaction with students is also important, so It would be good if you open the chat from time to time so that your students can speak, but making sure it is only for class topics.

Video calls

Another effective way to teach classes on WhatsApp is doing your explanations through video calls. The application allows you to make video calls of up to 8 people, which is not much since most courses have more than 8 students, so perhaps you would be a little short.

If that is your case, we recommend that use other platforms for video calls like Zoom or Gmeet and share through the group the access links to the conferences.