I've commented in the past about giving guitar lessons online. I have several students scattered around the country in addition to giving make-up lessons to some traditional students who weren't able to attend their normal lesson. Occasionally the lessons are back-to-back but typically they are not. To the casual observer it looks random. Doing these lessons online has given me the fantasy of spending about half of my teaching time at home.
Online teaching is not the same as in person teaching. That's been a major complaint from most teachers. My reply is that group lessons are different from private lessons but we adapt and build on the strengths of groups. The approach to online teaching begins with that premise. Build on the strengths and work around the weaknesses. Still, trying to build an approach or style of teaching around a handful of random lessons over a period of a few years doesn't really give enough information for a fair or honest appraisal.
Yesterday was a bit of an eye opener. Due to a small snow storm I decided to not drive to the music store (usually about on hour) and try to teach from home via the internet instead. So now I have an idea of what my fantasy really might look like.
There were some equipment issues on my end. I either use my desktop or my iPhone to conduct these lessons. Yesterday I chose my phone because it is more flexible. I can move it around, reverse the camera, etc. to make it easier to demonstrate something. The camera and microphone are both fine for the task but the tiny speaker is annoying after a while. I will need to connect it to my studio speakers to be able to hear better. Also the screen is small so watching my students play is a bit more challenging.
Many of the students had the camera focused on their face instead of their hands. So we had to make some adjustments that way too.
The internet connections weren't always adequate. With one student we were knocked off line three times. With others there were sound issues and the picture would freeze. This is the best internet we have right now, but with the impending FCC ruling that seems to be coming our way, things could get even worse for small enterprises like mine.
There were a few other small issues that will need to be addressed but overall I would judge yesterday a cautious success. It is certainly scalable and with the challenges also come opportunities. You have to admit it sounds like fun.