Tips from Roy Spiers

Roy Spiers is Director of Programmes at Central Law Training. Roy researches, designs and develops the leading legal CPD programme in Scotland, working with legal experts over the last decade to help them deliver effective online teaching. Formerly a lawyer with the largest Scottish commercial law firm, Roy draws on over 25 years' experience in the legal profession to provide quality learning opportunities to meet the needs of Scots lawyers.

"It is a very different environment to the traditional lecture hall, but that doesn’t mean that you have to change your style completely. If you move around a lot normally, then transfer some of that energy to your voice or ask for more contributions from your students."

"Play around with the technology beforehand with colleagues or friends. The more familiar you are, the more you will start to view your lesson as an educational collaboration between you and the technology, rather than an aid (or even worse, a hindrance!)"

"For live lessons, introductions are crucial. Not only does it allow you to check that everyone can hear and see you clearly in a ‘commonplace’ way, it also allows you to build rapport with your students and incorporate any necessary tailoring of content to better engage the cohort in front of you."

"Don’t assume that your students know more about technology than you do. They might be masters of the latest app, but that doesn’t mean that it automatically translates to the technology that you are using."

"Remember you’re not reading the news on national TV! Things will go wrong at some point – just run with it. Keep it light hearted, don’t panic and the time you took to familiarise yourself with the technology will kick in to help you find a solution."