What is Outschool?
Outschool is one of my favorite side-hustles! I love sharing it with other educators. Outschool is virtual teaching platform that reaches students aged 3-18. I was initially looking into some other virtual teaching sites but was drawn to the freedom and flexibility of OS. Teachers can teach on a variety of subjects from Literacy skills to Minecraft. Read on to learn more about the platform!
Pros
- As I mentioned before one of the biggest pros in my opinion is flexibility. I love being able to set my schedule to fit my needs, especially when some competing platforms want you to teach early in the morning or late at night (not ideal for me!)
- Another pro is the ability to teach on a variety of topics. I have classes about classic cartoons, others about reading skills and as I said before I am able to teach my student activism classes on there as well so it’s pretty awesome.
- With OS I have interacted with such a diverse group of students from lots of different locations including Canada! (I was pretty hype about teaching kids out of the country)
- You can teach various types of classes: one-time, ongoing, multi-day and flex classes.
One-time : Pretty self explanatory
Ongoing : Classes that meet consistently and repeatedly; like once a week, 3x a week, etc. Students can join or leave at anytime
Multi-day : Classes that meet over multiple days
Flex : Asynchronous classes
Cons
- As with anything, there are downsides so I want to share those too. The main one is probably the 30% cut they take from the profit. It doesn’t really bother me because I know that they are providing a service – allowing me to teach students from all over the world. I’ve also seen ads featuring my class that I can share on my social media pages which is pretty convenient.
- Your classes have to be approved and sometimes that takes a while or they can be a bit nit-picky, especially when it comes to Flex classes.
- Parent reviews aren’t really a con but sometimes it can be tough dealing with negative reviews especially when they affect your overall rating.
Outschool Tips
- Be yourself! – You want parents to book you because they are interested in your class and teaching style. If you aren’t typically animated don’t fake the funk. If you hate all things animal related, don’t list a class about animal facts. Stick to what you enjoy!
- Link your one-time and ongoing classes – If you plan to make ongoing classes, consider listing a one-time class as a preview for students and families. This gives them the opportunity to try out the class before committing to a longer class session.
- Try out different things – Try teaching different classes, using different cover pictures, etc. I have seen many blog posts about what works and what doesn’t and honestly some of them negate each other. One article may say include your photo in class cover pictures, while another may say steer clear of this. Do what feels right to you and if you don’t see the results you are looking for, switch it up!
- Build relationships – Make your students feel welcome and appreciated. Leave kind comments in the classroom after you meet, include their interests in class sessions, ask them how their day is going. And if you have another class they may be interested in, share that information with the parents!
- Keep track of your payments – This is crucial. I have received payments for all classes but sometimes they’ve come late or I wasn’t sure what payment went with what class. I use a spreadsheet I found online to keep it all straight.
- Do your research – Look into Pinterest and other blogs to find helpful info about what works, ways to maximize your work and lots of other tips. Below are some of my faves.
– https://sincerelysirena.com/
– https://lisamarklesparkles.com/
