What do you need, and where do you start, when facilitating antenatal classes online? How can you keep clients engaged and make your online classes more interactive?
What do I need to facilitate antenatal classes online?
Reliable equipment is key:
- A fast, stable internet connection. Test it on a video call with friends or family first – ideally while others in your household are streaming or gaming at the same time.
- A PC or laptop that can cope with video and audio streaming and multiple open windows without overheating – especially on hot summer days!
- A video conferencing platform such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams. My choice is Zoom, as (at the time of writing) it’s the most flexible platform for interactive group education. If you only run 1:1 sessions or use a lecture-style approach, any platform will do. For group classes, I like being able to split a larger group into smaller ones (breakout rooms in Zoom), giving clients some private ‘away from the teacher’ time and encouraging the group to bond.
- Visual content such as PowerPoint, Google Slides or Canva presentations to share from time to time for your visual learners. You’ll find ready-made activities in my digital downloads.
- Good lighting, so your clients can see you.
- A good camera and microphone, so your clients can see and hear you clearly.
Where do I start?
Practise. Before facilitating online for paying clients, practise with family, friends or colleagues. You could also record yourself and watch it back.
Set expectations. Let your clients know in advance what to expect – for example, “Please keep your cameras and microphones on; this is an interactive class,” or “Please mute yourselves” for a lecture.
How do I make my online antenatal classes interactive and fun?
Mix it up! Rather than presenting non-stop, use your slides as visual aids. Use breakout rooms to create smaller groups, and try free* online tools such as Mentimeter, Kahoot! and Padlet for word clouds, quizzes and more.
In my virtual classes and workshops, I have used:
- quizzes
- card sorts
- scavenger hunts
- annotations
- word searches
- escape rooms
- word clouds
- polls
- breakout rooms
For more ideas, read my Teaching Techniques for Perinatal Educators.
*Free versions available at the time of writing.