The following rules can be adapted (to an extent) by any tutor teaching an online course to adults or young adults.

I’ve developed these tips for Zoom, but to some extent they can be adapted for any similar application.

1. Distribute a set of ground rules for the course. Ideally, there should be lots of them, to cover every conceivable contingency.

2. Ask your students to read the rules, and to sign their name next to each one to indicate their agreement. If they refuse, please refer to rule #3.

3. As a general rule, there is no situation that cannot be resolved by booting someone out of the room, or even off the course itself if necessary..

4. If #3 is not an option because of management’s rules, put any disruptive person in a breakout room — on their own. In this context, “disruptive” is defined as interrupting your flow by asking for clarification or venturing an opinion.

5. If someone doesn’t know how to use the technology, tell them to ask for a refund and then boot them off the course. To paraphrase what Dirty Harry always said, “A person’s got to know their limitations.”

6. If someone can’t keep up with the work, give them extra work and shorten the deadline. That should sharpen their focus a bit. We don’t need passengers.

7. Remember: as the teacher or tutor you are the fount of all knowledge, and are always right. Never ask students for their opinion about something, because some might take you seriously and actually offer their opinions. That’s the last thing you want.

8. If a student does offer their opinion, or wishes to share their expertise, make it quite obvious that their “contribution” was not welcome. A useful technique to practise in case such a situation arises is the 20 second silence. This involves (as the term implies) saying nothing for 20 seconds, and then resuming from where you left off.

9. Keep your eye on the goal, which is to get through the syllabus/course outline. This means that you can’t afford to waste time checking whether students have understood stuff.

10. All students learn in the same way. so there is no need for differentiation. If someone doesn’t understand something, explain it again, in exactly the same way, and repeat this procedure as necessary or tell them to look it up in their own time.

Finally, just in case it’s not obvious, all of the above are tongue-in-cheek although, sadly, I have have come across people who abide by at least one of these rules. (The only one I have not come across in real life is #2, in which students are asked to sign each rule individually.)