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Outschool is an online learning platform where teachers can offer live group classes to children around the world. This in-depth Outschool teacher guide will cover how the platform works and how to start teaching with Outschool as soon as possible!
But before we dive in, let me back up a bit. I’ve been teaching English online for several years on multiple platforms. In the past, I taught in a traditional in-person classroom too. I’m very happy with my current online teaching jobs, but after seeing tons of glowing Outschool reviews, I wanted to learn more about teaching with Outschool too!
Both of my current platforms are geared to students in China. This means that there isn’t any demand for classes during the day in North America because students in China are sleeping. Also, both of these platforms focus on teaching English to students who speak a different language.
I know a lot of online teachers are interested in offering classes during the day in North America, and it sounded like Outschool could be a great option for that. Outschool is also an amazing choice for people who want to teach something other than English.
Since this could be a good way to make money from home for so many of my readers, I decided to apply and see what Outschool was all about.
This post will walk you through how to become an Outschool teacher and what to expect as you apply to start teaching for Outschool.
Learn more and sign up to teach with Outschool here.
What Is Outschool?
Outschool is an online learning marketplace where students can learn academic and personal interest topics from home. Students are between the ages of 3-18 and lessons are conducted in English. You get to choose what subjects you teach, the age of your students, the class size, and the price to enroll.
On Outschool, you’ll teach live lessons on Zoom to groups of students. You are responsible for creating the lesson topic and planning out what you will do in each class. Classes are held in real-time and teachers are expected to be engaged throughout the class. These are not pre-recorded lessons that are sold to students so this is not a passive income opportunity.
Why Should I Become An Outschool Teacher?
There are a few huge perks of teaching with Outschool!
- Outschool allows you to teach any topic you’re interested in and knowledgeable about.
- Outschool teacher requirements are flexible. You don’t need a degree or teaching experience to apply. See more ways to teach online without a degree here.
- If you’re currently an online English teacher, this could give you a chance to teach during the daytime in North America and teach a subject other than ESL for more variety.
- The scheduling is completely flexible and up to you. You can teach as much or as little as you want.
- You set your own pay rate, class size, and student age ranges.
How Is This Different From Other Online Teaching Platforms?
Normally, I write blog content about teaching English online as a foreign language. Most of the other platforms I talk about on this blog serve students learning English as a second language from another country. As an Outschool teacher, you’ll be teaching English-speaking students a variety of topics beyond just languages.
If you’re based in North America, Outschool provides an opportunity to teach during the day. It also lets you get creative with your lessons since you’ll make all your own curriculum and materials.
Outschool Teacher Requirements
To be a teacher, you’ll need to meet the following basic Outschool teacher requirements.
- Must be at least 18 years old
- A resident of the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or the United Kingdom
- Able to pass a background check
You do NOT need a degree or formal teaching credentials to teach on Outschool. As long as you have expertise in a certain area, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to teach it. Teachers must agree to follow community guidelines and class content policies. Also, you should have a high-speed internet connection of over 3mbps.
What Can I Teach?
This is the cool part! You can teach anything you want that you have specialization in! Outschool only asks that classes are objective, secular, and adhere to their class content guidelines.
When I heard this, I was actually stumped. I’ve been teaching for six years now in different content areas, and I still thought “wait… what should I teach?” It’s totally normal to blank on what topic you should teach, but don’t worry. Outschool can actually help you out with that.
Every few weeks, Outschool publishes a list of classes that parents requested. I’ll include some of my favorites below. As you can see, classes can cover pretty much everything under the sun. As of last week, parents were interested in classes about:
- Legos
- Harry Potter
- Different types of insects (that include a crafting component)
- Japanese for beginners
- The Cardiovascular system
- How to take photos for Instagram
- How to paint horses
- What happened to Megalodon? (If you can teach this let me know because I totally want to sign up!)
Other ideas I’ve seen are book clubs, cooking classes, how to edit videos for YouTube, and jewelry-making. If you know how to do it and can package it neatly for students, there’s a good chance you can teach it on Outschool.
How Much Does Outschool Cost For Teachers?
It’s free for you to make an Outschool teacher account and list your classes. There are no fees to sign up and you won’t directly pay Outschool anything. Outschool works by taking a commission on each class a student books with you. Basically, you don’t have to pay to use the platform and Outschool only makes money if you do.
Outschool Pay For Teachers
Outschool teachers set their own pay rates. You get to choose your own prices and you’ll keep 70% while Outschool takes 30%.
Remember that multiple students can book a single class. This means that if you set your Outschool pay rate to $10 per student for an hour-long class and 6 students sign up, you earn $42 for that hour ($60 x 0.7 = $42).
Outschool teachers are paid via Paypal.
How Do I Apply To Be An Outschool Teacher?
To start teaching on Outschool, the first thing you’ll do is visit the teacher application page. You’ll sign up with your email address and password. You’ll verify your email address and then be taken to the teacher information page. Then you’ll provide the following:
- Name, Email, Phone Number, Location
- Describe any experiences you have teaching or working with children
- What topics are you passionate about teaching. Explain what types of lessons you might list
- Submit a 30-90 second introductory video for the Outschool hiring staff. They want you to include your teaching space and classroom environment as well as your personality.
After submitting this information, you’ll wait for your account to be approved. For me, this took about 5 days. Once the account was approved, I got an email prompting me to fill out my background check information. The background check information came back in about a day.
Setting Up Your Outschool Teacher Profile
After your account has been approved and your background check has cleared, you’ll be able to set create your teacher profile and your classes. Outschool provides several awesome resources for teachers as you navigate the set-up process, but in general, you’ll need to provide:
- Name, Headline or Title, and Biographical Information
- Record a 30-90 second intro video (they provide video guidelines on the profile builder page)
- Fill out your email, phone number, and location
You’ll also be able to easily set up your schedule and availability. There are no minimum or maximum teaching hours, so you have a lot of flexibility with when you offer to classes.
Setting Up Your Outschool Classes
I love the customization here! When it’s time to set up your Outschool classes, you have a LOT of flexibility. Since I used to be a science teacher, I created a sample class about middle school science so I could see what kinds of information they were looking for. Here’s what you’ll do to create your classes.
- Set a title, subject, and summary for your class
- Choose the course type. Courses can either be one time, ongoing, multi-day, or flexible schedule (we will talk more about what this means in just a minute)
- Create a cover image and a course description video. I’d recommend using a free design tool like Canva to design a kid-friendly cover
- Set the course format, including age group, class size, and course duration
- Write a course description explaining what will be taught and how the class is structured
- Optional: Add learning goals, assessments, and homework assignments that students will have
- Additional Information: tell parents if any outside work is required or if the course covers sensitive topics
- Are any materials, apps, or supplies needed
- Set the course pricing and choose a refund policy
- Submit your course for approval
Depending on your subject area, there are several types of classes you can create on Outschool.
One Time Classes
These classes meet once at a specific time. This is usually for a one-off topic that can be explored in an hour or so. You can ask students to complete pre-work or assignments before class if necessary.
Ongoing Classes
Ongoing classes are a class that you teach again and again. These classes meet every week and do not have a set start or end date. Students can join as often as they want and the lessons don’t build on one another since the students might be different each week. An example of an ongoing class could be magic tricks, music, or basic photography. A student can attend as many or as few ongoing lessons as they want.
Multi-Day Classes
These are courses about a specific topic that last many days. Classes build on each other and students purchase the course as a bundle. For example, if you were teaching a course about ecosystems and your lessons covered 6 topics, you could have classes 2x per week for three weeks. Students enroll at the beginning and the same group will meet for the six lessons of the course.
Flexible Classes
Classes that run on a flexible schedule do not meet live. Instead, they happen through a series of pre-made videos, quizzes, written messages, and discussion forums on the Outschool platform. Flexible classes still require active teacher involvement and feedback, but they don’t have to meet at a specific time.
Are You Ready To Start Making Money On Outschool?
If you’re curious about Outschool and meet the basic teacher requirements, I say go for it. The Outschool teacher application process is pretty straightforward and doesn’t require jumping through a lot of hoops, so you don’t have anything to lose. It took me about an hour to go through the application and fill out my teacher profile.
Outschool can be a great way to make some extra money teaching a topic you’re passionate about or gain teaching experience if you’re new to the field.
Now, it sounds like Outschool has a high demand for new teachers. If you think you have a subject that might interested students, apply and play around with the platform a bit. I was pleasantly surprised by how straightforward it is and I’m excited to explore more topics in the future.
Read more posts about teaching online with Outschool!
- Outschool Teacher Review: Pros and Cons of this online teaching platform
- 5 Tips From My First Outschool Class: Everything you need to know
- Teaching Yoga and Meditation On Outschool: Interview with a successful Outschool teacher
Any tips to add to this Outschool Teacher Guide? Let me know below!
Interested in Teaching Online?
I’d love to help you get started! Check out the master list of all my online ESL teaching posts here.
