Managing a Virtual Classroom
As we continue with life with Coronavirus breathing down our necks, we continue to make good use of technology to stay safe and for that we have established virtual classrooms at all levels of education. Digital learning can be successfully done at elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels of education at school, college, and university level.
The trick is for instructors to be fully trained to be able to run a virtual classroom and provide a digital learning environment, in which students of different backgrounds, educational needs, and levels can learn.
An interesting fact to know is that presently in the United States, the National Center for Education Statistics reports that 53% of the public schools in the United States have high schoolers registered for distance learning courses.
The key to conducting a virtual classroom successfully is to build on the best practices of traditional, old-fashioned in-person teaching and managing the digitally tuned learners from various locations successfully.
Every teacher training workshop emphasizes keeping the students engaged by:
- staying organized,
- catering for the specific needs of each and every student,
- keeping students involved by bringing in their topics of interest,
- designing small group activities with peer work and staying punctual with a fixed routine.
The above mentioned are the key factors that can make any classroom, whether virtual or in-person, a good learning environment that can help each student grow its wealth of knowledge in any field.
Specifically for successful digital learning, some suggestions are:
- Multiple assigned learning areas for example students can be sub grouped to group activities in breakout rooms on zoom or similar digital platform for peer work, self-study areas with availability of a facilitator, a chat room for questions or side by side conversations, and have an option to record and review individual or group activity.
- Assign to groups and regroup on a need basis, for new activities. Never let your student feel isolated, try to pair a student with one or more with similar interests, needs and most importantly level. Nothing is more frustrating for a student than to feel isolated and not able to keep up with the rest of the students.
- Organize resources available to all students. All syllabus, teaching material that includes digital textbooks, supporting exercises and activities, quizzes and assessments should be easily available and students should know exactly how and where to access all material.
- Share lesson plans for the semester, quarter, week, and the day. Every student likes to be prepared and know exactly what shall be covered moving forward. This creates trust and fulfills expectations of the students from the instructor.
- Stay with the students during assigned teaching hours. Even if the students are doing an assignment in class or reading on provided content, a good instructor remains available throughout, just in case any student needs support or has a question.
- Encourage students to use reaction icons when on a digital platform. Many times multiple people are speaking especially during a group discussion. A good instructor must establish ground rules before jumping into a lesson. This would include either using sign language for example raising hand when needs instructor attention, thumbs up to indicate understanding and affirmation of that, or crossing fingers to indicate lack of understanding or confusion. In addition to these students should be encouraged to use the reaction button and make good use of green check button for a ‘yes’, red cross button for a ‘No’, raise hand button for asking a question or the various emojis to express emotions.
- Encourage group participation but do watch out for lack of participation or lack of completion of assignments on time. That would be the time when some ‘behind the scenes’ contact may be initiated through either email or direct contact through chat and schedule for a meeting to discuss the factors causing lack of participation.
Digital learning can be the most productive, awesome experience for both the educators and the students, provided the instructor is conscious of the fact that there are humans at the other end of the screen with a keyboard that can keep them very engaged with multiple clicks, at each end of the digital communication in a productive, structured and engaging digital learning environment!