Written by Junaid Magdum
The year 2020 has brought about with it many challenging events. Some of these events have been temporary while others have more of a permanent manner to them. Some of them have immediate consequences and require urgent attention, while some are presently only warnings and will cause concern for the future. One such permanent event which requires urgent focus has been the advent of the coronavirus.
The coronavirus is a global, novel virus that causes respiratory illness. With the devastating effects it has had worldwide, it was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Such has been the case with most pandemics, the world has needed to come together and make changes in order to survive. Given the above information, it was imperative that changes be made to our daily lives to observe what is now termed as “social distancing”. It was proposed and followed with the main goal of stopping the spread of the novel virus.
There have been many examples of social distancing. Daily jobs now observe work from home measures as opposed to more conventional workspaces. All live gatherings including sporting events, concerts, etc. are suspended, while there has been very high promotion for the use of electronic devices and social applications.
The Shift to Online Classrooms
On the same lines, a very significant example of social distancing has been the shift from in-person classrooms to online classrooms. As per the National Center of Education Statistics, around 19.9 million students were enrolled in Fall 2019 courses. A majority of these students were enrolled in on-campus courses. This situation represented great concern for the welfare of students given the existence of the virus. Hence, a conscious decision was made to cancel all in-person courses and move to a more online structure.
The Online Structure
For the past few years, some universities have made online courses available for students. These courses are mainly geared towards international students who may find it difficult to arrive on-campus but are still extremely focused on furthering their education. Additionally, e-learning websites like Coursera, Udemy, edX and Udacity among others offer courses not just from renowned universities but also offer their own created content in the form of pre-recorded online video lectures.
When it comes to university curriculums and the actual shift to online teaching, in some cases, professors are asked to upload lecture slides or lecture videos to some portal which can then be viewed by the students as per their convenience. However, most of the time, live lectures/
meetings are conducted online which can be accessed through video conferencing/ social applications like Zoom.
The way this works is that the professors, TAs, etc. host meetings which the students are allowed to join via links. The professors will then explain the concepts as per slides they have prepared which can be seen once the professors have shared their screens. Each member of the meeting must have these applications installed on their respective workstations. Additionally, all the members of such a meeting must have access to a webcam and a microphone for communication purposes.
All the participants are visible to each other as well as the professor. Additionally, each participant can join or leave the meeting as per their convenience. This transition to online classrooms has been made easier by the ease of operation of the electronic devices used. These foster online interaction by offering a host of features visible in the image which represents an example of an online classroom below. Some of these features include:
● Inviting other students
● Muting/ unmuting your audio
● Switching video on or off
● The ability to chat with specific participants
This style of classroom management is not only new for the students but also for the teachers involved. Hence, challenges related to this form of teaching are expected and are being addressed in the order in which they are faced. In order to help combat these challenges and to facilitate a smoother transition to online classes, students should try and follow some of the online classroom etiquettes which have been outlined below:
1. Maintain Punctuality
It is important that as a student you are a tad bit early for your online live lecture in order to set up your equipment and make sure everything is working flawlessly. With professors adjusting to a new format, it is possible that the teaching time may differ depending on the difficulties experienced during the lectures given the online setting. Hence, it would be helpful to be on time for the meetings and make the best use of the time allotted for the lectures.
2. Set up in a Professional Space
Zoom meetings offer participants the choice to keep their video output on or off. Based on the situation, a student may be required to switch their video on. During such times, it is important that their background is not distracting in nature and does not cause any added disruptions. Hence, it is advisable for students to set up in a professional yet comfortable setting. A professional setting will also help students focus on the lectures as opposed to being inattentive. The space must be well lit for clear video output. If a real professional space is unavailable, students are especially encouraged to use one of the many professional backgrounds that the applications offer. An example of a customizable professional background is shown below.
3. Dress Appropriately
To maintain a sense of seriousness and professionalism, students must dress appropriately for their lectures. With most students attending the meetings from the comfort of their homes, house wear can often be deemed unprofessional for others. This may divert the attention of other students from the seriousness of the classroom while also being disrespectful towards the professor. Hence, even though casual clothing may seem fine, students must opt out of wearing house wear such as PJs.
4. Be Patient
Given the online setting and the use of electronic devices, members of the meeting may experience disruptions. It is possible for the participants to experience network issues, equipment issues, etc. Students must be patient in such scenarios and allow the person experiencing problems to fix their issue without being disrespectful and hostile.
5. Speak Clearly and When Required To
With most microphones, it is a possibility that surrounding noise may be picked up pretty easily. These serve as a disturbance for the other students in the meeting and may cause them to lose focus. To avoid this situation, most students should turn off their microphone and must only enable speech input when they do wish to or are required to speak.
When a student does want to speak, he/ she must first inform the entire class of their desire to speak with the “Raise Hand” functionality offered by most video conferencing applications. This will signal to the professor and other members that you wish to speak and you should wait for your chance patiently.
Once offered the chance to speak, students must be articulate in their speech and must ensure that their voice sounds crisp and clear for the others to hear.
6. Avoid Multitasking
Given the homely setting of the meetings, students may be urged to multitask while attending the online lectures. Any number of chores can be performed while being online for the classroom lectures, some of which include house chores, playing games or speaking with roommates. Students must however be mindful of the professor’s time and efforts while also keeping in mind their responsibilities towards their fellow students and avoid multitasking at all costs.
7. Avoid Inappropriate Use of Chat Functionality
As explained above, the applications used for these online classrooms do indeed provide features for chatting while the meeting is ongoing. This is necessary in most cases when resources such as links need to be shared or to be used when speech is not clear.
However, it may so happen that students may take undue advantage of this feature and have casual conversations amongst themselves. Such behavior substantially interferes with the productive environment for the classroom. With the many other issues students are likely to encounter during this online structure of teaching, distractions caused by fellow students should be avoided and hence, the chat functionality must only be used for its intended purpose.
8. Do Not Record the Meeting
With capable workstations now at every student’s disposal, some students may be able to record the entire meeting for their benefit later on. While it may be
helpful to the students to record the meeting and go over it in their time, it may not go over so well with the teachers. The professors may use confidential information in their lecture slides which may become available to students if the meeting itself is recorded. To avoid any such scenario, students must consider recording meetings only when permitted to do so.
9. Avoid Plagiarism
A highlight of the online structure for classrooms has been the manner in which examinations are now conducted. Professors are now forced to change the formats for most examinations and often release papers with some time limit for the students to complete. This format is considerably different from a conventional exam where the professor is able to monitor the students while the exam takes place. With the online structure, professors cannot monitor the students in any way, opening the doors for students to cheat and plagiarize answers. Such practices are highly disrespectful and have adverse effects and must be avoided at all costs.
The shift to online classrooms has been a new endeavor for both the professors and students. Given the current spread of the virus, this online methodology for education may be followed for quite some time in the near future. There are some advantages that are associated with this method of teaching as well. It does greatly increase the convenience for both parties involved while at the same time substantially reducing the risk factor of getting infected by the virus. With sufficient time and improved resources, it may be possible for universities to make the shift permanent from in-person classrooms to online classrooms. Whether or not this step is taken however, remains a decision for the future.
In the meantime, it must be noted that adjusting to and making the best use of this learning experience will take time. There is certainly a learning curve associated with this structure and one which must be figured out by each and every student alike. Abiding by the above mentioned etiquettes will go a long way in making this journey beneficial for the students. If followed, these rules will also help the professors in creating a professional and productive learning environment for the students.
With considerable time and effort being put in to adjust with the multitude of changes in our daily lives, following the above outlined etiquettes accounts for very less effort in making the shift to online classrooms easier and guarantees to provide a fruitful learning experience.