As students, we have all been through surveillance of our teachers while we study our coursework they have to make sure we all are getting all the concepts cleared out without any hassle, and to give this seamless experience they would plan how to keep us engaged to our work as well as get all the performance data of all the students to keep track of the ones that need help and how well they perceive their course material.
We would always think that this monitoring could be done only through physical classrooms but online education changed the game. Professors now make sure everything is perfect through the class discussion board where every student can interact with each other, they are making sure they find every student focusing and participating in their programs respectively.
No matter how far they are, they can get access to these class discussion boards even without getting noticed by the students, they would instantly catch their behavior and progress if the students hire someone not competitive to do my class for me, they would recognize this activity if they don’t find the person on the other side participating in the discussion because the professors know how their students are and they look at every tiny detail.
Strategies Professors Use for Meaningful Engagement in Virtual Classrooms:
“They are watching” Hey! don’t get creeped out they are just your professors who are taking care of your education when you learn online in a class discussion board, they are the silent watchers who will be there from the start till the end to make sure every process is perfectly done. They are there to make sure the virtual classrooms stay on the track. They are there to maintain the decorum keep the conversations respectful and not go beyond the focus of learning
To ensure everything goes perfectly, the professors use some strategies to keep the students engaged so that they can learn from their virtual classrooms rather than getting distracted by other means of communication. The following are the strategies that they use:
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Leverage Interactive Platforms:
Professors know the psychology of students and with hands-on experience, they make sure every student is interactive with the discussions. They use platforms or software that gathers feedback instantly, it could be through the incorporation of multimedia presentations. Having these interactive platforms keeps the students engaged and active in the virtual classroom.
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Content Delivery in Different Ways:
Mixing things up works well for the engagement of virtual classrooms, professors are keen on making sure every student is learning the content they are providing and to do that they deliver it in different ways. They make pre-recorded lectures so that students can get their hands on them at any time, with live video sessions and interactive quizzes they make them lean towards learning more easily, and with a variety of learning styles, the professors make sure they are offering the best interactive education.
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Active Participation:
When providing education online to foster engagement professors tend to introduce strategies like active participation so that they don’t find any student lagging in between the sessions. To do that they use the breakout rooms where they make small groups and divide them into topic discussions and the students there could ask and give their thoughts via chat or voice.
Students are supervised according to that and they also get engaged through quizzes and challenges that are gamified by the professors for the students to learn properly and without getting disinterested which will also keep them motivated.
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Real-Time Feedback:
Virtual classrooms aren’t supportive when it comes to giving real-time feedback but the professors are there with their solutions and through instant messaging, and video conferencing tools they offer their feedback on quizzes or assignments that they have conducted.
They provide their valuable time giving insights to students and clarifying all their doubts regarding anything related to their respective subjects. With these immediate responses, every student gets to stay on track with their studies and their academic goals.
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Building Community:
To make sure that every student is engaged and is indulged in the virtual classroom professors provide them with community-building support, they form groups and give them projects to do together to become more familiar with each other and learn through each of their experiences and interaction where they will be able to share their different thoughts and ideas. They make sure every student is motivated to learn and foster in their field.
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Setting Clear Expectations:
Professors make it clear while using the strategy of setting certain expectations that are required from the attendee students of their virtual classroom. They make schedules and plans for them to follow where their assignments deadlines are presented, what the course objectives are what is expected from them to do, and what they would be required to do like how they should participate in the session online to get their degree or course completed successfully.
This transparency gives the students clarity for what they are expected to do and they feel motivated and pushed to do well.
The Ethical Considerations While Monitoring Students in Class Discussion Board:
Every person should have their privacy not breached at any cost and a student is equally considered as an individual who needs protection and ethical considerations to foster the balance between academic integrity and respecting student privacy.
The following are the ethical considerations that should be opted for by professors while monitoring students in class discussion board:
- Professors need to ensure academic integrity by monitoring student’s work to make sure they are not plagiarizing and involved in cheating but there should be limitations and they should not go beyond breaching student’s privacy.
- Professors should communicate the methods by which they will monitor their students and it should be at the beginning of their courses and not in between. Students should be informed about what information they are collecting.
- They should provide transparency to maintain the trust between the students and the professor so that it will foster a great learning environment for them. The accountability factor should be there to ensure that monitoring is fair and without any biases.
- While professors are capable of monitoring the students they should make sure they don’t intrude on their personal space, this involves the anonymity of data and no involvement of any third party or person, and their information is kept highly confidential.
- Professors should always encourage the diverse backgrounds and cultures of the students because online sessions are filled with students from around the world. They should cater to their learning styles and make sure that every student feels safe and valued.
Final Take:
In the classroom discussion board, every student needs to be interactive and be present with all their senses because they are getting monitored by the professors who make sure everyone is getting the right amount of education and they will foster in their courses while learning through virtual classrooms and never feel the difference between the traditional and online learning like if a student is enrolled in the philosophy class they would not need anyone to take my online philosophy class for me and be there on their own because of how interesting and interactive the professors make the sessions. They provide feedback instantly through different means and ways such as video conferencing clearing all the doubts and answering all the questions catering to their personalized requirements.