According to the United States Census Bureau, in August 2020, approximately 98 percent of all households with school-aged children reported doing at least some online learning. In this article, I have shared “How to Set Virtual Learning Expectations For Students”
Despite the fact that distance learning existed before the Internet, this was the first significant shift toward virtual learning.
Suddenly, teachers throughout the nation had to consider the possibility of instructing in this novel setting of a virtual classroom with little to no preparation.
What they failed to recognize, however, is that the crucial first step to success in online teaching was defining clear virtual learning expectations for students, just as they had done in their physical classrooms.
While virtual learning standards differ from those at regular schools, they are nonetheless just as significant.
Managing your eLearning environment without them might be terrible.
What LMS platform should you use? Find out in this article
Why Are Expectations for Students Important in eLearning?
On the first day of class, students of all ages enter our classrooms with wide eyes, eager to learn from our subject-matter knowledge through projects, hands-on activities, peer-to-peer contact, and teacher-led instruction.
Great teachers understand the value of creating a community of standards and facilitating a healthy learning environment before imparting any of our information to these eager learners, though.
This community includes expectations. They serve as the compass that keeps pupils on course. Early expectations setting can reduce classroom management concerns, push students to reach greater goals, and build trust between students and teachers.
It’s crucial to make expectations clear to remote learners.
Why?
Because they are not physically present in a classroom with other students, virtual learners are unable to read body language and facial expressions as well as traditional students. It’s one of the primary distinctions between classroom instruction and online instruction.
Online students have fewer options for communication than their classmates who attend classes in person, so they are less likely to ask for assistance, clarification, or a fast deadline reminder.
Students who are prepared for online learning are more likely to succeed. Understanding the requirements lays a strong basis for success for digital learners.
What are the Most Important Virtual Learning Expectations for Students?
1. Workspace Expectations
It may not be immediately clear, but every digital learner has a private workspace that is unsupervised by the teacher or institution. Many people want help creating a favorable learning environment.
Teachers can choose what is crucial for pupils to have close at hand by taking into account their teaching level and subject area. Depending on such factors, a few suggestions are:
- A calm location is free of background noise and distractions such as dogs, siblings, toys, and games
- a spot on the floor that is well-lit and spotless where they can plug their device into a power source.
- Pens, pencils, crayons, glue, and paper are examples of office supplies.
2. School Day Routine Expectations
Many students will depend on the online instructor to publish precise login hours for students and uphold that routine as there is no bell schedule, bus pick-up time, or parent drop-off time. The precise attendance and academic day expectations should be made clear to students, and they should be reminded frequently.
Consider and express the following school day routine expectations:
- When will users of your virtual conference platform be able to log in and out?
- When participating in what activities will students have their microphones and cameras on, and when will they be muted? Is going off-camera ever acceptable?
- When, if ever, should students use the “chat” feature?
- What should I do when I want to ask a question?
Whatever their choices, students must follow the daily schedule in order to succeed.
3. Turning-Work-In Expectations
Many institutions use platform-specific submission procedures for assignments. Email is used by some. Others receive finished work via a mix of methods. Whatever the teacher or institution decides, make sure that virtual students are aware of the proper procedures for submitting their work.
To make sure everyone is familiar with the process and there are no technical issues, it is a fantastic idea to practice handing in samples before the work is truly tallied toward their grade.
The timing is another part of this anticipation. Virtual students are more subject to various time restrictions and learning conditions than traditional students. In the digital environment, submitting work “on time” could mean something else.
In a traditional classroom, homework is typically due at the end of the session or at the beginning of the next session. Because they are time-stamped when they are submitted, long-term projects for online students may have due dates with varying times on them.
The time of day might be included in the due date by the online instructor. For due dates, teachers may take into account evening hours, weekend hours, or even holidays.
If distance learners are expected to effectively follow the turn-in procedures, they must be aware of them.
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