IdentityI can handle any students who are weak in the study. In general, teaching a course as a virtual class requires more preparation on behalf of the instructor than in a traditional direction. While in the conventional case the path starts with the first day of class, in a virtual classroom the course needs to start at least two to three weeks before the beginning of the semester. The lead time is necessary to convey to the students all the course-related information, to clarify any misconceptions, and to answer any questions about the mechanics and contents of the course promptly. This usually takes the form of an initial welcome letter I send by surface mail to all registered students and follow-up questions I receive by phone and e-mail. The welcome message includes the course syllabus, my office hours, scheduled exam dates, and EIES training dates. The EIES training session has limited benefit since the students most likely to attend are the ones within a proximity to the campus. To provide the entire class with the opportunity to learn how to use the conferencing system, I believe we need to move to an on-line remote training that students can use to guide themselves in determining the features of the system. The training can be divided into multiple segments or modules that may require the student to spend 10 to 15 minutes per module. The necessity for online training is critical if the virtual classroom concept is to expand and include the majority of students who are located beyond a commuting distance.
It is critical that after the first week of the semester everybody is on board and able to use the system to perform minimal tasks such as the ability to read posted comments as well as posting comments to the class. To create a context in which I can determine if anyone is lagging I usually post the initial comment asking everyone in the course to post a message introducing themselves and sharing any appropriate information with their classmates, such as whether they are full-time students or whether they hold full-time jobs, any previous job experiences, hobbies, their expectations for this course, etc. The idea is not only to find out if anybody is having difficulty with using the system but also to develop a feeling among students that they know who is in the classroom and to bring people closer together. In some ways, this may allow the students to know about each other more than in a traditional classroom since often I find minimal interactions taking place among student in my regular class. This can also prove to be critical if I am to ask students to form groups of 3 or 4 members to work on group projects. Familiarity with members of the class and developed friendships can mirror the same effects that influence how groups are formed in a face to face class.
