Back to School: How Virtual Classrooms Compare to Traditional Schools

-The coronavirus pandemic has completely flipped our world upside down which made us have to start thinking in new ways, especially when it comes to the classroom. 

This year, a lot of us had to think fast and learn how to adapt to virtual classrooms when trying to learn. 

Many students heading back to school will still have to do so virtually. The thing is that virtual classrooms might not be so different from traditional learning environments. 

In 2020, we have so much technology right at our fingertips, that virtual learning seems like the obvious choice. 

Keep reading for our guide to how virtual classrooms compare to traditional schools. 

Classroom Discussions

You might be thinking that moving classrooms to virtual schools means that you miss out on classroom discussions but that isn’t the case. Students will still be put in online classes together and still get chances to work with one another. 

For example, classroom zoom meetings are a huge factor when learning in 2020. Teachers and students can still meet together face-to-face but from the comfort of their own home. They will see each other on the computer screen virtually and be able to talk and communicate. 

This will help to promote discussion in the classroom which is the same as traditional learning. Your teacher can teach you a lesson via zoom and students can take part by answering questions and discussing any topics that might arise. 

Working With Other Classmates

Another important part of classroom zoom meetings is that students can interact directly with each other. Working with a partner isn’t only for traditional classroom learning but students can work with partners when e-learning too!

Whether they work face-to-face in a zoom call, direct message with each other, or even work off of zoom and send each other emails or text messages. Working with a partner can still be done in a virtual classroom. 

Discussion boards are also a big factor in virtual classrooms. They give your students another way to communicate with their partners in class. They can talk with their partners and learn more by collaborating with each other. 

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Listening to a Teacher’s Lecture

Sometimes e-learning won’t need a live virtual classroom but rather listening to a lesson from the teacher. A teaching podcast is a lesson that the teacher will record before the lesson. Sometimes it can be in a video format or other times it can be all audio. 

Students will listen to the podcast as if they were in the classroom and take notes. Teachers might provide a PowerPoint to help walk students through the lecture or they might let students take notes based on what they have to say. 

A teaching podcast is like being in a traditional classroom for many reasons. There are times when teachers teach students a lesson without much interaction from the students. They might have a big section that they want to teach the students that didn’t need a lot of interaction. 

Of course, this does limit the fact that sometimes students will still have questions during certain parts of a lecture. They can always email their teacher once they’re done listening to get their questions answered. 

Taking Exams and Quizzes

You might think that because students are at home taking an exam or quiz that they will be more likely to cheat. Studies show that 32.1% of students who took a face-to-face exam admitted to cheating. Yet, only 32.7% of students admitted to cheating during an online exam.

The difference between these two statistics is so minuscule that it shows most students are planning to be honest when they’re taking an exam or quiz regardless of oversight. 

Of course, there are ways to mimic a traditional classroom setting and lockdown your students’ browsers when they are taking an exam or quiz. This way they cannot access anything on their computers besides the test in front of them. 

There are also ways that you can view their camera during the test as if they were in a traditional classroom. These are ways to help prevent cheating while they’re taking online exams and quizzes from home. 

Working One-On-One With Their Teacher

Traditional classrooms let students work one-on-one with their teacher as long as the teacher has enough time in their day. Students can do this by raising their hands during class time and asking if the teacher can assist them. Yet, a student might feel uncomfortable going to the teacher to ask for help during class or even staying after class where everyone can see. 

On the other hand, with a virtual classroom, the student’s teacher is going to have much more free time to work with a student one-on-one. All a student needs to do is send a simple email to the teacher and then their teacher can arrange a time to meet with the student in a zoom call. 

This way the teacher can spend as much time helping the student as they need. The student will also feel more comfortable reaching out to their teacher for help because they didn’t need to do it in front of their entire class. 

One thing that the traditional classroom and virtual schools have in common is office hours. Many teachers will have designated office hours for students to freely ask the teacher any questions or concerns that they might have about their school work. 

Virtual Classrooms are Efficient 

Virtual classrooms help to give students and teachers the freedom of learning and teaching from the comfort of their own home. In fact, any room in your house can be turned into a virtual classroom. As long as you’re comfortable and have the right equipment to learn. 

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