The Virtual Classroom — Where No One is In the Back of the Room
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Recently I was interviewed by a student journalist about my experiences teaching online this semester. She posed an unexpected question: What do I like best about teaching online? I’ve been so focused on meeting the challenges of online instruction, rather than considering its unexpected benefits, that the question took me by surprise. I was even more surprised that an answer came to me readily: I like the fact that all my students are equally visible to me, and that they are all the same size onscreen. In virtual terms, no one is sitting in the back of the classroom, and so I don’t feel that any of them are further away from me than the others.
Article displayed with permission from LinkedIn.com
In a physical classroom, of course, not everyone can sit in front, and many students (including me, when I was in school) prefer seats further back. As teachers, we try to bridge that space while still respecting our students’ seating preferences. We might look past the front rows to direct more questions to the back of the room. I tend to move around my classrooms a lot during class discussions so that I can see and hear my students better.
But in my virtual classroom, everyone is on the front row, and I can see them all equally. My online meeting platform calls this way of viewing an audience the “gallery” view—a term I find very appropriate, as it evokes the idea of a passageway or room in which art is experienced.
As I “walk” among the portraits in this gallery, I comprehend more profoundly than ever that every student is an original and a masterpiece. They are each unique, but they all have equal prominence and presence. Although we are separated by a computer screen, we are all here, and we are all learning together. And I am inspired more than ever by my mission as an educator--to ensure that when it comes to being seen, heard, and valued, no students are sitting at the back of the room.
