Criterion Of A Good Online Class

 

To understand the exact functioning of an online class we need to at first understand about the long traditional face-to-face brick-and-cement offline classes. 

We have to see what are the most important factors that can make an offline class a good or bad one. 

Once we can get to that point then we can easily get to the respective corresponding factors those make an online class good or bad.

So lets see how an offline brick-and-cement classroom functions….

Among many different factors that can affect offline classes directly or indirectly, these are some most prominent –

1. Students
2. Teachers
3. Text books and study materials
4. Blackboard 
5. Classroom
6. Peers and classmates

In case of an online class all the above factors are almost common but there one significant difference….there is no real blackboard in online class. Yes it is true that there are no blackboard in online class but there are good alternative for that. There are online video conferencing softwares in which there is inbuilt text sharing applications working similar to blackboard. There are LMS or Learning Management Systems that give many options and facilities to communicate with the online students. Also the classroom in case of an online class is much different. Yes it is supposed that you will be sitting in a room only while attending your online classes, but that room is perhaps your bedroom or living room! So we need to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this. Let us see how the above mentioned factors determines the quality of an offline or online class –

 1.  Students

Students play the central role for any education arrangements, online or offline. Afterall education institutions are for the purpose of students’ education only. 

So quality and quantity of students in any class plays a major decisive role in the quality and pedagogy of education.

Usually quality of education is directly proportional to quality of students and inversely proportional to the quantity of students in any classroom setup. 

This same equation is well applicable for any online class as well. So a good online class is expected to consist of low quantity of high quality students.

This is one of the most important factor for making any online or offline class a good place of education. 

Online class students need to be more active and responsible in their learning processes than an offline class student. This is technically  called Active Learning. Offline class students can manage with passive learning and still keep his quality of learning and knowledge aquisition better. But for online students the matter is different. 

Better time management, more active and inspired engagements with learning, better online communication skills are some requirements of a good and successful online class student. 

 

2. Teachers

After students the next most important factor are teachers. But I think sometimes may be teachers are more important factor than students when the question is about the quality of classroom education.

I think and believe that a good teacher can turn a bad student into good. But have you ever heard that a good student turns a bad teacher into good? Perhaps never! That’s why I say teachers are more important decisive factor than students. 

So class may it be online or offline, if taken by a good and efficient teacher then that class is always bound to be a good quality class even if the students are not of that good quality. And as students will keep on attending such a class he or she will transform into a good student sooner or later.

Teachers who take online class are required to have some qualities like good skills on software applications, computers and mobile phones, good online communication skill, mentoring and teaching qualities and so on. 

Abundance of such qualities of teachers can make a class-ful of ordinary students into high quality motivated students with improved learning.

 

3. Text books and study materials

Study materials play a very crucial role in the overall education process. Good quality study materials and text books of renouned authors are always a best choice for better student progress. 

In online class, usually some kind of study material of electronic or digital former are followed. The quality of such study materials should be maintained and supervised properly. Constant evaluation of their effectiveness on student understanding, learning and performance should be done. 

Many online class can use some text books also. Text books are usually very exhaustive and reliable medium of transfer of information and knowledge to students. Teachers must use text books which are of high quality and by renowned authors.

 

4. The blackboard

As I have already said that there is no real blackboard in an online class. But there is a virtual one.

In an offline class a blackboard or may be a white board instead, serves a very important purpose for teaching and explaining theories and concepts. Sometimes teacher uses some kind of overhead projector or digital projector to show slides or presentation on the white board. All these helps the teacher to explain things even better. 

It is found that if students can be engaged audio-visually rather than only audibly then that result in better understanding of concepts and transfer of information and knowledge. And even memory retention of information for audio-visuals are much higher than just an audible class. This is the reason why offline teachers are inspired to use blackboards or whiteboards exhaustively in their class sessions.

The same applies to an online teacher. Beside just lecturing and explaining the subject concepts, he need some kind of text sharing applications where he can write and all the students can see that in real-time live streaming. 

Fortunately now there are many online video conferencing software which have integrated options like blackboard type text-sharing and even computer screen sharing and so on. Most of the good LMS (Learning Management Systems) have such options of video conference and text sharing as inbuilt applications. 

So the online class to be really good, you have to use the options of available technology for the benefit of students’ learning and this becomes a very important and compulsory criteria.

 

5. Classroom 

In case of an offline brick-and-cement class there is a room in the campus of your school or college where you are supposed to sit and stare at your teacher or professor to acquire some idea or information about what he or she is trying to explain about the subject. 

But in online class that room is perhaps your own bedroom or living room. This has its obvious advantages as well as disadvantages. Your bedroom or living room can be the best place for your education or may even be the worst place as well. All depends on the environment at your home. 

If you can maintain your room and home environment optimally for studies and education then your online class will have great learning experience. You will have great information and knowledge acquisition from all your online learning activities.

 

6. Peers and classmates

Classmates plays an important role in our traditional brick-and-cement offline classroom. Either you can learn some good things from them or you can learn some bad. And I have seen if one learns 1 good thing then it is at the cost of 9 bad things…..so the gain is perhaps not more than 10% in any case….

Anyway in case of online classes the role of classmates are not so direct as it is in case of offline class. But still having a classful of quality students can considerably enhance the overall quality of the class learning. 

Good and intelligent classmates are expected to involve into more intensive subject interaction, discussion and exchange of ideas with both the teacher and fellow students. This can stimulate the apetite of learning and contribute to better and diversified information acquisition. 

But again, we have to understand and remember the limits as too much socialization and interaction are in most cases detrimental for studies and learning both in online and offline cases. 

So these are the basic criteria of a good online class. If these basic factors are taken care of then there are very good chance of having a great online learning experience for you. 

Happy learning….