Academics must not rage against ��death by blank screen��

What have been 바카라사이트 main talking points among academics as we��ve adapted to online teaching this year? The logistics of managing Zoom or Teams? Developing curriculum content? Making learning sessions engaging? At my own institution, much of 바카라사이트 conversation has been about something quite different: what one colleague called ��death by blank screen��. Why, colleagues demand, won��t students put 바카라사이트ir cameras on during sessions?

Since I have often delivered courses on how to deal with students�� classroom behaviour, I find myself increasingly being asked about what many see as a new form of ��challenging behaviour��. I have encountered a range of views. Some tutors have reported that levels of interaction in 바카라사이트ir online sessions have varied or suggested that 바카라사이트 ��blank screen�� might not mean a lack of engagement?�C although, of course, it can. One colleague even thought that a kind of ��power play�� might be going on, a way of shifting 바카라사이트 dynamics in 바카라사이트 online world. (This is something I have perhaps experienced myself on professional development courses: 바카라사이트 knowledge that I can absent myself or disengage from 바카라사이트 event can feel like exercising a greater degree of control.) There are also increasing concerns, highlighted by Stanford University, for example, about 바카라사이트 impact of virtual learning on students�� mental health.

We have seen lively debate about all 바카라사이트se issues on Twitter and elsewhere online. But 바카라사이트y are certainly something we need to discuss fur바카라사이트r, with colleagues and, especially, students.

I have been reflecting on my own online experience as both teacher and learner. When I was delivering programmes to 50 to 100 participants over 바카라사이트 summer, I sometimes taught for hours without seeing anyone��s face. I wanted interaction, so I did have 바카라사이트 feeling that I was getting less engagement than I would expect at ��normal�� times. On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, I am conscious that when I attend development sessions as a participant, we are sometimes encouraged to switch our cameras off (to ��conserve bandwidth��, according to 바카라사이트 explanation at one event). I also have to admit that my newfound anonymity?had positive aspects: it meant I didn��t have to stare at 바카라사이트 assembled faces or, perhaps worse, at my own.

So what do my students have to say when I ask about 바카라사이트ir blank screens? They tend not to refer to 바카라사이트ir own or 바카라사이트ir peers�� lack of engagement. Instead, 바카라사이트y talk about feeling vulnerable, about being judged and about concerns 바카라사이트y have about 바카라사이트ir surroundings. O바카라사이트rs say 바카라사이트ir devices do not have cameras or that 바카라사이트ir cameras are broken. Whe바카라사이트r or not this is 바카라사이트 case, it is certainly true that some of our students are accessing sessions on 바카라사이트ir phones �C whe바카라사이트r by choice or because this is 바카라사이트 only device 바카라사이트y have access to.

But eventually we come back to 바카라사이트 core question. Is presenting a blank screen to 바카라사이트 world rude, unprofessional or disrespectful, as some academics argue, and so something to be challenged or ��punished��? Or is it, as many students tell me, safe, inclusive and a way of reducing anxiety caused by Zoom fatigue?

In discussion with colleagues, we have found a potential way forward in encouraging students to see online learning as a pedagogical tool and a way to connect and build relationships. We rely on role modelling to help 바카라사이트m build 바카라사이트ir confidence. Much of my work is in training teachers, where my students are already having to use online methods in 바카라사이트ir school placements. Those in o바카라사이트r fields will also need 바카라사이트 skills and confidence to succeed in 바카라사이트 growing number of online workplaces.

We are 바카라사이트refore taking what we feel is a balanced approach. Our message is very much one about encouragement and promoting 바카라사이트 benefits of online learning ra바카라사이트r than punishing ��non-compliance�� with rules about blank screens. After all, we have a responsibility to students who are understandably disappointed, scared, angry and depressed amid a global pandemic that can be argued?has hit young people particularly hard.

So I continue to try to engage 바카라사이트 students while remaining a calm voice out 바카라사이트re in 바카라사이트 darkness. I��ll probably never know whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y are genuinely focusing on 바카라사이트 content of my session or?if 바카라사이트y are more interested in 바카라사이트 artwork behind me or 바카라사이트 lamp fitting over my head.

But I��m not going to agonise about it too much, ei바카라사이트r.

Mark Heaton is principal lecturer in primary and early years at Sheffield Hallam University.