Online Classes Issues and Struggles...

Technology can really influence teaching in good and bad ways. Of course, it comes in handy, since media can also make things more complete and interesting. However, every coin has a flipside and the flipside to this is that technology sometimes can complicate some processes and cause issues for the whole class. Sometimes, some factors such as technical difficulties or unfamiliarity with using technology can cause problems to occur during classes and teaching-learning processes. Such problems or issues might be:

 

1. Technical issues

Technology is both a blessing and a curse. It can be really practical and time saving, while doing also the opposite and destroying all your nerves during the process. Technical issues occur all the time, and sometimes it is not because of the lack of knowledge, but simply to the fact that the internet connection might be unstable or even out of service, the computer might be lagging and freezing, the PowerPoint presentation is not loading, your speakers/camera/microphone are not working, your accounts are not functioning properly out of nowhere, and so many others that we can mention while cringing because, no lie, all of us has experienced these more than once.     

 

2. Adapting to unfamiliar technology

It is not easy when you resort to a whole new way of making things they way you used to and having to learn a lot of new things. It can be quite challenging for both students and teachers to adapt to all the new technology simply because they weren’t used to it before. Considering that also not everyone has the same experience, some people might be better at technology and some might be worse. Adapting to a new, unfamiliar way is never easy. People who have never used apps to write or create assignments will have a hard time learning it and getting the hang of it at first and this might continue for quite some time.   

 

3. Video anxiety

The teachers know it, the students know it: “video anxiety” is a thing. Teachers need students to open their cameras so that they ensure the students are paying attention and also to get to know them better, as this is the only way they can be together just like they would in a classroom. Students dread opening their cameras or speaking during classes and feel very uncomfortable participating in general. They get anxious and don’t perform as they would in a real classroom. They fear being judged or being made fun of, things that could happen in real life too but they still tend to overthink it more as they cannot fully see what their peers are up to. So, it can be a problem if students are unwilling to cooperate with the teacher’s demands and if they are not using their full academic potential because of an issue like this.  

 

The important and key thing to this is to remember that you might never expect a certain issue, but what you can do is to learn how to manage and overcome it. Trying to understand and to manage to come up with something whenever such issues appear will bring you success at the end of the class.