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What Is An Online College Classroom?
What Is A Virtual Classroom?
If you have never taken or seen an online class, the thought of taking an online class can be a little confusing and intimidating. But before you give up on the idea of taking an online class, you should know that it is easier to learn than most realize!
Benefits of a Virtual Classroom
Virtual classrooms have many benefits over classroom instruction. Many online students have professional and personal responsibilities and priorities that cannot and should not be avoided. With e-learning, students can complete courses on their own time, rather than rearranging their work or family schedules in order to attend classes. And since your classes are held on the internet, you can attend from anywhere in the world, as long as you have an internet connection. But even with all of these benefits, and more, even the novice internet user or non-traditional student can return to the virtual classroom with little extra effort or technological understanding.
Learning Management Systems
A virtual classroom starts with a learning management system (LMS). The LMS is the portal that students log into to access their online courses. The portal holds all of your course contents, including syllabi, assignments, videos, discussion boards, quizzes, exams, and sometimes even a live classroom with video and audio.
How Is A Virtual Classroom Organized?
Regardless the LMS that your school uses, once you log into your portal you will see a list of all classes in which you are currently enrolled. Next, you will select the class that you want to access. The first time that you enter each class, you should explore the classroom so that you will not miss any important information, such as due dates, contact information for your professor, etc.
Once inside the individual class, you will notice that all contents of the course are laid out logically and chronologically. Typically, this list is organized by the weeks of the class or the lesson number. Throughout your course, you will progress through the list in order, making sure to complete and submit all assignments and quizzes or exams by their due date.
Most classes have a specific date that the individual lessons, assignments, quizzes, and tests become available to the students, and a later date at which they will close, and become inaccessible. Your syllabus should indicate these dates, and you should pay careful attention that you complete and submit all assignments, including quizzes and tests, by their due date, or they will likely close and you receive no points or credit for a later submission. This might sound strict, but you have to remember that assignments given in a classroom also have a due date. Additionally, online classes generally do not require assignments be turned in on a specific date - you will have a timeframe during which you can do it at your own convenience, around your own schedule.
More Benefits of Virtual Classrooms
In addition to all of the benefits of online classes that we have already discussed, online students will instantly recognize many other advantages over the traditional classroom setting:
1. Instant, Accurate Grade(s). Your course portal should display your grade for each assignment, quiz, and exam either immediately after you submit it, or once the due date passes. Once displayed, you will be able to access your grades at any time, so that you always know exactly where you stand in the class, and exactly what grades you need to receive on remaining assignments.
2. Dropboxes. Dropboxes are tools within the course that allow you to upload your assignments directly to your professor. Aside from the convenience, dropboxes are usually designed to allow for larger filesizes that most email clients, and provide tracking that proves when and what you submitted.
3. Interactivity (for Different Learning Styles). Most online classes are designed to meet the needs of each of three distinct learning styles: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Whether you learn best by hearing, seeing, or doing, there should be some component of each lesson that is designed specifically for your learning style, to ensure that you grasp the content and succeed in the class. Learn more about these learning styles in the My E-Degree article Online Learning Styles.
