What happens in my online class
I find the happenings of my online class pretty hilarious and pretty terrible at the same time. I will explain why as we move forward.
So, I have been having online classes for some time now and this is what usually happens.
We, meaning me and my fellow classmates, are having our online class. We are around a hundred.
None of our videos is ever turned on. Only our professors’ sometimes.
A usual day in class comprises of our professor speaking and everyone else logged in. I can’t say listening because I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. Actually even offline, I can’t say how many are listening.
What happens is our professor asks for an affirmative or negative while teaching and no one answers. It’s so awkward. Out of around a hundred students, not one answers or replies.
No one answers if the professor asks shall we move on or yes or no, etcetera.
The real confusing part is when they ask if anyone has doubts or the like. I can’t answer no because I might not have doubts but some others might. So I think we all just keep waiting until the professor starts again.
This continued till the time a professor started threatening us with our attendance.
Yes. Threatening.
The professor would say that whenever they ask a question now, they will name people they want answers from.
This is the offline class equivalent of writing a question on the board and looking at the students as all the students evade the professor's eyes. Some look away, some are dozing and rarely is anyone meeting the professor's eyes for fear of being the unlucky chosen one.
This is the part I find hilarious.
However, online is different. Everyone has their audios and videos turned off which is pretty convenient. The professor threatens and out of around a hundred students, barely ten answer even in the face of that threat. It’s so easy to evade now.
This was the stick.
Now comes the carrot.
The professor says whoever engages will get plus points. This has very little effect but it still does. A few people engage but after some time even they become immune to this like becoming immune to certain medicines if you take them a lot. The effect decreases.
This is the part where I feel terrible.
I feel so bad for the professor. Less bad if they are an a****le. This terrible part is the part where no one answers. Imagine yourself being on the stage and asking a question or trying to make the session interactive but you get no response whatsoever. Even worse, no one shows any interest. That’s how it is.
And the same happened with both the carrot and stick. Now I’m just waiting and watching. I hope the professor rolls out a new strategy.
Seriously though, we should not f*ck with them so much you know. I would cry if it happened to me.
So tread carefully. Very very carefully. Damaged person ahead ( it’s me if it’s not clear ).
