Teaching with Technology
Another problem that surfaces with the use of virtual classrooms is communicating effectively. The program allows you to use chat, microphones and webcams, but they of course depend on the hardware of both the teacher and students, as well as the speed of the internet. Because the communicating happens through cables and satellites, there is also the normal delay, making conversations slightly slower, which anyone who has made phone calls through the internet have noticed. This communication problem is not only dependent on the slow internet, but also for the general passiveness of the students and sometimes the fear of participating. This is of course, dependent on the individual, but also the general culture of communicating. Finns for example, through my own experience, are generally a bit shy and reluctant to take part in anything. If, for whatever reason, the teacher gets little to no feedback or communication from the students, it can be very difficult to guage the level of understanding. Teachers can ' t see the puzzled faces of their students when they are not there, nor can the teachers see if the students are just twiddling their pens because the content isn ' t challenging enough. For the teaching to be effective, the teacher should know how the audience is receiving the teaching, and to improve or change the perspective based on it. Therefore the teacher may require different communication strategies. These are of course problems that are not really based on the platform, but more problems with online teaching in general. A student needs to work harder and have more willpower to keep them focused, which is not a problem for very well motivated students, but for an average student it can just be the reason why online teaching is generally worse than traditonal teaching. In conclusion, Adobe Connect is an effective tool for teaching, if it is used for the right purpose and for the right audience. It has a lot of possibilities and many effective ways to satisfy any sort of needs that you might have as a teacher. The general problems with teaching online are present in this program as well, but they are not reinforced by the platform, making it a good choice for online teaching.
Finnish team, Antti Pekkala
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