One of the key activities that a teacher has to undertake is to monitor the progress of the students and ensure that the gap between what is expected and the current level of understanding is reduced. With online learning, it has become even more challenging to gauge the effectiveness of teaching and learning. Teachers have to capture the attention of their respective students for the length of the period and make sure that every one of them is on par with each other.
Digital education solutions have taken over conventional teaching methods for almost a year now, and there appears to be no decision taken yet with regards to schools functioning as normal in the next academic year. In fact, students are getting ready to face their annual/final assessments to proceed to the next grade. In order for teachers to make every student successful in the learning process, constructive feedback is the best way forward. This has to be continual and designed in such a way that students are aware of what is expected of them on any given day. There are a few edtech solutions that can be implemented for the purpose.
Easy way to monitor progress and give feedback in virtual classrooms
  • Interactive learning
    Interactive lessons give rise to interactive learning! And, in the current scenario, this is the ideal method of teaching. This holistic approach is believed to be effective for students of all grades. Having the students on their feet with questions and keeping them involved in the whole learning process helps them understand and retain better. Tools such as chat boxes, surprise quizzes, assessments, and using practical teaching methods as opposed to verbal knowledge transfer are the best. Make sure that the students interact with each other as well in addition to the teacher. Giving them group projects is one such activity that encourages peer interaction.
  • Virtual collaboration
    As mentioned above, with the help of collaborative projects/tasks, students interact with each other and collaborate for a common goal. They will be encouraged to use educational resources from varied sources and this helps them in their research and analytical skills. Putting their findings into words improves their communication skills too. While speaking to their peers in the virtual collaboration process, they learn how to convince others of their knowledge by backing it up with proof.
  • Peer feedback
    As important as it is for teachers to offer periodic feedback to their students, it is also essential for them to know what their peers think. Peer feedback is a tool that makes online learning effective. Having someone tell them about how they can improve their performance in a casual manner and using a language that is comprehensible is something that can help students work on specific areas of improvement.
  • Follow the ideal grading system
    Since assessments are the best way to monitor the progress of students, such activities need to be carried out on a regular basis. Post the assessment, comes the grading. Adopting a foolproof grading system is a preferred method of monitoring student progress and giving them feedback.
    However, just grading the assignment is not enough. The teacher has to follow it up individually with how the answers can be improved and explain to them ways to do better the next time. This is to make sure that students understand the concepts better and are able to solve questions pertaining to them without any trouble. It will also create an equal learning opportunity for all the students and not be limited to just a handful of children.
  • Use competent tools for the best results
    Whiteboards, video and audio files and gamification are some of the tools that you can make the most of in virtual classrooms. Most teachers also use social media platforms for higher grades to stay connected with their students. These are meant to keep the interaction levels between peers at the maximum possible limit and ensure seamless and effective learning.
The final word on feedback and monitoring students’ progress
For teachers, it is not enough just to teach the prescribed syllabus and conduct assessments. Teaching is an ongoing process and has to be supplemented with monitoring the progress and giving feedback to the students. Using the aforementioned best practices, this can be accomplished successfully in the online learning environment.