Personal
interaction and feedback between student and teacher in distance
education is less than it is in the normal traditional K-12 education.
The traditional classroom setting makes teaching more effective
for both the teacher and students. Visual cues from students help
teachers to have a better understanding of their students, especially
young aged students. A teacher would know if the students are
learning the lesson by making eye contact with them. A quick glance,
for example, reveals who is [confused, tired], attentively taking
notes, pondering a difficult concept, or enthusiastically preparing
to make a comment. As a result, the delivery of information is
adapted to meet the needs of
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the
class during a lesson. This important fact helps learning in a
traditional classroom to be more effective for students. In contrast,
in virtual classrooms interaction takes place almost entirely
by typing and reading from a computer terminal. In distance education
teachers often do not receive any visual information from their
students. The teacher never really knows if, for example, students
are asleep, talking among themselves, or even in the room. Separation
by distance also affects the general rapport of the class. Living
in different communities, geographic regions, or even states deprives
the teacher and students of a common community link.
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