Feedback

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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