Out-of-class pupils invade video conference
Vignette #43
Context
During distance learning I often use video conferences to teach my pupils. The pupils do not switch on their camera due to several reasons. This is something I still have to get used to. One thing that is really disturbing and annoying is that sometimes pupils from other classes sneak into the conference because my class handed over the link of the conference room to others. Either these out-of-class pupils replaced the pupils of my class (they had logged in with the name of my pupils) and I only found out by chance that the pupils of my class are missing or they logged in with some funny fictious name just to disturb the lesson briefly. Now I ask the pupils to switch on their camera for a few minutes at the beginning of the lesson, so that I can see who is logged into the conference. But this is not a very smooth start to a lesson and I do not feel very comfortable with this control behaviour. One time it also happened that such out-of-class pupils wrote some rude comments on the whiteboard. I could not find out who the pupils were.
Dilemma
I have the feeling that video conferences are not the best choice for distance learning. Class management and controlling the pupils is quite exhausting for me and I think it is also ineffective for the learning of my pupils. This might be the reason why they play tricks by "inviting" out-of-class pupils. Maybe I should try out other forms of teaching?
Choices
- I could find out about the pupils opinion (tool 3 + 3a, tool 13)
- I could help the pupils to collaborate during learning tasks (tool 12)
- I could ask for support from my colleagues (tool 21, tool 25)