About Online School

A student-teacher relationship has traditionally been very formal. But with the changing scenario of the education sector and the pattern of teaching, this relationship has seen a lot of changes. Nevertheless, communication with teachers still remains polite and marked with caution. With the boom of the online school teaching, students now opt for courses for which they do not need to attend regular schools but can study from home. These online school courses often require them to communicate with teachers online.

Particularly important for any student attending an online school is the mode of proper communication with the teachers, since maintaining good inter-relationship between a student and teacher is highly important for imparting quality education and proper evaluation. Students are bound to have doubts or require clarifications regarding their subjects while studying in online school. The following points should be taken care of by students of online school while communicating with their teachers:

• Use Email: Often teachers prefer communicating via emails with these students of online school. It is essential for students from the online school to maintain good norms while sending mails to their teachers. This can be in terms of the language used, grammatically sound sentences, proper explanation of their problem areas and most importantly, their greetings or acknowledgements to the teacher. The email should begin with proper identifications of the student like the student’s name and the course, the subject concerned, the doubtful area, specific and to the point sentences and lastly, a proper considerate ending with a “thank you.” It is vital for any online school student to read and check for errors in the mail again and again before finally sending the mail to the teacher. After all, the email makes an impression of the student on the teacher.
• Prepare Precise Questions: But utmost care is to be taken while communicating clearly with teachers. Usually, teachers do not welcome abstract or imprecise questions which do not explain the student’s point of doubt properly. This is considered as a waste of time. A genuine amount of interest of learning and enthusiasm is to be indicated in the form of questions asked by a student of an online school.
• Check Schedules: Though majority of teachers love to clear problematic areas in a course for a student, especially from an online school, it is always advisable for the student not to interrupt in the teachers work timings. This is not a problem with things like email, but may apply to other communication methods like chat. A certain amount of courtesy and respect can help. Be flexible in your scheduling.
• Remember the Flaws: However, though emails have proved many times to be one of the most effective forms of communication between teachers and student of an online school, emails also have several drawbacks. Various researches conducted on the matter have noted down three essential problems, namely, lack of facial or vocal expressions, making it even more difficult for the recipient to decode any form of expression even if expressed by the sender; carelessness in mails, due to the conveyance of a lot of information in limited words and limited space; and the lack of possibility to build some form of a personal rapport between the two parties, thus leaving the relationship very flimsy and only at a superficial level.
• Try the Phone: It is often sensible for a student of an online school to not depend solely on email conversations with the teachers but, if possible, should opt for telephone conversations as well. This avoids all forms of miscommunications and obscurities between the student and the teacher and help in forging better communicative relationships. This may not be practical, depending on where in the world your school is located.

A major problem in the online school teaching method is the lack of any verbal communication between the teacher and the students. This leaves only the option of communicating through the web. Take this into account, and do your best to keep in touch with your teacher.

What other tools and tricks do you use for effective communication in a virtual world?