Teaching Beyond the Walls and the Boundaries of a Traditional Classroom

The first image that comes to our mind when we think of a classroom is a room with benches and a blackboard, in charge of a teacher who comes and start babbling the new lesson, without bothering how many students are actually listening. This is the traditional classroom where students are passive listeners and are treated as mere subjects. But with the changing time, the classroom has also become a little interesting with advent of modern aids to make it interactive and practical. Still we find that there is a scope of improvement in our modern classrooms also, as the interest element is still missing. How to encourage more and more students to participate in the classroom activities?

The world has become a small place with the advent of hi-tech tools which have made life very easy and removed the geographical distances between people. The widely accepted technology of video conferencing is doing wonders in the field of education by giving ample opportunities to the students to choose from. Getting access of the best schools and colleges has become easier which are trying to lure a large number of students through the virtual class concept. The traditional mould of classroom teaching has changed into a much advanced stage of education, where a student can learn his favorite subject, sitting in his home.

The deserving students who can't reach their favorite schools and colleges due to geographical restraints can now get the best of faculty by registering to the virtual classroom, which is not restricted to the four walls of the school. Learning through video conferencing system is as effective as any real classroom learning, where each student gets the teacher's attention and a chance to get involved in all the classroom activities. The face to face interaction with the teacher boosts the confidence in the students who are learning through these interactive modes. They get their share of assignments which help in assessing their performance in the class.

Teaching through interactive tools is more interesting, as it gives the chance to the teacher to explore the subject more deeply and discuss the lesson plan with subject experts on a video chat before delivering the same to the students. And teaching students from around the world gives immense pleasure and a sense of achievement to the teacher whose only job is to give the best. The traditional classroom teaching has its own constraints which don't give the freedom to experiment with the subject. So adopting a practical approach of teaching beyond the classroom will give hands on experience to the students, who learn more by observation.

The students can have a real experience of the place when they are actually there to witness all with the help of video conferencing. As a teacher you don't have to explain the details of a particular site if they are able to see it in real. The excursions and field trips for the virtual classes can become a fun activity for the students who won't miss the four walls of the traditional classroom and will eventually fall in love with virtual teaching method.