Advantages of the virtual classroom
Until you experience it, it is rather difficult to comprehend the numerous ways in which technology can help ease the teaching process and at the same time reach out to a larger, more diverse audience. The virtual classroom is becoming more and more popular because of its enormous reach and also because it enables students, sitting in the comfort of their college/school premises, to interact with experts in various fields. It also cuts down on travel time both for the students and the teacher. Satellite education, as it is otherwise known, can reach students across thousands of miles, simultaneously connecting various states in the country. It is also a medium whereby students understand that they are not alone in their struggle as they listen to fellow students from different institutions voicing the same doubts and fears. At the same time, it induces the so-called slow learners to chug faster because in this varied interaction, they can see that they are not doing their best.

The virtual classroom requires the teacher to face a camera in a studio that is equipped with a computer system and a Power Point presentation on the subject to be handled. The studio lis also equipped with a whiteboard which the trainer uses, just as the teacher uses the blackboard in a classroom.

Jitters
The most unnerving feature about online teaching in the studio is getting accustomed to watching your own face! Of course, you can view the students on the side monitor and hear them, provided the end user adjusts the camera accordingly and makes sure that the mike is switched on, and the battery is not weak! Sometimes the camera is focused on the ceiling or on the feet of the students! It is imperative therefore, for the coordinator in the educational institution to be constantly present, rather than just switch on the camera and mike and do the disappearing act! It is here that the studio personnel play an important role in checking with the institution on whether every piece of equipment required is working. Once these conditions are met, the faculty and the students can interact naturally, as in any classroom. Of course, it takes time for both students and the teacher to get used to this kind of interaction.

At a pre-determined time, when the teacher is seated in the studio, and the students are in their college/school studio, all the parties go on air. The image of the teacher is projected on a large screen so that all the students can view the teacher. The teacher announces the topic and goes on to elaborate with the help of the whiteboard and the power point presentations.

Students interrupt to raise questions or get their doubts cleared. Occasionally, when the mike does not work, students use the chat mode to get their questions answered. The teacher then reads the question and answers aloud so that other educational institutions that are tuned in may also benefit.

Student participation
In a classroom situation, the teacher is sometimes greeted by a sea of puzzled or frowning faces, leading her to elaborate on the topic. In the virtual classroom, the onus is on the students to get their doubts clarified because it is not possible for the teacher to get a view of all the students and read their expressions. Students, therefore, become more responsible for their own learning since they are conscious of the fact that they cannot go into the staffroom, or bump into the teacher in the corridor to get their doubts cleared. This actually helps them develop their listening skills. It also helps them get over their nervousness of communicating with a stranger. However, trainers must also be prepared for marathon sessions when they are forced to perform solo because the coordinator has not checked out the mikes prior to the session or because of some technical snag. Such occasions can be stressful because the only mode of interaction with the students would be via chat or email.

Shy or nervous students occasionally open up in the virtual classroom because they do not feel as threatened as they do in the conventional classroom since they are miles away from their teacher! Students get exposed to a peer group from another region. This sometimes gets them to vie with one another during group discussions, and it also gives them an opportunity to assess their own weaknesses and strengths.

"Excerpt from the article Online teaching: the inside story by Manaswini Sridhar originally published by Teacher Plus magazine... Reproduced with permission."

Read the entire article at http://www.teacherplus.org/2009/december-2009/online-teaching-the-inside-story

During a normal school day, a student spends about six hours within a classroom. For every hour spent learning new things, good health and state of mind have always been accepted factors that influence performance. However, during these six hours of school, performance is hugely impacted by how the student is seated in the classroom. Studies show that students get influenced by how far they are from the teacher, by the view from their seat and also by who is seated next to them.

Classroom seating arrangements are always situational, and requirements vary all the time. The type of furniture and space constraints in a typical Indian classroom do not always allow for much flexibility, but the resourceful teacher may be able to find ways to vary seating arrangements - for example, by taking the children outside the class when different arrangements would work better. For instance, a group discussion amongst students requires a "cluster" arrangement while a collaborative discussion demands a "semi-circular" arrangement. Each of them contributes to the levels of learning. This article gives an insight into different seating arrangements and how they can be best used to provide children with appropriate proximity from the point of action, proper ventilation, illumination, maximum comfort, and keep clear of classroom traffic. It is surprising to see how a simple change in seating arrangement can soak in all the distraction and transform the mood of a session.

The individual and group characteristics of students in a class also impact the requirements. So, by merging what we know about our students with the ideal physical environment we can maximize teaching and learning efficiency. There are many seating arrangements that teachers can use. Some common arrangements are cluster, desk rows, table rows, semi- circle, pairs and centers or activity zones.

In India, the conventional "desk rows" have been in use for decades. This is because of the need to accommodate a large number of students in every class. "With a large strength, changes in the seating arrangement become very restricted. It is usually only in the labs that the table rows are used, where the requirements are different from the usual," says Mrs. Pansy, a retired teacher from St. George's High School who has taught for 25 years and in the regular setting never deviated from the traditional seating arrangement. But she does agree that when the number of students is small then there certainly are opportunities to experiment with seating arrangements. She recollects her own experience of teaching a class of five students in Varanasi. Once when the weather was inviting, Mrs. Pansy took her Science class out under a tree for their day's lesson. She says the students seemed to enjoy the change and were surprisingly, very receptive. For a teacher in a typical school, however, such opportunities are rare, Mrs. Pansy admits. Also being an English teacher, she preferred a formal atmosphere to an informal one. "The subject demands must first be considered. Science subjects being practical can provide for clusters or activity centers."

Most often, the bench or desk rows serve the important eye contact factor. By making all the students face her in the class the teacher can concentrate on explaining the lesson. Also, by standing in a class, the teacher assumes an elevated position and gets a clear view of the entire classroom.

In sessions that demand collaborative learning and student interaction, there is less direct instruction and more lateral interaction. For instance, in science labs, students need to work together. By sitting in the "table row" arrangement with long tables placed perpendicular to the front and back of the room, the students are organized into groups. This helps create a spirit of teamwork and students assume responsibility for the task given. When an activity is to be assigned, four or five tables can be put together to form large teams. Of course, with such an arrangement the class can get loud and uncontrollable and working one on one becomes impossible. But, this still is the best way to help students discover fun in learning as the arrangement is very social and they are doing the activity together.

Children aged below 13 years are very open, they ask and answer impulsively but older children, particularly girls, become less responsive, they may not even come forward and say when they don't understand a lesson unless they are repeatedly asked. In such a scenario, activity centers and table rows help students work together and break the ice. They realize that everybody in the class is learning together and have similar doubts. The arrangements can be changed weekly depending on the class size and subject of study.

Some classes involve debates, discussions and project work, which help in developing initiative and self expression. For such requirements, activity centers are a good arrangement. In this form of seating arrangement the tables are grouped so that they seat smaller numbers with children seated facing their group members to foster inclusiveness. A semi circular arrangement helps maintain the seriousness and at the same time enables monitoring. With such an arrangement the teacher can step back, when required, and assume a passive role while giving full independence to the students in a discussion.

As students learn to assume responsibility for their own actions, arrangements such as pairs can also be used. In this arrangement, students sit with a partner with pairs seated at a distance from the others. This arrangement gives a mix of an adult run and collaborative learning experience. Most commonly, while choosing a partner, teachers seat students' height wise and allot the front positions to students who need more attention. Mrs. Pansy has often arranged students in pairs grouping the weaker ones with the high performing students, so that responsibility is shared. Soon enough, it was seen that the students took it on themselves to help their partners perform better and helped them in catching up where required. But will such an arrangement increase the chances of creating a superiority complex amongst the high performing students? Mrs. Pansy insists that she has always seen students feeling responsible for the others' performance and taking pride when their partner performs better. This also brings in a spirit of collaboration and helps instill greater confidence among the academically challenged students. Child psychologist, Mrs. Gowri suggests that teachers consider reversing the usual seating arrangement, and get students who perform better to sit at the back while the under performing students can be seated in the front. It has been observed that with greater attention from the teacher, even lower performing students tend to do better.

"Excerpt from the article Class Room to Learn originally published by Teacher Plus magazine... Reproduced with permission."

Read the entire article at http://www.teacherplus.org/cover-story/class-room-to-learn

Musical chairs is a game that most children are familiar with. Why not make use of this game in the classroom as a learning tool? Their familiarity with the game will allow the children to not just grasp the concept quickly but also to come up with their own variations of the game.

Let's look at musical chairs with respect to multiple intelligences and how its variations can help us develop the eight intelligences.

Interpersonal
Play the classical musical chairs with a difference. In this version of the game nobody gets out. As the number of chairs decrease, the children try to accommodate themselves on the chairs available. Therefore one chair can have two, three or even more children sitting on it! The already seated children should try and make space to seat the children who are left standing. So in the final round all the children try to sit on ONE chair - everybody is the winner - amongst heaps of laughter. (Just ensure that the chairs are sturdy!)

Math-logic intelligence
Write or paste a number on each chair. Tell the children that when the music stops they have to sit on a chair with a number that satisfies a certain rule. Tell them that you will call out the rule when the music stops. Now you are ready to play the game. When the music stops give the children a rule, say "multiples of three," or "odd numbers", or "one more than multiple of four" - or any such rule. When all the children are seated, the ones who are sitting on the right chair will add one score to their score card (a tally mark) and then start all over again. The rules can be complex or simple depending on the class level.

Music
This version of the musical chairs is meant to cater to the musical intelligence. Play the tune of a familiar song, children have to guess the song and then go and grab a chair. If their guess is right then they get to keep the chair, if not they give it up.

If you don't mind singing in the classroom then here is another way you can play this game. You sing a song and children have to listen to it carefully for a clue that will tell them to sit on a chair. In your song substitute some word in the lyrics with the word "chair' or "grab". If the song is in Hindi or any other regional language then use the respective words in that language. Yet another version is to tell the children to grab a chair when the song changes. For instance if you are playing or singing old MacDonald for some time and then suddenly changing the tune to "twinkle twinkle", whoever managed to hear it quickly enough will get to sit.

Intrapersonal
Ask the children to bring to the class a picture each of different human expressions. They could cut out faces from magazine advertisements or from old picture books. Set up the game by pasting similar pictures of human emotions that you have on each chair. When the music stops children have to match the picture they have with the ones on the chairs and grab the right one.

Body - Kinesthetic
Play the classical musical chairs in the following variations to develop the kinesthetic skills:

• blind folded
• hopping on one leg
• in pairs with children tied back to back using dupattas
• in pairs with one leg tied to each other
• blind folded with a partner giving directions (chairs instead of in a row, should be scattered in the room)
• don't use chairs. When the music stops each child has to become a human chair (by bending at right angle at the hips and knees). If a child shakes or moves before the music starts again then he/she is out. You could devise similar funny rules.

Visual
First cut out as many pictures from an old magazine as there are children and chairs. Cut the pictures in half - horizontally, vertically, or however you wish. Keep one part of each picture face down on each chair and distribute the other parts to the children. When the music stops, the children have to grab the right chair. To add more chaos and fun, cut pictures into 3-4 parts - put one part on the chairs and distribute the other parts among the children. When the music stops the children, working together, have to complete the pictures to win the game.

Naturalistic
In this game there is just one chair. Write the name of an animal on a piece of paper and leave it face down on the chair. One by one ask the children to act like any animal while the music plays. When the music stops if the name of the animal on the paper and the animal the child is pretending to be match, then he/she is out.

You could also try a musical chairs outdoors with trees/plants. When the music stops children have to find and hug a "free" tree.

Linguistic
Make labels with the words 'Verb', 'Noun' and 'Adjective' written on them. Stick these at random on the chairs. Then write down several words on folded pieces of paper (nouns, adjectives and verbs) and distribute them amongst the children. The children can open their piece of paper only when the music stops. When the music stops and they read their word they have to find the chair that matches the type of word they have and grab it.

In this game you do not need to reduce the chairs, there will always be a mis-match between the number of chairs of one kind and the numbers of chits of words of that kind.

"Excerpt from the article Laugh, play, learn with musical chairs by Aditi Mathur and Ratnesh Mathur originally published by Teacher Plus magazine... Reproduced with permission."

Read the entire article at www.teacherplus.org/tool-kit/laugh-play-learn-with-musical-chairs

Transfer of Training - "That almost magical link between classroom performance and something which is supposed to happen in the real world" - J. M. Swinney. Transfer of training is effectively and continuing applying the skills, knowledge, and/or attitudes that were learned in a learning environment to the job environment.

Transfer of Learning is the application of skills, knowledge, and/or attitudes that were learned in one situation to another learning situation. This increases the speed of learning.

In a backhoe course where I once taught, we had about twenty machines consisting of three different models. One model was an old Massy-Ferguson. Its controls consisted of about eight levers that only moved back and forth. The newest model was a John Deere. It had two joystick-type controls (they moved similar to a computer joystick) and two foot-pedals. The other model was a Case that was a cross between the other two.

The learners took turns operating the various models. Although a casual observer unfamiliar with transfer of learning might assume we were confusing the issue with three highly different models, the different models were not only conductive to the learning environment in that they provided transfer of learning (hence quicker and deeper learning), but they also provided the learners with the confidence and skills for transferring their newly acquired skills to the job.

The first place to practice transfer of learning is within the classroom. This makes it much easier to transfer new skills and knowledge to the job. Transfer of learning is the influence of prior learning on performance in a new situation. If we did not transfer some of our skills and knowledge from prior learning, then each new learning situation would start from scratch.

Some learning professionals only think of transfer of learning (or transfer of training) in terms of "the classroom to the job environment." However, these trainers fail to realize the importance of "task variation" within the classroom. That is, practicing on a variety of tasks will enhance and quicken the learning process as compared to practicing on the same category or class. Also, the learners become accustomed to using their newly acquired knowledge and skills in novel situations, thus encouraging transfer of learning to the job.

Transfer of learning is a phenomenon of learning more quickly and developing a deeper understanding of the task if we bring some knowledge or skills from previous learning. Therefore, to produce positive transfer of learning, we need to practice under a variety of conditions.

Note that there is a brief slow down in the learning curve (confusion occurs) when the variation is first introduced. However, the variation soon begins to strengthen our previously acquired skills and knowledge. This is perhaps why some trainers are reluctant to use task variation - they see the initial confusion and assume they are slowing and confusing the learning process. Hence, classrooms become sterile of transfer of learning. And since the learners have no practice in transferring their newly acquired skills and knowledge in the classroom, they have trouble transferring their learning when they return to the job as most work environments are neutral towards the transfer of new skills (that is, they do very little to encourage the transfer of learning). Do NOT fall into this trap. Variation is GOOD! Provide as many variations and conditions in the learning environment as possible. There are two main principles that work with transfer of learning:

- The variation should not be too easy.
- The shift or transfer should be progressive but rapid.

"Excerpt from the article Transfer of Learning originally published by Donald Clark in The Performance Juxtaposition Site... Reproduced with permission."

Read the entire article at http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/learning/transfer.html

Motivation is the combination of a person's desire and energy directed at achieving a goal. It is the cause of action. Influencing people's motivation means getting then to want to do what you know must be done (Military Leadership, 1993).

Motivation is the combination of a person's desire and energy directed at achieving a goal. It is the cause of action. Motivation can be intrinsic - satisfaction, feelings of achievement; or extrinsic - rewards, punishment, or goal obtainment. Not all people are motivated by the same thing and over time their motivations might changes.

Motivational Issues
Often an employee knows how to perform correctly, the process is good, and all resources are available, but for one reason or another, chooses not to do so, which normally means it is a motivational issue. While many jobs have problems that are inherent to the position, it is the problems that are inherent to the person that normally cause us to loose focus from our main task of getting results. These motivational problems could arrive from family pressures, personality conflicts, a lack of understanding on how the behavior affects other people or process, etc.

When something breaks the psychological contract between the employee and the organization, the leader must find out what the exact problem is by looking beyond the symptoms, finding a solution, focusing on the problem, and then implementing a plan of action. One of the worst situations that a leader can get into is to get all the facts wrong.

Start by collecting and documenting what the employee is not doing or should be doing - tasks, special projects, reports, etc. Try to observe the employee performing the task. Also, do not make it a witch hunt, observe and record what the employee is not doing to standards. Check past performance appraisals, previous managers, or other leaders the employee might have worked with. Try to find out if it a pattern or something new.

Once you know the problem, then work with the employee to solve it. Most employees want to do a good job. It is in your best interest to work with the employee as long as the business needs are met and it is within the bonds of the organization to do so.

"Excerpt from the article Motivation and Performance originally published by Donald Clark in The Performance Juxtaposition Site... Reproduced with permission."

Read the entire article at http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/performance/motivation.html