As you attend online classes, you should have a strong focus on securing top grades. However, that’s not all. Like any institution, an online school is also a community. In this case, it comprises students, teachers, and the staff.
As you continue your academic journey, make sure you understand your moral and ethical responsibilities as well. In this blog, we’ll focus on one such consideration: communication. As a student, you shoulder the burden of maintaining respectful communication with your teachers and peers. If you disagree with a student, you must present your thoughts with care, consideration, and the utmost respect.
Many students believe that the online learning model doesn’t require students to be cognisant of this consideration. In actuality, it does. Like conventional school, online school requires students to attend classes together. While you may not see your peers in person, you will interact with them via your computer or laptop screen.
As your teacher prompts a healthy classroom discussion, you should present your ideas with consideration and respect, and engage with everyone else’s thoughts with the same thoughtfulness, attentiveness, and politeness.
In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at the process of communicating respectfully with your peers during online classes. If you have any questions, feel free to make a mental note and ask us towards the end of the blog. Let’s get started!
1. Carefully Understand Their Viewpoint
Many students make the mistake of hastily presenting their own counter-argument without fully understanding what their peers have to say. Let’s say one of your peers is in the middle of presenting their thoughts. As you listen to them, you may pick up on something you disagree with. Make sure you don’t fixate on that one thought and zone out for the rest of their argument.
Many students latch onto one or two thoughts they disagree with and start building their counter-argument. As you do this, you’ll miss out on the rest of your peer’s opinions. Avoid doing this. Instead, carefully listen to everything they have to say. You should respect them enough to hear them out completely.
If you only listen to a portion of their argument and break concentration, you could potentially miss further clarification. This will make your counter-attack sound uninformed. It will also show that you weren’t fully paying attention to what was said.
2. Understand That Differences Don’t Have to Result in Conflict
This is extremely important. Young students often feel that differences mean one argument is valid while the other isn’t. This isn’t necessarily true. You could strongly disagree with one of your peers, but both of you could still have a very valid argument that holds true in its own way.
Differing opinions should be considered an opportunity to dive deeper into a topic, learn from each other, and bring something new to the table. Don’t perceive differences as a cause of conflict.
Present your own thoughts expecting constructive criticism in return, and offer your own bit of constructive criticism. When differences are presented with respect and a strong interest in learning from the conversation, they can be a lot of fun. You’ll take away a handful of great insights from the discussion!
3. Appreciate Their Thoughts Before Presenting Yours
Let’s say one of your peers presents a thought that you disagree with. As you prepare to present your argument, make sure you appreciate their thoughts before beginning.
Many students directly present their own thoughts without taking a moment to acknowledge the other person’s thought process and ideas. This can be highly disrespectful.
Take a couple of seconds to acknowledge and admire where your peer was coming from, even if you disagree with them. Then the floor is all yours, as long as you use it respectfully.
4. Never Interrupt Your Peers
We’ll repeat this for emphasis: never interrupt your peers. A healthy discussion is marked by mutual respect. If you keep interrupting your peers, the discussion will turn into an argument.
Wait for your peers to present their thoughts. Once they’re done, present your ideas. If they interrupt you, politely request them to let you finish. Once you’re done, give them the floor to present their ideas.
Lack of interruption will help the discussion stay on track. Everyone will get a chance to present their thoughts, listen to feedback, and achieve a productive outcome.
5. Learn Something From the Exchange
Every healthy discussion offers a lot of new learnings. It’s possible that your ideas were countered by one of your peers. Or perhaps the classroom collectively reached a conclusion. Or maybe the discussion was left in a state of limbo.
Regardless of the trajectory and conclusion of the discussion, make sure you appreciate the key takeaways you earned from it. If you listen closely to what your teacher and peers have to say, you’ll learn a lot of great insights from the discussion.
Take some time to reflect on the exchange and explore new avenues of thought. This practice will help cement the discussion and new learnings in your mind.
About the Author
The author is an education specialist at Cambridge Home School—one of the leading online schools in the UK. In addition to the UK, the institution also provides a quality British online education to students living in Europe (including Western Russia), Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
Parents can choose from four homeschooling programs: Primary Prep/Key Stage 2 (ages 8 to 10), Lower School/Key Stage 3 (ages 11 to 13), Upper School/IGCSEs (ages 14 to 16), and Sixth Form/AS & A-Levels (ages 17 to 19).
Cambridge Home School is recognised for prioritising academic performance, personal growth, social development, and mental health among students.
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