A click away from being inside your Blackboard Live session

By Tiye Bracy | Published by November 19, 2020

Many students are okay with using cameras during live sessions but feel awkward doing so because the majority of class cameras are off.

“Blackboard is a very difficult vehicle to work with in that I have little facial recognition,” Marketing Professor Robert Silk said.

On the first day of class, professors usually did interactive icebreaker exercises. But in the remote environment that’s challenging.

Even working in groups is problematic. In classrooms, students interact with each other. It is harder for classes to fully engage and interact with classmates and the professor in a remote learning environment.

“It is difficult in the sense that the courses I teach are highly interactive,” Silk said.

Now classes consist of hoping for good Wi-Fi connection, possibly only seeing your professor, looking at profile pictures and avatars, and when the professor asks a question just use the raise your hand feature to speak.

“Some of my professors used the raise hand option,” Senior Communications Student Phoebe Darote said.

At Kean, students are not required to have their camera on during live sessions.

“The University is aware that some students may not have cameras and others may be uncomfortable having cameras on,” Director of Media Relations Margaret McCorry said. “While camera use is encouraged, students can also engage with their instructors and classmates in other meaningful ways during remote learning.”

Since turning cameras on during live sessions isn’t a requirement, many students choose to turn cameras off and use their microphones to communicate during class.

“I prefer my camera on, to interact with everyone, but I began noticing no one else had theirs on, including most professors,” Communications major Caitlyn Magee said.

Professors also suspect why some students don’t show their live face during the sessions.

“The other drawback of this is that some students may just be logged in and not physically or mentally present during the class,” Marketing Professor Purnima Srinivasan said.

Some professors do have their cameras on at all times and encourage students to do the same.

“From the view of the professor, talking to a screen without live faces can sometimes be a sad experience,” Professor Srinivasan said.

While teaching some professors do turn their camera on to motivate students.

“If my students see me, they know that I care enough to be there to teach them,” Silk said.

Unfortunately, the pandemic is still ongoing and in the Spring 2021 semester schools continue with mostly remote learning but many students are ready to get back into the classrooms.

“Nothing can replace the value of being in person,” Magee said.

Due to the pandemic only 30% of classes this Fall were face to face. President Repollet announced on July 22 that there will be four different formats of classes being teach. The four types of classes are face to face, hybrid, remote, and online learning.

Unlike previous semesters almost all professors are required to use Blackboard to facilitate their course. The syllabus is posted under course information, all the discussion questions are under discussion boards, and all the assignments are uploaded under course content.

Before, students had to leave their homes or dorms to make it to class. Nowadays all it takes is a click to enter your blackboard live session.

“The power of technology can be seen in action,” Marketing Professor Purnima Srinivasan said.

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