STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN VIRTUAL CLASS ROOMS

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the education sector throughout the globe resulted in closure of schools, colleges and universities. Consequently, there was a radical shift to e-learning and digital classrooms. Even long before COVID-19, there was already exponential growth and incorporation of technology in the education sector. It may be language apps, virtual tutoring, video conferencing tools, or online learning softwares, a momentous spurt has been noticed in usage of information technology since COVID-19. It is alarming that challenges associated with the transition to online learning would have the greatest impact on students learning capabilities in the midst of this chaos, as the strategies followed by teachers in a conventional classroom differs from those adopted in a virtual classroom. students engagement strategies in a traditional class at the campus differs from a virtual classroom. Basically, student engagement is a measure of how often a student attends to a task, assignment or activity during a class session. Studies clearly indicates positive relationships between student engagement and academic achievement. Engaged learners have demonstrated stronger satisfaction with learning experiences, stronger achievement in courses and increased graduation rates. When it comes to learning, commitment shown by students is affected by the level of motivation, concentration and cognitive aptitude of a learner, as well as the nature of online courses and the decisions of an instructor about his specific facilitation style. Efficient virtual coursework needs much more than "giving a Zoom account to any professor and letting the instructor take his course." Online teachingrequires a deliberate, careful approach to instructional design; particularly at a time when students are transiting at an astounding level following the COVID-19 outbreak. The concept of online learning is absolutely new for many students. Mostly students promoted to colleges from secondary schools are inexperienced and have inculcated habit of being spoon fed during early years. For such students anapproach of online teaching is highly unacceptable. Teachers need to be transparent about the aspirations of students and proactively train students, how to participate in this new landscape of learning. An increasing body of evidence indicates that the biggest obstacle to achieve comparable online learning success rates has been addressing the challenge of fostering the kind of collaboration students interaction and discussion, that are often the trademark for creating excellent teaching and learning environments. While it can be difficult to anticipate any struggle that a student may be e x p e r i e n c i n g w i t h o n l i n e l e a r n i n g , c l e a r communication is the key.