Do You Have Difficult Students in Your Online Classes? Here's What To Do

Online classes can be rewarding if students are highly engaged, self-motivated, and performing to the best of their capabilities. What makes online teaching challenging is the lack of visually watching students, which means an instructor does not have the benefit of visually assessing them as they attempt to complete the learning activities and course requirements.

That's not the only challenge an online instructor may face. There may be technological issues with the online classroom platform or challenges related to managing a class while meeting the facilitation requirements. What makes online teaching even more challenging are difficult students, which includes students who don't seem to review their feedback and are unreceptive to constructive criticism, along with students who fail to communicate in a respectful tone. Working with difficult students usually requires spending additional time and may create feelings of frustration for the instructor, especially if the students are not responsive.