Seeing One Another's Faces

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Physical learning spaces: we sometimes call these spaces "face to face" but in many rooms, students sit shoulder to shoulder, row upon row.  It can be difficult for them to see one another's faces. In computer labs with large vertical displays, it can be difficult for the instructor to see students' faces, too, especially if the student is short.  Laptops can help. Some rooms have built-in computers that are recessed into desks or tables, sometimes under transparent panels.

Virtual learning spaces: Some faculty using virtual classrooms post pictures of themselves and ask students to do the same.

Video can make it easier to see people's faces as they speak (close-ups on distant people in the same room; people elsewhere who are participating in the course.) But some video setups make it difficult to interpret facial expressions, especially if the viewer is far from the television screen, if lighting is poor, if the bandwidth is low so motion is jerky, or if the camera is too close to the person's face, distorting the image.

• Know any examples or good studies that bear people's ability to interpret one another's expressions in video windows (streaming video, other forms of video)? I'd like to include material like that on this page.

-Steve Ehrmann, The TLT Group; updated Nov. 1, 2004