Why students do not turn on their video cameras during online classes and an equitable and inclusive plan to encourage them to do so
Open accessAbstract
Enrollment in courses taught remotely in higher education has been on the rise, with a recent surge in response to a global pandemic. While adapting this form of teaching, instructors familiar with traditional face‐to‐face methods are now met with a new set of challenges, including students not turning on their cameras during synchronous class meetings held via videoconferencing. After transitioning to emergency remote instruction in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic, our introductory biology course shifted all in‐person laboratory sections into synchronous class meetings held via the Zoom videoconferencing program. Out of consideration for students, we established a policy that video camera use during class was optional, but encouraged. However, by the end of the semester, several of our instructors and students reported lower than desired camera use that diminished the educational experience. We surveyed students to better understand why they did not turn on their cameras. We confirmed several predicted reasons including the most frequently reported: being concerned about personal appearance. Other reasons included being concerned about other people and the physical location being seen in the background and having a weak internet connection, all of which our exploratory analyses suggest may disproportionately influence underrepresented minorities. Additionally, some students revealed to us that social norms also play a role in camera use. This information was used to develop strategies to encourage—without requiring—camera use while promoting equity and inclusion. Broadly, these strategies are to not require camera use, explicitly encourage usage while establishing norms, address potential distractions, engage students with active learning, and understand your students’ challenges through surveys. While the demographics and needs of students vary by course and institution, our recommendations will likely be directly helpful to many instructors and also serve as a model for gathering data to develop strategies more tailored for other student populations.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Video conferencing has been around for thirty years and has experienced a surge in interest and broad application.
“With video conferencing being around for thirty years (Bonk, 2020), it has certainly experienced a surge in interest and broad application, entailing other questions related to its use (Bedenlier et al., 2020; Castelli & Sarvary, 2021).”
From Emergency remote teaching in higher education: mapping the first global online semester (2021) · cites this paper as Castelli & Sarvary, 2021
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics
Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1319030111 · Cited by 9,787 · see citing works
Cialdini, R. B., Reno, R. R., & Kallgren, C. A. (1990) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.58.6.1015 · Cited by 5,965 · see citing works
Public and private self-consciousness: Assessment and theory.
Fenigstein, A., Scheier, M. F., & Buss, A. H. (1975) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0076760 · Cited by 3,763 · see citing works
Cialdini, R. B., Kallgren, C. A., & Reno, R. R. (1991) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60330-5 · Cited by 3,143 · see citing works
Talking about Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences
Correll, S. J., Seymour, E., & Hewitt, N. M. (1997) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.2307/2655673 · Cited by 3,088 · see citing works
Adjusting for multiple testing—when and how?
Bender, R., & Lange, S. (2001) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/s0895-4356(00)00314-0 · Cited by 3,059 · see citing works
Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2013
National Science Foundation (2013) · PsycEXTRA Dataset · doi:10.1037/e558442013-001 · Cited by 2,491 · see citing works
Perceived social isolation and cognition
Cacioppo, J. T., & Hawkley, L. C. (2009) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2009.06.005 · Cited by 2,144 · see citing works
Crafting Normative Messages to Protect the Environment
Cialdini, R. B. (2003) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/1467-8721.01242 · Cited by 1,553 · see citing works
Theobald, E. J., Hill, M. J., Tran, E., Agrawal, S., Arroyo, E. N., Behling, S., Chambwe, N., Cintrón, D. L., Cooper, J. D., Dunster, G., et al. (2020) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1916903117 · Cited by 1,387 · see citing works
Student barriers to online learning: A factor analytic study
Muilenburg, L. Y., & Berge, Z. L. (2005) · Distance Education · doi:10.1080/01587910500081269 · Cited by 1,219 · see citing works
Psychological distress and loneliness reported by US adults in 2018 and April 2020
McGinty, E. E., Presskreischer, R., Han, H., & Barry, C. L. (2020) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.2020.9740 · Cited by 978 · see citing works
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Cockton, G., & Korhonen, P. (2003) · doi:10.1145/642611 · Cited by 911 · see citing works
Online Education: Worldwide Status, Challenges, Trends, and Implications
Palvia, S. C. J., Aeron, P., Gupta, P., Mahapatra, D., Parida, R., Rosner, R., & Sindhi, S. (2018) · Journal of Global Information Technology Management · doi:10.1080/1097198x.2018.1542262 · Cited by 837 · see citing works
Huckins, J. F., daSilva, A. W., Wang, W., Hedlund, E., Rogers, C., Nepal, S. K., Wu, J., Obuchi, M., Murphy, E. I., Meyer, M. L., et al. (2020) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/20185 · Cited by 759 · see citing works
McBrien, J. L., Cheng, R., & Jones, P. (2009) · The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning · doi:10.19173/irrodl.v10i3.605 · Cited by 633 · see citing works
Cullen, R. (2001) · Online Information Review · doi:10.1108/14684520110410517 · Cited by 527 · see citing works
Tanner, K. D. (2013) · CBE—Life Sciences Education · doi:10.1187/cbe.13-06-0115 · Cited by 520 · see citing works
Development and Validation of the Situational Self-Awareness Scale
Govern, J. M., & Marsch, L. A. (2001) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1006/ccog.2001.0506 · Cited by 354 · see citing works
O’Conaill, B., Whittaker, S., & Wilbur, S. (1993) · Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1207/s15327051hci0804_4 · Cited by 349 · see citing works
Falloon, G. (2011) · Journal of Research on Technology in Education · doi:10.1080/15391523.2011.10782569 · Cited by 216 · see citing works
Seidel, S. B., & Tanner, K. D. (2013) · CBE—Life Sciences Education · doi:10.1187/cbe-13-09-0190 · Cited by 205 · see citing works
Tsai, H.-H., Tsai, Y.-F., Wang, H.-H., Chang, Y.-C., & Chu, H. H. (2010) · Aging & Mental Health · doi:10.1080/13607863.2010.501057 · Cited by 197 · see citing works
Reinholz, D. L., & Shah, N. (2018) · Journal for Research in Mathematics Education · doi:10.5951/jresematheduc.49.2.0140 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
Francescucci, A., & Rohani, L. (2019) · Journal of Marketing Education · doi:10.1177/0273475318818864 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
Public and private self-awareness: When personal attitudes conflict with societal expectations
Froming, W. J., Walker, G. R., & Lopyan, K. J. (1982) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/0022-1031(82)90067-1 · Cited by 178 · see citing works
The Spotlight Effect and the Illusion of Transparency
Gilovich, T. D., & Savitsky, K. (1999) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00039 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
What mix of video and audio is useful for small groups doing remote real-time design work?
Olson, J. S., Olson, G. M., & Meader, D. K. (1995) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/223904.223951 · Cited by 172 · see citing works
Understanding Classroom Interaction: Students' and Professors' Contributions to Students' Silence
Fassinger, P. A. (1995) · The Journal of Higher Education · doi:10.2307/2943952 · Cited by 155 · see citing works
The role of active learning in college student persistence
Braxton, J. M., Jones, W. A., Hirschy, A. S., et al. (2008) · New Directions for Teaching and Learning · doi:10.1002/tl.326 · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Professors' and Students' Perceptions of Why Students Participate in Class
Fassinger, P. A. (1996) · Teaching Sociology · doi:10.2307/1318895 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
Students' sense of community and perspectives of taking synchronous and asynchronous online courses
Lin, X. Y., & Gao, L. (2020) · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · doi:10.5281/zenodo.3881613 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
A Scoping Review of Videoconferencing Systems in Higher Education
Al‐Samarraie, H. (2019) · The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning · doi:10.19173/irrodl.v20i4.4037 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Reading and connecting: using social annotation in online classes
Zhu, X., Chen, B., Avadhanam, R. M., Shui, H., & Zhang, R. Z. (2020) · Information and Learning Sciences · doi:10.1108/ils-04-2020-0117 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Reich, J., Buttimer, C. J., Coleman, D., Colwell, R. D., Faruqi, F., & Larke, L. R. (2020) · doi:10.35542/osf.io/8exp9 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Kalman, R., Esparza, M. M., & Weston, C. (2020) · Journal of Chemical Education · doi:10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00712 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
Altered Images: Understanding the Influence of Unrealistic Images and Beauty Aspirations
MacCallum, F., & Widdows, H. (2016) · Health Care Analysis · doi:10.1007/s10728-016-0327-1 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Strategies for successful telework: how effective employees manage work/home boundaries
Basile, K. A., & Beauregard, T. A. (2016) · Strategic HR Review · doi:10.1108/shr-03-2016-0024 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Hidden competence: women’s mathematical participation in public and private classroom spaces
Ernest, J. B., Reinholz, D. L., & Shah, N. (2019) · Educational Studies in Mathematics · doi:10.1007/s10649-019-09910-w · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Mottet, T. P. (2000) · Communication Education · doi:10.1080/03634520009379202 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Social aspects of synchronous virtual learning environments
Racheva, V. (2018) · AIP conference proceedings · doi:10.1063/1.5082050 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Miller, M. K., Mandryk, R., Birk, M., Depping, A. E., & Patel, T. (2017) · International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3025453.3025548 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Tonsmann, G. (2014) · InSight A Journal of Scholarly Teaching · doi:10.46504/09201404to · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Connected Yet Distracted: Multitasking Among College Students
Mokhtari, K., Delello, J. A., & Reichard, C. A. (2015) · Journal of College Reading and Learning · doi:10.1080/10790195.2015.1021880 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
The dual nature of eye contact: to see and to be seen
Myllyneva, A., & Hietanen, J. K. (2015) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsv075 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
In Class and Online: Using Discussion Boards in Teaching
Suler, J. R. (2004) · CyberPsychology & Behavior · doi:10.1089/cpb.2004.7.395 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
The silent danger of social distancing
Aleman, A., & Sommer, I. E. (2020) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291720002597 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Appearance Management Behavior and the Five Factor Model of Personality
Johnson, T. W., Francis, S. K., & Burns, L. D. (2007) · Clothing and Textiles Research Journal · doi:10.1177/0887302x07302982 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
The Influence of Culture, Gender, and Relational Status on Appearance Management
Aune, R. K., & Aune, K. J. (1994) · Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology · doi:10.1177/0022022194252006 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Mirror and Camera Self-Focusing Effects on Complexity of Private and Public Aspects of Identity
Davies, M. F. (2005) · Perceptual and Motor Skills · doi:10.2466/pms.100.3.895-898 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Book Review: A Review of the Collaborative and Sharing Aspects of Google Docs
Perron, B. E., & Sellers, J. (2011) · Research on Social Work Practice · doi:10.1177/1049731510391676 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Sarvary, M. A., & Gifford, K. M. (2017) · PubMed · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Self-citationButtimer, C. J., Colwell, R. D., Coleman, D., Faruqi, F., Larke, L. R., & Reich, J. (2023) · Berkeley Review of Education · doi:10.5070/b811251975 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Nonverbal Communication. Third Edition. What Research Says to the Teacher.
Miller, P. W. (1988) · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- Limón, A. T. (2020). 5 TIPS to work from home successfully. Journal of Financial Planning, 33(5), 12.
- Lyman, F. T. (1981). The responsive classroom discussion: The inclusion of all students. In A. S. Anderson (Ed.), Mainstreaming digest: A collection of faculty and student papers (pp. 109– 113). University of Maryland.
- Mottet, T. P., & Richmond, V. P. (2002). Student nonverbal communication and its influence on teachers and teaching. In J. L. Chesebro & J. C. McCroskey (Eds.), Communication for Teachers, (pp. 47– 61). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Emergency remote teaching in higher education: mapping the first global online semester
Bond, M., Bedenlier, S., Marín, V. I., & Händel, M. (2021) · International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education · doi:10.1186/s41239-021-00282-x · Cited by 527 · see citing works
Engagement in Online Learning: Student Attitudes and Behavior During COVID-19
Hollister, B., Nair, P., Hill-Lindsay, S., & Chukoskie, L. (2022) · Frontiers in Education · doi:10.3389/feduc.2022.851019 · Cited by 317 · see citing works
Student engagement declines in stem undergraduates during COVID-19-driven remote learning
Wester, E. R., Walsh, L. L., Arango-Caro, S., & Callis-Duehl, K. L. (2021) · Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education · doi:10.1128/jmbe.v22i1.2385 · Cited by 182 · see citing works
Bedenlier, S., Wunder, I., Gläser-Zikuda, M., Kammerl, R., Kopp, B., Ziegler, A., & Händel, M. (2021) · International Journal of Educational Research Open · doi:10.1016/j.ijedro.2021.100068 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
A 2026 horizon scan for biodiversity conservation in South Africa
Seymour, C. L., Tolley, K. A., Zengeya, T., Spear, D., Cloete, J. A., Dayaram, A., da Silva, J. M., Alexander, G. J., Handley, K., Joseph, G. S., et al. (2026) · Ambio · doi:10.1007/s13280-026-02365-3
- Authors
- Castelli, F. R., & Sarvary, M. A.
- Affiliations
- Cornell University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Castelli, Frank R.
- Venue
- Ecology and Evolution
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2021-01-10
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 3565-3576
- ISSN
- 2045-7758 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8057329
- OpenAlex
- W3120295154
- Cited by
- 451
- References
- 54
- Citations by year
- 2026: 30 · 2025: 51 · 2024: 67 · 2023: 116 · 2022: 127 · 2021: 59 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 162.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Ecology and Evolution (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Education during COVID-19 pandemic
- Social Sciences › Education › Online and Blended Learning
- Social Sciences › Education › Innovations in Educational Methods
- Keywords
- online courses, emergency remote instruction, COVID-19 pandemic, inclusive pedagogy, higher education equity, underrepresented minorities, social norms, synchronous videoconferencing, introductory biology, active learning, student engagement
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
