Student webcam use and its impacts on teacher self-efficacy, engagement, and well-being: a literature review

Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns in March 2020, higher education institutions around the globe had to quickly pivot online. Since then, many schools have relied on video conferencing platforms equipped with webcams to help teachers and students stay virtually connected during synchronous classes. However, an ongoing trend has emerged in which students are not using their webcams during their online classes even though teachers wish them to do so. Thus, the following literature review investigated the reasons for student webcam use and non-use, as well as the impacts of this use and non-use on teachers’ well-being, self-efficacy, and engagement. Overall findings, gathered between 2020 and 2022, revealed that a lack of student webcam use can negatively impact teachers’ self-efficacy, engagement, and well-being. Implications and theory are discussed, which provide a framework for further analysis of the disconnect between students’ intentions and teachers’ expectations for webcam use in synchronous learning.