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The students can make real world connections to what they are learning and collaborate on the creation of authentic PBL assessments

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Keeping Students Engaged Even While at Home!

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Keeping Students Engaged Even While at Home!

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The sudden, unplanned move to distance learning during spring 2020 drove a wedge into the middle of the school year-disrupting academic schedules, putting an end to extracurriculars, and undercutting the assessment and academic feedback cycles in most schools. Student motivation, predictably, foundered.

As one of our students put it, online school "is just like in-person school but with all the fun bits removed." Without the ambient social interactions that are such a rich part of a regular day at school, and without in-person guidance from teachers, coaches, and counselors, many of the key motivational drivers were suddenly gone. In most K-12 schools, there were no fully formed distance-learning alternatives waiting in the wings. Indeed, glaring holes and inequities were exposed in the first days and weeks of distance learning: families with sporadic or no connection to Wi-Fi; students who lacked a calm place to study; siblings who needed to chip in to take care of brothers and sisters, or needed to contribute money by getting a job. Over and above it all were increased levels of trauma.

In short order, the move to online learning also laid bare some of the instructional flaws in our traditional structures of accountability, evaluation, and standardized testing. We hope for intrinsically motivated students, but we tend to design for the opposite, often with the best of intentions in mind. But motivating students with carrots and sticks-through endless, demoralizing cycles of high-stakes testing and assessment-is not getting us the deep learning and love of learning we desire.

Fortunately there is a science of motivation, and we need to design it into the very fiber of our virtual courses. There is a pressing need to do so now in order to help keep students engaged through the challenges of distance learning, and to avoid exacerbating the previously existing gaps in learning opportunities born of systemic inequities.

A Two-Stage Approach to Motivation

You may have heard of the major theories of motivation that researchers discuss, like self-determination theory and expectancy-value-cost theory. We will discuss these in a second article coming soon. For now, we think that learning mindsets-students' beliefs about themselves, their potential, and the learning context-are a better starting point that we can understand and implement relatively quickly in classrooms. Once we get proficient at learning mindsets, then we can go take the next step toward an understanding of the deeper structure of motivation, and how it can be applied to create fundamental structural reform in schools.

Researchers talk about three learning mindsets: sense of belonging, purpose and relevance, and growth mindset. If we want to design for intrinsic motivation, this is where we need to start. Some of these learning mindsets may be familiar to you, but they are often misunderstood and misapplied in schools.

Creating a Sense of Belonging

Make students feel heard: Include activities, topics, and examples that students identify with so they feel it's OK to bring their authentic self to class each day. Work hard at eliminating identity threat. Every child deserves to feel seen, listened to, and respected, and that their unique story is a part of the larger story of the class.

For example, you can create a ritual for starting your online class in which every child speaks and every child hears their name spoken by somebody else; incorporate fishbowl discussions online and encourage students to "speak from the I perspective"; co-create class rules and norms with your students and post them on the first page of each unit on your learning management system (LMS), and revisit and renew the norms periodically; have each child share their preferred pronouns with you instead of making assumptions.

Reduce barriers to connecting online: Let students know that there is an easy way to communicate with you outside of class-you can manage expectations by telling them how quickly you'll respond-and that they are welcome to do so. While setting clear expectations for the whole class, it's also important to be creative and proactive in identifying and finding solutions to challenges-emotional or academic-that individual students are facing. For example, you can set up one-on-one phone or video calls with each child on a rotating basis, or offer them the ability to text or call you directly.

Remind yourself that social time is as important as academic time: If you are teaching online, deliberately use some of your precious time for social connection. For example, begin your class time with a social ritual: try a short "mental stretch" break; offer some monitored hangout time before class starts; or create small groups that meet socially asynchronously. This isn't wasted class time-it's an investment to help keep them motivated and present for the long haul.

Connecting Work to Purpose and Relevance

Work hard to articulate purpose: Teachers often underestimate the importance of purpose and relevance in building motivation, and overestimate how good a job they are doing making the purpose clear. Deliberately and regularly state the purpose of assignments and activities-this is especially important when you are distanced from your students.

Use online surveys to solicit-and leverage-student interests: Ask students about their interests and passions, and design activities that target things that your students genuinely find personally relevant. It's not always necessary to make the activities academic: During distance learning, you should cut down some of your traditional content in order to forge deep connections-the goal is to boost students' long term buy-in for the year.

Build connections to real life: Research suggests that students' motivation toward education is improved when they take the time to link their learning to their existing interests-or to the world around them.

Try having students complete this activity, which asks students to connect recent academic insights to their interests, by interviewing each other, perhaps over Zoom.

Give students choice: Adding well-chosen, constrained elements of choice in topic or medium are great options to help boost motivation during distance learning-students feel empowered while also learning how to improve their ability to choose. But be mindful that too much choice creates decision fatigue. Example activities: Choose from one of these four essay prompts; select a renowned leader that meets a set of criteria to study for your project; produce your work in the form of a podcast, children's book, 2- to 3-minute video, art installation, or paper.

Hard Work, Failure, and Growth Mindset

Explain how learning works: Begin by talking to your students. Tell them that studying is hard, but it gets easier over time when you begin to use effective study strategies. Teach them about neuroplasticity-that effortful practice over time helps rewire their brains.

Give them effective study strategies: Students should favor study strategies like articulating key concepts in their own words, active retrieval, and spaced practice over rereading and highlighting-and you should build in time to let them practice and refine those strategies. During distance learning it is especially important to be deliberate about this because students are on their own more often and need strategies for self-regulation.

Help them get unstuck: Be concrete with students about the fact that they will periodically get stuck, so they'll need tactics to get over the hump. Have you created a class climate where kids feel comfortable asking peers for help-or considered setting up small study groups to facilitate better communication? Have you given your students easy ways to contact you during business hours, and even urged them to do so when they're stuck? Have you created a useful, easily accessed list of class resources in your LMS?

Use tech to create a low-stakes environment: Create low-stakes quizzes in your LMS, or use tech tools like Pear Deck, Quizlet Live, and Poll Everywhere to support frequent but gradeless retrieval practice and formative assessments. Reposition these "quizzes" as part of continuous learning, and help students see them as useful tools to get a sense of where they are, how well their study strategies are working, and what they need to do next. Finally, don't confuse low-stakes with easy; students work harder and learn more deeply when they are challenged. Build time for getting things wrong and learning from those mistakes into every class.

Alter your grading systems and structures: Despite the conventional wisdom in education, grades don't motivate students to do their best work, nor do they lead to better learning or performance.

What better time than now to adjust your grading structure to reward growth, development, and improvement? Even if summative assessments are beyond your control, consider adjusting your mid-unit grading by awarding points and grades based on student work related to continuous improvement. This not only helps the struggling learners, but also pushes the top achievers to show that they are putting in the effort needed to demonstrate clear improvement in their skill levels.

Be constantly ready to adjust your teaching: Because it's hard to "read the room" and determine what your students know in a virtual classroom, use your formative assessments to continually adjust your own teaching. This is a great way to model the growth mindset behaviors that you'd like your students to adopt.

Create a digital record of competence: Motivation can be boosted when students notice their growing competence. Create short activities to promote this rather than leaving it to chance-for example, bring back a piece of older work and do a then-and-now comparison, or create a simple online portfolio that can be regularly updated and revisited. Be sure that students link their competence to hard work and the right strategies, not to innate ability.

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The Science of Keeping Kids Engaged-Even From Home

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The upcoming school year will be filled with uncertainty, but the need to keep students engaged while working from home feels like a sure thing. Fortunately, there is a science of motivation.

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Students are often anxious when it comes to participating online. Making them more confortable about the environment and setting a routine with expections can take some of this away. Adding polls or breakout rooms to your instruction also eases them into being more engaged during the virtual lesson. I like to take a few moments reguarly to just talk...converse with the students about different things. It show them you care.

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I liked that the article gave options for all types of learners.

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In every classroom, there are students who always have their hand raised to participate, and those who are hesitant to engage. Whether they're introverted, tend to think awhile before they contribute, or are just having a bad day, it can be hard to bring kids into discussions who are reluctant to add their voices.

The challenges of getting students to participate have intensified during remote learning, we've heard from many teachers. Digital platforms can create added communication barriers by making it hard to know when to talk, for example, or how to read subtle but important elements of discourse like a person's body language and facial expressions. Additionally, online discussions are often hindered by variability in students' access to technology and by privacy concerns, and consequently many teachers have had to rely on students' submitting work over isolated channels like email, which can leave back-and-forth between peers (and between students and the teacher) by the wayside.

Getting kids to contribute in virtual classrooms takes some work, it turns out. "We keep calling this generation digital natives as if they are simply whizzes at everything computerized. They aren't," wrote Tim O'Brien on Facebook. "They need personal support, scaffolding, and reassurance that technology does not provide. It is simply a tool, not a teacher."

To find out how to improve student discussions and participation in online learning, we culled through hundreds of comments on social media and followed up with more than 20 educators to see how they tackled the challenge last spring. Teachers offered a range of smart strategies, both synchronous and asynchronous, to integrate the values and the voices of all kids-even the quietest or those with disrupted schedules-into their classes this fall.

Synchronous Strategies

For synchronous learning, some teachers said they translated traditional discussion strategies from the classroom to live video chats, while others found that digital tools helped boost classroom participation.

1. Spider web discussion: During remote learning this spring, students in Shai Klima's high school class led their own discussions over Google Meet. Before the live class, students answered questions independently, and then shared their responses at the start of the meeting as a jumping-off point for a broader class discussion.

While students conversed on video, Klima listened and drew lines on a sheet of paper tracking the flow of the conversation, resulting in a spider web. At the end of the discussion, Klima shared the drawing over video, and then asked students to reflect on the experience and what they learned about who talked, who listened, and who built on the ideas of others.

"It has been successful as a means to get kids to credit their peers with helping them come up with new ideas, which helps build rapport," said Klima, who let students struggling with bandwidth call in to the meetings.

2. Using chat to check for understanding: After giving lessons last spring, Paul France had his third-grade students use the Google Chat feature to ask and answer questions or type in emojis, like a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, to show whether they understood a concept. To create structure around the responses, he guided his students in creating norms around using the chat feature-they decided as a group to use only one emoji at a time, for example. France said the practice helped him check for student understanding and pushed students to engage more with the content.

Kindergarten teacher Ruth Calkins, meanwhile, used Zoom chat when holding live lessons with her kindergarten students. She said they enjoyed typing "T" or "F" for true and false questions while answering math problems in the chat box, and some even attempted to write sentences in response to her questions. Typing responses also provided a lot of keyboard practice for her young students.

3. Flip your classroom to stimulate deeper discussion: Forrest Hinton, a high school math teacher, says he found that a blend of asynchronous and synchronous instruction worked well to stimulate student discussion during remote learning.

First, he taught new content asynchronously through recorded videos and online activities. At the start of his live class, students briefly summarized the concepts they had learned together and then divided into breakout rooms to solve related problems in small groups. Flipping his classroom allowed Hinton to spend less class time in direct instruction-and listening to students at the start of class and in small groups helped him identify, and then address, where his students were struggling. "This has allowed me to clarify concepts in a more targeted way and better assist students," said Hinton.

4. Adapting think-pair-share to Zoom: Ryan Tahmaseb, director of library services, says he found that giving more project-based learning activities to his elementary and middle school students-and allowing them more autonomy over assignments-naturally encouraged richer discussions in virtual learning. "If we give students as much freedom as possible to experiment, research, and pursue interests within our content area, then they inevitably have a lot more to say," said Tahmaseb.

When it came to class discussions, Tahmaseb adapted think-pair-share to Zoom. Students were given a prompt, broken into groups, and then placed into breakout rooms to discuss and record their answers on a shared Google doc, which allowed students to share their thinking in writing or read aloud. Since Tahmaseb wasn't in each breakout room to listen to the conversations, the Google doc kept students accountable. Once they returned to the whole class, volunteers from each group shared their answers with everyone.

5. A new twist on show-and-tell: To get students comfortable with online participation, Brittany Collins, the teaching and learning coordinator at Write the World, a global online writing community for middle and high school students, converted the familiar show-and-tell activity into "think, write, share."

In one activity, Collins asked middle and high school students to find a photo, painting, or drawing that represented intergenerational connection and independently respond by writing to the following questions from the Making Thinking Visible Framework before discussing them over video as a class: What are we looking at? What makes you say that? What do you notice (see, feel, know)? What more can we uncover? What do you wonder? "It helps to break the ice in a virtual learning setting where unplanned participation can prove challenging for some students," said Collins.

Asynchronous Strategies

Although some teachers-and students-said that synchronous discussions were more engaging because they resembled a traditional classroom, many educators found that asynchronous discussions were more equitable because they opened up participation to students with low bandwidth, who had schedule limitations, or who were uncomfortable engaging with the full class.

6. Online forums create back-and-forth dialogue: Angelina Murphy, a high school English teacher, said she used Google Classroom's question feature to get her class to respond to readings and discussion prompts during remote learning this past spring. When each student commented, Murphy replied with clarifying questions to create a back-and-forth dialogue and also asked every student to respond to at least two of their peers' comments to create a broader base of discussion.

Fifth-grade teacher Raquel Linares said she used Nearpod Collaborate (Apple, Android), a virtual collaboration board, to get students to share images or write a response to show what they had learned about an article they read. To inspire connection and reflection among classmates, Linares also used Flipgrid (Apple, Android), so that students could hear their peers' voices even though they were remote.

7. Seeing and critiquing peer work through virtual gallery walks: Virtual "gallery walks" give students an opportunity to view their classmates' projects while learning from each other, according to Joe Marangell, a high school social studies teacher. After his students presented their own projects through five-minute screencasts, they were then required to give feedback to at least two other students on theirs.

Using Google Sheets, students provided feedback to their peers by answering the following prompts: What's something new I learned about this topic?; What's something that surprised me about this topic?; What's something I liked about this presentation? The online format gave every student the opportunity to see their peers' work and their assessment on theirs for deeper reflection, Marangell said.

8. Moving station brainstorming online: When carousel or station brainstorming activities are conducted in traditional classroom environments, small groups of students rotate around the room to different stations to answer prompts-and view and add to each groups' responses.

To translate this online, Marangell divided his students into groups online and created shared Google docs-or a series of Google slides-for the prompts/questions. Each group left their thoughts under the questions by the assigned date and then followed up by commenting on the other groups' responses the next day. "The strategy still allows them to maintain a sense of classroom community [in a virtual setting]," said Marangell.

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8 Strategies to Improve Participation in Your Virtual Classroom

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Educators share their best synchronous and asynchronous strategies to boost student participation during online learning.

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I liked how one of the tips this article provided was to still offer opportunities for hands-on learning. In my daughter's totally online science class, the teacher still leads students through science experiments they can do at home with common household items. https://www.connectionsacademy.com/support/resources/article/coronavirus-and-teaching-from-home-ten-ways-to-engage-remotely

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Building meaningful connections and meeting with students outside lessons is a great way to interact with students. These conversations can build rapport with students and allow choices that students will respect.

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Distance learning forced educators to file away some of their most time-tested classroom management tricks. You can't exactly flick the lights on and off to get attention in Google Meet. There's no withholding recess as a consequence or promises of a classroom pizza party as a reward when you're online. But educators have discovered some tried-and-true strategies for remote learning that could benefit in-person instruction as well.

BUILD HUMAN CONNECTION

One of the most effective approaches is to build a sense of community. With a new semester upon us, this is the perfect time to look for fresh ways to bring your students together-even if they are physically apart.
Create small groups
Scheduling small virtual "gatherings" is an excellent way to get to know your students. You can create small groups for reading or math, but they don't necessarily need to be based on academics. Try meeting with a handful of students to talk about the best and worst parts of their week. Let them vent their frustrations about school and share their hopes for the rest of the year. By allowing them to express their thoughts and feelings, you build trust and respect. Students who feel respected and heard are much more likely to be engaged.
Set goals together
Students always need encouragement, but during the pandemic we all need extra motivation. Helping students set goals, with a little guidance from you, will go a long way toward staying on track. If they record their learning goals, track how they're doing and reflect on progress. This will help keep them excited to learn.
Review and renew class norms
If you already created a class contract or even a class constitution, now's a great time to review and update it if necessary. If you haven't, you can establish one to govern the remainder of the year. The classroom contract is a set of rules and norms created collaboratively and agreed upon by everyone in the class. It includes consequences for not following the rules and norms and should be updated to reflect unique situations that arise. The contract can be a good reminder for everyone if there are disruptions.
Answer common Q&As
By week one of remote learning, you probably knew what the most common questions were. They likely came up again and again ... and again. Set aside time for students to think of their most common questions and a few they hear classmates asking frequently. Have the students send you their questions, then answer them all together.

Create a Q&A document they can print, hang, or reference as a bookmark. Ask the students to review the document before asking during class.

GET STUDENTS MOVING!

We asked our NEA Today Facebook fans for tips on getting their students up and out of their chairs to blow off steam. These moves are great for distance learning or in the classroom. Shelly McCormick-Lane, a Latin teacher in Texas, filmed her school's world language department doing 60-second dance party breaks to everything from the "Macarena" to "YMCA."

"I placed them strategically in the middle of PowerPoints. ... At first most stared at me like I was crazy, but soon most of my high school students grades 9-12 were dancing with me!" she writes.

Meagan Penn is a New Jersey high school dance teacher, and even her 18-year-old football players love a round or two of Just Dance. "YouTube has almost every Just Dance video that's ever been released, and most can be done in a small amount of personal space. A lot of kids will know the dances already from playing on their gaming systems."

GIVE STUDENTS CHOICES

During the pandemic, choice boards became even more widely used to engage students in asynchronous learning.

Part of the teacher toolkit for years, these graphic organizers are set up as a grid, offering students different activities in each square to learn about a single concept. If they are learning about history, for example, they can watch a short documentary, read a text, create a timeline, or write a poem or play about a time period or event. If they are learning math concepts, they can complete a timed worksheet of problems, answer a series of word problems, write the instructions for solving a complex problem, or create a poster showing three different ways to solve a problem.

Choice boards help students stay motivated because the students select the learning path that appeals to them the most.

This technique also helps educators achieve that most elusive of lesson goals: differentiation. Choice boards allow educators to reach a group of students with many different levels of understanding and learning styles.

Students need that human connection now more than ever. The human element will reduce disruptive behavior and help keep your students motivated through these difficult times.

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Engaging Students in a Virtual Classroom | NEA

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Distance learning forced educators to file away some of their most time-tested classroom management tricks. You can't exactly flick the lights on and off to get attention in Google Meet. There's no withholding recess as a consequence or promises of a classroom pizza party as a reward when you're online.

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Utilize different strategies such as breakout rooms, virtual gallery walks, or spider web discussions to get students engaged and participating during lessons.

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In every classroom, there are students who always have their hand raised to participate, and those who are hesitant to engage. Whether they're introverted, tend to think awhile before they contribute, or are just having a bad day, it can be hard to bring kids into discussions who are reluctant to add their voices.

The challenges of getting students to participate have intensified during remote learning, we've heard from many teachers. Digital platforms can create added communication barriers by making it hard to know when to talk, for example, or how to read subtle but important elements of discourse like a person's body language and facial expressions. Additionally, online discussions are often hindered by variability in students' access to technology and by privacy concerns, and consequently many teachers have had to rely on students' submitting work over isolated channels like email, which can leave back-and-forth between peers (and between students and the teacher) by the wayside.

Getting kids to contribute in virtual classrooms takes some work, it turns out. "We keep calling this generation digital natives as if they are simply whizzes at everything computerized. They aren't," wrote Tim O'Brien on Facebook. "They need personal support, scaffolding, and reassurance that technology does not provide. It is simply a tool, not a teacher."

To find out how to improve student discussions and participation in online learning, we culled through hundreds of comments on social media and followed up with more than 20 educators to see how they tackled the challenge last spring. Teachers offered a range of smart strategies, both synchronous and asynchronous, to integrate the values and the voices of all kids-even the quietest or those with disrupted schedules-into their classes this fall.

Synchronous Strategies

For synchronous learning, some teachers said they translated traditional discussion strategies from the classroom to live video chats, while others found that digital tools helped boost classroom participation.

1. Spider web discussion: During remote learning this spring, students in Shai Klima's high school class led their own discussions over Google Meet. Before the live class, students answered questions independently, and then shared their responses at the start of the meeting as a jumping-off point for a broader class discussion.

While students conversed on video, Klima listened and drew lines on a sheet of paper tracking the flow of the conversation, resulting in a spider web. At the end of the discussion, Klima shared the drawing over video, and then asked students to reflect on the experience and what they learned about who talked, who listened, and who built on the ideas of others.

"It has been successful as a means to get kids to credit their peers with helping them come up with new ideas, which helps build rapport," said Klima, who let students struggling with bandwidth call in to the meetings.

2. Using chat to check for understanding: After giving lessons last spring, Paul France had his third-grade students use the Google Chat feature to ask and answer questions or type in emojis, like a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, to show whether they understood a concept. To create structure around the responses, he guided his students in creating norms around using the chat feature-they decided as a group to use only one emoji at a time, for example. France said the practice helped him check for student understanding and pushed students to engage more with the content.

Kindergarten teacher Ruth Calkins, meanwhile, used Zoom chat when holding live lessons with her kindergarten students. She said they enjoyed typing "T" or "F" for true and false questions while answering math problems in the chat box, and some even attempted to write sentences in response to her questions. Typing responses also provided a lot of keyboard practice for her young students.

3. Flip your classroom to stimulate deeper discussion: Forrest Hinton, a high school math teacher, says he found that a blend of asynchronous and synchronous instruction worked well to stimulate student discussion during remote learning.

First, he taught new content asynchronously through recorded videos and online activities. At the start of his live class, students briefly summarized the concepts they had learned together and then divided into breakout rooms to solve related problems in small groups. Flipping his classroom allowed Hinton to spend less class time in direct instruction-and listening to students at the start of class and in small groups helped him identify, and then address, where his students were struggling. "This has allowed me to clarify concepts in a more targeted way and better assist students," said Hinton.

4. Adapting think-pair-share to Zoom: Ryan Tahmaseb, director of library services, says he found that giving more project-based learning activities to his elementary and middle school students-and allowing them more autonomy over assignments-naturally encouraged richer discussions in virtual learning. "If we give students as much freedom as possible to experiment, research, and pursue interests within our content area, then they inevitably have a lot more to say," said Tahmaseb.

When it came to class discussions, Tahmaseb adapted think-pair-share to Zoom. Students were given a prompt, broken into groups, and then placed into breakout rooms to discuss and record their answers on a shared Google doc, which allowed students to share their thinking in writing or read aloud. Since Tahmaseb wasn't in each breakout room to listen to the conversations, the Google doc kept students accountable. Once they returned to the whole class, volunteers from each group shared their answers with everyone.

5. A new twist on show-and-tell: To get students comfortable with online participation, Brittany Collins, the teaching and learning coordinator at Write the World, a global online writing community for middle and high school students, converted the familiar show-and-tell activity into "think, write, share."

In one activity, Collins asked middle and high school students to find a photo, painting, or drawing that represented intergenerational connection and independently respond by writing to the following questions from the Making Thinking Visible Framework before discussing them over video as a class: What are we looking at? What makes you say that? What do you notice (see, feel, know)? What more can we uncover? What do you wonder? "It helps to break the ice in a virtual learning setting where unplanned participation can prove challenging for some students," said Collins.

Asynchronous Strategies

Although some teachers-and students-said that synchronous discussions were more engaging because they resembled a traditional classroom, many educators found that asynchronous discussions were more equitable because they opened up participation to students with low bandwidth, who had schedule limitations, or who were uncomfortable engaging with the full class.

6. Online forums create back-and-forth dialogue: Angelina Murphy, a high school English teacher, said she used Google Classroom's question feature to get her class to respond to readings and discussion prompts during remote learning this past spring. When each student commented, Murphy replied with clarifying questions to create a back-and-forth dialogue and also asked every student to respond to at least two of their peers' comments to create a broader base of discussion.

Fifth-grade teacher Raquel Linares said she used Nearpod Collaborate (Apple, Android), a virtual collaboration board, to get students to share images or write a response to show what they had learned about an article they read. To inspire connection and reflection among classmates, Linares also used Flipgrid (Apple, Android), so that students could hear their peers' voices even though they were remote.

7. Seeing and critiquing peer work through virtual gallery walks: Virtual "gallery walks" give students an opportunity to view their classmates' projects while learning from each other, according to Joe Marangell, a high school social studies teacher. After his students presented their own projects through five-minute screencasts, they were then required to give feedback to at least two other students on theirs.

Using Google Sheets, students provided feedback to their peers by answering the following prompts: What's something new I learned about this topic?; What's something that surprised me about this topic?; What's something I liked about this presentation? The online format gave every student the opportunity to see their peers' work and their assessment on theirs for deeper reflection, Marangell said.

8. Moving station brainstorming online: When carousel or station brainstorming activities are conducted in traditional classroom environments, small groups of students rotate around the room to different stations to answer prompts-and view and add to each groups' responses.

To translate this online, Marangell divided his students into groups online and created shared Google docs-or a series of Google slides-for the prompts/questions. Each group left their thoughts under the questions by the assigned date and then followed up by commenting on the other groups' responses the next day. "The strategy still allows them to maintain a sense of classroom community [in a virtual setting]," said Marangell.

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8 Strategies to Improve Participation in Your Virtual Classroom

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Educators share their best synchronous and asynchronous strategies to boost student participation during online learning.

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Students will be more engage in the classroom when you develop a rapport with them. Getting to know your students will show them that you care more about just delivering the content.
https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/engaging-students-virtual-classroom

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Students will be highly engaged when put into breakout rooms in zoom and have a specific task to complete. I did this with students during the shutdown last year and they were very productive and enjoyed being social in class with their peers.

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How to Build Authentic Relationships in a Virtual Classroom

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How to Build Authentic Relationships in a Virtual Classroom

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Today I'm excited and grateful because I got to co-author this important piece in which we share these five sure-fire ways to connect with our students and their families virtually and/or in person.

During this unusual season of uncertainty and unrest, the anticipation and drive with which educators typically get ready to go back to school might feel more like anxiety and dread. Will we be teaching in-person, hybrid, virtually, or all the above? And though those of us going back virtually may be equipped with the technology to teach virtually, how can we create those caring connections through a computer screen so that our students feel secure and loved?

If you want to cultivate relationships that will outlast the digital divide, an emphasis on building strong relationships and healthy connections will help us flourish regardless of how our instruction is delivered. Implement these actionable strategies into your teaching to help build relationships with your young learners and see what develops.

In all of your frantic thinking and planning for "how" you'll manage a new year, let's not forget what lies at the core of any school year: our partnerships with families and students. If teaching virtually, you'll need their support now more than ever. As you build and nurture partnerships with parents, remember that:

First impressions matter. Take an intentional amount of time in planning your first interactions with your new families. Think about what you'll say to make them feel confident in your ability to care for their child. Make it clear that you love what you do and can't wait for your chance to guide their little one through a new school year.

Be their "DREAM" Teacher. It is every parent's dream for their child to have a teacher that loves them and has their best interest at heart. You can support this idea by expressing your passion in words or in messages home. Deann Gibson, a teacher in Kentucky, asks families to write a personal letter about their child each year to better understand their perspective of their child. This simple strategy furthers the idea that she is concerned about their child on a deeper level.

Early Support = Long-Term Success. Many of our families are struggling (just as Teachers) to find guidance in Virtual Learning. Be adamant in providing comfort, guidance and support from the very beginning. Keep in mind that families are doing something completely new and out of their comfort-zone. Instructional videos, home-school resources and informative literature (like our Parent Partnerships Handbook which has a FREE Spanish Version) will give them the knowledge they need to get through this dynamic.

Provide clear, consistent communication. We are more likely to know, like, and trust someone who keeps us informed and is consistent in providing information. Decide early on how you'll communicate with your families, whether through a weekly newsletter, class text-messaging, or social media platform. Post consistently (same day each week or time each day) and provide additional support when needed.

Whether in the classroom or in a Zoom conference call, your students need to feel secure in their environment before they can make connections with you or their classmates. For younger students who have little experience in this setting, this requires planning and intention on your part. The climate of your classroom relies heavily on your expectations and your initial interactions with students. You can make students feel secure by keeping these key concepts in mind.

Set clear expectations. Explicitly introducing, practicing and enforcing your classroom expectations will help students understand what you expect of them and give them comfort in the choices they make.

Applaud risks. Rewarding students for taking risks and getting out of their comfort zone will demonstrate to our little ones that no matter what they do, we love and support them.

Be SILLY. Being silly is a great way to build trust with our young learners. Smile constantly, say silly things, dance and play to help students begin to know, like and trust you.

Recognize their individuality. In the early stages of your school year, provide ample opportunity for students to get to know each other and celebrate each child's individuality. This will nurture the idea that each student is an important piece of your classroom puzzle. Make "About Me" books, do a simple interest inventory or have a "Show & Tell" day to engage students in learning about each other.

Empathy is the ability to step into another's shoes to experience and feel with someone, to imagine what they're going through, how they're feeling, and what they might need. We know from experience that when empathy increases, bullying behaviors decrease. Without empathy, connections are shaky and relationships suffer.

It's our need for empathy that punctuates the purpose of building emotional literacy. We must help our students understand and name their emotions , embrace and make friends with the feelings, and learn how to use that emotional energy as fuel, so that they're able to process feelings as they come and go. We can help make that happen through intentional modeling, direct instruction, and lots of practice.

Model it: How we as caregivers process, manage, and express our feelings matters. If we yell when we get angry, guess what children learn to do with their anger? Instead, explain what you're feeling and what you need: "I'm feeling really angry right now and I'm going to need a timeout so that I can cool down before talking about this." This will provide your children with a healthy example of how self-regulation looks, sounds, and feels.

Teach it: Intentionally teach feelings by validating that all feelings are important and then practicing how faces and bodies look through each of the emotions. Dialogue with your children: This is my happy face; what does your happy face look/feel like? These are my stressed-out shoulders; what do your stressed-out shoulders look/feel like? These are my angry hands; what do your angry hands look/feel like?

Practice it: Setting aside routine times to practice expressing emotions will be key to fostering self-regulation. Role-play with students how they'll feel in certain situations, check-in on how characters in the books they're reading and shows they're watching are feeling, and ask students directly how they themselves are feeling. Once we understand, embrace, and know our own feelings, empathy will more organically and fluently elevate, stretch, and grow.

Use the Emotion Pops, songs, stories, and relational strategies and activities in the Virtual Classroom Survival Guide to help strengthen not only emotional literacy but also healthy relationships within your school family.

Think back to your happiest childhood memories; was play involved? Being purposeful in play helps grow children's intellectual and social development. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) notes these elements to essential and meaningful play.

Children make their own decisions. When children choose how to play, they experience the freedom in making choices.

Children are intrinsically motivated. This play impulse is stronger than their desire to eat or sleep. This desire to play helps teach children to learn self-control.

Children become immersed in the moment. Children become so engaged in the moment because they are in a safe environment to keep exploring and navigating.

Play is spontaneous, not scripted. Play is often totally not planned. When things change, it helps develop flexibility and decision-making .

Play is enjoyable. Play always has an emotional response attached to it.

In meaningful play, children are active participants. Play is what pulls together the logical and creative parts of the brain. Children build their mental and emotional muscles as they create imaginative worlds that have rules through the terms of play. When children look back at their childhood, we want them to remember how the joy of playing made them feel, but how do we play virtually?

Plan engaging games and memory-making activities; use the cheers or move with the Brain Breaks in the Virtual Classroom Survival Guide. Make students feel special by celebrating birthdays, holidays, and special occasions. Be creative by using wigs, props, or rewards. Because children want to feel your joy and be an active part of it, we've included a Just For Fun section in our eBook.

The world keeps changing, but children are the same. They LOVE to sing, dance, and have fun with their friends. Music is magic because it's the perfect way to nurture the whole child - physically, emotionally, socially, and intellectually. Singing builds a strong bond between teachers and their students as they smile and play together. Above all, through music and movement, ALL children can feel successful.

According to accumulating brain research, music is one of the most powerful learning tools. Here are five great reasons to sing with children:

Music is multi-sensory. The more senses you get going to the brain, the more likely the message will get there.

If children are exposed to concepts while singing, it is easier for them to learn when formally introduced.

Children are able to use their imaginations and create pictures in their brains when they sing.

Repetition is a key to learning. It is much more fun to repeat songs than worksheets!

Singing and dancing relieve stress and oxygenate the brain.

Our children will keep on singing as long as the adults they love keep on singing!

Still looking for comfort and guidance in the Virtual Classroom? Consider the Virtual Classroom Survival Guide, a resource designed by passionate experts with one realization in mind: we simply cannot do this alone! In this Guide, you'll find innovative ideas for creating lasting relationships and connecting by heart to help you not only survive, but also thrive through this unprecedented and surreal time in education. Harvest our strategies and enjoy making them your own as you foster relationships, play, and grow alongside our littlest learners. Here's to making this new school year our best one ever.

This Guide is rooted in the love and gratitude that four passionate educators hold in their hearts for teachers everywhere. And though, just like you, each of them is relatively new to navigating remote teaching, co-authors About the Authors: Dr. Jean Feldman, Barbara Gruener, Laura Buoanadonna, and Toni Mullins collectively bring over a century of classroom experience and expertise to this cross-country collaboration to enrich your virtual classroom experience.

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How To Build Authentic Relationships In The Virtual Classroom

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This blog is designed to showcase people and experiences that corner the market on character and make the world a better place. I hope that my stories will positively influence and inspire you to seek out similar elevating experiences that you can share with others.

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Pair each lesson with a relevant, current and engaging piece of media that kids are drawn to. Also, ask kids where they see these connections to help them incorporate their own passion into the classroom.

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Small group discussion for students to get to know each other. GO Noodle is great to get the kids up and moving.

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Kahoot is a fun interactive game to play through zoom! I've used it multiple times with online learning. Here is an article with more suggestions:

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5 Tips for Engaging ALL Students Virtually

James Cross, 4th Grade Teacher, Rocketship Nashville Northeast Elementary

What does an engaged classroom look like? Do images of happy students raising their hand, sharing ideas, collaborating with peers, and completing assignments that challenge their learning come to mind? Now take a moment to think about what engagement looks like in a virtual classroom. Do your expectations for engagement change?

Teachers have always been experts at judging their students' level of engagement when it comes to their work. If students aren't "getting it," we adjust. If students need more practice, we give it to them. If students are mastering the lesson, we challenge them to further explore their understanding. We plan activities where our students can apply their learning and demonstrate their understanding. Virtual learning, however, calls into question our ability to hold student engagement. We don't always know what is going on behind the 2"x1" camera we see. This means that we now, more than ever, have to be intentional about how we engage our students.

Let's take a look at 5 ways teachers are building engagement with their learners!

Tip #1: Leverage what you already have!
Virtual learning doesn't mean you have to reinvent the wheel. Your school or district is likely using a virtual teaching program or software that comes with lots of engaging features. Start small, make sure the cameras are on! This helps everyone feel part of a school community. Teach your students how to mute and unmute. Is there a chat feature? A chat box is great for students to share their thoughts and engage with each other. Does your program have breakout rooms? We know that students learn better in smaller groups. Put a breakout room to work so students can talk and share freely with each other. You, as the teacher, can then circulate through breakout rooms to check in like you normally would. Check for additional features too, such as polls, reactions, and virtual hand-raising.

Tip #2: Simon Says this one is great!
Now that you have introduced those tech features, students need a chance to practice using them. Play a quick game of Simon Says to practice using the mute button, chatbox, and camera feature. Take a few notes of students who might need a little more help so you can check in with them later. If you find your students are still struggling to use these features, play another round to refresh their minds. Be intentional- if you notice a student who has it down, let them lead a round. Finally, make sure you are having fun too! Kids naturally feed off their teachers and if you are having fun playing a round of Simon Says so will they! Watch this example for inspiration!

Tip #3: Turn and talk with who you have at home!
Countless educators live by the 10:2 rule. For every ten minutes of teacher talk, it's time to let our students have at least 2 minutes to share. As elementary teachers, we might aim for even more student talk time. Our goal might be 5:1. While students can't easily talk to each other in a virtual class, they can still share at home. Have your students grab their favorite stuffed animal to share their thoughts with. If you have ever tried the tattling teddy, you know this will work!

Give your students a moment to collect their thoughts and then instruct them to share with their favorite stuffed toy. When students are done, call on a few to share what they told Mr. Teddy or Mrs. Bear. If stuffed animals aren't their thing, try going back to those breakout rooms. Put them in groups of two or three and let them share. Students want to talk- so let's get creative!

Tip #4: We love virtual teaching, yes we do, we love virtual teaching, how about you?
Chants, rhymes, and cheers have always been integral to student learning. We use them for the alphabet, letter sounds, math facts, reading skills, and just about everything. Chants help make what we learn sticky so we don't forget it. I know that I will never forget that "eight times eight fell on the floor, picked it up, it was 64!" Chants and cheers are still effective strategies for online learning. Let your students all come off mute at the same time (it's not as scary as it sounds!). Have your kids practice together. Chants and cheers will build unison and give your students an important method of remembering important facts. Here's an example of one way chants help applaud a student's answer.

Tip #5: Make learning a hoot with Kahoot!
You might already be finding some great online resources to use in your classroom. Maybe you use PearDeck, an online whiteboard, or online flashcards? One of our favorite tools is Kahoot. Kahoot lets you create questions and students get to answer them in real-time. They compete against each other to be the points leader. Besides getting to choose their own name, the best part is students are engaged because it feels like a game. Use Kahoot on a Friday to test their knowledge from the week. Reinforce a spelling pattern with questions that test their spelling mastery. Challenge their vocabulary skills by creating a vocabulary game. It's really up to you with the content you want to create, but we guarantee students will love to play! Another great way to spark engagement and reinforce positive behaviors is by giving students Dojo Points. Watch the below video to learn more.

Student engagement is going to be tricky. It is going to be up and down. It's also going to be what we make of it. Start small and get to know your students. Engagement always starts with knowing our students as learners and as people. Once we know our students, we can utilize numerous engagement strategies to bring out their joy for learning.

We can't wait to hear how you are using these tips in your classroom! Check back soon to see our thoughts on ways to engage with families and teachers!

Published on September 5, 2020

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5 Tips for Engaging ALL Students Virtually

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What does an engaged classroom look like? Do images of happy students raising their hand, sharing ideas, collaborating with peers, and completing assignments that challenge their learning come to mind? Now take a moment to think about what engagement looks like in a virtual classroom. Do your expectations for engagement change?

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For movement and brain breaks.

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A student who helps to keep the class informed of upcoming events.

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For brain breaks and movement

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Great for giving students a brain break - allows them to get up and move for a few minutes.

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Having bitmoji classrooms for holidays, curriculum themes, and stories is a great way to engage students.

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Boom Learning | Empowering teachers and students

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Boom Cards transform the classroom into an interactive, gamified learning experience with data to track progress and identify learning gaps.

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introduce phonics concepts

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A bitmoji classroom for science and social studies theme units are fun for students to access in schoology

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A bitmoji classroom for science and social studies theme units are fun for students to access in schoology

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Use Benchmark Interactive Library to do shared or guided reading by sharing your screen.

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The first student admitted to my zoom gets to greet each student admitted to the zoom.

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I have a good morning song to start the day and a good-bye song to end the day!

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Teachers could engage students by using a site like https://perusall.com/ because it helps students read and collaborate together on a text. A student might be lost on their own, but this collaborative site lets them see what others are thinking and processing.

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Motivate students with a social learning experience to increase engagement, drive collaboration, and build community through course content, including books, articles, web pages, videos, podcasts, and images.

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As university professors and researchers who work closely with K-12 online teachers and learners, we've heard from many newly remote educators who are struggling. Recent class discussions have focused on the difficulties of getting through to students without in-person contact, especially during a time of enormous stress. Some teachers report that their students lack interest and in the worst cases, that students are dropping from classes entirely.

From our experience both in the online classroom and in training teachers to teach online, this is familiar territory and typically happens about six weeks into a new school session. The newness has worn off, the excitement around technology wanes and teachers often struggle finding ways to engage with their students.

The crucial question that has emerged is: how do we engage learners when we are not together physically? It's a complicated question, even in the best of times-one that has been at the forefront of our daily online teaching practice and our research into the online behaviors and interactions that can have the greatest impact on successful learner outcomes. Thankfully, research into online learning can provide us with a starting point to make sure our students continue to be engaged in the process of learning.

There isn't one solution for increasing learner engagement and motivation. Online teachers need to combine multiple strategies to reach learners, such as strengthening relationships with learners, engaging families and helping learners connect with their peers. But building strong relationships online is difficult.

What Is Engagement and Why Is It So Important to the Learning Process?

In its simplest form, engagement is a measure of how much we are attending to a purpose, task or activity. When it comes to learning, engagement is influenced by a learner's level of motivation, focus and cognitive ability as well as online course design and a teacher's decisions regarding facilitation style.

Grounded in the learning sciences, engagement is deepest in environments that support fostering relationships, productive instructional strategies, and social and emotional development. Engaged learners demonstrate stronger satisfaction with learning experiences, stronger achievement in courses and increased graduation rates.

Researchers identify three primary components of learner engagement for in-person and online settings: behavioral, cognitive and emotional. In other words, we know that learners are engaged if they exhibit behaviors, thinking processes or emotions that indicate they are connecting with course materials, with the teacher and with each other.

Measuring these types of engagement is easier said than done, though researchers have settled on some common approaches in traditional classrooms that can easily be translated to the online classroom, where research isn't as far along. Some of these measures will be more difficult for teachers to assess, and some may require teachers to understand and use the analytics capabilities of online tools. Teachers needn't collect data on every single measure, but having familiarity with the following common measurements will allow teachers to determine which factors they can reasonably assess according to the type of engagement they hope to spur.

Types of engagement with common measurements for virtual settings

How can we make the leap from this research to practical application in the remote classroom? The Adolescent Community of Engagement Framework proposed by Jered Borup, Richard West, Charles Graham and Randall Davies gives us one approach. These researchers argue that student engagement is created and enhanced by the involvement of three key players in any K-12 online learning experience: teachers, parents and peers.

Adolescent Community of Engagement Framework: A Lens for Research in K-12 Online Learning Environments hypothesizes that as parent, teacher, and peer engagement increase, student engagement will likely increase until it fills the area indicated by the dotted line. Image credit: Jered Borup, Richard West, Charles Graham and Randall Davies. Used with permission.

How Teachers Can Increase Learner Engagement in a Remote Classroom

One of the most consistent findings in engagement research is that a teacher has an enormous impact on the student's experience, influencing everything from students' perceived learning and self efficacy to their motivation. Being an engaged teacher online means being visible in the class, whether that's through discussion posts, announcements or assignment feedback. Teachers can emphasize their visibility and overall engagement in a remote classroom by implementing these practices:

Post regular announcements: A funny video or meme along with a hello and a weekly reminder of due dates can go a long way in reconnecting learners.

Reply early and often: Students need to feel that teachers are immediately available to help and may feel isolated when educators take a full business day to respond to a request for help. Quick communication builds connection.

Vary communication tools: Teachers should consider the communication preferences of individual students and make sure that their tools are best positioned to respond to students' questions. Phone calls, synchronous video tools, instant messaging or texting are all good options to use in combination, depending on the district's communication policies and student preferences.

Use feedback to build relationships: Providing personalized feedback to let students know their work has been reviewed can strengthen relations. Video feedback is also effective in building a connection with learners.

Physical connections under social distancing: Teacher parades and chalk messages on students' sidewalks are a great example of recent efforts teachers have taken to demonstrate their level of commitment to maintain high levels of engagement with their students. Similar online approaches such as recorded or live book readings and virtual office hours can be just as effective.

How Teachers Can Increase Parent Engagement in a Remote Classroom

Research has shown that the involvement of a responsible adult, typically a parent, is critical to the success of online learners. K-12 learners need the support of a caring adult to build executive functioning, manage their workload and maintain motivation. Teachers can support parents in this role by implementing a few key practices:

Connect with parents: Phone calls, texts and friendly emails help parents feel connected, realizing that the teacher is there to support the entire family.

Provide a schedule: Parents can use a schedule that shows the days and times of synchronous classes and includes what activities students should be working on each day to help keep students on task.

Offer tech support: Teachers can create short videos to help parents understand how to access their online content.

Less is more: Parents can quickly become inundated with well-intentioned emails from various teachers. Keeping emails short and focused is best.

Survey parents: Periodic, brief surveys can help teachers understand what support parents need.

How Teachers Can Facilitate Connections Between Students in a Remote Classroom

Research shows that students who feel connected to other learners are more engaged. In connecting with other learners, students feel that they are part of a classroom community. When motivation for the content itself is lacking, the desire to socialize with other learners can keep a student coming back to the work of a remote classroom. Teachers can improve peer engagement in a virtual setting by implementing these practices:

Use prompts to spark discussion: Discussion boards can be a great space for conversations, especially when teachers use prompts that are open-ended, stir debate or force deeper learning. Prompts can also be used to generate video discussions using a social learning tool like Flipgrid or an online debate tool such as Tricider.

Student talk during synchronous learning: Lectures and focused learning can happen through recorded videos but synchronous sessions offer an opportunity to share and talk to each other as a community. Sessions hosted through Zoom or Google Meet can incorporate traditional classroom activities like jigsaws, small group activities in breakout rooms or discussion protocols.

Group assignments: Learners can create collaborative group projects through a shared Google doc or Google site. For instance, students can collaborate on the creation of an Editor's Toolbox website with grammar tips by assigning groups of students to each page within the site.

Student-led tech support: Students who are exceptionally gifted in technology might troubleshoot or a teacher can create a "Tech Help" forum that students can moderate. Teachers should take care to set up structured guidelines for classroom use.

Carving out time to share: Teachers can allow time and space for students to showcase their expertise, hobbies or projects using a Padlet or Pinterest board.

Figuring out how to effectively engage learners has always been a complex challenge for educators like the ones that we instruct. Identifying ways to motivate students, help them maintain focus and get the most out of learning was difficult when we had physical classrooms and it remains a challenge now that our learning environments are entirely virtual. A savvy educator will employ a variety of strategies to build engagement. By recognizing the critical importance of engaging learners, parents and peers, and selecting the strategies that work for them and their contexts, educators can move toward deeper engagement in online environments.

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How Can Educators Tap Into Research to Increase Engagement During Remote Learning? - EdSurge News

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As university professors and researchers who work closely with K-12 online teachers and learners, we've heard from many newly remote educators who are ...

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Engaging students in a virtual classroom

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Engaging students in a virtual classroom

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Distance learning forced educators to file away some of their most time-tested classroom management tricks. You can't exactly flick the lights on and off to get attention in Google Meet. There's no withholding recess as a consequence or promises of a classroom pizza party as a reward when you're online. But educators have discovered some tried-and-true strategies for remote learning that could benefit in-person instruction as well.

BUILD HUMAN CONNECTION

One of the most effective approaches is to build a sense of community. With a new semester upon us, this is the perfect time to look for fresh ways to bring your students together-even if they are physically apart.
Create small groups
Scheduling small virtual "gatherings" is an excellent way to get to know your students. You can create small groups for reading or math, but they don't necessarily need to be based on academics. Try meeting with a handful of students to talk about the best and worst parts of their week. Let them vent their frustrations about school and share their hopes for the rest of the year. By allowing them to express their thoughts and feelings, you build trust and respect. Students who feel respected and heard are much more likely to be engaged.
Set goals together
Students always need encouragement, but during the pandemic we all need extra motivation. Helping students set goals, with a little guidance from you, will go a long way toward staying on track. If they record their learning goals, track how they're doing and reflect on progress. This will help keep them excited to learn.
Review and renew class norms
If you already created a class contract or even a class constitution, now's a great time to review and update it if necessary. If you haven't, you can establish one to govern the remainder of the year. The classroom contract is a set of rules and norms created collaboratively and agreed upon by everyone in the class. It includes consequences for not following the rules and norms and should be updated to reflect unique situations that arise. The contract can be a good reminder for everyone if there are disruptions.
Answer common Q&As
By week one of remote learning, you probably knew what the most common questions were. They likely came up again and again ... and again. Set aside time for students to think of their most common questions and a few they hear classmates asking frequently. Have the students send you their questions, then answer them all together.

Create a Q&A document they can print, hang, or reference as a bookmark. Ask the students to review the document before asking during class.

GET STUDENTS MOVING!

We asked our NEA Today Facebook fans for tips on getting their students up and out of their chairs to blow off steam. These moves are great for distance learning or in the classroom. Shelly McCormick-Lane, a Latin teacher in Texas, filmed her school's world language department doing 60-second dance party breaks to everything from the "Macarena" to "YMCA."

"I placed them strategically in the middle of PowerPoints. ... At first most stared at me like I was crazy, but soon most of my high school students grades 9-12 were dancing with me!" she writes.

Meagan Penn is a New Jersey high school dance teacher, and even her 18-year-old football players love a round or two of Just Dance. "YouTube has almost every Just Dance video that's ever been released, and most can be done in a small amount of personal space. A lot of kids will know the dances already from playing on their gaming systems."

GIVE STUDENTS CHOICES

During the pandemic, choice boards became even more widely used to engage students in asynchronous learning.

Part of the teacher toolkit for years, these graphic organizers are set up as a grid, offering students different activities in each square to learn about a single concept. If they are learning about history, for example, they can watch a short documentary, read a text, create a timeline, or write a poem or play about a time period or event. If they are learning math concepts, they can complete a timed worksheet of problems, answer a series of word problems, write the instructions for solving a complex problem, or create a poster showing three different ways to solve a problem.

Choice boards help students stay motivated because the students select the learning path that appeals to them the most.

This technique also helps educators achieve that most elusive of lesson goals: differentiation. Choice boards allow educators to reach a group of students with many different levels of understanding and learning styles.

Students need that human connection now more than ever. The human element will reduce disruptive behavior and help keep your students motivated through these difficult times.

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Engaging Students in a Virtual Classroom | NEA

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Distance learning forced educators to file away some of their most time-tested classroom management tricks. You can't exactly flick the lights on and off to get attention in Google Meet. There's no withholding recess as a consequence or promises of a classroom pizza party as a reward when you're online.

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In every classroom, there are students who always have their hand raised to participate, and those who are hesitant to engage. Whether they're introverted, tend to think awhile before they contribute, or are just having a bad day, it can be hard to bring kids into discussions who are reluctant to add their voices.

The challenges of getting students to participate have intensified during remote learning, we've heard from many teachers. Digital platforms can create added communication barriers by making it hard to know when to talk, for example, or how to read subtle but important elements of discourse like a person's body language and facial expressions. Additionally, online discussions are often hindered by variability in students' access to technology and by privacy concerns, and consequently many teachers have had to rely on students' submitting work over isolated channels like email, which can leave back-and-forth between peers (and between students and the teacher) by the wayside.

Getting kids to contribute in virtual classrooms takes some work, it turns out. "We keep calling this generation digital natives as if they are simply whizzes at everything computerized. They aren't," wrote Tim O'Brien on Facebook. "They need personal support, scaffolding, and reassurance that technology does not provide. It is simply a tool, not a teacher."

To find out how to improve student discussions and participation in online learning, we culled through hundreds of comments on social media and followed up with more than 20 educators to see how they tackled the challenge last spring. Teachers offered a range of smart strategies, both synchronous and asynchronous, to integrate the values and the voices of all kids-even the quietest or those with disrupted schedules-into their classes this fall.

Synchronous Strategies

For synchronous learning, some teachers said they translated traditional discussion strategies from the classroom to live video chats, while others found that digital tools helped boost classroom participation.

1. Spider web discussion: During remote learning this spring, students in Shai Klima's high school class led their own discussions over Google Meet. Before the live class, students answered questions independently, and then shared their responses at the start of the meeting as a jumping-off point for a broader class discussion.

While students conversed on video, Klima listened and drew lines on a sheet of paper tracking the flow of the conversation, resulting in a spider web. At the end of the discussion, Klima shared the drawing over video, and then asked students to reflect on the experience and what they learned about who talked, who listened, and who built on the ideas of others.

"It has been successful as a means to get kids to credit their peers with helping them come up with new ideas, which helps build rapport," said Klima, who let students struggling with bandwidth call in to the meetings.

2. Using chat to check for understanding: After giving lessons last spring, Paul France had his third-grade students use the Google Chat feature to ask and answer questions or type in emojis, like a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, to show whether they understood a concept. To create structure around the responses, he guided his students in creating norms around using the chat feature-they decided as a group to use only one emoji at a time, for example. France said the practice helped him check for student understanding and pushed students to engage more with the content.

Kindergarten teacher Ruth Calkins, meanwhile, used Zoom chat when holding live lessons with her kindergarten students. She said they enjoyed typing "T" or "F" for true and false questions while answering math problems in the chat box, and some even attempted to write sentences in response to her questions. Typing responses also provided a lot of keyboard practice for her young students.

3. Flip your classroom to stimulate deeper discussion: Forrest Hinton, a high school math teacher, says he found that a blend of asynchronous and synchronous instruction worked well to stimulate student discussion during remote learning.

First, he taught new content asynchronously through recorded videos and online activities. At the start of his live class, students briefly summarized the concepts they had learned together and then divided into breakout rooms to solve related problems in small groups. Flipping his classroom allowed Hinton to spend less class time in direct instruction-and listening to students at the start of class and in small groups helped him identify, and then address, where his students were struggling. "This has allowed me to clarify concepts in a more targeted way and better assist students," said Hinton.

4. Adapting think-pair-share to Zoom: Ryan Tahmaseb, director of library services, says he found that giving more project-based learning activities to his elementary and middle school students-and allowing them more autonomy over assignments-naturally encouraged richer discussions in virtual learning. "If we give students as much freedom as possible to experiment, research, and pursue interests within our content area, then they inevitably have a lot more to say," said Tahmaseb.

When it came to class discussions, Tahmaseb adapted think-pair-share to Zoom. Students were given a prompt, broken into groups, and then placed into breakout rooms to discuss and record their answers on a shared Google doc, which allowed students to share their thinking in writing or read aloud. Since Tahmaseb wasn't in each breakout room to listen to the conversations, the Google doc kept students accountable. Once they returned to the whole class, volunteers from each group shared their answers with everyone.

5. A new twist on show-and-tell: To get students comfortable with online participation, Brittany Collins, the teaching and learning coordinator at Write the World, a global online writing community for middle and high school students, converted the familiar show-and-tell activity into "think, write, share."

In one activity, Collins asked middle and high school students to find a photo, painting, or drawing that represented intergenerational connection and independently respond by writing to the following questions from the Making Thinking Visible Framework before discussing them over video as a class: What are we looking at? What makes you say that? What do you notice (see, feel, know)? What more can we uncover? What do you wonder? "It helps to break the ice in a virtual learning setting where unplanned participation can prove challenging for some students," said Collins.

Asynchronous Strategies

Although some teachers-and students-said that synchronous discussions were more engaging because they resembled a traditional classroom, many educators found that asynchronous discussions were more equitable because they opened up participation to students with low bandwidth, who had schedule limitations, or who were uncomfortable engaging with the full class.

6. Online forums create back-and-forth dialogue: Angelina Murphy, a high school English teacher, said she used Google Classroom's question feature to get her class to respond to readings and discussion prompts during remote learning this past spring. When each student commented, Murphy replied with clarifying questions to create a back-and-forth dialogue and also asked every student to respond to at least two of their peers' comments to create a broader base of discussion.

Fifth-grade teacher Raquel Linares said she used Nearpod Collaborate (Apple, Android), a virtual collaboration board, to get students to share images or write a response to show what they had learned about an article they read. To inspire connection and reflection among classmates, Linares also used Flipgrid (Apple, Android), so that students could hear their peers' voices even though they were remote.

7. Seeing and critiquing peer work through virtual gallery walks: Virtual "gallery walks" give students an opportunity to view their classmates' projects while learning from each other, according to Joe Marangell, a high school social studies teacher. After his students presented their own projects through five-minute screencasts, they were then required to give feedback to at least two other students on theirs.

Using Google Sheets, students provided feedback to their peers by answering the following prompts: What's something new I learned about this topic?; What's something that surprised me about this topic?; What's something I liked about this presentation? The online format gave every student the opportunity to see their peers' work and their assessment on theirs for deeper reflection, Marangell said.

8. Moving station brainstorming online: When carousel or station brainstorming activities are conducted in traditional classroom environments, small groups of students rotate around the room to different stations to answer prompts-and view and add to each groups' responses.

To translate this online, Marangell divided his students into groups online and created shared Google docs-or a series of Google slides-for the prompts/questions. Each group left their thoughts under the questions by the assigned date and then followed up by commenting on the other groups' responses the next day. "The strategy still allows them to maintain a sense of classroom community [in a virtual setting]," said Marangell.

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8 Strategies to Improve Participation in Your Virtual Classroom

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Educators share their best synchronous and asynchronous strategies to boost student participation during online learning.

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8 Strategies to Improve Participation in Your Virtual Classroom

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8 Strategies to Improve Participation in Your Virtual Classroom

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Jamie Yeager

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In every classroom, there are students who always have their hand raised to participate, and those who are hesitant to engage. Whether they're introverted, tend to think awhile before they contribute, or are just having a bad day, it can be hard to bring kids into discussions who are reluctant to add their voices.

The challenges of getting students to participate have intensified during remote learning, we've heard from many teachers. Digital platforms can create added communication barriers by making it hard to know when to talk, for example, or how to read subtle but important elements of discourse like a person's body language and facial expressions. Additionally, online discussions are often hindered by variability in students' access to technology and by privacy concerns, and consequently many teachers have had to rely on students' submitting work over isolated channels like email, which can leave back-and-forth between peers (and between students and the teacher) by the wayside.

Getting kids to contribute in virtual classrooms takes some work, it turns out. "We keep calling this generation digital natives as if they are simply whizzes at everything computerized. They aren't," wrote Tim O'Brien on Facebook. "They need personal support, scaffolding, and reassurance that technology does not provide. It is simply a tool, not a teacher."

To find out how to improve student discussions and participation in online learning, we culled through hundreds of comments on social media and followed up with more than 20 educators to see how they tackled the challenge last spring. Teachers offered a range of smart strategies, both synchronous and asynchronous, to integrate the values and the voices of all kids-even the quietest or those with disrupted schedules-into their classes this fall.

Synchronous Strategies

For synchronous learning, some teachers said they translated traditional discussion strategies from the classroom to live video chats, while others found that digital tools helped boost classroom participation.

1. Spider web discussion: During remote learning this spring, students in Shai Klima's high school class led their own discussions over Google Meet. Before the live class, students answered questions independently, and then shared their responses at the start of the meeting as a jumping-off point for a broader class discussion.

While students conversed on video, Klima listened and drew lines on a sheet of paper tracking the flow of the conversation, resulting in a spider web. At the end of the discussion, Klima shared the drawing over video, and then asked students to reflect on the experience and what they learned about who talked, who listened, and who built on the ideas of others.

"It has been successful as a means to get kids to credit their peers with helping them come up with new ideas, which helps build rapport," said Klima, who let students struggling with bandwidth call in to the meetings.

2. Using chat to check for understanding: After giving lessons last spring, Paul France had his third-grade students use the Google Chat feature to ask and answer questions or type in emojis, like a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, to show whether they understood a concept. To create structure around the responses, he guided his students in creating norms around using the chat feature-they decided as a group to use only one emoji at a time, for example. France said the practice helped him check for student understanding and pushed students to engage more with the content.

Kindergarten teacher Ruth Calkins, meanwhile, used Zoom chat when holding live lessons with her kindergarten students. She said they enjoyed typing "T" or "F" for true and false questions while answering math problems in the chat box, and some even attempted to write sentences in response to her questions. Typing responses also provided a lot of keyboard practice for her young students.

3. Flip your classroom to stimulate deeper discussion: Forrest Hinton, a high school math teacher, says he found that a blend of asynchronous and synchronous instruction worked well to stimulate student discussion during remote learning.

First, he taught new content asynchronously through recorded videos and online activities. At the start of his live class, students briefly summarized the concepts they had learned together and then divided into breakout rooms to solve related problems in small groups. Flipping his classroom allowed Hinton to spend less class time in direct instruction-and listening to students at the start of class and in small groups helped him identify, and then address, where his students were struggling. "This has allowed me to clarify concepts in a more targeted way and better assist students," said Hinton.

4. Adapting think-pair-share to Zoom: Ryan Tahmaseb, director of library services, says he found that giving more project-based learning activities to his elementary and middle school students-and allowing them more autonomy over assignments-naturally encouraged richer discussions in virtual learning. "If we give students as much freedom as possible to experiment, research, and pursue interests within our content area, then they inevitably have a lot more to say," said Tahmaseb.

When it came to class discussions, Tahmaseb adapted think-pair-share to Zoom. Students were given a prompt, broken into groups, and then placed into breakout rooms to discuss and record their answers on a shared Google doc, which allowed students to share their thinking in writing or read aloud. Since Tahmaseb wasn't in each breakout room to listen to the conversations, the Google doc kept students accountable. Once they returned to the whole class, volunteers from each group shared their answers with everyone.

5. A new twist on show-and-tell: To get students comfortable with online participation, Brittany Collins, the teaching and learning coordinator at Write the World, a global online writing community for middle and high school students, converted the familiar show-and-tell activity into "think, write, share."

In one activity, Collins asked middle and high school students to find a photo, painting, or drawing that represented intergenerational connection and independently respond by writing to the following questions from the Making Thinking Visible Framework before discussing them over video as a class: What are we looking at? What makes you say that? What do you notice (see, feel, know)? What more can we uncover? What do you wonder? "It helps to break the ice in a virtual learning setting where unplanned participation can prove challenging for some students," said Collins.

Asynchronous Strategies

Although some teachers-and students-said that synchronous discussions were more engaging because they resembled a traditional classroom, many educators found that asynchronous discussions were more equitable because they opened up participation to students with low bandwidth, who had schedule limitations, or who were uncomfortable engaging with the full class.

6. Online forums create back-and-forth dialogue: Angelina Murphy, a high school English teacher, said she used Google Classroom's question feature to get her class to respond to readings and discussion prompts during remote learning this past spring. When each student commented, Murphy replied with clarifying questions to create a back-and-forth dialogue and also asked every student to respond to at least two of their peers' comments to create a broader base of discussion.

Fifth-grade teacher Raquel Linares said she used Nearpod Collaborate (Apple, Android), a virtual collaboration board, to get students to share images or write a response to show what they had learned about an article they read. To inspire connection and reflection among classmates, Linares also used Flipgrid (Apple, Android), so that students could hear their peers' voices even though they were remote.

7. Seeing and critiquing peer work through virtual gallery walks: Virtual "gallery walks" give students an opportunity to view their classmates' projects while learning from each other, according to Joe Marangell, a high school social studies teacher. After his students presented their own projects through five-minute screencasts, they were then required to give feedback to at least two other students on theirs.

Using Google Sheets, students provided feedback to their peers by answering the following prompts: What's something new I learned about this topic?; What's something that surprised me about this topic?; What's something I liked about this presentation? The online format gave every student the opportunity to see their peers' work and their assessment on theirs for deeper reflection, Marangell said.

8. Moving station brainstorming online: When carousel or station brainstorming activities are conducted in traditional classroom environments, small groups of students rotate around the room to different stations to answer prompts-and view and add to each groups' responses.

To translate this online, Marangell divided his students into groups online and created shared Google docs-or a series of Google slides-for the prompts/questions. Each group left their thoughts under the questions by the assigned date and then followed up by commenting on the other groups' responses the next day. "The strategy still allows them to maintain a sense of classroom community [in a virtual setting]," said Marangell.

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8 Strategies to Improve Participation in Your Virtual Classroom

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Educators share their best synchronous and asynchronous strategies to boost student participation during online learning.

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Embed a video to get students thinking about an upcoming topic

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Embed a video to get students thinking about an upcoming topic

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Here is an example of how guided reading can be taught remotely in grades K-5. The resource used is Reading A to Z, however, it can easily be applied to the Benchmark Reading Program.

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How to use Reading A-Z in a Digital Lesson

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Keeping students engaged in digital learning Video

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Keeping students engaged in digital learning Video

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I like that they mentioned making your own videos for students to watch. I would have videos made of my lessons as a back up if they need ore clarification on a topic.

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Building a rapport with your students is a critical piece in allowing them to get trust and respect in developing discussions that aren't all teacher lead.

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The second point in this article addresses how to create interactive resources specifically for art.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has forced educators to use technology in new ways. Whether you are a novice or tech-savvy teacher, the role technology plays in our classrooms is evident. Many school districts have had long-term technology plans to obtain devices for all students gradually. With the unexpected switch to online learning, school districts expedited these plans to get devices in students' hands as soon as they could. Whether you are teaching entirely online or in-person with increased access to technology, art education instruction is changing.

While technology can certainly enhance instruction, one of the most overwhelming parts of this shift is translating a traditional curriculum into the digital realm. Because art is a hands-on process, many of the curriculum resources used are physical and tangible. With online learning and increased access to technology, some of these practices should change. Taking this on might seem tough, but it doesn't need to be!

Let's explore how you can use your traditionally created curriculum resources digitally. You don't need to reinvent the wheel; here are 4 ideas to get you started.

1. Annotate Digital PDFs with Kami

Most art teachers have computer folders filled with resources and instructional materials they've created. We've become accustomed to printing them and distributing them to students. If we're trying to use these documents in an online setting, creating hard copies becomes difficult. Or, because your students now have access to devices, it might make more sense to house some of these materials in your Learning Management System.
Enroll in Strategies and Tools for Online Art Instruction Graduate Course.
Kami is an extension that allows students to actively engage with a document by highlighting, commenting, and annotating. Teachers and students can digitally annotate PDFs, ebooks, worksheets, or even use Google Drive with Kami. This app also integrates within Google Classroom to provide immediate, timely, and specific feedback for students and their artwork. The video below shows how you might use Kami with a PDF resource in the art room.

The instructional resource used in this video is from the FLEX curriculum platform.

2. Create Interactive Resources

Some handouts are wonderful for reinforcing learning and to check for student understanding. However, they may also take a great deal of time for students to complete. Technology expedites student learning while covering the same concepts. Check out the video below for an example of how you can turn your traditional PDF resources into a timesaving interactive experience.

3. Modifying Resources for Students with Accommodations

With the increased use of technology, it's important to continue making modifications and accommodations for our students on 504 plans or IEPs. Simply excluding students from an activity does not ensure they are getting the same learning experiences as other students. Instead, look for ways to use technology to make this easier for your students. Here is an example of how you might digitally modify an artist statement activity.

4. Digital Anchor Charts

Anchor charts are another traditional element that work best within the physical art room. If students are participating in online learning, they no longer have access to these physical reminders. One solution is to turn these resources into digital interactive anchor charts and directly upload them to your LMS.

Above, you will find an example of a digital anchor chart created by AOEU master's degree student, Teresa Emeloff, in the Flipping the Art Room course. This anchor chart features visual examples of watercolor techniques while including direct links and QR codes to instructional videos. A format like this provides a practical solution for using this resource in the online or in-person setting.

Moving your traditional curriculum resources to work on digital platforms might seem overwhelming and complicated, but it doesn't have to be. Using technology for instruction doesn't have to be scary. Look at the resources you already use with your students and determine how you might use those existing documents digitally. If you need some ideas to make this work for you, try one of the above strategies.
How is technology helping you teach your curriculum? What technology resources are most helpful to you?

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How to Use Your Traditional Curriculum Digitally - The Art of Education University

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The COVID-19 pandemic has forced educators to use technology in new ways. Whether you are a novice or tech-savvy teacher, the role technology plays in our classrooms is evident. Many school districts have had long-term technology plans to obtain devices for all students gradually. With the unexpected switch to online learning, school districts expedited these [...]

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It is very difficult to get students to open up in the online classroom so try virtual ice breakers to get them talking.

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Great resource for an online music classroom

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Great resource for an online music classroom

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In this challenging time, the music education community has been doing what it does best: working together to keep students engaged in deeply meaningful choral, instrumental, and general music projects. Thank you for all you are doing for your students and ensemble members - it is inspiring to witness. Since our team here at Pepper has heard from many of you about what is working for you in these unusual circumstances, we want to share some of these tips for the benefit of all. Here are some of the best resources we've found to help keep your students creating, performing and responding.

General Strategies for Teaching and Learning Music Online

*April 3 Update: Pepper has worked with music publishers to provide a way to share music you purchased with your ensemble members for free online viewing through June 30th. Thanks to our publishing friends for working with us on it! We hope it helps teachers and directors meet their needs. Visit jwpepper.com/sharemusic for more information. Sharing here two short videos that show how it works for students and for teachers and directors.

Whether you're in a full virtual classroom or a hybrid situation, our Teaching Music Online page includes a number of flexible resources that adhere to both copyright law and educational standards.

The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) offered a free webinar on the ins and outs of online music lessons.

To ensure your lessons are standards based, here are some great guides:
National Core Arts Standards for Music Ensembles: Planning and Assessment
National Core Arts Standards for PK-8 General Music: Planning and Assessment
Elementary Music Assessment Kit
Pepper's Classroom and Choral Editor Tom Dean did a podcast with the Delaware Music Educators Association on distance learning. Listen to it here.

Creating: Virtual Music Projects for Students

There are numerous tools recommended to help students continue creating. One of the most popular is GarageBand. Here are a couple of resources that work hand in hand with GarageBand:

Music Technology Bundle: 7 Mini-Lessons for GarageBand
Music Technology Curriculum: 12 Project Ideas for Middle or High School

For composing projects, here are some helpful tools:

Melody Creation Project
Movie Music Composition Project
Music Composition Worksheet Set
Video Game Music Composition Project
Chord Progression Composition Lessons

There also are a few free apps that can help with creating audio and video projects, such as Audacity and iMovie.

Virtual Ways to Perform and Connect

One of the biggest challenges is the inability for groups to practice and perform together. Here are some ideas that may help:
Bill Swick with Music Prodigy - Guitar
S-Cubed Sight Singing with Music Prodigy
Zoom - The time limits for video chats have been removed from Zoom's free service for any K-12 schools in the United States and several other countries affected by the pandemic. The Royal Academy of Music in Denmark has posted a YouTube video that shows how Zoom's sound settings can be best utilized for music.

Acapella - This app can be used to record several different students performing, and then their performances are merged into one video

Music Prodigy Unlimited - This assessment software now has a special three month subscription available. The program can be used with any instrument or with voice. It allows a teacher to enter sight-reading exercises or music that the ensemble is working on; then enables students to practice and teachers to assess. It also gives teachers the ability to create polyphonic music. This solution works for all levels K-12.

There are also additional products that work with Music Prodigy that also are offering three month subscriptions, such as:

For some great sight-reading and skills practice units for choral singing and resources for solfege, try these options:

Choral Vocal Warm-Up - Video 1
Choral Vocal Warm-Up - Video 2
70-Second Solfege
Super Solfege Seven!

Students also can make time every day to play their instruments or sing with the help of various play-along packs.

Another option is to have students evaluate their own performances using tools like:

Music Performance Self-Evaluation: Choir
Music Performance Self-Evaluation: Band & Orchestra

Creating Virtual Performances

Pepper has shared blogs on the virtual orchestra project conducted by the National String Teachers Consortium as well as the virtual choirs created by Eric Whitacre. These projects can have legal and technical challenges. In response to many requests for more information, Whitacre posted a note that said in part:

"Each time we have made a new virtual choir we have put together the tech that was available at the time to create a platform for recording. We have nothing that is bespoke that we can share. Clearly, the ideal solution is that a tool is created that anyone can use and we're working on that. There are no guarantees that it will be possible, but it's our hope that we might be able to put a solution in place that anyone can use - choirs, ensembles, friends, close-by or far-away."

Pinkzebra is trying to help on the virtual choir front by releasing a free GarageBand template along with a video tutorial. View information about that here.

For copyright questions for any projects,the Music Publishers Association of the United States has created this resource for college students and teachers.

Responding: Using Professional Performances and Other Tools

Several years ago, Pepper's Classroom and Choral Editor Tom Dean worked with the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) to create curriculum responding units that work well in an online environment. Those lessons are still a valuable resource today - view them here.

Flipgrid is one of a number of tools that can be used for discussions. Students video their own responses to questions and to other students' input.

Several symphonic and chamber ensembles are live-streaming upcoming programs. Classic FM is one site helping track the performances. Scroll through this webpage to view a list. Many pop stars and other artists also are streaming performances that can be viewed online.

The Internet Archive has been working to convert hundreds of old vinyl records to digital recordings. This Unlocked Recordings webpage has the tracks that are already completed, including numerous classical music compositions students can listen to.

J.W. Pepper's website is filled with sample music tracks of popular educational music that students can listen to. Pepper also has a large variety of music videos on our YouTube channel that are available for viewing.

After they listen, students can use worksheets to respond to what they hear. These include:

Music Listening Worksheets Level 2 (grades 7-12)
Music Listening: Compare and Contrast
Music Listening Level One (K-6)
Music Listening Bundle
Other tools:
There also are listening units for world instruments:

World Instruments Listening Unit 1
World Instruments Listening Unit 2
Sakura: Japanese Folk Song Lesson Set

And mystery songs, like Music Mystery Listening Bundle #2

Other At-Home Music Activities

There are numerous other activities and games that can be planned, such as:

Create a music activity bingo game.

Plan a concert - have students research info for program notes, etc. by using Pepper's website. Teachers could pick a theme to get them started.

Have students make a meme about joining choir, orchestra, or band, or memes based on some other theme.

Utilize reproducible worksheets, such as these string training ones that can be printed at home, completed, and electronically sent back to teachers.

SmartMusic is offering free premium access through June 30, 2020.
Sight Reading Factory has free student accounts while schools are closed.

Hal Leonard is offering enhanced support for teachers and students who use Essential Elements Interactive, which comes with Essential Elements method books. Users can sign up for accounts for distance learning.

United Sound is offering virtual learning resources for students with special needs.

Other tools include MusicFirst, musictheory.net, Staff Wars, MusicTutor, TonySavvy.com, FlashnoteDerby, Theory.net, stringskills.com, Noteflight, Google Classroom, and Seesaw.

Belt singing expert Erin Guinup, who recently shared tips on Cued In in this video, is working on a six-week series of singing fundamentals for beginning choral singers covering breathing, phonation, diction, etc. These videos will be available to the community for a recommended donation to the Tacoma Refugee Choir.

In addition, J.W. Pepper has a large variety of ePrint sheet music that can be downloaded or viewed on the ePrintGo app.

Online there are an increasing number of positive stories that also can serve as inspiration - ones showcasing the creativity and dedication of teachers everywhere. Stories like this one from WTOL-TV in Ohio highlight innovative teaching. It features music teacher Kelsey Kuszek using a green screen to take her students on adventures.

Please share your ideas in the comments, and thank you for your dedication to our students during a very challenging time!

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Teaching Music Online: How to Engage Students Through Your Virtual Classroom

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In this challenging time, the music education community has been doing what it does best: working together to keep students engaged in deeply meaningful choral, instrumental, and general music projects. Thank you for all you are doing for your students and ensemble members - it is inspiring to witness.

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Thinking about those more hands-on classes going online can be challenging!

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From laundry art to 'name that tune,' arts enrichment teachers are finding creative ways to transition to remote teaching.

Eva Foreman / Alamy Stock Photo

When art teacher Janis Henderson-Hunsucker learned that her school in Danbury, North Carolina, would close because of the coronavirus, she quickly crafted a survey to find out what art supplies her students had at home. It turned out, not many.

Anxious to keep the learning going, she mailed boxes of basic art supplies like markers, crayons, colored pencils, glue, and scissors to her students, many of whom live in the hills and hollers of Appalachia where internet access is limited. She included the foreshortening drawings that students had started in class with instructions on how to finish them.

She's not alone. Across the country, teachers of drama, music, visual arts, and dance are making difficult decisions on the fly.

The arts are essential, but enrichment classes often involve physical materials, group activities, or even audiences-requirements that aren't easily met in digital environments. Additionally, teachers typically serve multiple grades and classes that require differentiated lesson plans.

We reached out to arts enrichment teachers around the country to gather their recommendations on teaching during the pandemic. They shared the new, creative ways they're encouraging students to create and perform even when school buildings are closed.

Can the Arts Go Digital?

Christine Doherty, an elementary art teacher in Franklin, Massachusetts, said she had always shied away from using technology but realized she would have to embrace it to connect to all 540 of her students at two different schools during school closures.

Doherty created a YouTube channel where she reads books to her students or leads them through easy art activities such as drawing and coloring.

She quickly found that online platforms allow students to continue sharing and talking about their artwork, just as they would in school. During her live video instruction time, students can type an H, for hand, into the chat box to indicate they want to share their work and place it up to the screen for other students to see. "A huge piece of art is not just the creating process, but also the sharing process," she said.

Other arts enrichment teachers say not to become overly reliant on digital tools, however, as not all students-or even teachers-have access at home or may be sharing a device with siblings. Elementary and middle school art teacher Hollie Reilly, who lives in a rural area in Iowa, said she has to drive to her school's parking lot and use the Wi-Fi from her car to post assignments for class.

Reilly doesn't see the lack of access as a limitation in her work, though, and is finding ways to bridge both digital and hands-on activities. The digital tools have helped her to create more structured schedules and lesson plans, she admitted, and she plans to continue using them when she returns to the classroom. "The way I've been approaching [digital tools] kind of mirrors my own philosophy. I don't get into much of the online, technology-driven stuff anyway," she said.

A Question of Materials

Instead of focusing on skill-based assignments, some teachers say they've looked for ways to encourage students' creativity and engagement using basic household materials-many students have no access to the typical art supplies.

Reilly's students made toilet paper roll art, for example, and clay from pantry supplies. She is also creating lessons to guide students in repurposing egg cartons and meat trays for Styrofoam printmaking, and turning plastic food packaging into brilliant suncatchers. Doherty, meanwhile, asked students to create a found-object color wheel where they gather-and photograph-items of different hues so that they develop an understanding of the relationships between colors. Other art teachers have tasked students with creating art from trash, food, and laundry.

Because students often need a creative outlet, some teachers are even doing activities themed around the pandemic.

Josie Wozniak, a theater teacher at Hillside Middle School in Simi Valley, California, said her students were set to perform The Little Mermaid before school closed, so now they are creating lyrics for those songs about their quarantine experience. At Charles L. Spragg Elementary School in Egg Harbor City, New Jersey, students made creative artistic projections about their teachers' appearances when they return to school.

Acknowledging Limitations

In the first couple of weeks, middle school music teacher Brian Campbell said he stepped back from assigning much work to his music students, knowing that their academic courses with end-of-grade exams would consume much of their attention. He contacts his students once a week because he knows there are a lot of demands on their time, especially as they acclimate to a new style of teaching and learning.

High school theater teacher Christina Holland shares his concerns, as many of her students have limited time because they took jobs as essential workers at the few businesses in rural North Carolina, like grocery stores, that have remained open during the pandemic. She said she tries to work within their limitations by making the most of the time they have-and prioritizing overall learning objectives over individual lesson plans.

Others suggest devising a schedule that allows for asynchronous work and gives students the ability to work at their own pace. "What I've been doing is posting assignments a couple times a week on Sunday, and then they're due the following Friday so they can do them at their own pace," said Wozniak.

A Team of One

The teamwork and collaboration in performance-based classes and rehearsals can be difficult to re-create online, teachers say.

"When you play an ensemble part on your own, there are missing pieces," said Campbell, who, like other teachers, has been looking for ways to create individual opportunities in place of group activities.

Instead of using notes and rhythms that his students already know, Campbell is now sending sheet music without titles for his students to learn, record themselves playing, and then guess the name of the song. Students spend one week learning the piece, and then the following week they record their performance. It has gone so well that he's considering incorporating individual recording into his curriculum when in-person school resumes.

In Holland's drama class, on the other hand, students are still planning on performing their show, just in an online form. Her students gather in a Google meet several times a week to rehearse or play improv games. She also assigns non-performance theater lessons such as creating a costume from household materials.

Relatedly, after canceling The Little Mermaid, Wozniak was excited to learn of The Show Must Go Online, a musical designed specifically for distance learning where students record themselves performing individual monologues that, when played in succession, form a complete story line. This helps students still feel connected to group drama activities even when alone.

Lost Connections

Cordia, a high school senior in Durham, North Carolina, worked every Saturday morning during the school year to write and produce a musical that was canceled because of the closures. "It's really hard to process," she said. "It is hard as seniors also, because we were expecting to have this as our final show, and we don't get that anymore."

Amid losses, teachers say they are trying to maintain student excitement for enrichment activities by showing students new materials and resources they can access online or in their homes. Not only can these activities give students a much-needed break from core academic coursework, but also they provide students freedom to work on independent creative projects.

Campbell, for example, connected his students with a website where they can download a range of free sheet music so that students can practice the skills they were learning for the competition on any song they want.

Holland said her drama students are feeling both the loss of the play The Wind in the Willows that they spent weeks preparing for, and the loss of the connections with their drama peers. "Just like sports, [drama] is an outlet for a lot of the students. They don't do as well in other classes as they might in theater," said Holland. "The extracurricular activities like mine keep a lot of kids in school, doing well, and focused on trying."

Because connection is crucial for all students-especially during COVID-19 closures-Holland uses virtual video chats, phone calls, and emails to help her students feel connected. Henderson-Hunsucker also told her students that she's there to support them and is available to talk anytime they want.

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'The Show Must Go Online': Arts Teachers Adapt to At-Home Instruction

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From laundry art to 'name that tune,' arts enrichment teachers are finding creative ways to transition to remote teaching. Eva Foreman / Alamy Stock Photo When art teacher Janis Henderson-Hunsucker learned that her school in Danbury, North Carolina, would close because of the coronavirus, she quickly crafted a survey to find out what art supplies her students had at home.

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Students LOVE Kahoot! Great learning tool and FUN :)

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Using Kahoot is a great way to increase engagement in a virtual classroom.

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Using Kahoot is a great way to increase engagement in a virtual classroom.

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Spanish Ice Breakers, Interactive w/ Pear Deck option

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MAKE CONNECTIONS                        I think it is important for teachers to still have all students feel connected.  Keep using all those fun classroom activities - like make sure everyone on Zoom sings Happy Birthday to a student who may be celebrating!  Little things like that will keep students connected and engaged.  

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MAKE CONNECTIONS                        I think it is important for teachers to still have all students feel connected.  Keep using all those fun classroom activities - like make sure everyone on Zoom sings Happy Birthday to a student who may be celebrating!  Little things like that will keep students connected and engaged.  

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10 Ways to Improve Student Engagements in Virtual Classrooms

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10 Ways to Improve Student Engagements in Virtual Classrooms

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These days, not every student rolls out of bed and trudges to the bus stop to head to school. Instead, more and more students are simply flipping open a laptop, turning on a tablet, or unlocking their phones. According to the National Education Policy Center (NEPC), almost 300,000 students were enrolled across 501 full-time virtual schools in the 2017 - 2018 school year. That number may seem big, but it is dwarfed by the six million students who participated in at least one online higher education course in 2017, according to the Online Learning Consortium.

Virtual classrooms offer numerous benefits to students, instructors, and schools. They allow students to learn from anywhere in the world, including in rural and disadvantaged communities where schools and universities may be lacking. Virtual learning can also be a solution for students who may otherwise struggle to fit in with a normal class, and they can save school districts serious money. However, for all the upshots they offer, virtual classrooms also present significant challenges. The virtual nature of the class can leave students feeling disconnected and disengaged from the material.

How can teachers engage and excite their virtual students when they may live a world away? Here are 10 great tips for improving student engagement in your virtual classroom.

1. Break the ice

Start your course or semester on the right note by creating a fun, engaging atmosphere. Help students feel connected to each other and to you by offering up simple ice breakers that will force the students to learn about each other. One option is to ask students to pair up and interview each other. Another fun game is to ask the class to answer trivia questions or non-controversial personal questions using Poll Everywhere. For example, ask students to choose their favorite color or see how many are the oldest, youngest, middle, or an only child in their family.

2. Foster a community

Students will feel more engaged in your class if they feel they are part of the larger group. This can be one of the trickiest things to accomplish in a virtual classroom, but there are still plenty of ways to build a strong community. Create a community structure, such as message boards, or even a Twitter hashtag that students can use to communicate and connect during and outside the class.

3. Create individual learning plans

Use the unique benefits that a virtual classroom offers to help build individual learning plans for your students. That includes incorporating technology that will allow you to actively track each student's performance. By assessing a student's performance, you can discover holes in their knowledge, adjust the pace of the lessons, and determine what type of learning they respond to most.

4. Develop curriculum around shorter content

Not only are attention spans shorter than ever, but virtual students can easily skip out on long lectures or skim complicated readings. With so many distractions available to them, you've got to work extra hard to grab and keep their attention. One way to do this is to focus on creating short, captivating lessons. Consider recording 5- to 10-minute lectures or having students engage with interactive media, such as YouTube videos, music, or even live performances as part of your curriculum. Encourage student interaction during your lessons. That means less lecturing and more open discussions.

5. Integrate face-to-face virtual interactions

Isolation is a big downside of virtual classrooms, which can quickly lead to disengagement. You can combat isolation by encouraging or even requiring virtual face-to-face interactions. Start by recording a video of your lectures, so your students can see your face. Next, encourage or require students to meet in small groups via video conference. ( Google Hangouts is a free video conferencing software.)

6. Learn by doing

It can be hard for students to feel engaged in class (virtual or otherwise) if they only listen to lectures and fill out multiple-choice tests. Depending on the topic of the class, encourage them to find creative ways to solve problems or express a lesson. For example, for history class, ask students to design a period costume. For math class, challenge students to find the square footage of a room in their home and document how they did it.

7. Add flexibility into the curriculum

Engage your students by letting them use their existing talents and interests to complete assignments. Not everyone wants to write an essay or do a book report. If you want the class to dive into the novel Dracula, let them show you what they got out of the book in a way that most appeals to them. Maybe a student will perform a one-man show from Dracula's point of view, while another discusses the changing mythology of vampires in history. Be flexible in assignments, and your students will likely surprise you with their ingenuity.

8. Provide opportunities to collaborate

Another great way to fight feelings of isolation among your virtual students is to assign partner, group, and class projects. When students collaborate, they can combine their creativity, share unique perspectives, and create relationships that will help them feel more comfortable participating in class. It will also keep them honest. No one wants to let their partner or their team down.

9. Communicate, communicate, communicate

You'll never know if a student is falling behind or feeling bored unless you ask. Virtual classrooms make it easy for shy or disinterested students to fade into the background unless a teacher makes a concerted effort to reach out. This may go beyond just handing out your email. Offer virtual office hours, create a social media group for the class, and consider scheduling one-on-one consultations with each student during the course.

10. Solicit feedback

If you want to know if your students feel engaged and are grasping the material, why not just ask? Not every student will want to be honest if you question them directly, so consider creating anonymous polls that allow students to let you know what they really think. This is a great way to assess how much they know about the topic at the beginning of class, what types of assignments they want, if a topic needs more discussion, and what they would recommend changing at the end of class.

Poll Everywhere gives you the software you need to seamlessly create and administer polls. Your students can answer quickly and easily from their computers or phones. Write multiple-choice questions or let students write out their own answers. You'll get valuable feedback that will let you make your next virtual classroom even better.

Want even more great student engagement ideas? Check out our 5 Summer School Secrets to Improve Student Engagement.

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How to Keep Students Engaged in Virtual Classrooms | Poll Everywhere Blog

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Virtual classrooms offer many great benefits, like bringing students together from all around the world. But they also have some drawbacks. It's easy for students to feel isolated or disengaged unless teachers make a concerted effort to keep them interested. Poll Everywhere offers 10 great ways to engage your virtual students.

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Keep Students engaged in a virtual classroom

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Keep Students engaged in a virtual classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
These days, not every student rolls out of bed and trudges to the bus stop to head to school. Instead, more and more students are simply flipping open a laptop, turning on a tablet, or unlocking their phones. According to the National Education Policy Center (NEPC), almost 300,000 students were enrolled across 501 full-time virtual schools in the 2017 - 2018 school year. That number may seem big, but it is dwarfed by the six million students who participated in at least one online higher education course in 2017, according to the Online Learning Consortium.

Virtual classrooms offer numerous benefits to students, instructors, and schools. They allow students to learn from anywhere in the world, including in rural and disadvantaged communities where schools and universities may be lacking. Virtual learning can also be a solution for students who may otherwise struggle to fit in with a normal class, and they can save school districts serious money. However, for all the upshots they offer, virtual classrooms also present significant challenges. The virtual nature of the class can leave students feeling disconnected and disengaged from the material.

How can teachers engage and excite their virtual students when they may live a world away? Here are 10 great tips for improving student engagement in your virtual classroom.

Start your course or semester on the right note by creating a fun, engaging atmosphere. Help students feel connected to each other and to you by offering up simple ice breakers that will force the students to learn about each other. One option is to ask students to pair up and interview each other. Another fun game is to ask the class to answer trivia questions or non-controversial personal questions using Poll Everywhere. For example, ask students to choose their favorite color or see how many are the oldest, youngest, middle, or an only child in their family.

Students will feel more engaged in your class if they feel they are part of the larger group. This can be one of the trickiest things to accomplish in a virtual classroom, but there are still plenty of ways to build a strong community. Create a community structure, such as message boards, or even a Twitter hashtag that students can use to communicate and connect during and outside the class.

3. Create individual learning plans

Use the unique benefits that a virtual classroom offers to help build individual learning plans for your students. That includes incorporating technology that will allow you to actively track each student's performance. By assessing a student's performance, you can discover holes in their knowledge, adjust the pace of the lessons, and determine what type of learning they respond to most.

4. Develop curriculum around shorter content

Not only are attention spans shorter than ever, but virtual students can easily skip out on long lectures or skim complicated readings. With so many distractions available to them, you've got to work extra hard to grab and keep their attention. One way to do this is to focus on creating short, captivating lessons. Consider recording 5- to 10-minute lectures or having students engage with interactive media, such as YouTube videos, music, or even live performances as part of your curriculum. Encourage student interaction during your lessons. That means less lecturing and more open discussions.

5. Integrate face-to-face virtual interactions

Isolation is a big downside of virtual classrooms, which can quickly lead to disengagement. You can combat isolation by encouraging or even requiring virtual face-to-face interactions. Start by recording a video of your lectures, so your students can see your face. Next, encourage or require students to meet in small groups via video conference. ( Google Hangouts is a free video conferencing software.)

It can be hard for students to feel engaged in class (virtual or otherwise), if they only listen to lectures and fill out multiple-choice tests. Depending on the topic of the class, encourage them to find creative ways to solve problems or express a lesson. For example, for history class, ask students to design a period costume. For math class, challenge students to find the square footage of a room in their home and document how they did it.

7. Add flexibility into the curriculum

Engage your students by letting them use their existing talents and interests to complete assignments. Not everyone wants to write an essay or do a book report. If you want the class to dive into the novel Dracula, let them show you what they got out of the book in a way that most appeals to them. Maybe a student will perform a one-man show from Dracula's point of view, while another discusses the changing mythology of vampires in history. Be flexible in assignments, and your students will likely surprise you with their ingenuity.

8. Provide opportunities to collaborate

Another great way to fight feelings of isolation among your virtual students is to assign partner, group, and class projects. When students collaborate, they can combine their creativity, share unique perspectives, and create relationships that will help them feel more comfortable participating in class. It will also keep them honest. No one wants to let their partner or their team down.

9. Communicate, communicate, communicate

You'll never know if a student is falling behind or feeling bored unless you ask. Virtual classrooms make it easy for shy or disinterested students to fade into the background unless a teacher makes a concerted effort to reach out. This may go beyond just handing out your email. Offer virtual office hours, create a social media group for the class, and consider scheduling one-on-one consultations with each student during the course.

If you want to know if your students feel engaged and are grasping the material, why not just ask? Not every student will want to be honest if you question them directly, so consider creating anonymous polls that allow students to let you know what they really think. This is a great way to assess how much they know about the topic at the beginning of class, what types of assignments they want, if a topic needs more discussion, and what they would recommend changing at the end of class.

Poll Everywhere gives you the software you need to seamlessly create and administer polls. Your students can answer quickly and easily from their computers or phones. Write multiple choice questions or let students write out their own answers. You'll get valuable feedback that will let you make your next virtual classroom even better.

Want even more great student engagement ideas? Check out our 5 Summer School Secrets to Improve Student Engagement.

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How to Keep Students Interested in Virtual Classrooms | Poll Everywhere Blog

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Virtual classrooms offer many great benefits, like bringing students together from all around the world. But they also have some drawbacks. It's easy for students to feel isolated or disengaged unless teachers make a concerted effort to keep them interested. Poll Everywhere offers 10 great ways to engage your virtual students.

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Keeping Students' Attention in a Virtual Classroom

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Keeping Students' Attention in a Virtual Classroom

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Teachers worried about students zoning out during distance learning can lean on these programs for help.

Pollyana Ventura / iStock

We've all been there: We ask our class a question and no one responds. Awkward silence. Students start to look at the ceiling or flip through their notebook to avoid eye contact. Eventually, someone volunteers an answer, someone is called on, or worse, we simply move on without any participation.

Getting your students to participate is hard enough when you're in your classroom. Getting them to participate in a virtual classroom is a whole different ball game. The social pressure of uncomfortable eye contact just isn't the same on a videoconference call. In fact, it's nearly nonexistent with current technology.

Luckily, the technology exists to help provide supplemental strategies to get your students responding-you may even want to bring some of these strategies back to your classroom once schools open up again.

Ways to Boost Online Participation

Video chat polling features: Many video chat platforms come with polling features where the students see a question pop up on their screen. This is a great feature for a few reasons.

It helps you gauge what your class understands and what they may need you to review again. If you just spent five minutes reviewing a concept and end with "OK, any questions?" what do you usually hear back? Crickets.

Instead, ask a comprehension question using the poll feature. If only 35 percent of the class answers the question correctly, maybe it's worth spending a little extra time reviewing.

Check out how to use these features in individual apps:

Discussion breakout rooms: Polling is great for helping break up concepts in a lecture, but what if your class is discussion based and you want your students to break out into small groups to work on a shared assignment?

There is technology for that, too. First, start out with all students on the same video call, and then, with a click of a button, split your students up into small groups to work on an assignment using a collaborative tool like Google Docs.

They will be on a call with only their group mates. You as the host can hop among all the groups to check in and facilitate. Once the time is up, end the breakouts and bring everyone together again. Call on each group to share their work.

Zoom: You can have up to 50 breakout sessions at once and can hop between them as you'd like. Check out Zoom's support page to learn exactly how to set it up for your class.

GoToMeeting: This platform has shared documents built in and will store them for you to review once the meeting ends. More info here.

Microsoft Teams: This feature is reportedly coming soon.

Some of the videoconferencing platforms have this impressive feature built in already. See the list below to learn more about each one:

This is a great feature to use if you have access to it. Not only does it get students working together on shared assignments, but also it helps students get used to talking to each other through a computer.

Chat feature: Simply ask a question and have your students answer through the chat feature. This is not ideal, since all students will see the answers of other students, so you may not see an accurate representation of their understanding. But you will have a record of each student's participation.

External quiz apps: You can also use external quiz tools like Kahoot or Quizizz. Simply set up the quizzes ahead of time, and prompt your students to go take the quiz during your meeting by sharing the quiz code. Students can take a few minutes to navigate to the quiz website and answer a question or two before moving on. The best part about these platforms is that they're free for both teachers and students.

Kahoot!: The base platform is free and fun to use. If you're interested in more advanced features, such as advanced reporting, individualized quizzes, additional question formats, and more, Kahoot offers paid plans starting at just $3 per month.

Quizizz: This platform is 100 percent free and connects to Google Classroom. It has engaging gamification built in and an entire place to store your favorite teaching memes.

Quizlet: The free version of this platform is excellent. If you're interested in tracking student progress over time, removing ads, and adding personalized content, the paid version starts at just $3 per month with additional savings for schoolwide plans.

Mentimeter: This platform's free version is limited to only a couple of questions, but the integration with online interaction is definitely worth your time to explore. The paid version starts at $10 per month, or you can reach out to your school's admin to explore a schoolwide payment option to make it cheaper per instructor.

Here are links to some student-approved quiz platforms:

Expectations and Accountability

The above tools are great-but now let's explore how to implement these and set your students up for success. Clear expectations set the stage for student participation.

Let your students know what good participation looks like. Is logging in to the video call enough to count as participation? That may be all that your administrators are looking for, but what does good look like, according to your standards?

Counting each time a student talks or adds to a discussion can be time-consuming. So let technology work for you.

A great way to measure participation is by requiring a permanent product-this is something your student leaves behind after they leave the call. It can be anything from an answer to an online discussion prompt to their quiz score, a response left in the chat, or the shared product from a group assignment.

Be present: Join the call and stay for the duration of class time.

Comprehension checks: Answer each quiz question that pops up, perhaps with extra points for answering 100 percent correct.

Discussion assignment: Work with your team to complete the assignment.

Whatever your definition of good is, be sure it is measurable and achievable.

Regardless of which online tool you use, it is clear that we cannot rely on in-person tactics to encourage virtual class participation. Luckily, the tools and tactics here can help enhance your online teaching. You may even find yourself bringing these back to your classroom when schools reopen.

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How to Keep Students' Attention in a Virtual Classroom

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Teachers worried about students zoning out during distance learning can lean on these programs for help. Pollyana Ventura / iStock We've all been there: We ask our class a question and no one responds. Awkward silence. Students start to look at the ceiling or flip through their notebook to avoid eye contact.

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Cool Ideas for posting lesson before Online teaching

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A Flipped Learning Flow for Blended or Online Classes - Dr. Catlin Tucker

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Want more support? Check out my self-paced online courses Getting Started with Blended & Online Learning and Advancing with Blended & Online Learning. As teachers prepare for a new school year, many are brushing up on their video production skills. Teachers know there will be times when they will need to lean on videos to [...]

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Back to School Activities for the virtual classroom

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Back to School Activities for the virtual classroom

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Never before have I seen so much uncertainty and anxiety surrounding heading back to school...whether that be remote, face to face, or some combination of both. And...that is completley understandable. These are unprecendented times. But, one thing is certain: Teachers are always on the lookout for…

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Building Relationship With Students During Distance Learning

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Building Relationship With Students During Distance Learning

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Hi, I'm Aileen! I'm in my 22nd year of teaching elementary music. Currently, I teach grades 1-5, beginning band, and choir. Between teaching, spending time with my husband and two daughters, and blogging about ideas for the music room, life keeps me busy...but I love every minute!

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Building Relationships with Students during Distance Learning - Mrs. Miracle's Music Room

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Hi, I'm Aileen! I'm in my 22nd year of teaching elementary music. Currently, I teach grades 1-5, beginning band, and choir. Between teaching, spending time with my husband and two daughters, and blogging about ideas for the music room, life keeps me busy...but I love every minute!

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Teaching online is like traveling to a new country. You're not really sure where anything is, you are afraid to try new things because you might be embarrassed, and you miss the ease of your old daily life and the ability to connect seamlessly with others.

On the other hand, it can be very exciting to see student learning in new and different ways, you can take pride in the growth you experience while learning new instructional strategies, and you will make connections that sometimes can be even more meaningful because you have the opportunity for one-on-one interactions.

This article will give you some ideas on how to navigate this journey as you plan instruction for your English language learners (ELLs) through distance learning.

Needs Assessment

It's important to start your planning by looking more closely at the factors that will impact the success of your students' experiences with distance learning. You can use this downloadable needs assessment for planning ELLs' distance learning, which includes considerations for both offline and online learning.

The tools covers multiple topics; you may wish to read through them all to see which are most relevant to your work or complete the tool as part of a team. The questions can be used by individuals or teams. I also recommend ELL teachers work with grade level and/or content area teams to review these questions so all educators are on the same page when considering how to deliver instruction and what supports should be in place for students and families.

Once the team has reviewed tool, they can determine their priorities and where to put their energy for planning instruction.

District planning examples

Here are some ELL district planning documents that we have used in Roseville, MN:

Distance Learning Strategies

Survey: Distance Learning & ELLs

What does distance learning look like for ELLs in your district? Tell us in this brief survey.

Note: This section refers to some specific platforms by name, although your district may use other approved platforms. It's critical to understand online security risks for children and take measures to protect students' privacy as part of your planning.

1. Get to know your tools.

Take a look at our needs assessment and the section on tools for instruction. Depending on what Learning Management System (LMS) your district uses, there may be tutorials to help you learn how to use these instructional tools.

Keep in mind that:

the focus should be on how the tools can best support teaching and learning goals rather than on the tools themselves

it's best not to introduce too many new tools - otherwise students will spend their time learning the tools rather than learning the content

your district may have a list of approved and vetted platforms for distance learning.

See more in 4 Buckets Manage ALL Our Virtual School Tech by Tan Huynh.

2. Establish a structured learning environment.

This is a lot like arranging your classroom at the beginning of the year - without the inspiring posters! Decide what tools you want students to use regularly (only pick a few) and set up the dashboard or learning activity page. For example, you may want to have a calendar with assignments, announcements, discussion board, and a chat room. Students will know what to do every week because the lesson structure repeats with different content.

For example:

open with a video greeting that you have recorded

do two readings

comment on the discussion board

connect with a partner

write or record (audio or video) a short discussion of your take-aways from the learning, etc.

See more ideas in Five Structures for Virtual School from Tan Huynh's Empowering ELLs blog.

3. Emphasize language production.

Remember to keep the focus on academic learning and to avoid providing only skills-based activities, even if your primary activity is content review. If students are isolated in their homes, they are not likely to have much English language exposure. While this is a valuable time for students to deepen their native language skills with family members, it is critical that teachers build in activities that require students to share their thinking in English.

Look for ways to build interaction, even if you aren't using video. For example, students can post messages via writing, audio, and video and respond to each other. Recordings should be short - three to five minutes in general. If you want to try out sharing your own tips on distance learning for ELs, post to this Flipgrid!

Another strategy is to create videos that students can watch at their convenience and review multiple times for practice. (Some teachers have noted that their ELLs are struggling to keep up with "live" instruction and would benefit from videos they can review multiple times.) You may wish to share greetings, lessons, and important information this way.

See additional ideas in these posts:

4. Scaffold supports.

Differentiate instruction and activities to accommodate different English language proficiency levels. This may mean that you have different sections and tasks for identified students. If you have mainstream students performing closer to grade level, they may interact with the content tasks with minimal support.

For beginning level English learners, however, you will need to analyze the instruction, readings, and activities to provide accommodations such as:

native language or simple English explanations through video

more visuals

native language or leveled English text

an activity completed in a small group rather than independently.

Pairs and groups can be assigned in online learning platforms and it can be helpful for students to collaborate on learning just like in the classroom. Online learning doesn't mean everything has to be done in isolation - many young people are used to connecting with each other through electronic platforms and this is no different.

5. Get those creative juices flowing. (We all have them!)

Many teachers are not going to love online teaching and may grieve the lack of daily interaction with students. It is important to keep a sense of fun and personalization in the online environment. This is an opportunity to reconnect with the creative juices that might be dormant!

Students like it when teachers share little personal stories or pictures. They will also enjoy doing more creative projects and sharing them online. This could be a VoiceThread or Adobe Spark presentation, which allows students to create a slideshow and explain each slide verbally. Their classmates can respond on each slide with a text or verbal response. It's also a good opportunity for a project presentation video or graphic design/artwork assignment.

Give students choices of how to demonstrate their learning - they may surprise you with the creative work they share. My son had a talent for creating music playlists and he created a themed playlist for an assignment explaining how each song related to his insights in a novel. He also dressed up as Arthur Dent for a creative book review and I could not figure out for four months where my ratty green bathrobe had gone...until we cleaned his locker at the end of the year!

6. Look for ways to support social-emotional learning.

Many teachers have shared that their ELLs are valuing the chance to connect with them and their peers as well as continue their education through distance learning. Look for ways to help provide positive encouragement, continue building relationships, and offer support during a time of anxiety and stress. This is especially important for students who may have experienced trauma and a lot of upheaval, like refugees or students with interrupted education - particularly given the abrupt nature of many of the national school shutdowns.

For some great ideas, take a look at:

You can also look for ways to connect content to students' experiences and cultures through culturally relevant instruction.

Online Activities for ELLs

Here are some examples of activities for ELLs, with a focus on oral language development and content development.

1. Students can upload videos of themselves reading their favorite books.

2. Students can write and draw responses to a prompt (for example, "What is one way you can be helpful to your family at home?") and then students can leave questions or comments for each other.

3. Students can film themselves solving a math problem or record themselves explaining how they solved the problem, and the teacher can provide feedback.

4. Students can interview someone in their family that is important to them and create a presentation to share. They can present in both English and native language and include photos or short videos with quotes from their important person. Other students can leave written or verbal comments on slides in English or the students native language.

5. Teacher can create a presentation with slides and voice narration on a platform like VoiceThread. Students can respond orally or in writing to questions posed in the VoiceThread.

6. Teacher can provide a slideshow with visuals on a content topic and resource links for students to learn about the topic. Different students are assigned a few slides to narrate for their classmates to learn about the topic. A variation of this is for students to each get a different topic related to the unit (after learning about it from the teacher) and have them create a group presentation on that topic to share with the class.

Activity: Pass the Paper

Post a short text or image as a prompt to start the discussion.

Round 1: Everyone posts a word, phrase, or short comment about the prompt (depending on age/proficiency levels) via written response, audio, or video.

Round 2: Everyone adds a question related to a classmate's round 1 post.

Round 3: Everyone adds an answer to a classmate's question from round 2.

Round 4: Students review all questions and answers on the grid and use the information to help them write (or record) a reflection that they send to the teacher.

Planning Instruction

Once you have a sense of your goals and what tools you will use for distance learning, you can focus on developing a unit of lessons. A weekly plan as part of a learning unit can help you maintain the same structure and learning activities each week. If students get used to the structure of the online learning course or the materials they receive weekly, they can use their mental energy on language and content learning.

An example of a weekly online instructional schedule might look like this for secondary English learners:

Lesson Launch:

Introduce topic w/ video and essential question

Students interact on a discussion board and share one take-away and one question regarding each reading.

Assign group project to students related to the learning objective. (Students work in Google docs or Padlet) to create a visual to upload and share with the class.

1/2 page written reflection is submitted.

Written reflections are evaluated and feedback comments are shared in writing.

Assign two readings.

Assign 1/2 page written reflection on the essential question using evidence from text to support claims. Due Thursday.

Teacher shares link to recorded video mini-lecture on the topic.

Teacher meets with the students to have a class / small group discussion on the essential question. Teacher can share sentence stems.

Teacher shares snippets of quality written responses to the essential question through messages or class discussions and discusses what makes the response a quality example.

An example online instruction schedule might look like this for elementary English learners:

Lesson Launch:

Introduce topic w/ video and essential question

Students read aloud from books that have been sent home or available online via Epic (free to school closure) or RAZ Kids (fee based).

Assign two independent student learning activities related to the learning objective.

1/2 page written reflection is submitted by returning a packet or taking a photo of response and submitting it.

Written reflections are evaluated and feedback comments are shared in writing.

Assign two student learning activities such as a game or learning app.

Teacher introduces by video the academic language structures needed to share their thinking about essential video.

Students write 1/2 page response to the essential question using sentence frames. For beginning ELs, provide scaffolded support such as a graphic organizer with pictures and key vocabulary.

Teacher meets with the students to have a class / small group discussion on the essential question. Teacher can share sentence stems.

Teacher shares snippets of quality written responses to the essential question through messages or class discussions and discusses what makes the response a quality example.

Sample lesson: An online lesson for ELLs

An online lesson plan takes into account the asynchronous (not in real time) learning environment and need for active learning in different ways. It is unlikely that a teacher and students will be able to meet live every day at the same time, so the lesson will be prepared and shared online for students and families to work with according to their own schedule and access to a device or Wi-Fi. The lesson, which is part of a larger unit, will include certain elements such as student engagement, language production, demonstrating content learning, critical thinking tasks, scaffolded supports and an assessment.

Here is a sample lesson plan for a 3rd grade EL level 2 student group. The lesson will be delivered with SeeSaw. Here is the EL Distance Learning Lesson Plan fillable template.

Standard: 4-ESS2-1

Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.

Content Objective:

I can observe the impact of erosion.

I can give evidence to support my explanation of my observation.

Language Objective:

I can explain the impact of erosion using observation evidence in a sentence frame, "I observed that when ________ then ___________."

Introduction:

"Today we will learn about erosion. Erosion is when earth or rocks are worn away by water or wind. You will do a home experiment to learn about erosion and explain your observation on SeeSaw."

Modeling:

Show students how to set up the experiment using the materials listed in the lesson. Introduce the sentence frame and any key vocabulary by stating an example sentence for the students. "I observed that erosion happened when I poured a lot of water on the dirt."

Activity/assignment:

For your experiment you will put dirt in a small tub and put the tub at an angle or slope. Make some holes in an empty pop bottle then fill it with water and hold it over the dirt. What happens if you try different things?
1. If the dirt tub is at a higher slope?
2. If the dirt tub is flat?
3. If you have a little water come out?
4. If you have a lot of water come out?

Reflection: After students have seen each other's video explanations of the experiment, they will write an exit ticket on Padlet to state one thing they know about erosion and one thing they liked from the activity.

Teacher reflection: From the exit tickets, I can see that the students understand that more erosion happens when the slope is higher and there is more water. Next time I will think of alternatives to certain materials since not all students had dirt for the experiment.

Scaffolded support for different language proficiencies: (click all that apply in the lesson)

Adapted from Generation Genius: Weathering and Erosion - grades 3 - 5 lesson plan

Online learning tools

Here are three platforms that your district may be using. This is not an endorsement of any one product, but rather a quick guide to some resources teachers have used successfully with ELLs.

You can learn more about the privacy ratings of these and other platforms from the Common Sense Privacy Evaluation program. Please ask for guidance on the most secure ways to use any platform, including those listed below, with a particular eye on protecting personally identifiable information (PII) for ELLs and immigrant students.

Note: Some districts do not permit the use of video or images of students for security reasons. To learn more about protecting student privacy for ELLs and immigrant students, see our related resource section. Keep in mind that some free platforms may sell data to third-party vendors. In addition, Zoom is facing increased scrutiny for security problems.

Seesaw article: Remote Learning for Teachers

Privacy evaluation: Seesaw (Common Sense Media)

Strengths:

1. Focus on oral language production
2. Family connection
3. Ease of use
4. Visual platform
5. Free

Tool: Flipgrid

Flipgrid article: Remote Learning with Flipgrid

Privacy evaluation: Flipgrid (Common Sense Media)

Strengths:
1. Focus on oral language production
2. Student-to-Student connection
3. Ease of use - multiple classes
4. Visual platform
5. Free

Tool: VoiceThread

Website resources: Digital Database of Successful VoiceThread Projects

Privacy evaluation: VoiceThread (Common Sense Media)

1. Content presentation with oral and written language production
2. Student-to-Student connection
3. Ease of use - project based and collaborative
4. Visual platform
5. Free

Assessment and Feedback

Using rubrics

Students need feedback in order to learn. Whatever platform you use, you will need to determine how you will give feedback on their learning. If it is online, students can use rubrics for assignments and receive comments verbally or in writing. Comments can be encouraging and individualized to help them learn how to apply the feedback. In a non-digital system, teachers will need to try other approaches, such as phone calls, to students to review their work and questions.

A clear rubric for content and language production is helpful to guide the students' work. Allow students to revise work because it is about learning, not perfection. It's also highly likely that students will not fully understand what is expected in a task due to the new learning format. Use "second attempts" as an opportunity for them to apply your feedback and demonstrate learning.

The importance of regular feedback

The best feedback will happen frequently in multiple areas of the digital space. It could be on the discussion board, individual assignments or larger projects. Since students can't see you, they need to know you are there through your interaction and encouraging feedback. You may be nervous in this new platform and they are equally (if not more) nervous because they want to do well and they need to hear from you daily so they know they are on the right track.

Remember they do not have the advantage of asking questions in a classroom and getting your feedback as they work, so give them additional opportunities in the digital platform. We are asking learners who rely on a lot of classroom scaffolded supports to be successful to become independent learners overnight. The chart below shows the intersection between language skills and learning - how a student's language abilities impact their independent learning level.
Continuum of Language and Learning

DEPENDENT

INDEPENDENT

READING/ WRITING

Marisa

Tomas

LISTENING/

Tomas

SPEAKING

Marisa

Grading

Keep a grade book online so students know what is due, what grades they received (if grades are being used) and the feedback for assignments. If beginning-level students are attempting assignments in an online platform, teachers may want to advocate for a Pass/No Pass grading system because they will be working very hard in a language they don't fully understand to demonstrate their learning. (Some districts are using Pass/No Pass more broadly.)

Tips for Collaboration

Just as planning instruction for distance learning will take intentional thought and planning, so will collaboration. The good news is that there may be new kinds of opportunities for collaborating as it becomes an even more critical piece of the puzzle during this time of school closures, especially for ELLs. There also may be new kinds of instruction happening, such as project-based learning or more content-specific lessons, that will lend themselves well to collaboration among content-area teachers and EL educators.

Other teachers are also great resources for instructional problem-solving; collaboration between general education and ELL teachers will make lessons engaging and accessible for ELLs.

Here are some ideas on how to collaborate on behalf of ELs at a distance, which can be used among individuals or larger groups. These strategies can also be used for colleagues who have an established partnership, as well as those who are new to collaborating. And remember that it may be much easier to start small - choose just one strategy that fits your schedule and workload, and think about how to use it strategically!

Check in with a colleague to see whether they are in touch with ELLs and their families and if they need suggestions on how to make contact.

Check in with a colleague on whether they need some ideas on how to support EL instruction.

Invite a colleague to co-plan and/or co-teach a lesson.

Ask a colleague to share a question or challenge they would like to address.

Share examples of how you are collaborating more broadly with colleagues (and ask the people who are already partnering with you to do the same).

Send a note to colleagues whom you haven't worked with before introducing yourself, briefly explaining your role, and sharing ideas on how you might work together.

Share examples of student work, successful student activities, or strategies for distance learning/family engagement that seem to working well for ELs in your school or district.

Partner with a team on behalf of a specific student, group of students, or family.

Consider sending out a strategy or resource idea on a regular basis to colleagues.

Final Thoughts

It's okay to feel a range of emotions as you begin this new distance learning adventure. Remember you are making history! Also remember that you are not alone and it's important to develop your own professional learning community around this work. Since the whole world is going through an online teaching revolution due to school closings, there are a myriad (almost too many) of resources available to help with online learning.

To keep from being overwhelmed:

Don't get lost in the weeds of all the choices.

Keep your focus clearly on what you want students to learn.

Think of a creative project.

Use one or two "go to" apps that work for you and your students to adjust to this new learning environment.

Think of e-learning as Emergency Learning - and you are a learner.

Don't forget to take care of yourself.

When the Apollo 13 crew was in danger, great minds got together and solved the seemingly impossible problem of placing a square vent in a round hole. This is our opportunity to bring our great minds together and do what seems impossible - teach all students through distance learning. With creativity, a good team and some extra pots of coffee, you will succeed!

Recommended Resources

For additional resources, see:

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Distance Learning for ELLs: Planning Instruction

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Teaching online is like traveling to a new country. You're not really sure where anything is, you are afraid to try new things because you might be embarrassed, and you miss the ease of your old daily life and the ability to connect seamlessly with others.

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10 Strategies Designed to Engage Elementary Students Online - Dr. Catlin Tucker

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A few weeks ago, I published a blog titled "8 Ideas Designed to Engage Students In Active Learning Online." Several elementary teachers requested that I work on a similar blog focused on younger learners. Below are ten strategies I hope will help elementary teachers to engage their young learners online.

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Best Practices for Teaching Hybrid Classes

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Best Practices for Teaching Hybrid Classes

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Some ideas are reinforcing what already learned or know, but other ideas

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As painful as the decision was to close campuses and force virtual learning in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, educators must make new, perhaps more difficult, decisions about how to resume classes in the fall. Many schools are asking: can learning happen both digitally and in lecture halls?

The hybrid model of teaching and learning uses both online and in-person options in a purposeful way. Not only does this model give you the flexibility to craft your course to reduce the risk of exposing you or your students to the virus, but it also gives students more ownership over their learning.

Here are our top tips taken from a review of existing research on how to make it work for you.

1. Build around what you want students to learn

Successful hybrid courses fully integrate online and face-to-face instruction, planning interactions based on good teaching practice. That means starting off on the right foot:

Don't think of your hybrid course as your normal course directly translated to be online, or your normal course with added online components. One meta-analysis cited that many blended courses were not successful because they were "a course and a half".

Do build your hybrid course starting with the learning objectives listed in your syllabus. Then, as you're building your course, select and align the delivery method, technology, and assignments that will best help students learn the objectives and content.

Consider what is best done:

in person versus online

in real-time versus giving students flexibility

facilitated by the instructor versus facilitated by the learning resources

For example, few students reported being satisfied with their institutions creating a sense of belonging during the pandemic. Since it can feel more difficult to build relationships online, take advantage of in-person opportunities.

Online learning resources have advantages that enhance learning, such as immediate feedback and progress monitoring. In fact, across many studies, research shows that on average, blending online and in-person learning is slightly more effective than face-to-face learning.

There are two things to consider when selecting how to approach the online parts of your hybrid course:

Is there educational technology that can help solve any problems you have? For example, students may focus on getting through learning activities as quickly as possible, rather than engaging deeply. Adaptive learning technology is becoming increasingly sophisticated at detecting when students are engaging productively and when they are not, and can react to keep students' attention.

Are you at risk of using digital technology solely for its own sake? Purely replicating an analog experience with digital technology can add complexity without bringing any benefits.

For more resources, this paper is designed as a starting point for thinking about how to use technology in your class.

Generally, a hybrid course is balanced to have more online, technology-facilitated work and fewer in-person meetings. For example, one model many schools are considering to encourage social distancing is to hold a large lecture online with small, in-person discussion sections.

Here are just a few examples of how others have blended online and face-to-face learning:

This course was delivered via a blended learning format in a flipped model, with online lectures followed by a two-hour face-to-face workshop tutorial each week.

This class met both in person and online. They used a flipped learning approach where students were expected to complete assigned activities before coming to a four-hour face-to-face class.

This hybrid course met once a week for three hours in a computer lab with the remainder of the course activities completed online.

2. Plan effective interactions

After you've identified your objectives, think about what interactions you'll use to facilitate learning. Hybrid learning gives you a lot of flexibility in how to interact. These different types of interaction fall into the following three categories.

Learner-instructor interactions

Learner-instructor interactions, like emails, announcements, and discussions. Instructor interaction is a major driver of successful learning, but feels more difficult online. You can make a point of fostering connections by using students' names and humor.

Learner-learner interactions

Learner-learner interactions, like discussions, collaborative group work, and peer review activities. These can either happen at the same time in person, or online and outside of class. Each mode has its pros and cons:

face-to-face, synchronous interactions are good for creating a sense of spontaneity and connection, but not as good at fostering participation or giving flexibility.

online, asynchronous interactions encourage participation, depth of reflection, and flexibility, but they can lack spontaneity and connection and may let students procrastinate.

Learner-content interactions

Learner-content interactions include activities, like reading content, watching a video, or working through a problem set.

3. Integrate the experiences

You can design the online and in-person interactions in such a way that they support each other, rather than feeling disjointed. For example, assign challenging and engaging online learning activities and then discuss them in person, inviting questions. If you're encouraging online discussions, reference them in class to confirm their value.

4. Craft a learner-centered approach to learning

In a hybrid model, encourage your students to take control of their learning. Start by enabling students to choose how they engage with the content. Then encourage them to monitor and reflect on their learning.
By using technology with progress monitoring functionality, you can also help them stay on track. Professor Manda Williamson has over 700 students every semester and uses the dashboard in her online course material to give students ownership over their learning. She talks more about it in this guide.

5. Support student success

In hybrid learning, students must be more self-driven. Set clear expectations and build in support for self-directed learning, such as encouraging students to plan, check their understanding, study more as needed, and reflect on their learning.

To further support their success, help them use the tools by holding a technology "onboarding" session on how to use the tech and where to go for help.

This approach can not only help keep students motivated, it also builds an important lifelong skill: self-management. If you're interested in learning more about how to teach self-management, this paper goes into detail.

6. Assess learning online

Since you won't be in the room with the students when they are taking the test, clearly communicate the rules and instructions before the exam. The rules may include how many opportunities students have to complete the exam, if they can save and come back later to finish, if they need to put away all mobile devices, and whether it is an open or closed book exam.

Technology can help you reduce the opportunities for cheating:

password protect your exam and limit students to one login attempt.

require students to complete a statement of honesty before beginning the exam

open and close access to your exam session within a predetermined time period

shuffle items or create multiple versions of the exam to randomly assign to students

create a pool or item bank to pull random questions from, a function built into many learning management systems
ask students to justify or explain their answers by adding an open response field after each selected-response question

if you don't have these capabilities, use more open-ended question types instead of true/false or multiple choice questions

This blog post gives more advice on crafting quality assessments online.

7. Continuously improve

Keep your approach simple at first and aim for continuous improvement, not perfection. We encourage you to try something, get feedback from your students, and keep improving your course. And you're not alone: your colleagues may have advice too. You can build an informal or formal learning network to learn from each other.

This fall will be a learning experience for everyone. When faced with the unknown, as researchers we first look to what others have studied and the lessons they've learned. These seven tips, which are based on findings from over a decade of implementing hybrid teaching, can give you direction on how to bring together the best of in-person and online learning. For even more detail and research on hybrid teaching and learning, check out this paper.

About the authors

Katherine McEldoon is a Senior Research Scientist at Pearson, and is a research to practice connector. Trained in cognitive science research labs across the country, she has worked to connect insights from the science of learning to educational pra

ctice throughout her career. Katherine earned her PhD in Cognitive Development and was an Institute of Education Sciences' Experimental Education Research Fellow at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of Education. Her research focused on the cognitive development of children's mathematical reasoning, as well as the causal mechanisms and efficacy of instructional interventions in both laboratory and classroom settings. Her postdoctoral work at Arizona State University centered on a research partnership between The Learning Sciences Institute and ASU Preparatory Academies, incorporating a theory of active learning into middle & high school teacher pedagogy. Since then, she has continued to bridge research and practice outside of academia, working with educational technology start-up companies, state governments, and more. Katherine firmly believes in the power of enabling educators with insights from research and incorporates this mindset into her work at Pearson.

Emily Schneider has spent more than a decade researching and designing learning experiences for higher education. As a Senior Learning Designer at Pearson, she helps product teams create effective and engaging digital learning experiences at scale. Emily believes that we should take advantage of technology for what it offers but never forget the power of the embodied human experience. She holds a PhD in Learning Sciences and Technology Design from Stanford University.

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Katherine McEldoon, PhD, Senior Research Scientist, and Emily Schneider, PhD, Senior Learning Designer, Pearson

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7 tips from research for effective hybrid teaching | Pearson Blog

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As painful as the decision was to close campuses and force virtual learning in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, educators must make new, perhaps more difficult, decisions about how to resume classes in the fall. Many schools are asking: can learning happen both digitally and in lecture halls?

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7 Ways to Maintain Virtual Student Relationships

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7 Ways to Maintain Virtual Student Relationships

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But how should educators foster that sense of belonging in this new, decentralized world-with teachers and students tethered loosely together via Wi-Fi and cellular networks?

"Right now, it's all about the technology-the mechanics of how to teach remotely. But when I speak to my colleagues who are high school teachers, it's about: 'How are we going to hold our students' hearts?'" says Mays Imad, a professor of pathophysiology and biomedical ethics at Pima Community College.

So we asked dozens of teachers, and peeked in on Instagram and Twitter threads, to find some of the best ideas that teachers are experimenting with to maintain the relationships that drive engagement and learning.

1. Try to Say Hello Frequently, If You Can

Try to make sure your kids know you are thinking of them, care for them, and miss them. For kids with access to technology, simple daily hellos via video might be the only time the student sees the teacher on some days-and that sense of connection is important to sustain.

First- and second-grade teacher John Thomas' masterful, fun hello video to his students is a great example.

For students without internet connectivity, try calling by phone; consider rotating through small groups of students each day to make this a more manageable task. "Taking the time to reach out and call each kid takes forever," says sixth- and eighth-grade English teacher Cathleen Beachboard, but she's seeing a big impact: "The first few days, I had only a few kids logging on, but now I have almost 98 percent attendance," she says.

2. How to Maintain Morning Meetings

Routines that foster connection are a core part of classroom life, and finding ways for students to experience these at home will go a long way toward easing students' transition to home-based learning. "If you do morning meeting, reflect on the elements you have in your meeting and what could be completed virtually at home," writes Thomas. "If technology allows, record and share daily video announcements and read-alouds."

Margaret Shafer, a third-grade teacher, has kids respond to daily prompts during her morning meetings. Kids can see each other's responses and react if they want to. "My relationships with my students are part of my instruction, and their relationships with each other are critical to their enjoyment of school," she says, underscoring the fact that maintaining relationships is not an afterthought. "So when I planned (very quickly!) to start distance learning, the first thing I wanted to start daily was a way to comfort the kids and let them know that I still care about them and their friends are still out there."

3. Reimagine Temperature Checks

Routine, everyday check-ins- roses and thorns or selecting an emoji to match your mood, for example-shouldn't fall by the wayside. Keep it quick and simple: "I posted on Schoology to give me a thumbs up, thumbs sideways (meh), or thumbs down to describe their day.... I encourage them to take selfies of their thumbs," says high school teacher Javier Rivera via Twitter.

Along with checking in with her students herself, Imad is making connecting with peers part of her students' homework: Each student is assigned the task of connecting with one classmate. "Then, I'm asking them to write to me and tell me how, say, Jackie is doing today. They can decide how they want to check in-email, text, Skype," she says, adding that she sets up guidelines and models the practice for her students first. "This exercise might work even better with K-12-'My homework is to check on Allie.'"

Finally, some teachers are using forms, like this one created by the Association for Middle Level Education, as a quick, asynchronous way to get kids to tell you how they're feeling that day.

4. Try Snail-Mail Pen Pals, Phone Pals, or Virtual Turn and Talk

We learn better in social contexts. For many students, transitioning to learning from home is complicated by the impact of being cut off from peers-even though many older students might communicate with friends via social media and texting.

"If technology doesn't allow, create pen pals or other paper-and-pen activities by sending home envelopes, paper, and stamps if your school is able," says Thomas. "Or mimic 'turn and talk' by setting up phone pals where students call each other on the phone several times a week to discuss specific topics or prompts."

Third-grade teacher Michael Dunlea follows his whole-group instruction via Zoom with breakout rooms so that peers can reflect on the learned material together. Then he seeks deeper connections with students individually: "I keep one student on for a one-on-one conference and ask them to read out loud for a few minutes. This time also provides an opportunity to check on their emotional well-being and see if they need clarification on assignments."

5. Create Virtual Tables (but Don't Just Group Friends)

For older kids, says Kasey Short, an eighth-grade English teacher at Charlotte Country Day School in Charlotte, North Carolina, teachers can set up virtual table groups. Short uses Google Classroom for this because her students are already familiar with the platform. "I will set up discussion threads with four to five students so they can discuss assignments, ask each other questions, and stay connected," she says.

Though many kids will stay in touch with their circle of friends, she says it's important to think about pairing kids with peers who aren't in their immediate social circle-and then mix up the groups weekly. "There will also be spaces for whole class discussions, but I know many students will feel more comfortable sharing ideas in a smaller group setting," she says.

6. Consider Including Parents

Dunlea, the third-grade teacher, asks students to invite a parent online, giving the adults an opportunity to ask questions, express concerns, or request advice.

Beachboard, the sixth- and eighth-grade English teacher, connects with parents each day-she uses the messaging platform Remind, or a dedicated Google Voice phone line for parents who don't have text messaging. She also connects with families by email. "I check in with them once a day with a 'How are you?' and 'Do you need anything?'" she says. "It's important at this time, more than any other, that we are looking out for the mental health of our families and students."

7. Get Kids to Name-and Process-Their Own Emotions

Writing assignments, says Short, the English teacher, offer valuable opportunities for students to process the complex mix of emotions they may be experiencing as a result of their upended routines and schedules, social isolation, and the challenges of being cooped up at home.

"I am going to use some writing opportunities for students to get their thoughts, feelings, fears, and questions down in a creative format of their choice," she says. "I will give them an option to share with the class, or only share with me. This will not only allow them to share out their feelings but also give me a place to check on them and follow up if I see any of them expressing sadness, fear, etc., that their parents may need to know about."

Most important, says Short, "I am going to be honest and as understanding as possible to let students know we are all in this together and will likely all need a little grace."

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7 Ways to Maintain Relationships During Your School Closure

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But how should educators foster that sense of belonging in this new, decentralized world-with teachers and students tethered loosely together via Wi-Fi and cellular networks? "Right now, it's all about the technology-the mechanics of how to teach remotely.

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Being "Present" in Your Online Course: IU - Teaching Online

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8 ways to make online lessons fun and engaging

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8 ways to make online lessons fun and engaging

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LISTEN ON

Connecting via webcam isn't always easy and it takes creativity to keep students' brains stimulated!

In fact, teaching online requires you to use completely different skillsets compared to those used to teach in-person!

With the home environment being surrounded by potential distractions, keeping students engaged, motivated, and interested in their lessons can be one of the biggest challenges online teachers face.

The question most of us online teachers ask ourselves at least once is: "How can I make the online classroom experience more exciting for my students?"

Luckily, there are plenty of tips and tricks to help you increase engagement in the classroom

Let's dive right in then.

Here are the 8 best tips that will help you learn how to make lessons fun and engaging in an online classroom:

1. Present your best (online) self

2. Use technology to your advantage

3. Find what inspires your students

4. Set goals and help students stick to them

5. Keep it interactive

6. Break down the lessons and make it digestible

7. Make your students feel valued

8. Be patient with your students

1. Present your best (online) self
Visuals
If your students can see you via a webcam, make sure that not only do you look presentable, but the location that you're in does too.

Tip: a simple background works best to eliminate any distractions.

And that's just the first step!

If students can see your face, it's going to be 100 times more motivating for them if you look engaged and interested in what they are saying (even if sometimes this requires all your saintly teacher patience!).

Also, your visual materials must be up to scratch.

Make sure your slides look clean and clear and any videos you use are of good quality.
Audio
Try changing the tone of your voice to introduce new activities or mix up the tempo of your class!

Practice your storytelling skills and offer praise out loud. This can make a huge difference in encouraging your students.

And, again, make sure any audio clips you plan to use are of good quality.

Finally, this might be stating the obvious, but make sure you can teach your online lessons from somewhere with a reliable internet connection.

Nothing will have students switching off their attention quicker than a crackly connection that keeps on cutting out.

2. Use technology to your advantage

Teaching online comes with its challenges, but it also puts a whole load of really cool tools at your fingertips.

Whether you use whiteboards, pointers, virtual games, text editors, drawing tools, file editors, breakout rooms, or screen-sharing tools, you can use the technology you have to add variety to your lessons and keep students on their toes.

First of all, make sure you know how to use these virtual tools and take time to explain them to students, so they feel confident with using them too.

Then think about how you might use them to liven up your lessons.

For example, you could use fun rewards to entice students.

There is no kid out there whose eyes don't light up at the prospect of 30 seconds of free play on a drawing tool!

3. Find what inspires your students

The good news is, just like in any face-to-face classroom, the real key to getting your online students involved is to find out what inspires them and gives them a reason to be engaged in the classroom.

Whether you're teaching English online or you are a classroom teacher turned virtual, use the same mediums you would use in a real-life classroom.

Turn up the fun by playing music or just go to town with the drawing tool!

Don't be afraid to try different things with your students until you find something that works for them.

4. Set goals and help your students stick to them

Another way to help online students stay on track with their studies (and keep a sense of purpose) is to set goals and remind them of their progress.

Setting goals for online learners

One simple way to introduce short-term goals into your online classroom is to make sure each lesson has a clear outline that you share with your student so they know where they are in the learning process and the context for any activity they are doing.

Then think about how you might reward students for finishing tasks (or, even better, for working hard) during a lesson.

You could try positive feedback, badges, points, playing games or doing other fun learning activities your students would like.

When it comes to long-term goals, going too far into the future might not be effective, but try taking time now and then to check in with your students and set goals together for the next month, three months, or six months down the line.

Progress checks for online learners

For short-term progress checks, make sure you build continuity between lessons by doing quick revisions or quizzes on previous topics.

A great way to remind students of their long-term progress is by building up a portfolio of work with them so they can look back themselves and see how far they've come.

One way of doing this online is to start an achievement page.

If you are teaching kids, every time they achieve something, you can go to the achievement page and ask them to draw something that reminds them of what they've learned (you might want to make it an achievement tree they can add to or a trophy shelf.) With teens or adult learners, you might prefer asking them to write something.

As the course progresses, the page will fill up with reminders of successes and proud moments for your students.

5. Keep it interactive

In a face-to-face class, it's typical to give students some quiet reflection time to work alone or read a text.

But these kinds of activities don't translate well in online classrooms.

Long, dense texts are challenging to read on a screen (it's much easier to break things into chunks).

Silence just doesn't translate that well in virtual classrooms as it provides the perfect excuse for a student's attention to drift elsewhere!

Planning activities that keep your students actively clicking, typing or talking throughout the lesson is the way to go.

You can do this by asking lots of questions, including games and making sure learners have to physically do things like use drawing tools or type in the dialogue boxes.

And when you're planning your lesson, you can make sure your student has to say something every three minutes or so.

6. Break down the lesson and make it digestible

Timing is crucial in online teaching, and you might find you need to break up your online lessons differently than you would with face-to-face ones.

As a general rule, it's a good idea to keep a fast pace and break down information into small, easily digestible chunks.

In practical terms, this means to steer clear of lengthy explanations and slides with too much text!

Mixing up the tempo of your lessons by adding a variety of activity types is also a great way to make the time fly by for your students.

You can also write your lesson plans for the online classroom with free lesson planners like Planboard.

And for online English teachers, there are plenty of free resources out there to get you started.

7. Make your students feel valued

The truth is, the isolation experienced by students studying in online classrooms can be a huge factor in making them feel demotivated.

They might think that no one will notice or care if they miss a class, or find it all too tempting to not log in to the classroom if they're feeling tired.

The best way online teachers can help remedy this is by making their students feel valued in the classroom.

How do I do that, you ask?

Here are some suggestions:

Learn your student's name and use their name throughout the lesson, and make sure they learn yours

Follow up on what you did in previous lessons so your students know that you're on top of what they're learning (and they should be too)

Find out about your student's interests and incorporate them into the lesson where possible

Give regular feedback on your students' work

Aim to be a positive, encouraging and present

8. Be patient with your students

As anyone can tell you, keeping students engaged and stimulated is no easy task. Remember that young kids sometimes don't have very high attention spans, so it can be hard for them to sit still and focus at times.

This is totally normal and okay!

It's essential to give them a break now and then and be patient with them.

Your students can easily pick up whether you're annoyed or frustrated when something isn't clicking.

And that makes matters worse.

Give them a short break every now and then.

It'll make a difference!

Create a more engaging virtual classroom

Teaching online takes creativity.

Online environments can be challenging to master at first, but with a little effort and time, your students will be getting the best experience possible.

And, they'll be excited to log into your classroom.

To recap, here are the 8 ways to increase engagement online:

1. Present your best (online) self

2. Use technology to your advantage

3. Find what inspires your students

4. Set goals and help students stick to them

5. Keep it interactive

6. Break down the lessons and make it digestible

7. Make your students feel valued

8. Be patient with your students

We hope these tips gave you a great foundation for building better online classrooms, but don't be discouraged if you still need a little more help.

If you need more help, you can always try our Online Teaching Strategies course to give you more confidence and ensure you smoothly transition into the world of online teaching.

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8 ways to make lessons fun and engaging in an online classroom | Teach Away

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Learn the best ways to improve the online classroom experience and help kids stay motivated.

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Creative Ways Teachers Are Building Classroom Community Online

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Creative Ways Teachers Are Building Classroom Community Online

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Shout out to every teacher out there creating remote learning environments that work through the curriculum you'd already painstakingly planned for a memorable classroom experience. It's only been a week or less for some students, but
the work is nothing short of astonishing. And leave it to teachers to know that building a classroom community is not just about curriculum. Here are some creative ways teachers are creating classroom community online that'll make
you smile (and maybe even cry):

1. They are sharing funny videos on social media.

Principal Nalwaker, Butler Elementary in Cottonwood Heights, UT, goes live on Facebook to cheer up his students and teachers.
He knows that laughter just might be the best thing to happen to all of us right now.

2. They are continuing their Responsive Classroom one question at a time.

Pat Trippiedi, teacher at Waterbury Elementary School in Roselle, IL, says they are posting questions every day on their Google Classroom site and asking students to respond. She was surprised by how many kids respond-they're clearly looking
to connect.

To do this, try asking some of these questions:

Online learning can be hard, what are you doing to stay organized?

How are you feeling about staying home right now?

What do you think a pandemic is?

3. They are using Quizlet to host grade-level competitions.

In Falmouth, MA, Donna Espindle-Scozzari, Lawrence Junior High School, and her team are doing a Quizlet live championship via zoom. Their 8th grade class is broken into teams of 4. The plan is to do four days of solving equations prior
to the big event. Then, they will be asked to solve more equations that covers some of the previous learning. Sounds like something worth working for!

4. They are hosting virtual theme weeks.

Julie Petrovic and her team in Naperville, IL thought a Spirit Week might be just the thing to keep kids engaged and lighten the moment. Other schools shared their amazing themed weeks as well ... just check up some ways they are cheering up quarantined kids!

5. They have reframed March as September.

Lots of principals and teachers have shifted the perspective by reminding everyone this is all new territory much like it feels in September. They're giving kids permission to ask more questions and open their minds to a new kind of school
structure. This helps everyone feel less pressure which is a good thing right now.

6. They are hosting daily class pets.

We heard about a teacher who asked his sixth graders to send in a picture of their pet (if they had one). He's been highlighting a different "Class Pet" each day. The response was amazing. Students are excited to see it each day, probably
more than the assignments! And, at least this way they are checking in and they have a little more invested. What if a kid doesn't have a pet? This smart teacher encouraged kids to create a virtual pets so they can participate too.

7. They are using Google Forms to check in with kids and teachers.

Keep it simple to get more responses, says Jeff Howe, teacher in Manchester NH, who says he plans to buy toilet paper for the colleague who gave him this idea. 🧻

How are you today?

What questions do you have for me?

What can I do for you?

8. They are using Google Forms to take attendance.

Consider using Google Forms for check-in and for exit tickets at the end of the day like Michelle Walker, a teacher at Sports High School in midtown New York City. Want to build a community around reading? Create a form like the one below
to keep a list of books kids are reading. This list will help you make recommendations as well.

9. They are making book talk videos.

Remote teaching is going to be difficult for lots of reasons, but we can work to keep kids reading and sharing what they read. Try using book talks to help make that happen. Haven't done them before? Check out What Is a Book Talk? Your Guide to Making Them Work in the Classroom.

We've heard of lots of other teachers using these same methods for sending emailed cards to students. Knowing we're all out here missing each other can be just what a student needs-and it feels pretty good for the giver too!

11. They create lesson videos for their students.

Vicki Bailey, first grade teacher at McGraw School in Hampden ME, sent us this photo of her teaching a lesson on your favorite color. Hers is purple, obviously! She posts them on See Saw which is a site her students and their parents are
already familiar with. They can comment about the lesson and share their favorite color as well.

12. They use online video chats to connect.

This Kindergartener from New York City was thrilled to meet with all of his classmates and his teacher on Zoom. We've seen lots of teachers using video chats to meet with students in personal ways that bring back a positive community culture.
What are your ideas for creating and continuing classroom community remotely? We'd love to hear about them in our Principal Life group or Plus, The Next Weeks of Online Learning Don't Have to Be Perfect. the WeAreTeachers Helpline on Facebook.

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Creative Ways Teachers Are Building Classroom Community Online

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Shout out to every teacher out there creating remote learning environments that work through the curriculum you'd already painstakingly planned for a memorable classroom experience. It's only been a week or less for some students, but the work is nothing short of astonishing.

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How to keep students interested in virtual classroom

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How to keep students interested in virtual classroom

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These days, not every student rolls out of bed and trudges to the bus stop to head to school. Instead, more and more students are simply flipping open a laptop, turning on a tablet, or unlocking their phones. According to the National Education Policy Center (NEPC), almost 300,000 students were enrolled across 501 full-time virtual schools in the 2017 - 2018 school year. That number may seem big, but it is dwarfed by the six million students who participated in at least one online higher education course in 2017, according to the Online Learning Consortium.

Virtual classrooms offer numerous benefits to students, instructors, and schools. They allow students to learn from anywhere in the world, including in rural and disadvantaged communities where schools and universities may be lacking. Virtual learning can also be a solution for students who may otherwise struggle to fit in with a normal class, and they can save school districts serious money. However, for all the upshots they offer, virtual classrooms also present significant challenges. The virtual nature of the class can leave students feeling disconnected and disengaged from the material.

How can teachers engage and excite their virtual students when they may live a world away? Here are 10 great tips for improving student engagement in your virtual classroom.

Start your course or semester on the right note by creating a fun, engaging atmosphere. Help students feel connected to each other and to you by offering up simple ice breakers that will force the students to learn about each other. One option is to ask students to pair up and interview each other. Another fun game is to ask the class to answer trivia questions or non-controversial personal questions using Poll Everywhere. For example, ask students to choose their favorite color or see how many are the oldest, youngest, middle, or an only child in their family.

Students will feel more engaged in your class if they feel they are part of the larger group. This can be one of the trickiest things to accomplish in a virtual classroom, but there are still plenty of ways to build a strong community. Create a community structure, such as message boards, or even a Twitter hashtag that students can use to communicate and connect during and outside the class.

3. Create individual learning plans

Use the unique benefits that a virtual classroom offers to help build individual learning plans for your students. That includes incorporating technology that will allow you to actively track each student's performance. By assessing a student's performance, you can discover holes in their knowledge, adjust the pace of the lessons, and determine what type of learning they respond to most.

4. Develop curriculum around shorter content

Not only are attention spans shorter than ever, but virtual students can easily skip out on long lectures or skim complicated readings. With so many distractions available to them, you've got to work extra hard to grab and keep their attention. One way to do this is to focus on creating short, captivating lessons. Consider recording 5- to 10-minute lectures or having students engage with interactive media, such as YouTube videos, music, or even live performances as part of your curriculum. Encourage student interaction during your lessons. That means less lecturing and more open discussions.

5. Integrate face-to-face virtual interactions

Isolation is a big downside of virtual classrooms, which can quickly lead to disengagement. You can combat isolation by encouraging or even requiring virtual face-to-face interactions. Start by recording a video of your lectures, so your students can see your face. Next, encourage or require students to meet in small groups via video conference. ( Google Hangouts is a free video conferencing software.)

It can be hard for students to feel engaged in class (virtual or otherwise), if they only listen to lectures and fill out multiple-choice tests. Depending on the topic of the class, encourage them to find creative ways to solve problems or express a lesson. For example, for history class, ask students to design a period costume. For math class, challenge students to find the square footage of a room in their home and document how they did it.

7. Add flexibility into the curriculum

Engage your students by letting them use their existing talents and interests to complete assignments. Not everyone wants to write an essay or do a book report. If you want the class to dive into the novel Dracula, let them show you what they got out of the book in a way that most appeals to them. Maybe a student will perform a one-man show from Dracula's point of view, while another discusses the changing mythology of vampires in history. Be flexible in assignments, and your students will likely surprise you with their ingenuity.

8. Provide opportunities to collaborate

Another great way to fight feelings of isolation among your virtual students is to assign partner, group, and class projects. When students collaborate, they can combine their creativity, share unique perspectives, and create relationships that will help them feel more comfortable participating in class. It will also keep them honest. No one wants to let their partner or their team down.

9. Communicate, communicate, communicate

You'll never know if a student is falling behind or feeling bored unless you ask. Virtual classrooms make it easy for shy or disinterested students to fade into the background unless a teacher makes a concerted effort to reach out. This may go beyond just handing out your email. Offer virtual office hours, create a social media group for the class, and consider scheduling one-on-one consultations with each student during the course.

If you want to know if your students feel engaged and are grasping the material, why not just ask? Not every student will want to be honest if you question them directly, so consider creating anonymous polls that allow students to let you know what they really think. This is a great way to assess how much they know about the topic at the beginning of class, what types of assignments they want, if a topic needs more discussion, and what they would recommend changing at the end of class.

Poll Everywhere gives you the software you need to seamlessly create and administer polls. Your students can answer quickly and easily from their computers or phones. Write multiple choice questions or let students write out their own answers. You'll get valuable feedback that will let you make your next virtual classroom even better.

Want even more great student engagement ideas? Check out our 5 Summer School Secrets to Improve Student Engagement.

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How to Keep Students Interested in Virtual Classrooms | Poll Everywhere Blog

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Virtual classrooms offer many great benefits, like bringing students together from all around the world. But they also have some drawbacks. It's easy for students to feel isolated or disengaged unless teachers make a concerted effort to keep them interested. Poll Everywhere offers 10 great ways to engage your virtual students.

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8 New Ideas for Engaging Online Students

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8 New Ideas for Engaging Online Students

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For many adults, taking a class online is a new learning experience. Even learners with the best intentions can get distracted when they're supposed to be paying attention. They procrastinate when it's time to log in and do their classwork. You can anticipate and prevent these issues by implementing these new strategies we found for engaging online students.

#1: Train instructors in online learning.

Many instructors are subject matter experts but they aren't trained in adult education or online learning. You can't just transfer an in-person learning experience to an online platform. The course's curriculum, content and delivery must be designed specifically for online learning. An online instructor must understand not only how learners learn but also how to leverage technology to help them take in and retain information.

Even if an instructor has scored well on conference evaluations, an online environment requires a new skillset. Instructors have to practice being themselves on camera-an attention-holding, confident and personable self.

An online learning experience can become an isolating experience unless the instructor knows how to and makes time to support students and encourage them to interact with classmates.

If your association doesn't already have a Train the Trainer program, that's a good place to start. Make sure your program offers education in online instruction. If you don't have these resources, check out:

#2: Give students a sense of ownership and control.

People are more motivated and engaged when they know they have some say in what they're doing. Give students some choice in assignments. They may lean toward diving deeper into specific topics or may prefer one delivery method over another.

Self-assessments provide another opportunity for taking control over one's learning destiny. If a student believes a lesson is too basic, allow them to skip over it or dive deeper based on their self-assessment or quiz results.

Give students an opportunity to make their voice heard by asking for feedback on the learning experience and content. Don't wait for the end of the course to find out about adjustments you can make along the way. For example, you may think students will enjoy group projects, but find out they actually dread the idea.

#3: Plan for delivery diversity.

Engage learners' brains by using a mix of content delivery methods-video, text, audio, and presentations. Bring in guest instructors and speakers so they don't get tired of seeing the same face and hearing the same voice. Keep the element of surprise alive.

Don't ignore the effect of audio: when someone talks into our ear, it's strangely more intimate and we're more likely to connect with that person and what they're saying.

#4: Be a storyteller.

You might be sick of hearing about storytelling-it's been a marketing buzzword the past few years. But, like all clichés, it has staying power because it's based on fact. We love good stories-emphasis on good. We especially love reading or hearing stories that we can relate to in some way.

Stories tap into emotions, so we're apt to remember information delivered in stories. If you're reading something difficult, you're more likely to "get it" if the writer uses an example to illustrate what they're trying to get across.

Case studies are based on one of the most ancient stories: the hero's journey. Behold the dragon (problem) and our hero (the student's proxy), watch how the hero slays the dragon (solution), and see what happens next (impact).

Assign stories (or case studies) to read, or have students watch someone tell a story about how they applied a principle or practice in real life. Score bonus points if you can get a course alumni to do this. Use stories to illustrate the impact of what they're learning-an additional motivator.

Don't be afraid to use video. A cheesy video of instructors and members acting out a story may elicit some uncalled for grins but the point will be made and remembered. For example, at an ASAE conference, several members presented a video that illustrated a common problem for IT directors. Their point was successfully made despite the acting causing some chuckles.

Get students involved by stopping the story to find out what they would do in the hero's place. Or show the same story from alternate perspectives if that's important to the learning outcome.

Stories are a good opportunity to make your course timely too, our next topic.

#5: Regularly update course content.

The course you deliver in 2018 should not be the same course you delivered in 2016. One way to differentiate your online course is to update the content with the latest:

Research and developments

News

Articles, videos, podcast episodes and conference session recordings

Policies and regulations

Opinions

Emerging trends and practices

Make it obvious that you're not delivering a stale program. Keep your course relevant, timely, and current and you'll be more likely to pique student interest and hold their attention.

#6: Assign success coaches.

I bet your competitors aren't doing this one. In many colleges and universities, students taking online courses are assigned success coaches who:

Provide online learning and studying advice.

Offer resources to help students juggle responsibilities and manage time.

Learn about goals and help students identify or design a learning pathway.

Direct students to other organizational (association) resources-a good way to show non-members what they're missing.

Success coaches take your online learning program to the next level. This value-add won't be expected but proves your association is investing in learners' professional growth.

Online learning can be a lonely experience. The more you can make it personal by connecting in some way with learners, the more likely they'll stay engaged and become a raving fan.

Coaches can proactively reach out to students at specific course milestones. They can also be part of the intervention effort when a student is at risk.

#7: Encourage accountability.

Leverage the email notification feature on your learning management system. Schedule and send automated emails to students who don't log in for a certain number of days or don't complete an assignment on time. Or, you can set it up so the instructor receives the notification instead and they reach out personally to students to see what's going on with them.

Remind students they're not alone and not being ignored by having instructors and coaches check in with them periodically. These check-ins are a good time to get feedback too.

Study groups can also act as accountability reminders-just like meeting friends at the gym. Students need to feel a sense of inner accountability too. And you can help with that-our next topic.

#8: Help students nurture intrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic motivators like certificates and digital badges show others what you know and what you can do, but intrinsic motivators drive a person forward. Intrinsic motivation compels a student to keep doing difficult tasks, like juggling an online course with other responsibilities.

You want students to have a sense of purpose that fuels their course participation and engagement. They should know that what they're doing here matters. Remind students how their new knowledge and skills will help them make a difference in the world, even in small ways. Talk about how this new expertise helps them improve or contribute to their company, industry or profession, or how it impacts their customers or clients.

Create and share talking points with instructors, teaching assistants, and success coaches that reinforce the purpose behind the course, the true meaning behind the certificate of completion or digital badge.

The efforts your association makes to improve the learning experience shows students that you care about their growth and success. When students become more engaged in the learning experience, they'll get more out of the course, and they're more likely to come back to you for additional education.

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8 New Ideas for Engaging Online Students

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For many adults, taking a class online is a new learning experience. Even learners with the best intentions can get distracted when they're supposed to be paying attention. They procrastinate when it's time to log in and do their classwork. You can anticipate and prevent these issues by implementing these new strategies we found for engaging online students.

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Keeping Students Engaged in Digital Learning

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Keeping Students Engaged in Digital Learning

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Keeping Students Engaged in Digital Learning

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Whether you’re new to teaching online or a veteran, these six tips can help you make sure your students stay connected and immersed in learning.

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7 Tips for increasing Student Engagement in the online classroom

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7 Tips for increasing Student Engagement in the online classroom

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Most educators will agree that student engagement is paramount for a high quality learning experience. Not everyone agrees on what is meant by student engagement or how to achieve it. One definition of student engagement is "the amount, type, and intensity of investment students make in their educational experiences."

How Can You Engage Students in Online Learning?

A question that's increasingly top of mind for educators at universities and colleges is how to engage students online? The number of distractions available these days coupled with the difficulties of remote education mean that online student engagement is at a risk of falling. And instituions can't simply think about their online educational offerings appeal to students for one class-what's more important is how to keep those same students engaged in online learning over the course of a semester. It's one thing to have someone's attention at the start of a module-maintaining that same level of focus throughout the duration of a course is different story.

Here Are 7 Ways to Engage Students Online

Here are a few ideas for increasing and ensuring higher levels of student engagement in online courses:

1. Communicate in multiple formats

Online education provides instructors with multiple avenues for communicating with students. Course email and discussion forums tend to be the standard communication tools, but don't overlook embedded audio and video, chat rooms or instant messaging, broadcast text messaging, and home page announcements. Explanatory screencast videos tend to be well received by students, and are increasingly easy and inexpensive to create.

Educators may also want to consider the use of audio or voice notes as a way to engage students online. Recording a piece of feedback and leaving it for a student to listen to adds a personal touch and creates another layer of connection between student and teacher-extra important when that student and teacher may never meet in real life. Voice notes also have the benefit of being asynchronous. Teachers don't have to spend time trying to book meetings in calendars for real-time video calls and students are free to listen to the recorded notes when it suits their schedules.

2. Provide active learning opportunities

A common misconception about online learning is that students only sit in front of their computers. That might be true if the course is designed that way, but one way to engage online learners is to get them out of their chairs (or beds) and get them involved in active learning. One definition of active learning is "hands-on learning," although that could probably include "hands-on your mouse," which is not the suggestion here. Assign your online students to interview people working in the field, or to otherwise bring their learning out into the community where they live. Case studies, group projects, or gathering and analyzing local data are just a few of the many examples of active learning.

3. Make Learning Social

Social platforms, if used effectively, can help build a sense of classroom community among the students and between students and instructor.

Many instructors are looking at social media as ways to spice up their courses and engage students in topical learning. Consider adding a Twitter badge to your course homepage and then using a hashtag to push posts with course-relevant content to your students. Alternately, you may want to start an Instagram account for your course, where you share supplementary content that students may find interesting.

Don't think of social platforms as a place to repurpose your existing course content. For example, reposting a picture of a diagram students already studied in class may not create much interaction. Posting an article on Twitter that's relevant to your course and encouraging students to share their thoughts in a thread would likely create more engagement and could spark interesting conversations.

When using social media, it is very easy to get overwhelmed. With each passing day, new apps seem to come out of nowhere. Meanwhile, trying to keep up with posting on multiple channels can get exhausting. If you choose to use social media in your course, we recommend choosing one social platform and using it consistently.

4. Gamify with Badges and Certificates

Gamification is the practice of incorporating game-based elements into courses to help students acquire knowledge more quickly. Seeing how well video games are at keeping the attention of students, educators and learning designers cottoned onto to implementing parts of these games into their curriculum in a bid to improve online student engagement.

There are many ways that you can add gamification elements to online courses, without going the route of building a full game-based learning course from start to finish (which has been accomplished by a few ambitious educators). As a more intermediate step, consider adding badges to your course for recognizing student accomplishments along the way. Badges that are rewarded on the basis of achieving particular competencies can be offered as a way of rewarding student performance and encouraging continued engagement.

They've also been shown to improve student motivation. In a study from Nurse Education in Practice, researchers found that student attendance, satisfaction levels and motivation all improved when nursing students were awarded digital badges. They concluded that badges and certificates can act as an extrinsic motivator for students.

5. Provide timely and useful feedback

Feedback to students about their performance is extremely important in the effort to keep students engaged in the learning journey. Quick responses to discussion posts and email questions can help keep students on track for the next assignment or activity. Turnaround time on grading of assessments can also have an impact on future student efforts. Students should never have to engage in the next assessment without receiving feedback on the previous assessment. Feedback that is detailed and positive in nature tends to be more effective than faint praise or unclear messages.

6. Add self-assessment opportunities

Encouraging students to reflect and assess where they're at in their learning journey while they're still taking the course is a great method of formative assessment. For one thing, it encourages the student to be an active participant in their own education. Instead of the student relying on an educator to tell them how they're doing, self-assessment puts the student in the driver's seat, empowering them to see if there are any gaps in their learning.

Providing opportunities for self-assessment allows students to take more responsibility for their own learning. Some suggestions for self-assessment include: allowing students to grade their own discussion posts, or providing input for their own grade for course participation. A course-based ePortfolio or learning plan can be used to encourage students to build their own personal learning plans while identifying their preferences for multiple assessment methods. Self-assessment can be a motivating and sometimes humbling experience, but it is also an empowering one, whereby the student can come away feeling more energized about the path forward.

7. Improve course accessibility for all

Student engagement can be reduced for all when course content is provided in a way that isn't accessible. Regardless of whether a student relies on assistive technology or not, having course materials that don't create barriers to learning is an ongoing need for students in online education. The pandemic pivot that the majority of institutions were forced to make in 2020 shone a light on the barriers that many students face when it comes to gaining an education. Everything from a learner's physical and emotional capability, to their socio-economic status, to where they physically live can play a role in how well they perform throughout post-secondary studies.

With respect to engaging students online, institutions should first gain an understanding of what technologies students have access to, as well as how regular that access may be. Some students cannot use a computer all the time, or may not have access to strong Wi-Fi. If you are using an LMS that doesn't support offline, responsive learning, this would hinder a student's learning experience.

We're aware that not every challenge can be solve overnight. That's why taking consistent steps toward accessibility improvement of course materials is a good practice for educators to engage in on a frequent, periodic basis.

If you're interested in learning more about best teaching practices with respect to online learning and other areas, check out our upcoming webinars and the Brightspace Community for more information.

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7 Tips for Increasing Student Engagement in Online Learning

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Discover ideas for increasing student engagement to higher levels in online learning courses.

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How to Keep Younger Students Engaged in a Virtual Learning Environment

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How to Keep Younger Students Engaged in a Virtual Learning Environment

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Every teacher will tell you that it's often a challenge to keep students in a classroom engaged for an entire class. This is a dilemma that teachers face day in, day out. It doesn't' seem to matter if the students are young or old, there are always those few that have a tendency to "switch off".

When it comes to younger students, keeping them engaged is even harder. There's no denying it, kids are easily distracted.

When it comes to online teaching, the struggle is elevated. It's considerably harder to keep a very young student interested in a lesson. For one, their teacher could be on the other side of the world. In a child's mind, this may equate to the teacher not being real. Children these days spend so much of their free time being entertained by a screen making their teacher seems even less real.

So what can be done to keep young students engaged? Sparking their interest is the key, and there are a number of things you can do to keep the lesson interesting for your younger students and give them the desire to learn.

Get To Know Your Student on a Personal Level

Most online lessons are one on one so that gives you a bit of an advantage. There aren't other kids there to cause a distraction. It does mean that your entire focus needs to be on this one child so, make them feel special. Build a rapport with your younger students. One great way to do this is to have an introductory homework sheet. Include questions about their family, friends, pets, likes, and dislikes. As the student answers each question, encourage them to ask you questions as well. This will help them relax and encourage them to share with you.

Start Each Lesson with a Chat

Most online lessons last an hour. It may not seem like a long time, but when you are sitting there with a young child you need to start at a slower pace. Don't go straight into teaching mode. Ask your student what they've been doing at school, or if they've seen any good movies. Sometimes your student may have something they want to show you. Let them! If they initiate this free conversation themselves then half your struggle is done. The chat only needs to last a few minutes and will help your student ease into the lesson.

Use Props

Kids love to be entertained and the more animated you are as a teacher, the more likely you'll keep them glued to the screen. You can use puppets to entertain young students. Puppets are a great way to speak to young children as their focus will be on the puppet, not their adult teacher. They are more likely to respond to the puppet, answer questions and more. You can also use a variety of hats and scarves to keep them engaged. Set up your computer or laptop with a wall behind you and have bright pictures that will attract the student's attention. A whiteboard is also a good tool to have visible within the screen so you can write or draw things during the lesson. Pets also help. If you have a house pet, introduce your student to your pet.

Most children love to sing so have a collection of songs in your database ready. Fortunately, it is relatively simple to find teaching songs for any subject and any age group. Sing the song to your student first, so he or she understands the message in the song and hears each word sung, then encourage them to sing with you. Again, if there is a particular song they would like to sing for you, even better. You can also share a link to a particular video so they can experience the music and songs visually as well. You can also read your student a story. Just make sure it's related to the lesson and doesn't last for too long. Like the songs, if you find a good video you can use that too. While the student is engrossed in the video, you can get your materials together for the next part of the lesson.

Keep Tasks Small

In a classroom, a teacher can hand out worksheets or write tasks on the board for students to follow. Online is somewhat different. You either need to write questions in the chat section and ask your student to type the answer, or you can send them a worksheet and ask them to type the answers. This can be a little difficult as the student will need to print the worksheet, answer the questions and then hold up the worksheet so you can see their answers. It's tricky, but still doable. You can also give them multiple choice questions to make this part of the lesson easier. Don't give them worksheets with too many questions or tasks. It takes up a lot of precious lesson time and can be boring for the student.

Include A Little Reading

Reading is a great way to determine your student's progress and you can incorporate reading into worksheets. This is another good reason to get to know your student because you can either find or put together your own reading worksheets. Choose a topic, find a picture, a couple of paragraphs of text and then include some questions at the bottom of the page. Ask your student to read the text and then go through the answers together.

Teaching online can be just as rewarding as teaching in a classroom, but it does take a lot of patience and preparation. Once you have a few props and activities put together, you'll breeze through an online class without even realizing an hour has passed. Fortunately, online lessons do not need to be as formal as regular classroom lessons so you have a little more flexibility to tailor each lesson to the individual student. Include things that interest them, be cheerful and give praise when they have completed a task and you'll have a student that will be excited to connect for every lesson.

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How to Keep Young Learners Engaged in Your Online Class

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What can be done to keep young students engaged? Sparking their interest is the key, and there are a number of things you can do to keep the lesson interesting for your younger students and give them the desire to learn.

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Moving Your Classes Online? Here’s How to Make It Work

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With high schools and colleges closing, the key is finding creative ways to keep students engaged. A physics prof shares his tips.

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Lessons from a Summer of Teaching in a Hybrid Classroom

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Lessons from a Summer of Teaching in a Hybrid Classroom

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Lessons From a Summer of Teaching in a Hybrid Classroom _ Edutopia

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How to Engage Students Online:Tips for Elementary Teachers 

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How to Engage Students Online:Tips for Elementary Teachers 

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When the school day starts with students logging in instead of walking into your classroom, it helps to set up some routines and procedures to make sure you can grab and keep their attention as you teach. Attention is a limited resource-the brain can only focus on one thing at a time-and it's natural for minds to wander.

Student Engagement Strategies for the Online Learning Environment

When teaching online, it's not as easy to see that students are getting distracted and bring them back. That's why it's important to help students set up a workspace at home that minimizes distractions, keep students engaged from the beginning of a lesson, build in ways to sustain their attention, and establish nondisruptive ways for them to communicate with you when they're struggling.

Help students set up their workspace.

Elementary students will need help setting up a space for schoolwork in their homes, so provide guidelines to both students and their caregivers about what is needed. Here's what they will likely need:

A quiet space that's free from distractions: Show students and their caregivers your workspace and list the key elements. Having a room with a door that closes is ideal, but the kitchen table or a bedroom corner can work just as well with some adjustments. Face the workspace away from the television or other distracting devices, and send siblings or other family members who are not engaging in quiet work to another room. Clear clutter from visible surfaces-a pile of papers or toys that haven't been put away can lead to mind wandering.

Materials required for the lesson: Have students gather the materials they will need for the lesson beforehand by sending out a list of what's required the night or week before. (e.g., notebook, graph paper, pencil)

Headphones: Encourage students to use headphones, as this reduces distractions and dampens background noise.

Webcams (if available and appropriate): Tell students whether and how you want them to use webcams. Student webcams can help teachers monitor their students' attentiveness, but not all students have access to a webcam and seeing their other classmates' video feeds may be more distracting than helpful. If you want to use webcams, you might limit their use to only when a student is speaking or only for small-group, collaborative activities.

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How to Engage Students in Online Learning: Tips for Elementary School Teachers

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When the school day starts with students logging in instead of walking into your classroom, it helps to set up some routines and procedures to make sure you can grab and keep their attention as you teach. Attention is a limited resource-the brain can only focus on one thing at a time-and it's natural for minds to wander.

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As the nation prepares to meet the threat of COVID-19, we are surrounded by the language of loneliness. We move from "social distancing" to "self-isolation" to even the prospect of avoiding the people we love. At colleges and universities across the country, we are pivoting quickly toward online learning, or as it is often called, distance learning.

But here's the secret most educators and students don't yet know: done right, online education is surprisingly intimate.

That student who's sitting far enough away in the lecture hall that you can't quite read her expression amid the proverbial sea of faces? When you call on her in a live Zoom session, she pops up right in front of you, one on one, looking you straight in the eye. There is no back seat in online education -- every student is in the front row.

That other student in back who never raises his hand? You might be surprised at how willing he is to open up and share his ideas in the live chat room that's running alongside your primary content.

When you create small breakout groups online, you eliminate not only the chair shuffling and wasted time of moving people around, but also much of the awkward social dance that human beings do as they try to find their place in a new group. Over and over, we find that group work online creates strong team bonds in amazingly short periods of time. After all, many of our students grew up cultivating and navigating their social lives on screens and keyboards.

Three years ago, our institution, the University of Illinois' Gies College of Business, created a new kind of online M.B.A., designed from the ground up. We certainly had more time to plan for it than do our colleagues who are now going online in the face of an epidemic. But for many of us, it was still a daunting dive into unknown waters. We all wondered what we would be missing.

The online program has been phenomenally successful, growing from 114 students its first year to 3,200 students this year, with high rates of retention and satisfaction. Students tell us they find great value in the educational experience. There are many reasons for that. But when faculty and staff members gather to talk about what is working, one theme that arises over and over is the level of engagement. And not just intellectual engagement with the course content, but human engagement -- between faculty and students, and even more strikingly, among students from around the world whose main commonality is this shared digital adventure.

That is not to say that this emotional component in online education comes automatically or easily. Effective online teaching often requires more planning and more overall effort than traditional classroom teaching of the same material. Running useful office hours online, for a group of several dozen students at once, requires strict discipline and a lot of energy. And for those of us who did not grow up digital natives, it can still take some mental gymnastics to look into a camera as we would into a human eye -- not to mention to perform the multitasking required to manage a good platform in real time.

But after immersing ourselves in this modality for a few years, we do have several practical ideas that might help you get the best out of this medium and create a compelling, engaging, enjoyable learning environment for students who might need that more than ever.

Use your students' exploring, editing and creative skills. As you plan assignments, think about what students do so well in the digital environment and build their work around those skills and behaviors. Online, students quickly shift from consumers to producers of content, and sharing is easy. Build activities that encourage them to co-create and peer review. Have students create or improve wiki pages on key topics.

Emphasize group projects. Figure out what students should be practicing and create exercises that help them reflect on their own perspectives and learn from one another.

Interact with students as they work. Whether it is commenting on a document as it is drafted online, dropping into a chat room or simply acknowledging students in live sessions, make the journey with them. This environment is very appropriate for the constructivist role of "the guide on the side." Let them know that not only are they looking at you, you are looking at them.

Solicit questions. Hold online office hours and encourage students to come and bring their questions. The barrier to entry is lower than it would be coming to your physical office, and it is one of the best ways that faculty members can create relationships with students.

Mix it up. In class, think of what you are teaching in smaller "chunks" -- micro-lectures, interspersed with silent activities and group work.

Highlight students' individual experiences. Unlike a physical classroom, students online are in different places, living different lives. Encourage them to share those distinct experiences and help them tap such experiences for their coursework.

For those of you venturing into online education for the first time, we should share one more secret: the distinct engagement and bonds we build online don't just enhance the student experience. They breathe a whole new life into the teaching experience, as well.

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How to make online learning more intimate and engaging for students (opinion)

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As the nation prepares to meet the threat of COVID-19, we are surrounded by the language of loneliness. We move from "social distancing" to "self-isolation" to even the prospect of avoiding the people we love. At colleges and universities across the country, we are pivoting quickly toward online learning, or as it is often called, distance learning.

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Building Relationships with Your Students is Crucial 

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Building Relationships with Your Students is Crucial 

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Help teachers continue to connect with students despite the distance between them.
Mediteraneo - stock.adobe.com
By Judy Zimny
Communicator
May 2020, Volume 43, Issue 9

Learning is a social endeavor. In day-to-day classroom activities, teachers interact and connect with students. They hold students accountable for their attendance and classwork and motivate them to achieve at their highest levels. These strategies-and the relationships that develop as a result of these interactions-have a profound impact on student learning.

While it is impossible to recreate the exact conditions of a physical classroom when teaching online, teachers can continue to connect with students despite the distance between them. Here are a few ways to maintain strong relationships and support students' needs in the virtual classroom.

Connect often and use multiple forms of communication

In a typical classroom, students are used to seeing, hearing, and talking with the teacher every day. Shifting to online learning can be an abrupt and difficult change. Students need to feel that their teachers are still "there" for them. Communicating frequently with students can help ease this transition.

Of course, there is more to connecting than simply sending a string of blanket emails, which can feel impersonal and even detract from existing relationships. To increase student engagement in a virtual setting, communicate in a variety of ways (e.g., emails, texts, group messaging, video or screen-casting) and allow students to communicate in a way that is comfortable for them. In many districts, video conferencing is quickly becoming the expectation rather than the exception. A key benefit is that this technology allows for much greater nonverbal communication, which can be particularly helpful with students who might be struggling.

Set virtual classroom hours

Set specific times for when to be online and accessible to individual students or groups. Setting these times not only increases efficiency, but it provides reassurance that students can regularly reach out for help when they need it.

Virtual classroom hours are also a way to check in on students' emotional well-being in addition to their academic needs. While they might sign up to request academic support, it is often during these times that they will share other information that is important to them.

Here are a few points to consider when setting up virtual classroom hours:

How often will you hold virtual classroom hours?

Will you offer one time slot where students can contact you on a first-come, first-served basis? Or will you create multiple time slots within that period and ask students to sign up for individual times?

How will students sign up for individual time slots?

How will students reach you during virtual classroom hours?

Are all students required to attend each week, or is it optional?

Check in with students individually

In addition to whole class and small group interactions, it can be helpful to connect with each student one-on-one at least weekly using the format that makes the most sense based on their resources (e.g., email, text, phone, or virtual chat). Just like in a physical classroom, students' needs will vary over time. Watch for shifts in their academic performance or emotional states. Seek out those who miss assignments or go "dark," and don't allow them to fall through the cracks. Video communication tools, in particular, can often provide insight into a student's emotional state by allowing for both verbal and nonverbal communication.

Communicate with parents

While parents want the best for their children, they might not observe the things a teacher sees in a learning setting. Likewise, parents will observe things that the teacher does not see outside of the virtual classroom. During this challenging time with the COVID-19 pandemic, students might be having difficulty with something that is unrelated to school but is affecting their work or their emotional state while they're trying to learn. If concerns arise, proactively reach out to parents or caregivers to discuss and collaborate on potential responses. Having virtual classroom hours for parents, too, can be a good way to keep them engaged and involved.

Virtual relationships matter

Relationships matter as much in the virtual learning space as they do in the physical classroom. While schools are closed, students may have an even greater need for social interaction and social-emotional support. Intentionally connecting with students may require extra effort in the virtual classroom, but it is worthwhile. Maintaining positive connections not only helps students gain the most they can from instruction in a distance learning environment, but it can have a lasting impact when they do finally return to school.

Judy Zimny is vice president of the National Institute for STEM Education.
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Copyright © 2020. National Association of Elementary School Principals. No part of the articles in NAESP magazines, newsletters, or website may be reproduced in any medium without the permission of the National Association of Elementary School Principals. For more information, view NAESP's reprint policy.

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5 Tips to Building Relationships in the Virtual Classroom | NAESP

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Help teachers continue to connect with students despite the distance between them. Mediteraneo - stock.adobe.com By Judy Zimny Communicator May 2020, Volume 43, Issue 9 Learning is a social endeavor. In day-to-day classroom activities, teachers interact and connect with students. They hold students accountable for their attendance and classwork and motivate them to achieve at their highest levels.

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LISTEN ON

Connecting via webcam isn't always easy and it takes creativity to keep students' brains stimulated!

In fact, teaching online requires you to use completely different skillsets compared to those used to teach in-person!

With the home environment being surrounded by potential distractions, keeping students engaged, motivated, and interested in their lessons can be one of the biggest challenges online teachers face.

The question most of us online teachers ask ourselves at least once is: "How can I make the online classroom experience more exciting for my students?"

Luckily, there are plenty of tips and tricks to help you increase engagement in the classroom

Let's dive right in then.

Here are the 8 best tips that will help you learn how to make lessons fun and engaging in an online classroom:

1. Present your best (online) self

2. Use technology to your advantage

3. Find what inspires your students

4. Set goals and help students stick to them

5. Keep it interactive

6. Break down the lessons and make it digestible

7. Make your students feel valued

8. Be patient with your students

1. Present your best (online) self
Visuals
If your students can see you via a webcam, make sure that not only do you look presentable, but the location that you're in does too.

Tip: a simple background works best to eliminate any distractions.

And that's just the first step!

If students can see your face, it's going to be 100 times more motivating for them if you look engaged and interested in what they are saying (even if sometimes this requires all your saintly teacher patience!).

Also, your visual materials must be up to scratch.

Make sure your slides look clean and clear and any videos you use are of good quality.
Audio
Try changing the tone of your voice to introduce new activities or mix up the tempo of your class!

Practice your storytelling skills and offer praise out loud. This can make a huge difference in encouraging your students.

And, again, make sure any audio clips you plan to use are of good quality.

Finally, this might be stating the obvious, but make sure you can teach your online lessons from somewhere with a reliable internet connection.

Nothing will have students switching off their attention quicker than a crackly connection that keeps on cutting out.

2. Use technology to your advantage

Teaching online comes with its challenges, but it also puts a whole load of really cool tools at your fingertips.

Whether you use whiteboards, pointers, virtual games, text editors, drawing tools, file editors, breakout rooms, or screen-sharing tools, you can use the technology you have to add variety to your lessons and keep students on their toes.

First of all, make sure you know how to use these virtual tools and take time to explain them to students, so they feel confident with using them too.

Then think about how you might use them to liven up your lessons.

For example, you could use fun rewards to entice students.

There is no kid out there whose eyes don't light up at the prospect of 30 seconds of free play on a drawing tool!

3. Find what inspires your students

The good news is, just like in any face-to-face classroom, the real key to getting your online students involved is to find out what inspires them and gives them a reason to be engaged in the classroom.

Whether you're teaching English online or you are a classroom teacher turned virtual, use the same mediums you would use in a real-life classroom.

Turn up the fun by playing music or just go to town with the drawing tool!

Don't be afraid to try different things with your students until you find something that works for them.

4. Set goals and help your students stick to them

Another way to help online students stay on track with their studies (and keep a sense of purpose) is to set goals and remind them of their progress.

Setting goals for online learners

One simple way to introduce short-term goals into your online classroom is to make sure each lesson has a clear outline that you share with your student so they know where they are in the learning process and the context for any activity they are doing.

Then think about how you might reward students for finishing tasks (or, even better, for working hard) during a lesson.

You could try positive feedback, badges, points, playing games or doing other fun learning activities your students would like.

When it comes to long-term goals, going too far into the future might not be effective, but try taking time now and then to check in with your students and set goals together for the next month, three months, or six months down the line.

Progress checks for online learners

For short-term progress checks, make sure you build continuity between lessons by doing quick revisions or quizzes on previous topics.

A great way to remind students of their long-term progress is by building up a portfolio of work with them so they can look back themselves and see how far they've come.

One way of doing this online is to start an achievement page.

If you are teaching kids, every time they achieve something, you can go to the achievement page and ask them to draw something that reminds them of what they've learned (you might want to make it an achievement tree they can add to or a trophy shelf.) With teens or adult learners, you might prefer asking them to write something.

As the course progresses, the page will fill up with reminders of successes and proud moments for your students.

5. Keep it interactive

In a face-to-face class, it's typical to give students some quiet reflection time to work alone or read a text.

But these kinds of activities don't translate well in online classrooms.

Long, dense texts are challenging to read on a screen (it's much easier to break things into chunks).

Silence just doesn't translate that well in virtual classrooms as it provides the perfect excuse for a student's attention to drift elsewhere!

Planning activities that keep your students actively clicking, typing or talking throughout the lesson is the way to go.

You can do this by asking lots of questions, including games and making sure learners have to physically do things like use drawing tools or type in the dialogue boxes.

And when you're planning your lesson, you can make sure your student has to say something every three minutes or so.

6. Break down the lesson and make it digestible

Timing is crucial in online teaching, and you might find you need to break up your online lessons differently than you would with face-to-face ones.

As a general rule, it's a good idea to keep a fast pace and break down information into small, easily digestible chunks.

In practical terms, this means to steer clear of lengthy explanations and slides with too much text!

Mixing up the tempo of your lessons by adding a variety of activity types is also a great way to make the time fly by for your students.

You can also write your lesson plans for the online classroom with free lesson planners like Planboard.

And for online English teachers, there are plenty of free resources out there to get you started.

7. Make your students feel valued

The truth is, the isolation experienced by students studying in online classrooms can be a huge factor in making them feel demotivated.

They might think that no one will notice or care if they miss a class, or find it all too tempting to not log in to the classroom if they're feeling tired.

The best way online teachers can help remedy this is by making their students feel valued in the classroom.

How do I do that, you ask?

Here are some suggestions:

Learn your student's name and use their name throughout the lesson, and make sure they learn yours

Follow up on what you did in previous lessons so your students know that you're on top of what they're learning (and they should be too)

Find out about your student's interests and incorporate them into the lesson where possible

Give regular feedback on your students' work

Aim to be a positive, encouraging and present

8. Be patient with your students

As anyone can tell you, keeping students engaged and stimulated is no easy task. Remember that young kids sometimes don't have very high attention spans, so it can be hard for them to sit still and focus at times.

This is totally normal and okay!

It's essential to give them a break now and then and be patient with them.

Your students can easily pick up whether you're annoyed or frustrated when something isn't clicking.

And that makes matters worse.

Give them a short break every now and then.

It'll make a difference!

Create a more engaging virtual classroom

Teaching online takes creativity.

Online environments can be challenging to master at first, but with a little effort and time, your students will be getting the best experience possible.

And, they'll be excited to log into your classroom.

To recap, here are the 8 ways to increase engagement online:

1. Present your best (online) self

2. Use technology to your advantage

3. Find what inspires your students

4. Set goals and help students stick to them

5. Keep it interactive

6. Break down the lessons and make it digestible

7. Make your students feel valued

8. Be patient with your students

We hope these tips gave you a great foundation for building better online classrooms, but don't be discouraged if you still need a little more help.

If you need more help, you can always try our Online Teaching Strategies course to give you more confidence and ensure you smoothly transition into the world of online teaching.

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8 ways to make lessons fun and engaging in an online classroom | Teach Away

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Learn the best ways to improve the online classroom experience and help kids stay motivated.

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As our workforce becomes more scattered, organizations are being forced to rethink how they deliver training. While the array of solutions may vary, one trait these organizations have in common: They are scaling back or altogether eliminating classroom training in favor of distance learning. Most don't have the experience or tools to make this move from "real-life" classroom to a virtual classroom very easily or quickly.

For this edition of Communiqué, I am joined by my colleague Dave Yakonich, Learning & Development Manager at Boston Scientific Corporation, in mapping out just a few steps necessary in transforming a classroom course into a successful distance-learning program. For this piece, we are focusing on what it takes to move an existing classroom "skills" course to an instructor-led interactive virtual classroom program. However, many of these concepts can be applied when creating a completely new virtual program from scratch. In an upcoming issue, we'll explore what competencies are needed for those who facilitate learning in the virtual world.

Clarify learning objectives and performance goals. This may sound obvious, so it's surprising how often this step is overlooked in favor of deconstructing the course content first. Are objectives the same for all participants? If you have multiple audiences, identify which people require mastery of a certain skill and which need some level of knowledge or simply a passing awareness. Create a map that lays out the learning objectives of each audience, linked to certain topic areas and content. You may need multiple modules that can be snapped together. These may take the form of synchronous virtual classroom sessions, asynchronous online sessions, independent learning, management coaching, or some combination.

Assess your audience. How many participants of each audience type need to go through this training, and over what period of time? How much time can we reasonably expect each audience to invest in the overall program? Those who need to master a particular skill may expect to spend 10 hours learning and practicing, while those who need a cursory knowledge may get what they need in only 90 minutes.

Decide which comes first - the chicken or the egg? That is, do you design your program to get the maximum number of people through it as quickly as possible? Or do you determine how much interactivity is required to achieve performance goals, and then plan how long it will take to get everyone through it? A general rule of thumb: The more real-time interaction required, the fewer the participants who can be involvedatany one time. If sheer volume of participation and speed of completion is most important, you'll still need to find ways to build in opportunities for interaction at frequent intervals to maintain focus in a virtual world.

Determine sequence and builds. Any kind of virtual classroom must be kept brief to maintain attention. As a result, your overall learning program may comprise multiple segments, some of which may be prerequisites for others. Clarify how the learning from one segment will feed into another. Can some participants complete a prereq other than taking a course (e.g., by reading or completing some "off-air" assignment)? How frequently and at what junctures will people need to stop learning and start applying new skills before they go on to the next segment? Will you have "homework" assignments that expand on concepts or apply new skills that participants complete between learning sessions? Build on your earlier map (or create a new one) to show the inflows and outflows of each segment, and show how they relate to each other. If these relationships are different for each target audience, show the differences.

Create a level playing field from the word "go." Making sure that everyone has the same level of familiarity with the topic at the start of your virtual classroom session can chew up a lot of time, and it doesn't have to. Find ways to ensure a level playing field beforehand by determining what type of prework will help ensure that all will derive maximum benefit from this program. For example, can you ask some to review certain material or take a computer-based instruction session in advance? Make sure to explain why prework is essential to the overall learning experience, and be prepared to remind participants several times. Make any assignments specific and realistic, otherwise, people may not take prework seriously.

Evaluate what type of interaction will contribute to the learning process. For example, are real-time conversations critical, or can asynchronous online participation (either during the session or at another time) also be an effective way to interact? Interaction can also take place independently, such as by providing participants with a workbook in which they can record or reflect what they've learned, either before, during or after the sessions. Small-group interaction can also be encouragedatany time. Think through the best combination of interactions that will best accelerate learning and make it stick.

Apply tools creatively. The learning experience can be compromised by limitations imposed by certain technology tools. Let's use a "spork," that handy three-in-one eating utensil as a metaphor. You can eat certain things pretty well with a spork, but tackling a big bowl of noodles would be a lot easier with a combination of just the right tools-namely, a fork and spoon. Same for virtual collaboration tools. Some do a few things pretty well, but few do many things very well. Some make slide sharing easy, for example, but don't enable effective group brainstorming. Breakout sessions are possible with some and others not. Consider the best way people will learn each skill or task, and be prepared to exploit the capabilities of a combination of tools to the fullest extent. Find someone who's really conversant on the capabilities of each tool so you don't have to become an expert (unless you want to!).

Accommodate a variety of learning styles/preferences: Consider how job functions, titles, cultures, learning styles, demographics, and other variables will play into your design and delivery methods. It's true we can't please all of the people all of the time, but we can make some well-informed best-guesses as to what's likely to work for most people most of the time. You may also have opportunities to offer some either/or choices, such as reviewing a few book chapters or joining a peer roundtable or listening to a podcast to learn more about a particular topic. If conversation is a central piece of the program, make sure that you offer at least a couple of ways people can converse, such as via phone and online virtual conference room.

While slide-heavy webinars may be the most typical way organizations serve up virtual learning, they are almost never the most effective. Designing and running an engaging virtual classroom experience is a complex undertaking that takes a special kind of knowledge, brand new skills, and many times, trial and error until everything clicks just right. But the alternative - a virtual learning experience that saps energy and drives people to tend to their email-is far more costly.

Links

Check out our ezine articles: Better Performance in Troubled Times Through Distance Learning and Eight Essential Ground Rules for Great Virtual Meetings.

Six Ways to Make Prework More Compelling, a great white paper by Facilitate.com

Consider becoming a member of New Ways of Working, an interactive network of organizational innovators - people who are transforming their work environment. Members comprise an intriguing mix of experts from the fields of workspace design, technology and real estate/facilities.

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Moving to the Virtual Classroom: 8 Steps to Keep Learners Engaged

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As our workforce becomes more scattered, organizations are being forced to rethink how they deliver training. While the array of solutions may vary, one trait these organizations have in common: They are scaling back or altogether eliminating classroom training in favor of distance learning.

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8 ways to make lessons fun and engaging in an online classroom

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8 ways to make lessons fun and engaging in an online classroom

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LISTEN ON

Connecting via webcam isn't always easy and it takes creativity to keep students' brains stimulated!

In fact, teaching online requires you to use completely different skillsets compared to those used to teach in-person!

With the home environment being surrounded by potential distractions, keeping students engaged, motivated, and interested in their lessons can be one of the biggest challenges online teachers face.

The question most of us online teachers ask ourselves at least once is: "How can I make the online classroom experience more exciting for my students?"

Luckily, there are plenty of tips and tricks to help you increase engagement in the classroom

Let's dive right in then.

Here are the 8 best tips that will help you learn how to make lessons fun and engaging in an online classroom:

1. Present your best (online) self

2. Use technology to your advantage

3. Find what inspires your students

4. Set goals and help students stick to them

5. Keep it interactive

6. Break down the lessons and make it digestible

7. Make your students feel valued

8. Be patient with your students

1. Present your best (online) self
Visuals
If your students can see you via a webcam, make sure that not only do you look presentable, but the location that you're in does too.

Tip: a simple background works best to eliminate any distractions.

And that's just the first step!

If students can see your face, it's going to be 100 times more motivating for them if you look engaged and interested in what they are saying (even if sometimes this requires all your saintly teacher patience!).

Also, your visual materials must be up to scratch.

Make sure your slides look clean and clear and any videos you use are of good quality.
Audio
Try changing the tone of your voice to introduce new activities or mix up the tempo of your class!

Practice your storytelling skills and offer praise out loud. This can make a huge difference in encouraging your students.

And, again, make sure any audio clips you plan to use are of good quality.

Finally, this might be stating the obvious, but make sure you can teach your online lessons from somewhere with a reliable internet connection.

Nothing will have students switching off their attention quicker than a crackly connection that keeps on cutting out.

2. Use technology to your advantage

Teaching online comes with its challenges, but it also puts a whole load of really cool tools at your fingertips.

Whether you use whiteboards, pointers, virtual games, text editors, drawing tools, file editors, breakout rooms, or screen-sharing tools, you can use the technology you have to add variety to your lessons and keep students on their toes.

First of all, make sure you know how to use these virtual tools and take time to explain them to students, so they feel confident with using them too.

Then think about how you might use them to liven up your lessons.

For example, you could use fun rewards to entice students.

There is no kid out there whose eyes don't light up at the prospect of 30 seconds of free play on a drawing tool!

3. Find what inspires your students

The good news is, just like in any face-to-face classroom, the real key to getting your online students involved is to find out what inspires them and gives them a reason to be engaged in the classroom.

Whether you're teaching English online or you are a classroom teacher turned virtual, use the same mediums you would use in a real-life classroom.

Turn up the fun by playing music or just go to town with the drawing tool!

Don't be afraid to try different things with your students until you find something that works for them.

4. Set goals and help your students stick to them

Another way to help online students stay on track with their studies (and keep a sense of purpose) is to set goals and remind them of their progress.

Setting goals for online learners

One simple way to introduce short-term goals into your online classroom is to make sure each lesson has a clear outline that you share with your student so they know where they are in the learning process and the context for any activity they are doing.

Then think about how you might reward students for finishing tasks (or, even better, for working hard) during a lesson.

You could try positive feedback, badges, points, playing games or doing other fun learning activities your students would like.

When it comes to long-term goals, going too far into the future might not be effective, but try taking time now and then to check in with your students and set goals together for the next month, three months, or six months down the line.

Progress checks for online learners

For short-term progress checks, make sure you build continuity between lessons by doing quick revisions or quizzes on previous topics.

A great way to remind students of their long-term progress is by building up a portfolio of work with them so they can look back themselves and see how far they've come.

One way of doing this online is to start an achievement page.

If you are teaching kids, every time they achieve something, you can go to the achievement page and ask them to draw something that reminds them of what they've learned (you might want to make it an achievement tree they can add to or a trophy shelf.) With teens or adult learners, you might prefer asking them to write something.

As the course progresses, the page will fill up with reminders of successes and proud moments for your students.

5. Keep it interactive

In a face-to-face class, it's typical to give students some quiet reflection time to work alone or read a text.

But these kinds of activities don't translate well in online classrooms.

Long, dense texts are challenging to read on a screen (it's much easier to break things into chunks).

Silence just doesn't translate that well in virtual classrooms as it provides the perfect excuse for a student's attention to drift elsewhere!

Planning activities that keep your students actively clicking, typing or talking throughout the lesson is the way to go.

You can do this by asking lots of questions, including games and making sure learners have to physically do things like use drawing tools or type in the dialogue boxes.

And when you're planning your lesson, you can make sure your student has to say something every three minutes or so.

6. Break down the lesson and make it digestible

Timing is crucial in online teaching, and you might find you need to break up your online lessons differently than you would with face-to-face ones.

As a general rule, it's a good idea to keep a fast pace and break down information into small, easily digestible chunks.

In practical terms, this means to steer clear of lengthy explanations and slides with too much text!

Mixing up the tempo of your lessons by adding a variety of activity types is also a great way to make the time fly by for your students.

You can also write your lesson plans for the online classroom with free lesson planners like Planboard.

And for online English teachers, there are plenty of free resources out there to get you started.

7. Make your students feel valued

The truth is, the isolation experienced by students studying in online classrooms can be a huge factor in making them feel demotivated.

They might think that no one will notice or care if they miss a class, or find it all too tempting to not log in to the classroom if they're feeling tired.

The best way online teachers can help remedy this is by making their students feel valued in the classroom.

How do I do that, you ask?

Here are some suggestions:

Learn your student's name and use their name throughout the lesson, and make sure they learn yours

Follow up on what you did in previous lessons so your students know that you're on top of what they're learning (and they should be too)

Find out about your student's interests and incorporate them into the lesson where possible

Give regular feedback on your students' work

Aim to be a positive, encouraging and present

8. Be patient with your students

As anyone can tell you, keeping students engaged and stimulated is no easy task. Remember that young kids sometimes don't have very high attention spans, so it can be hard for them to sit still and focus at times.

This is totally normal and okay!

It's essential to give them a break now and then and be patient with them.

Your students can easily pick up whether you're annoyed or frustrated when something isn't clicking.

And that makes matters worse.

Give them a short break every now and then.

It'll make a difference!

Create a more engaging virtual classroom

Teaching online takes creativity.

Online environments can be challenging to master at first, but with a little effort and time, your students will be getting the best experience possible.

And, they'll be excited to log into your classroom.

To recap, here are the 8 ways to increase engagement online:

1. Present your best (online) self

2. Use technology to your advantage

3. Find what inspires your students

4. Set goals and help students stick to them

5. Keep it interactive

6. Break down the lessons and make it digestible

7. Make your students feel valued

8. Be patient with your students

We hope these tips gave you a great foundation for building better online classrooms, but don't be discouraged if you still need a little more help.

If you need more help, you can always try our Online Teaching Strategies course to give you more confidence and ensure you smoothly transition into the world of online teaching.

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8 ways to make lessons fun and engaging in an online classroom | Teach Away

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Learn the best ways to improve the online classroom experience and help kids stay motivated.

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How to Keep Students’ Attention in a Virtual Classroom

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How to Keep Students’ Attention in a Virtual Classroom

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Teachers worried about students zoning out during distance learning can lean on these programs for help.

Pollyana Ventura / iStock

We've all been there: We ask our class a question and no one responds. Awkward silence. Students start to look at the ceiling or flip through their notebook to avoid eye contact. Eventually, someone volunteers an answer, someone is called on, or worse, we simply move on without any participation.

Getting your students to participate is hard enough when you're in your classroom. Getting them to participate in a virtual classroom is a whole different ball game. The social pressure of uncomfortable eye contact just isn't the same on a videoconference call. In fact, it's nearly nonexistent with current technology.

Luckily, the technology exists to help provide supplemental strategies to get your students responding-you may even want to bring some of these strategies back to your classroom once schools open up again.

Ways to Boost Online Participation

Video chat polling features: Many video chat platforms come with polling features where the students see a question pop up on their screen. This is a great feature for a few reasons.

It helps you gauge what your class understands and what they may need you to review again. If you just spent five minutes reviewing a concept and end with "OK, any questions?" what do you usually hear back? Crickets.

Instead, ask a comprehension question using the poll feature. If only 35 percent of the class answers the question correctly, maybe it's worth spending a little extra time reviewing.

Check out how to use these features in individual apps:

Discussion breakout rooms: Polling is great for helping break up concepts in a lecture, but what if your class is discussion based and you want your students to break out into small groups to work on a shared assignment?

There is technology for that, too. First, start out with all students on the same video call, and then, with a click of a button, split your students up into small groups to work on an assignment using a collaborative tool like Google Docs.

They will be on a call with only their group mates. You as the host can hop among all the groups to check in and facilitate. Once the time is up, end the breakouts and bring everyone together again. Call on each group to share their work.

Zoom: You can have up to 50 breakout sessions at once and can hop between them as you'd like. Check out Zoom's support page to learn exactly how to set it up for your class.

GoToMeeting: This platform has shared documents built in and will store them for you to review once the meeting ends. More info here.

Microsoft Teams: This feature is reportedly coming soon.

Some of the videoconferencing platforms have this impressive feature built in already. See the list below to learn more about each one:

This is a great feature to use if you have access to it. Not only does it get students working together on shared assignments, but also it helps students get used to talking to each other through a computer.

Chat feature: Simply ask a question and have your students answer through the chat feature. This is not ideal, since all students will see the answers of other students, so you may not see an accurate representation of their understanding. But you will have a record of each student's participation.

External quiz apps: You can also use external quiz tools like Kahoot or Quizizz. Simply set up the quizzes ahead of time, and prompt your students to go take the quiz during your meeting by sharing the quiz code. Students can take a few minutes to navigate to the quiz website and answer a question or two before moving on. The best part about these platforms is that they're free for both teachers and students.

Kahoot!: The base platform is free and fun to use. If you're interested in more advanced features, such as advanced reporting, individualized quizzes, additional question formats, and more, Kahoot offers paid plans starting at just $3 per month.

Quizizz: This platform is 100 percent free and connects to Google Classroom. It has engaging gamification built in and an entire place to store your favorite teaching memes.

Quizlet: The free version of this platform is excellent. If you're interested in tracking student progress over time, removing ads, and adding personalized content, the paid version starts at just $3 per month with additional savings for schoolwide plans.

Mentimeter: This platform's free version is limited to only a couple of questions, but the integration with online interaction is definitely worth your time to explore. The paid version starts at $10 per month, or you can reach out to your school's admin to explore a schoolwide payment option to make it cheaper per instructor.

Here are links to some student-approved quiz platforms:

Expectations and Accountability

The above tools are great-but now let's explore how to implement these and set your students up for success. Clear expectations set the stage for student participation.

Let your students know what good participation looks like. Is logging in to the video call enough to count as participation? That may be all that your administrators are looking for, but what does good look like, according to your standards?

Counting each time a student talks or adds to a discussion can be time-consuming. So let technology work for you.

A great way to measure participation is by requiring a permanent product-this is something your student leaves behind after they leave the call. It can be anything from an answer to an online discussion prompt to their quiz score, a response left in the chat, or the shared product from a group assignment.

Be present: Join the call and stay for the duration of class time.

Comprehension checks: Answer each quiz question that pops up, perhaps with extra points for answering 100 percent correct.

Discussion assignment: Work with your team to complete the assignment.

Whatever your definition of good is, be sure it is measurable and achievable.

Regardless of which online tool you use, it is clear that we cannot rely on in-person tactics to encourage virtual class participation. Luckily, the tools and tactics here can help enhance your online teaching. You may even find yourself bringing these back to your classroom when schools reopen.

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How to Keep Students' Attention in a Virtual Classroom

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Teachers worried about students zoning out during distance learning can lean on these programs for help. Pollyana Ventura / iStock We've all been there: We ask our class a question and no one responds. Awkward silence. Students start to look at the ceiling or flip through their notebook to avoid eye contact.

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For many adults, taking a class online is a new learning experience. Even learners with the best intentions can get distracted when they're supposed to be paying attention. They procrastinate when it's time to log in and do their classwork. You can anticipate and prevent these issues by implementing these new strategies we found for engaging online students.

#1: Train instructors in online learning.

Many instructors are subject matter experts but they aren't trained in adult education or online learning. You can't just transfer an in-person learning experience to an online platform. The course's curriculum, content and delivery must be designed specifically for online learning. An online instructor must understand not only how learners learn but also how to leverage technology to help them take in and retain information.

Even if an instructor has scored well on conference evaluations, an online environment requires a new skillset. Instructors have to practice being themselves on camera-an attention-holding, confident and personable self.

An online learning experience can become an isolating experience unless the instructor knows how to and makes time to support students and encourage them to interact with classmates.

If your association doesn't already have a Train the Trainer program, that's a good place to start. Make sure your program offers education in online instruction. If you don't have these resources, check out:

#2: Give students a sense of ownership and control.

People are more motivated and engaged when they know they have some say in what they're doing. Give students some choice in assignments. They may lean toward diving deeper into specific topics or may prefer one delivery method over another.

Self-assessments provide another opportunity for taking control over one's learning destiny. If a student believes a lesson is too basic, allow them to skip over it or dive deeper based on their self-assessment or quiz results.

Give students an opportunity to make their voice heard by asking for feedback on the learning experience and content. Don't wait for the end of the course to find out about adjustments you can make along the way. For example, you may think students will enjoy group projects, but find out they actually dread the idea.

#3: Plan for delivery diversity.

Engage learners' brains by using a mix of content delivery methods-video, text, audio, and presentations. Bring in guest instructors and speakers so they don't get tired of seeing the same face and hearing the same voice. Keep the element of surprise alive.

Don't ignore the effect of audio: when someone talks into our ear, it's strangely more intimate and we're more likely to connect with that person and what they're saying.

#4: Be a storyteller.

You might be sick of hearing about storytelling-it's been a marketing buzzword the past few years. But, like all clichés, it has staying power because it's based on fact. We love good stories-emphasis on good. We especially love reading or hearing stories that we can relate to in some way.

Stories tap into emotions, so we're apt to remember information delivered in stories. If you're reading something difficult, you're more likely to "get it" if the writer uses an example to illustrate what they're trying to get across.

Case studies are based on one of the most ancient stories: the hero's journey. Behold the dragon (problem) and our hero (the student's proxy), watch how the hero slays the dragon (solution), and see what happens next (impact).

Assign stories (or case studies) to read, or have students watch someone tell a story about how they applied a principle or practice in real life. Score bonus points if you can get a course alumni to do this. Use stories to illustrate the impact of what they're learning-an additional motivator.

Don't be afraid to use video. A cheesy video of instructors and members acting out a story may elicit some uncalled for grins but the point will be made and remembered. For example, at an ASAE conference, several members presented a video that illustrated a common problem for IT directors. Their point was successfully made despite the acting causing some chuckles.

Get students involved by stopping the story to find out what they would do in the hero's place. Or show the same story from alternate perspectives if that's important to the learning outcome.

Stories are a good opportunity to make your course timely too, our next topic.

#5: Regularly update course content.

The course you deliver in 2018 should not be the same course you delivered in 2016. One way to differentiate your online course is to update the content with the latest:

Research and developments

News

Articles, videos, podcast episodes and conference session recordings

Policies and regulations

Opinions

Emerging trends and practices

Make it obvious that you're not delivering a stale program. Keep your course relevant, timely, and current and you'll be more likely to pique student interest and hold their attention.

#6: Assign success coaches.

I bet your competitors aren't doing this one. In many colleges and universities, students taking online courses are assigned success coaches who:

Provide online learning and studying advice.

Offer resources to help students juggle responsibilities and manage time.

Learn about goals and help students identify or design a learning pathway.

Direct students to other organizational (association) resources-a good way to show non-members what they're missing.

Success coaches take your online learning program to the next level. This value-add won't be expected but proves your association is investing in learners' professional growth.

Online learning can be a lonely experience. The more you can make it personal by connecting in some way with learners, the more likely they'll stay engaged and become a raving fan.

Coaches can proactively reach out to students at specific course milestones. They can also be part of the intervention effort when a student is at risk.

#7: Encourage accountability.

Leverage the email notification feature on your learning management system. Schedule and send automated emails to students who don't log in for a certain number of days or don't complete an assignment on time. Or, you can set it up so the instructor receives the notification instead and they reach out personally to students to see what's going on with them.

Remind students they're not alone and not being ignored by having instructors and coaches check in with them periodically. These check-ins are a good time to get feedback too.

Study groups can also act as accountability reminders-just like meeting friends at the gym. Students need to feel a sense of inner accountability too. And you can help with that-our next topic.

#8: Help students nurture intrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic motivators like certificates and digital badges show others what you know and what you can do, but intrinsic motivators drive a person forward. Intrinsic motivation compels a student to keep doing difficult tasks, like juggling an online course with other responsibilities.

You want students to have a sense of purpose that fuels their course participation and engagement. They should know that what they're doing here matters. Remind students how their new knowledge and skills will help them make a difference in the world, even in small ways. Talk about how this new expertise helps them improve or contribute to their company, industry or profession, or how it impacts their customers or clients.

Create and share talking points with instructors, teaching assistants, and success coaches that reinforce the purpose behind the course, the true meaning behind the certificate of completion or digital badge.

The efforts your association makes to improve the learning experience shows students that you care about their growth and success. When students become more engaged in the learning experience, they'll get more out of the course, and they're more likely to come back to you for additional education.

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8 New Ideas for Engaging Online Students

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For many adults, taking a class online is a new learning experience. Even learners with the best intentions can get distracted when they're supposed to be paying attention. They procrastinate when it's time to log in and do their classwork. You can anticipate and prevent these issues by implementing these new strategies we found for engaging online students.

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Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning

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Students in online courses start with the best intentions-keeping up with the readings and assignments, engaging in discussion, and learning from their instructor's feedback and comments. Once an online course begins, students can quickly become overwhelmed to the point where they are treading water in an attempt to stay afloat. It is only when the first grades are posted that the tide goes out and students realize they are in danger. This is where instructors can easily identify the students who are not succeeding. What can instructors do to support these struggling students?

The Online Learner

Students in online courses are unlike traditional students in many ways. Online learners are typically older and busier with work and family obligations than students on traditional college campuses (Roddy, Amiet, Chung, Holt, Shaw, McKenzie, Garivaldis, Lodge, & Mundy, 2017; Thistoll & Yates, 2016). To add to these challenges, online courses are often accelerated and demand a heavy workload and a set of technological skills (Roddy et al., 2017). In many ways, distance learning reverses traditional teacher/student roles and students are responsible for planning, organizing, and directing their own learning (Thistoll & Yates, 2016; Fetzner, 2013). Students must also manage the complex mixture of the learning management system (LMS), the internet, course materials, and their own electronic devices (Beins, 2017).

An online learner who procrastinates may experience technical difficulties, can become confused by course content, or may feel isolated and become unmotivated to meet course requirements (Roddy et al., 2017). As a result of these issues, online students have lower retention rates (Fetzner, 2013) and fail to complete courses at a higher rate than traditional students (Schroeder-Moreno, 2010).

The Online Teacher

Instructors who teach online courses also face unique challenges. Online instructors are tasked with delivering course content, helping students navigate the technology, engaging students in discussion, monitoring student progress, encouraging perseverance, providing timely and detailed feedback, and fostering interaction between students (Chen, Pedersen, & Murphy, 2011; Roddy et al., 2017; Watson, Castano, & Ferdinand-James, 2017; Zweig & Stafford, 2016). Online instructors must be flexible, responsive, and committed to engaging and retaining their students (Roddy, et al., 2017). Instructors must also update courses regularly to ensure that they remain relevant and interesting (Schroeder-Moreno, 2010).

The very nature of online learning places additional demands on both students and instructors. What can instructors do to identify and support struggling online learners who are being swept up in the tide? Consider implementing the following practices in your own online courses:

1. Implement Early Check-Ups

Think about the first time you taught an online course and consider the steepness of the learning curve. In addition to the LMS, many online courses require proficiency in additional technology tools and programs. Each course has its own rhythm, which may include discussions, homework, papers, projects, quizzes, and exams, and some students stumble early in the course. Many students assume that online courses will be easier than traditional face-to-face courses or underestimate the technological and organizational skills and the time commitment required to be successful (Fetzner, 2013; Schroeder-Moreno, 2010). Many students experience information overload when beginning an online course (Chen et al., 2011).

For these reasons, you should share expectations with students by phone or e-mail before the class begins (Thistoll & Yates, 2016). Within the course, include detailed instructions for accessing all course materials, auxiliary resources, and support services, and encourage students to ask you and each other for help. As a check to ensure that students can navigate the LMS and supplemental materials, have students post screen shots. A short multiple-choice quiz is also a good way to ensure that students can access the course procedures and policies.

According to Fetzner (2013), almost 20% of unsuccessful students claim they got behind and could not catch up. For this reason, monitoring student progress and addressing early signs of distress is a priority (Roddy et al., 2017).

2. Communicate Clearly and Frequently

Although online courses provide little to no opportunity for face-to-face interaction (Chang, Hurst, & McLean, 2015; Roddy et al., 2017), the typical online environment is equipped with areas for announcements, and private and group discussions. Indeed, these asynchronous forms of communication may actually benefit introverted learners who need time to synthesize their thoughts before responding (Self, Fudge, & Hall, 2018). Timely and clear communication about course expectations, requirements, and due dates is imperative (Roddy et al., 2017). Consider posting a master schedule that consolidates all due dates in one place. Because students identify redundant information as an obstacle to learning (Chen, Pedersen, and Murphy, 2011), point students to original postings in the LMS rather than repeating information. Chang et al., (2015) report that students are more satisfied with the course when instructors encourage frequent communication.

3. Encourage Engagement and Build Community

We all want our students to engage in our online courses, preferably through higher order learning such as applying the content to real world problems or situations, or sharing diverse opinions and forming personal perspectives (Buelow, Barry, & Rich, 2018). Buelow, Barry, and Rich (2018) report that students enjoy thought-provoking questions posed by the instructor, hearing the positions of their peers, and sharing their own perceptions. When a student posts generic, trivial, or redundant information in a discussion, gently remind them that peer responses are expected to move the conversation forward. Encourage students to improve their discussion posts by commenting on something specific about a classmate's post, supplying an example from research or their own personal experience, or asking follow-up questions.

Self, Fudge, and Hall (2018) report that students who procrastinate with discussions tend to interact less and are often less successful academically. Students who are not engaging in the course may not understand the LMS, so reach out to the student's advisor or to the student using e-mail, phone, or text messages. Encourage students to get involved early in the week by posting optional discussion items that appeal to a variety of learners. To build community within the course, Beins (2017) recommends using humor, first names, and pronouns such as "we" or "us." Addressing the course as "team" also reminds students to work together toward the common goal of successfully completing the course.

4. Provide Scaffolding

An important role of instructors is to determine the right balance of scaffolding. If learners are highly motivated, possess a range of cognitive strategies, and have prior knowledge of the content, Dabbaugh (2003) recommends a low level of scaffolding. Higher levels of scaffolding are recommended for learners who lack prior knowledge and have high anxiety or low motivation (Dabbaugh, 2003). Too little scaffolding often leads to frustration, anxiety, and loss of motivation (Dabbaugh, 2003). Types of scaffolding include indexes, glossaries, formula sheets, templates, scoring rubrics, and samples for projects and papers, and short videos to supplement background knowledge. Instructors can also scaffold individual assignments by requiring outlines or rough drafts. Because finding the right balance for scaffolding is a shared responsibility and requires input from students, ask students to identify the level and type of scaffolding they need.

5. Be Flexible with Deadlines

How do you determine which students are permitted to submit work late? Some universities request faculty leniency to those affected by natural disasters, while students facing issues such as illness, injuries, family emergencies, and technology glitches are not given such leniency. A grade of zero on a high-stakes assignment may discourage students from completing further work (Wyre, 2019). When strict due dates are enforced, some students will turn in high quality work but receive lower grades due to lateness while other will receive higher grades for lower quality work that is submitted on time. Wyre (2019) states that denying a student the opportunity to submit an assignment denies them the opportunity to learn. Similarly, Cutler (2019) argues that the goal should be mastery, and some individuals may need more time to achieve mastery. Thomas (2019) reports that when the pressure of a due date is alleviated and students are permitted to complete an assignment, the work is often better.

6. Allow "Re-Dos"

Student disappointment over a bad grade can fuel a feeling of futility. Allowing students to re-do assignments extends the learning window and allows students to use specific, corrective feedback to improve their work and their grades. Cutler (2019) allows retakes as a way of acknowledging that occasional slip ups should not get in the way of learning. Because the goal is improvement, Cutler (2019) allows any student who did not perform at their best the opportunity to re-do an assignment. Another option is to grant a small window of amnesty, allowing students to re-do one or more assignments to improve their grade. With amnesty, students must communicate with the instructor and make the extra effort to re-do an assignment. Some instructors average the original and the improved grade to encourage responsibility and discourage overuse of the re-do policy.

The nature of online learning is unique with strong demands on both students and instructors. By implementing early check-ups, communicating clearly and frequently, encouraging engagement, building community, providing support and scaffolding, being flexible with deadlines, and allowing re-dos, we are better able to identify struggling students early on and put them on the path to success, regardless of the tide.

Bio: Marie Revak has a BA in math and MA and PhD in Math Education. Revak taught middle and high school math before joining the Air Force as an orbital analyst. After three Air Force Space Command assignments, Marie returned to teaching at the Air Force Academy where she taught math, trained new faculty, and led the Academy's academic assessment program. After retiring from the Air Force, Marie worked for Lewis-Palmer School District as the professional development and assessment director. Now retired, Marie co-leads a volunteer math tutoring program at the local library and teaches undergraduate math courses online.
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Watson, F., Castano, B., and Ferdinand-James, D. (2017). Instructional Strategies to Help Online Students Learn: Feedback from Online Students. TechTrends 61:420-427. Doi: 10.1007/s11528-017-0216-y.

Wyre, S. (2019). An argument for accepting late work. Faculty Focus, August 21, 2019.

Zweig, J. and Stafford, E. (2016). Training for online teachers to support student success: Themes from a survey administered to teachers in four online learning programs. Journal of Online Learning 2(4): 399-418.

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When the Tide Goes Out: Identifying and Supporting Struggling Students in Online Courses | Faculty Focus

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Students in online courses start with the best intentions-keeping up with the readings and assignments, engaging in discussion, and learning from their instructor's feedback and comments. Once an online course begins, students can quickly become overwhelmed to the point where they are treading water in an attempt to stay afloat.

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The use of Kahoot or Quizzizz can make online learning fun and engaging in online setting.

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The use of Kahoot or Quizzizz can make online learning fun and engaging in online setting.

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Icebreaker Activities for a Virtual Classroom

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Icebreaker Activities for a Virtual Classroom

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This website gives ideas for icebreaker activities and the ONLINE TOOLS you can use with the activity. This may be great to incorporate within the first few days of school to slowly introduce the use of iPads during the day.

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Symonds Research Training Course Materials

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Page Updated on February 2, 2023

Here are 21 free to use icebreakers for online teaching that you can use. Icebreakers are an important part of any training program, as they encourage people to participate from the start of a session, to get to know each other and to feel comfortable working with others.

How do you run icebreakers for online sessions though? We have written a separate post on 'How to run group activities in virtual classrooms for your students here. 🙂

There are many icebreakers you can do in face-to-face training sessions and some of them are classics that corporate trainers all over the world have been using for quite a while.

In this guide, we have put together some icebreakers specifically designed to be done online and others that are normally done in traditional classrooms and we explain how to adapt them for the online environment.

1. 'Two Truths and a Lie' Icebreaker

This is a classic icebreaker, which can be adapted to an online class.

Instructions

1. Ask one participant to write three statements about themselves: 2 true and 1 false.

2. Ask the other participants to vote on which statements are true and which is false.

3. After the first person has shared their statement and the group has decided which statement is false, the first person will reveal which statements were true and which one was false.

4. Move on until each person in the group has shared their statements.

5. The person who manages to correctly guess the most lies wins. Alternatively, you can play this game in a non-competitive way just for participants to get to know each other.

This is intended as a fun icebreaker so it's a nice activity for very early in any training or teaching.

Online tools you can use

2. Table Topics

Table topics are a set of cards, which you can find for sale online, on sites such as Amazon. Each card has a question on it to start a conversation and every pack of cards contains just over one hundred questions.

They are a great way to start a conversation for participants to get to know each other or to start a discussion on a specific topic. You can choose questions pertinent to the topic of your workshop

Instructions

You can type some of the questions from the card on a chat board and ask participants to write down their thoughts.

Alternatively, you could separate the participants into breakout rooms and assign each group one or two questions so that each person in the group can answer.

Some examples of questions include:

Is there such a thing as perfect?

Where would you most like to go and why?

Who's the funniest person you know?

Would you rather live for a week in the past or the future?

What is the meaning of 'peace' to you?

Who do you trust and why?

How would you describe your future in three words?

If you can go back in time to your 15-year-old self, what advice would you give your 15-year-old self?

What is your definition of being wealthy and why?

What can you do today that you were not capable of a year ago?

Online tools you can use

Breakout rooms (which are available in many web conferencing platforms, such as Zoom).

Online whiteboards and chats.

3. 'Three Words' Ice Breaker

This is a good warm-up activity and it can also be useful to discuss the importance of adapting to changing situations and thinking on one's feet.

Instructions

1. Ask participants to agree on a random topic. It can be anything from food to dogs, to rugby.

2. Explain that each person should contribute with three words to the story (and three words only at a time) and they will take turns to contribute.

3. Encourage the participants to say the first three words that come to their mind. It does not matter if they make sense or not.

4. Try to move from one person to the other quickly.

Online tools you can use

Online whiteboard, chat board, and other collaboration tools such as Padlet or Lino.

4. 'Same and Different' Team Building Game

The aim is to learn information about other people. Hence, this activity can be either a great icebreaker or a way for people within an established team to know each other better and communicate.

Instructions

Online tools you can use

Breakout rooms

Online whiteboard, chat board, and other collaboration tools such as Padlet or Lino.

5. 'Big Lottery Win' Warm-Up Activity

This game is good as a warm-up, for participants to familiarize themselves with each other and also to think creatively.

Participants can discuss together or be separated into breakout rooms, depending on the number of participants.

Instructions

1. Explain to the participants to imagine that they have just won the lottery. They have won 25 million Euros, GBP, dollars, or any big amount in the local currency of the country they are in.

2. Give participants 5 minutes to list all the things they would do with the money. There is no limit to the number of things they can put down, as long as they can write them within 5 minutes.

3. After 5 minutes are up, ask everyone to talk about their list and discuss.

4. If you wish to, you can then sort the items on the lists into logical groups that you will find naturally evolve according to:

1. Material items

2. Friends and family

3. Travel and luxury

5. Some other categories may also emerge

6. Allow 5 minutes for the group to discuss the list. This normally will occur very easily.

Online tools you can use

Online whiteboard, chat board, and other collaboration tools such as Padlet or Lino.

6. 'Storytelling' Icebreaker | Team-Building Activity

Because of the creative and cooperative nature of this game, it is a good activity to use either as an icebreaker or as a team-building activity. It can also be useful for a training session on creativity.

Instructions

1. In advance of the training session, prepare some documents or boards (you can use MS Word or create boards with an image manipulation program) with a set of 4 pictures on each.

2. On the training day, separate the participants into groups of 4 people in breakout rooms and assign each group one of the files with the photos.

3. Give the groups 10 minutes to look at the photos and to create their narrative that creates a story that connects the four images.

4. When the 10 minutes are up, ask each group to share their story onto a virtual board and to spend up to three minutes telling the story of their images. Allow other groups to then suggest how they might have developed the story and if they would have used the images differently.

Online tools you can use

Breakout rooms

Online whiteboard, chat board, other collaboration tools such as Padlet or Lino.

7. 'Introducing Each Other' - Ice Breaker

This is a good activity to get participants to get to know each other so that they find themselves in a familiar environment.

Participants can do this activity either before the session, in their own time, or during the session.

Instructions

1. Pair up participants in twos.

2. Give them a list of questions to ask each other.

3. Ask each pair to interview each other, either via email or in breakout rooms.

4. When all the participants convene together in the same virtual room, each participant will introduce the participant they interviewed.

Online tools you can use

8. 'Hope and Fears' Icebreaker

This is a classic icebreaker, which is good as a reflection tool or to assess what the participants' expectations are from the training.

Instructions

1. Ask participants to write down their greatest hope (for example, for the session, for the current year or for a specific project) and then their greatest fear.

2. In a face-to-face class, the participants differentiate the answers by, for example, writing each answer on a sticky note of a different color.
Online, you need to find another way to differentiate them. For example, you could use Padlet or Lino, which allow you to create virtual sticky notes of various colors.

3. Read all the hopes first and then the fears and discuss.

Online tools you can use

Online whiteboard, chat board, and other collaboration tools such as Padlet or Lino.

9. 'Childhood Dream' Ice-breaker

This icebreaker is useful to start a discussion on how priorities and goals can change throughout a person's life.

Instructions:

Online tools you can use:

Online whiteboard, chat board, other collaboration tools such as Padlet or Lino.

10. 'Take a Picture of Something' Class Activity

This is a fun activity, which is good to get people to know each other using visuals and creativity.

Instructions

1. Ask participants to take a picture of something.
Typically, you choose a specific theme. For example, ask participants to take a picture of their shoes or a picture of something that is on their workstation or the view outside their window.
Remember to ask participants to take a picture and upload it before the training session starts, as otherwise, it might take too much time out of the training session if they were to do it in real-time.

2. Ask participants to share the picture on a virtual board.

3. Start a discussion. For example, you could ask why they chose that particular item on their desk, or what they like the most about the view they can see from the window, etc.

Online tools you can use

Online whiteboard, chat board, other collaboration tools such as Padlet, Evernote, or Lino.

11. 'Asking Questions' Icebreaker

This is a good way for participants to get to know each other in a relaxed manner.

Remember to ask questions that are light-hearted though, as you want to start on a positive note.

Instructions

Online tools you can use

Online whiteboard, chat board, other collaboration tools such as Padlet, Evernote, or Lino.

Tools that allow you to create a survey, such as Survey Monkey or Google Forms or a wiki, such as Slimiwiki.

>> Buy course training materials

12. 'Show a Map' Fun Teaching Activity

This is a good activity if your participants are located in many different geographical locations.

Instructions

Online whiteboard, chat board, other collaboration tools such as Padlet, Evernote, or Lino.

Tools that allow you to create a survey, such as Survey Monkey or Google Forms or a wiki, such as Slimiwiki.

Online tools you can use

13. 'Lost in Space' Online Training Activity

This is a good activity to get to know participants in a way other than just asking the usual questions.

1. Ask the participants to imagine that they are living in a space station. All of a sudden, the space station malfunctions and they have to evacuate. They are only allowed to take 5 items with them. Which items would they choose?

2. Ask participants to share their answers in the chatbox, explaining why they chose those five items.

Instructions

Online whiteboard, chat board, other collaboration tools such as Padlet, Evernote, or Lino.

Tools that allow you to create a survey, such as Survey Monkey or Google Forms or a wiki, such as Slimiwiki.

Online tools you can use

14. One Word (or One Image) Activity

This is another activity suitable for participants to share information about themselves creatively.

Ask participants to choose one word that best describes them or their life and to explain why.
Alternatively, you can ask them to choose an image (they can download it from the Internet or take a picture with their smartphone, for example).

Ask them to share their answers via the chat feature or on a virtual whiteboard.

Instructions

Online whiteboard, chat board, other collaboration tools such as Padlet, Evernote, or Lino.

Tools that allow you to create a survey, such as Survey Monkey or Google Forms or a wiki, such as Slimiwiki.

Online tools you can use

15. 'One Random Object' Virtual Training Activity

This icebreaker is a fun game, aimed at making participants feel relaxed and creating a sense of community. You could also use it as an energizer, if needed, when you sense that your participants are losing focus.

1. Ask a participant to pick one random object that is in their room and not tell anyone what it is.

2. Explain that the other participants will have to guess what it is, by asking questions that require a yes or no answer.

Instructions

You could use a chat board for this, but it is not necessary. You could just run the activity by speaking and maybe use a virtual board to record the scores. You can also, if you wish to, make it a competition, whereby the participant who correctly guesses the most objects wins.

Online tools you can use

16. 'Accomplished Goals' Online Group Activity

This is a good activity to focus on positive things (i.e. people's achievements). It is also a networking tool, as participants could be interested in achieving the same goal that another person in the group has achieved and whom they might ask for advice from.

Instructions:

You could use a chat board for this, but it is not necessary. You could just run the activity by speaking and maybe use a virtual board to summarize the discussion at the end and highlight what can be learnt from each person's experience.

Online tools you can use:

17. 'Describe Yourself in a Tweet' Activity

This activity is different from the traditional introduce yourself type activities, in that it has an additional challenge. That is, participants have to manage to communicate as effectively as they can, using a very limited number of characters.

There is a limitation to this activity though, as participants will need to have a Twitter account and not worry about their tweets being seen by everyone as tweets are public (direct messages used to be limited to 140 characters but, in 2015, the limit was extended to 10,000 characters).

1. Ask participants to describe themselves in a tweet.

2. You could do this activity before the training session and then take screenshots of the Tweets to show during the online class.

Instructions

Twitter social media account for you and the participants.

Online tools you can use

18. 'Bingo' Icebreaker

This is a classic icebreaker that can be adapted for online teaching.

In a traditional face-to-face session, you would prepare a table with a series of interesting facts and then give each participant a copy of the sheet so they can move around the room trying to find somebody to whom that fact applies.

1. To run the activity online, create a 5 by 5 table with interesting facts, one for each box of the table. For example, you could write things such as: speaks more than two languages, has been to Argentina, etc. Or, it would be a good idea to tie the facts with the topic of the class.

2. Share the file with the table with your participants, either in advance or during the session. You can share by email, through the file-sharing feature of the web conferencing system, or with an online sharing tool such as Google docs, Dropbox, or Evernote. Alternatively, you could do the activity in real-time using a tool such as Padlet or Lino.

3. Ask participants to write their name under each of the statements that apply to them.

4. Ask participants to share the answers and discuss.

Instructions

Online whiteboard, chat board, other collaboration tools such as Padlet, Evernote, or Lino.

Tools that allow you to create a survey, such as Survey Monkey or Google Forms or a wiki, such as Slimiwiki.

Email

Online tools you can use

19. 'Interests and Hobbies' Activity Online

This activity helps participants to get to know each other but with an element of fun.

Ask participants to post three links that reflect their hobbies.

The other participants have to guess what their hobbies are.

Instructions

Online whiteboard, chat board, other collaboration tools such as Padlet, Evernote, or Lino.

Online tools you can use

20. 'Time Machine' Virtual Training Activity

This activity is suitable for those who like history and as a trainer, it can help you to introduce a bit of imagination to your icebreaker.

1. Ask your participants: 'If you could go back or forward in time, where would you go?' 'Why?' You can then follow up with questions such as 'Is there a person you would like to meet?'

2. Ask participants to share the answers.

Instructions

Online whiteboard, chat board, other collaboration tools such as Padlet, Evernote, or Lino.

Tools that allow you to create a survey, such as Survey Monkey or Google Forms or a wiki, such as Slimiwiki.

Online tools you can use

21. 'Where in the World' Icebreaker for Online Training

This is another game that allows participants to know each other in a fun way.

Instructions

Online whiteboard, chat board, other collaboration tools such as Padlet, or Lino.

>> Buy course training materials

Online tools you can use

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21 Free fun Icebreakers for Online Teaching and virtual remote teams

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Free activities and icebreakers for online teaching for freelance online trainers or teachers. Virtual classroom lessons and workshop fun team-building games.

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If you've taken a continuing education class, you've seen how students fade away over time. People get busy. They have trouble making class and keeping up with coursework. Or, they don't get the support they need and lose motivation.

Online learning presents additional challenges. Online students must have the motivation and discipline to work in isolation. A lack of face-to-face accountability makes it easier for an online student to give up without anyone noticing.

An online course that merely provides information is no better than any other in today's competitive lifelong learning market. Your association must differentiate itself by offering online courses that engage, connect, and transform students.

If you follow the nine steps below to increase online student engagement, research shows you will increase the level of student satisfaction, perceived learning, and actual learning. When more students enjoy and complete your course successfully, your eLearning programs benefit from their return business and referrals.

#1 - Prepare students for the online learning experience.

Students who are used to learning in a classroom or meeting room may have trouble adjusting to the online learning experience. To help them thrive in this new environment, give them an introduction to online learning, your association's learning management system (LMS), and their online course.

Require all students to go through the introduction to online learning the first time they register for one of your online educational programs. Explain how online learning is different from the traditional classroom experience. Provide tips on time management, goal setting, and planning and prioritizing work.

Take them on a guided video tour through your LMS, pointing out the different features and functionality, including the online community. Show them how to find materials, assignments, and assessments, and how to communicate with their instructor and fellow students.

Instructors should also provide an introduction for students to watch before the course begins, like this introductory video for the Coursera course, Learning How to Learn. Instructors should review course requirements, provide estimates for the amount of time students should spend each week on coursework, and go over course materials.

A good introductory video could also serve as a promotional trailer, like this one from another Coursera MOOC, Modern & Contemporary American Poetry-a course we've discussed before on this blog because of its creative and effective instructional design.

#2 - Frequently review learning outcomes.

The instructor's introductory video should also review the learning outcomes for the course. These learning outcomes should be included in the course description so students know what to expect and whether the course is right for them.

Students want impact, not information. Tell them what they'll be able to do after taking the course, not what information the curriculum contains. Remind students throughout the course about the results they can expect if they stick with it.

Instructors should explain the purpose of each course activity and connect it to the learning outcomes for the course. If students know why they're doing an activity and how it will impact them, they're more likely to invest themselves in it and complete the work.

#3 - Present clear, organized learning materials.

Students must be able to easily navigate your LMS to find their course materials, discussions, assessments, and records. Everything they need should be right where they would naturally look for it.

Instructors have a role to play as well. Course materials should be organized and labelled in a consistent way to reduce student confusion. Checklists for each lesson or module help students know how far they've come and how far they still have to go-providing students a sense of progress.

#4 - Prevent isolation by increasing the presence of instructors.

Students should feel as if the instructor is right there with them. The course shouldn't feel like it's running on auto-pilot. Students feel more connected to instructors who talk to them, as if in a one-on-one conversation, via instructional videos. Videos also relay a sense of an instructor's personality-another means of connection with the audience.

If a student hasn't logged into the course for a while, instructors should contact them to see what's going on. The student may need help or encouragement. These touchpoints will help students feel less isolated and less likely to abandon the course.

Instructors should make it easy for students to get in touch with them via email. A regularly scheduled "office hour" encourages students to speak up if they have issues or questions.

Ask instructors to check in with students throughout the course, especially when coursework becomes more challenging. During the Modern & Contemporary American Poetry ( ModPo) course, the instructor and his teaching assistants (TAs) upload videos each week in which they review assignments and address recurring student questions.

For high enrollment courses, consider hiring TAs to check in with students to see if they're progressing on schedule, find out if they need help, and gather feedback on the course.

#5 - Build a learning community.

Researchers found that when an online course included an online community component, students were five times more engaged and 16 times more likely to finish the course. Engagement increases when students feel like they 'belong' and are 'part of something' with like-minded people.

Build opportunities for social learning into an online course's design. Jeff Cobb at Tagoras explains why:

"The social context in which we learn is usually what supplies relevance-a critical element for adult learning, or andragogy -and it is by wrestling with ideas and information in a social context that we make sense of them, modify them, and make them our own."

When an online course requires community participation, students have more opportunities to connect with instructors and fellow students, discuss coursework, help each other through struggles, share ideas, and, most importantly, become more engaged.

#6 - Deliver bite-sized, spaced learning.

Make course content easy to digest and retain by delivering it in bite-sized chunks. Jeff Hurt refers to the science that backs up the chunking principle:

"Neuroscience has proven that our attention span is 10 minutes. After that, our attention starts to wane. Chunking content into ten minute segments and then allowing learners 10 minutes to digest is the best way to learn."

Give students the opportunity to recall and review information, therefore committing it to their long-term memory, by spacing out content. Keep their brains engaged by delivering content in different formats: videos, voice over slides, audio, text, and panel discussions.

#7 - Get students to take action on what they've learned.

Help students cross the knowing-doing gap by having them immediately apply what they've learned. Each lesson should consist of a piece of information and a student action. These actions could include:

Participating in an online forum.

Providing examples or scenarios.

Solving a problem.

Writing a short essay or opinion piece.

Having a conversation (online or offline) with a fellow student.

Reviewing what they've learned in notes or journaling.

Answering instructor questions.

Ask good questions, for example, open-ended questions that require a higher level of reflection and thinking. Ask students to refer back to the content in their answers-another opportunity to revisit the material.

Put the information in context for students. Discuss how they can apply what they've learned by sharing case studies. The sooner students act on the new information they've digested, the more likely it will stick in their long-term memory.

#8 - Provide regular feedback.

Feedback helps students feel a sense of progress and rescues them from isolation. Instructors, TAs, or peers should provide feedback on all assignments with suggestions for improvement and kudos for good work. To convey a personal sense of connection, instructors should use video every now and then to deliver feedback.

Remind instructors and TAs that everyone watches their behavior in online community discussions. They should model the type of responses and feedback they want students to give each other. Draw students out in discussions. Ask them to go further, elaborate, or think of the topic from another angle-anything that helps them revisit what they've learned and make it stick.

#9 - Make time for fun.

Learning is serious business-even life and death business for some professions. But you can make it an enjoyable experience your students will remember and talk about with others.

The ModPo instructor and his TAs have created an online community of poetry lovers because they make learning fun, as you can see in this video preview of an upcoming week of the course.

To compete in the crowded online learning space against the likes of Coursera and EdX, colleges and universities, LinkedIn and Lynda.com, and dozens of other for-profit organizations entering your market, your association's online courses must offer a distinctive and engaging experience. By adding these engagement elements to your online learning programs, you'll create a learning experience that stands out in the marketplace.

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9 Ways to Increase Online Student Engagement

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If you've taken a continuing education class, you've seen how students fade away over time. People get busy. They have trouble making class and keeping up with coursework. Or, they don't get the support they need and lose motivation. Online learning presents additional challenges. Online students must have the motivation and discipline to work in isolation.

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Use a green screen to put yourself in fun places

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Use a green screen to put yourself in fun places

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Engage Students Every 3-5 Minutes in the Virtual Classroom

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Engage Students Every 3-5 Minutes in the Virtual Classroom

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How to Engage Learners in the Virtual Classroom

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LISTEN ON

Connecting via webcam isn't always easy and it takes creativity to keep students' brains stimulated!

In fact, teaching online requires you to use completely different skillsets compared to those used to teach in-person!

With the home environment being surrounded by potential distractions, keeping students engaged, motivated, and interested in their lessons can be one of the biggest challenges online teachers face.

The question most of us online teachers ask ourselves at least once is: "How can I make the online classroom experience more exciting for my students?"

Luckily, there are plenty of tips and tricks to help you increase engagement in the classroom

Let's dive right in then.

Here are the 8 best tips that will help you learn how to make lessons fun and engaging in an online classroom:

1. Present your best (online) self

2. Use technology to your advantage

3. Find what inspires your students

4. Set goals and help students stick to them

5. Keep it interactive

6. Break down the lessons and make it digestible

7. Make your students feel valued

8. Be patient with your students

1. Present your best (online) self
Visuals
If your students can see you via a webcam, make sure that not only do you look presentable, but the location that you're in does too.

Tip: a simple background works best to eliminate any distractions.

And that's just the first step!

If students can see your face, it's going to be 100 times more motivating for them if you look engaged and interested in what they are saying (even if sometimes this requires all your saintly teacher patience!).

Also, your visual materials must be up to scratch.

Make sure your slides look clean and clear and any videos you use are of good quality.
Audio
Try changing the tone of your voice to introduce new activities or mix up the tempo of your class!

Practice your storytelling skills and offer praise out loud. This can make a huge difference in encouraging your students.

And, again, make sure any audio clips you plan to use are of good quality.

Finally, this might be stating the obvious, but make sure you can teach your online lessons from somewhere with a reliable internet connection.

Nothing will have students switching off their attention quicker than a crackly connection that keeps on cutting out.

2. Use technology to your advantage

Teaching online comes with its challenges, but it also puts a whole load of really cool tools at your fingertips.

Whether you use whiteboards, pointers, virtual games, text editors, drawing tools, file editors, breakout rooms, or screen-sharing tools, you can use the technology you have to add variety to your lessons and keep students on their toes.

First of all, make sure you know how to use these virtual tools and take time to explain them to students, so they feel confident with using them too.

Then think about how you might use them to liven up your lessons.

For example, you could use fun rewards to entice students.

There is no kid out there whose eyes don't light up at the prospect of 30 seconds of free play on a drawing tool!

3. Find what inspires your students

The good news is, just like in any face-to-face classroom, the real key to getting your online students involved is to find out what inspires them and gives them a reason to be engaged in the classroom.

Whether you're teaching English online or you are a classroom teacher turned virtual, use the same mediums you would use in a real-life classroom.

Turn up the fun by playing music or just go to town with the drawing tool!

Don't be afraid to try different things with your students until you find something that works for them.

4. Set goals and help your students stick to them

Another way to help online students stay on track with their studies (and keep a sense of purpose) is to set goals and remind them of their progress.

Setting goals for online learners

One simple way to introduce short-term goals into your online classroom is to make sure each lesson has a clear outline that you share with your student so they know where they are in the learning process and the context for any activity they are doing.

Then think about how you might reward students for finishing tasks (or, even better, for working hard) during a lesson.

You could try positive feedback, badges, points, playing games or doing other fun learning activities your students would like.

When it comes to long-term goals, going too far into the future might not be effective, but try taking time now and then to check in with your students and set goals together for the next month, three months, or six months down the line.

Progress checks for online learners

For short-term progress checks, make sure you build continuity between lessons by doing quick revisions or quizzes on previous topics.

A great way to remind students of their long-term progress is by building up a portfolio of work with them so they can look back themselves and see how far they've come.

One way of doing this online is to start an achievement page.

If you are teaching kids, every time they achieve something, you can go to the achievement page and ask them to draw something that reminds them of what they've learned (you might want to make it an achievement tree they can add to or a trophy shelf.) With teens or adult learners, you might prefer asking them to write something.

As the course progresses, the page will fill up with reminders of successes and proud moments for your students.

5. Keep it interactive

In a face-to-face class, it's typical to give students some quiet reflection time to work alone or read a text.

But these kinds of activities don't translate well in online classrooms.

Long, dense texts are challenging to read on a screen (it's much easier to break things into chunks).

Silence just doesn't translate that well in virtual classrooms as it provides the perfect excuse for a student's attention to drift elsewhere!

Planning activities that keep your students actively clicking, typing or talking throughout the lesson is the way to go.

You can do this by asking lots of questions, including games and making sure learners have to physically do things like use drawing tools or type in the dialogue boxes.

And when you're planning your lesson, you can make sure your student has to say something every three minutes or so.

6. Break down the lesson and make it digestible

Timing is crucial in online teaching, and you might find you need to break up your online lessons differently than you would with face-to-face ones.

As a general rule, it's a good idea to keep a fast pace and break down information into small, easily digestible chunks.

In practical terms, this means to steer clear of lengthy explanations and slides with too much text!

Mixing up the tempo of your lessons by adding a variety of activity types is also a great way to make the time fly by for your students.

You can also write your lesson plans for the online classroom with free lesson planners like Planboard.

And for online English teachers, there are plenty of free resources out there to get you started.

7. Make your students feel valued

The truth is, the isolation experienced by students studying in online classrooms can be a huge factor in making them feel demotivated.

They might think that no one will notice or care if they miss a class, or find it all too tempting to not log in to the classroom if they're feeling tired.

The best way online teachers can help remedy this is by making their students feel valued in the classroom.

How do I do that, you ask?

Here are some suggestions:

Learn your student's name and use their name throughout the lesson, and make sure they learn yours

Follow up on what you did in previous lessons so your students know that you're on top of what they're learning (and they should be too)

Find out about your student's interests and incorporate them into the lesson where possible

Give regular feedback on your students' work

Aim to be a positive, encouraging and present

8. Be patient with your students

As anyone can tell you, keeping students engaged and stimulated is no easy task. Remember that young kids sometimes don't have very high attention spans, so it can be hard for them to sit still and focus at times.

This is totally normal and okay!

It's essential to give them a break now and then and be patient with them.

Your students can easily pick up whether you're annoyed or frustrated when something isn't clicking.

And that makes matters worse.

Give them a short break every now and then.

It'll make a difference!

Create a more engaging virtual classroom

Teaching online takes creativity.

Online environments can be challenging to master at first, but with a little effort and time, your students will be getting the best experience possible.

And, they'll be excited to log into your classroom.

To recap, here are the 8 ways to increase engagement online:

1. Present your best (online) self

2. Use technology to your advantage

3. Find what inspires your students

4. Set goals and help students stick to them

5. Keep it interactive

6. Break down the lessons and make it digestible

7. Make your students feel valued

8. Be patient with your students

We hope these tips gave you a great foundation for building better online classrooms, but don't be discouraged if you still need a little more help.

If you need more help, you can always try our Online Teaching Strategies course to give you more confidence and ensure you smoothly transition into the world of online teaching.

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8 ways to make lessons fun and engaging in an online classroom | Teach Away

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Learn the best ways to improve the online classroom experience and help kids stay motivated.

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Engaging Students with Special Needs

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Schools across the nation continue to stay closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Every day, districts are updating plans for teachers and students to continue to work remotely, educators are finding resources to support remote learning, and state and federal officials are providing guidelines on how to best handle student needs. However, in the rush to adopt remote learning and maintain connections academically and emotionally, are we ensuring all students are supported while away from school?

Parents of special education students are looking for ways to support their children at home while teachers are searching for ways to assist their students with special needs. Many of these students need individual, in-person attention due to their disabilities. However, when schools are closed, those services stop.

The U.S. Department of Education recently published a statement (opens in new tab) saying that if a school closure results in the interruption of educational services for all students, then the school/district is not obligated to provide services to the affected students eligible for special education during that time.

As a district leader, and President-Elect, for the Massachusetts Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (opens in new tab) (MASCD), I have been included in numerous collaborative meetings focused on this topic. During these meetings, I have heard that teachers are visiting students' homes and advising families on physical therapy techniques. Teachers are recording and sending videos guiding families and students with technical support. Other educators are calling, texting, and emailing parents to answer questions and stay in touch with students.

Regardless of all the efforts being made by dedicated educators, they are all short-term solutions. Some districts and schools may be in a position to continue teaching students using distance learning methods; however, equity is a critical consideration.

School leaders are wrestling with how to deliver special education services while staying compliant with state and federal civil rights law. Many districts have shut down but have not required distance learning because they haven't figured out a way to service ALL students.

At the time of this article, only three states (Kansas, Alabama, and Virginia) had closed schools for the year, meaning many states intend to return before the close of the FY20 school year. With a return as the current plan, districts should be communicating with parents regarding their child's IEP services. After this extended closure, districts are responsible for reviewing how the closure impacted the delivery of special education, and other related services, to students.

Schools may not be in session, but that does not mean that administrators, especially special education directors, are off. Coronavirus is keeping individuals physically from school buildings, but there is still work to do. IEP Teams cannot meet in person while schools are closed, yet, if an evaluation of a student with a disability requires a reevaluation or initial meeting, a team can meet virtually with a student's parent or legal guardian with consent.

The same processes of virtual meetings can be in place for a student with a disability who has a 504 plan or an initial qualifying meeting. For virtual meetings to occur, however, the data for the assessments had to have been conducted before the school closing; all face-to-face assessments and/or observations cannot take place during extended closings.

For students with special education services, ensuring accessibility to technology may allow students with disabilities to have access to high-quality educational instruction during extended school closures. However, if the student attends a school that does not provide 1:1 technology, special education students will need to be provided with devices for this to work. Many online learning options have embedded accommodations. School leadership and special education liaisons should review IEPs and communicate with families any accommodations provided by the online learning sites.

Students with special needs are not the only ones struggling. Their parents are trying to figure out how to balance working from home with teaching and supervising their children 24/7. In addition, some parents may be worried about keeping their job during this crisis. Often, families are finding themselves in a role they never imagined -- homeschooling a special education student.

During this uncertain time, the most important thing parents or caregivers can do to help a child with special needs is to establish an at-home schedule. A schedule will provide routine and a sense of normalcy to a child's life during a very abnormal time, and help them know what to expect.

Students with special needs often require and benefit from visual schedules. For students who struggle with time management, incorporating visual timers can help them know when an activity is coming to an end or when it's time to start the next activity on the schedule.

Other strategies for parents include:

Stay positive. This period of time increases stress for everyone in the household. Try your best to be aware of how you're interacting with your kids. Stay upbeat and encouraging.

Praise often. Change is hard for everyone; acknowledge that every day. When you see your children engaging in a behavior you want continued, encourage them in positive ways, and the behavior is likely to be repeated.

Give breaks. A schedule is essential, but so are breaks. Make sure to schedule "recess" and time away from work/computer during the day.

Use nonverbal reminders or prompts. Visuals are great for reminding children of expectations without having to tell them what to do. Incorporate as many nonverbal cues as possible.

Provide incentives. Help motivate students to complete work and follow the schedule by offering an incentive for completion. Try to refrain from referring to it as a reward.

Choose your battles. If getting dressed is going to be the beginning of a downward spiral, let your children spend the day in their pajamas. This time of uncertainty requires flexibility. Focus on the schedule and pick what issues are most critical to make a stand.

Welcome the help of siblings. A brother or sister can help with communication and technology support, so don't discourage their participation.

Incorporate physical movement. Physical movement is essential for our brains and our bodies. Ensure children (and caregivers) are moving by taking walks and being outside when possible.

If the COVID-19 virus continues to keep students out of school, the need for creative approaches to meeting the needs of students with special needs will grow. Ideally, schools, agencies, and districts will share their ideas and experiences with each other and leverage the opportunity for innovative solutions. Providing a universal assemblage of options that can be used by all will significantly benefit students with special needs. Developing a thoughtful approach to serving students with disabilities must be woven into any plan from the onset; we can never treat the most vulnerable students as an afterthought.

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Matthew X. Joseph and Christine Ravesi-Weinstein

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Helping Students with Special Needs Cope with Remote Learning

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Schools across the nation continue to stay closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Every day, districts are updating plans for teachers and students to continue to work remotely, educators are finding resources to support remote learning, and state and federal officials are providing guidelines on how to best handle student needs.

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Engage students

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How to Engage Learners in the Virtual Classroom

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What activities do I include in my online course?

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These days, not every student rolls out of bed and trudges to the bus stop to head to school. Instead, more and more students are simply flipping open a laptop, turning on a tablet, or unlocking their phones. According to the National Education Policy Center (NEPC), almost 300,000 students were enrolled across 501 full-time virtual schools in the 2017 - 2018 school year. That number may seem big, but it is dwarfed by the six million students who participated in at least one online higher education course in 2017, according to the Online Learning Consortium.

Virtual classrooms offer numerous benefits to students, instructors, and schools. They allow students to learn from anywhere in the world, including in rural and disadvantaged communities where schools and universities may be lacking. Virtual learning can also be a solution for students who may otherwise struggle to fit in with a normal class, and they can save school districts serious money. However, for all the upshots they offer, virtual classrooms also present significant challenges. The virtual nature of the class can leave students feeling disconnected and disengaged from the material.

How can teachers engage and excite their virtual students when they may live a world away? Here are 10 great tips for improving student engagement in your virtual classroom.

Start your course or semester on the right note by creating a fun, engaging atmosphere. Help students feel connected to each other and to you by offering up simple ice breakers that will force the students to learn about each other. One option is to ask students to pair up and interview each other. Another fun game is to ask the class to answer trivia questions or non-controversial personal questions using Poll Everywhere. For example, ask students to choose their favorite color or see how many are the oldest, youngest, middle, or an only child in their family.

Students will feel more engaged in your class if they feel they are part of the larger group. This can be one of the trickiest things to accomplish in a virtual classroom, but there are still plenty of ways to build a strong community. Create a community structure, such as message boards, or even a Twitter hashtag that students can use to communicate and connect during and outside the class.

3. Create individual learning plans

Use the unique benefits that a virtual classroom offers to help build individual learning plans for your students. That includes incorporating technology that will allow you to actively track each student's performance. By assessing a student's performance, you can discover holes in their knowledge, adjust the pace of the lessons, and determine what type of learning they respond to most.

4. Develop curriculum around shorter content

Not only are attention spans shorter than ever, but virtual students can easily skip out on long lectures or skim complicated readings. With so many distractions available to them, you've got to work extra hard to grab and keep their attention. One way to do this is to focus on creating short, captivating lessons. Consider recording 5- to 10-minute lectures or having students engage with interactive media, such as YouTube videos, music, or even live performances as part of your curriculum. Encourage student interaction during your lessons. That means less lecturing and more open discussions.

5. Integrate face-to-face virtual interactions

Isolation is a big downside of virtual classrooms, which can quickly lead to disengagement. You can combat isolation by encouraging or even requiring virtual face-to-face interactions. Start by recording a video of your lectures, so your students can see your face. Next, encourage or require students to meet in small groups via video conference. ( Google Hangouts is a free video conferencing software.)

It can be hard for students to feel engaged in class (virtual or otherwise), if they only listen to lectures and fill out multiple-choice tests. Depending on the topic of the class, encourage them to find creative ways to solve problems or express a lesson. For example, for history class, ask students to design a period costume. For math class, challenge students to find the square footage of a room in their home and document how they did it.

7. Add flexibility into the curriculum

Engage your students by letting them use their existing talents and interests to complete assignments. Not everyone wants to write an essay or do a book report. If you want the class to dive into the novel Dracula, let them show you what they got out of the book in a way that most appeals to them. Maybe a student will perform a one-man show from Dracula's point of view, while another discusses the changing mythology of vampires in history. Be flexible in assignments, and your students will likely surprise you with their ingenuity.

8. Provide opportunities to collaborate

Another great way to fight feelings of isolation among your virtual students is to assign partner, group, and class projects. When students collaborate, they can combine their creativity, share unique perspectives, and create relationships that will help them feel more comfortable participating in class. It will also keep them honest. No one wants to let their partner or their team down.

9. Communicate, communicate, communicate

You'll never know if a student is falling behind or feeling bored unless you ask. Virtual classrooms make it easy for shy or disinterested students to fade into the background unless a teacher makes a concerted effort to reach out. This may go beyond just handing out your email. Offer virtual office hours, create a social media group for the class, and consider scheduling one-on-one consultations with each student during the course.

If you want to know if your students feel engaged and are grasping the material, why not just ask? Not every student will want to be honest if you question them directly, so consider creating anonymous polls that allow students to let you know what they really think. This is a great way to assess how much they know about the topic at the beginning of class, what types of assignments they want, if a topic needs more discussion, and what they would recommend changing at the end of class.

Poll Everywhere gives you the software you need to seamlessly create and administer polls. Your students can answer quickly and easily from their computers or phones. Write multiple choice questions or let students write out their own answers. You'll get valuable feedback that will let you make your next virtual classroom even better.

Want even more great student engagement ideas? Check out our 5 Summer School Secrets to Improve Student Engagement.

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How to Keep Students Interested in Virtual Classrooms | Poll Everywhere Blog

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Virtual classrooms offer many great benefits, like bringing students together from all around the world. But they also have some drawbacks. It's easy for students to feel isolated or disengaged unless teachers make a concerted effort to keep them interested. Poll Everywhere offers 10 great ways to engage your virtual students.

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Here is a great article with some great tips that are age appropriate for Kindergarten. https://www.weareteachers.com/kindergarten-online-teaching-tips/

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Case Study of Virtual Physical Education

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Case Study of Virtual Physical Education

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Interesting perspective from 2013

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As the nation prepares to meet the threat of COVID-19, we are surrounded by the language of loneliness. We move from "social distancing" to "self-isolation" to even the prospect of avoiding the people we love. At colleges and universities across the country, we are pivoting quickly toward online learning, or as it is often called, distance learning.

But here's the secret most educators and students don't yet know: done right, online education is surprisingly intimate.

That student who's sitting far enough away in the lecture hall that you can't quite read her expression amid the proverbial sea of faces? When you call on her in a live Zoom session, she pops up right in front of you, one on one, looking you straight in the eye. There is no back seat in online education -- every student is in the front row.

That other student in back who never raises his hand? You might be surprised at how willing he is to open up and share his ideas in the live chat room that's running alongside your primary content.

When you create small breakout groups online, you eliminate not only the chair shuffling and wasted time of moving people around, but also much of the awkward social dance that human beings do as they try to find their place in a new group. Over and over, we find that group work online creates strong team bonds in amazingly short periods of time. After all, many of our students grew up cultivating and navigating their social lives on screens and keyboards.

Three years ago, our institution, the University of Illinois' Gies College of Business, created a new kind of online M.B.A., designed from the ground up. We certainly had more time to plan for it than do our colleagues who are now going online in the face of an epidemic. But for many of us, it was still a daunting dive into unknown waters. We all wondered what we would be missing.

The online program has been phenomenally successful, growing from 114 students its first year to 3,200 students this year, with high rates of retention and satisfaction. Students tell us they find great value in the educational experience. There are many reasons for that. But when faculty and staff members gather to talk about what is working, one theme that arises over and over is the level of engagement. And not just intellectual engagement with the course content, but human engagement -- between faculty and students, and even more strikingly, among students from around the world whose main commonality is this shared digital adventure.

That is not to say that this emotional component in online education comes automatically or easily. Effective online teaching often requires more planning and more overall effort than traditional classroom teaching of the same material. Running useful office hours online, for a group of several dozen students at once, requires strict discipline and a lot of energy. And for those of us who did not grow up digital natives, it can still take some mental gymnastics to look into a camera as we would into a human eye -- not to mention to perform the multitasking required to manage a good platform in real time.

But after immersing ourselves in this modality for a few years, we do have several practical ideas that might help you get the best out of this medium and create a compelling, engaging, enjoyable learning environment for students who might need that more than ever.

Use your students' exploring, editing and creative skills. As you plan assignments, think about what students do so well in the digital environment and build their work around those skills and behaviors. Online, students quickly shift from consumers to producers of content, and sharing is easy. Build activities that encourage them to co-create and peer review. Have students create or improve wiki pages on key topics.

Emphasize group projects. Figure out what students should be practicing and create exercises that help them reflect on their own perspectives and learn from one another.

Interact with students as they work. Whether it is commenting on a document as it is drafted online, dropping into a chat room or simply acknowledging students in live sessions, make the journey with them. This environment is very appropriate for the constructivist role of "the guide on the side." Let them know that not only are they looking at you, you are looking at them.

Solicit questions. Hold online office hours and encourage students to come and bring their questions. The barrier to entry is lower than it would be coming to your physical office, and it is one of the best ways that faculty members can create relationships with students.

Mix it up. In class, think of what you are teaching in smaller "chunks" -- micro-lectures, interspersed with silent activities and group work.

Highlight students' individual experiences. Unlike a physical classroom, students online are in different places, living different lives. Encourage them to share those distinct experiences and help them tap such experiences for their coursework.

For those of you venturing into online education for the first time, we should share one more secret: the distinct engagement and bonds we build online don't just enhance the student experience. They breathe a whole new life into the teaching experience, as well.

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How to make online learning more intimate and engaging for students (opinion)

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As the nation prepares to meet the threat of COVID-19, we are surrounded by the language of loneliness. We move from "social distancing" to "self-isolation" to even the prospect of avoiding the people we love. At colleges and universities across the country, we are pivoting quickly toward online learning, or as it is often called, distance learning.

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When I create a recorded video on Zoom (and using my Smart Notes), I like to keep a small window of me in the upper corner. This gives the students a little more normalcy as if I were actually in front of them delivering the lesson.

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These days, not every student rolls out of bed and trudges to the bus stop to head to school. Instead, more and more students are simply flipping open a laptop, turning on a tablet, or unlocking their phones. According to the National Education Policy Center (NEPC), almost 300,000 students were enrolled across 501 full-time virtual schools in the 2017 - 2018 school year. That number may seem big, but it is dwarfed by the six million students who participated in at least one online higher education course in 2017, according to the Online Learning Consortium.

Virtual classrooms offer numerous benefits to students, instructors, and schools. They allow students to learn from anywhere in the world, including in rural and disadvantaged communities where schools and universities may be lacking. Virtual learning can also be a solution for students who may otherwise struggle to fit in with a normal class, and they can save school districts serious money. However, for all the upshots they offer, virtual classrooms also present significant challenges. The virtual nature of the class can leave students feeling disconnected and disengaged from the material.

How can teachers engage and excite their virtual students when they may live a world away? Here are 10 great tips for improving student engagement in your virtual classroom.

Start your course or semester on the right note by creating a fun, engaging atmosphere. Help students feel connected to each other and to you by offering up simple ice breakers that will force the students to learn about each other. One option is to ask students to pair up and interview each other. Another fun game is to ask the class to answer trivia questions or non-controversial personal questions using Poll Everywhere. For example, ask students to choose their favorite color or see how many are the oldest, youngest, middle, or an only child in their family.

Students will feel more engaged in your class if they feel they are part of the larger group. This can be one of the trickiest things to accomplish in a virtual classroom, but there are still plenty of ways to build a strong community. Create a community structure, such as message boards, or even a Twitter hashtag that students can use to communicate and connect during and outside the class.

3. Create individual learning plans

Use the unique benefits that a virtual classroom offers to help build individual learning plans for your students. That includes incorporating technology that will allow you to actively track each student's performance. By assessing a student's performance, you can discover holes in their knowledge, adjust the pace of the lessons, and determine what type of learning they respond to most.

4. Develop curriculum around shorter content

Not only are attention spans shorter than ever, but virtual students can easily skip out on long lectures or skim complicated readings. With so many distractions available to them, you've got to work extra hard to grab and keep their attention. One way to do this is to focus on creating short, captivating lessons. Consider recording 5- to 10-minute lectures or having students engage with interactive media, such as YouTube videos, music, or even live performances as part of your curriculum. Encourage student interaction during your lessons. That means less lecturing and more open discussions.

5. Integrate face-to-face virtual interactions

Isolation is a big downside of virtual classrooms, which can quickly lead to disengagement. You can combat isolation by encouraging or even requiring virtual face-to-face interactions. Start by recording a video of your lectures, so your students can see your face. Next, encourage or require students to meet in small groups via video conference. ( Google Hangouts is a free video conferencing software.)

It can be hard for students to feel engaged in class (virtual or otherwise), if they only listen to lectures and fill out multiple-choice tests. Depending on the topic of the class, encourage them to find creative ways to solve problems or express a lesson. For example, for history class, ask students to design a period costume. For math class, challenge students to find the square footage of a room in their home and document how they did it.

7. Add flexibility into the curriculum

Engage your students by letting them use their existing talents and interests to complete assignments. Not everyone wants to write an essay or do a book report. If you want the class to dive into the novel Dracula, let them show you what they got out of the book in a way that most appeals to them. Maybe a student will perform a one-man show from Dracula's point of view, while another discusses the changing mythology of vampires in history. Be flexible in assignments, and your students will likely surprise you with their ingenuity.

8. Provide opportunities to collaborate

Another great way to fight feelings of isolation among your virtual students is to assign partner, group, and class projects. When students collaborate, they can combine their creativity, share unique perspectives, and create relationships that will help them feel more comfortable participating in class. It will also keep them honest. No one wants to let their partner or their team down.

9. Communicate, communicate, communicate

You'll never know if a student is falling behind or feeling bored unless you ask. Virtual classrooms make it easy for shy or disinterested students to fade into the background unless a teacher makes a concerted effort to reach out. This may go beyond just handing out your email. Offer virtual office hours, create a social media group for the class, and consider scheduling one-on-one consultations with each student during the course.

If you want to know if your students feel engaged and are grasping the material, why not just ask? Not every student will want to be honest if you question them directly, so consider creating anonymous polls that allow students to let you know what they really think. This is a great way to assess how much they know about the topic at the beginning of class, what types of assignments they want, if a topic needs more discussion, and what they would recommend changing at the end of class.

Poll Everywhere gives you the software you need to seamlessly create and administer polls. Your students can answer quickly and easily from their computers or phones. Write multiple choice questions or let students write out their own answers. You'll get valuable feedback that will let you make your next virtual classroom even better.

Want even more great student engagement ideas? Check out our 5 Summer School Secrets to Improve Student Engagement.

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How to Keep Students Interested in Virtual Classrooms | Poll Everywhere Blog

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Virtual classrooms offer many great benefits, like bringing students together from all around the world. But they also have some drawbacks. It's easy for students to feel isolated or disengaged unless teachers make a concerted effort to keep them interested. Poll Everywhere offers 10 great ways to engage your virtual students.

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First graders are brimming with enthusiasm for learning, friendships, activities, and whatever the day might throw their way. They are good-natured, expressive, and tend to jump in with both feet. How do you keep that joy and excitement in learning when your class moves online? If you've looked around to consider what resources might help, you're probably pretty overwhelmed. We hear you, so we curated practical 1st grade online teaching tips from teachers who are doing their best to be there for students:

Get Ready and Prepared

1. Be there for yourself so you can be present for them

Students learn best from teachers who are calm, centered, and present. For many teachers, entering their classroom in the morning, updating the daily schedule, and organizing the day's lesson materials are key ways they shift into teaching mode.

At home, switching from home mode to teaching mode might be a bit harder. That's why it's essential to create a dedicated space for teaching and establish a consistent teaching routine. Begin by setting up your space with your favorite teaching tools and objects. Many teachers use a corner of a bedroom, an extra card table, or a shared desk in a home office. Size doesn't matter. It's the idea of having a designated space and place to keep all your supplies together that's important. You need to feel this space is your classroom, and that when you arrive, it's time to teach.

2. Know thy 1st grader

While all children develop at their own unique pace, let's discuss the typical first grader. These 6-7 year olds are infectiously enthusiastic about learning and life. They are eager to explore, full of questions, and like to work at breakneck speed so they don't miss a thing. Curious and ambitious, first graders may bite off more than they can chew and then become disappointed when they don't achieve the outcome they had envisioned. They benefit from teacher guidance to help them to work through these setbacks, manage their emotions, and then break down their big ideas into manageable steps. First graders thrive on encouragement but can feel crushed by even small criticisms.

Physically, this is a time of tremendous growth and change. First graders are very active, noisy and will have trouble staying in their seats for long periods of time. When outdoors, they play with gusto, which can leave them feeling tired and hungry. Fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination continue to develop at this age. Most first graders are better at tracking from left to right than younger children, making this an ideal time for learning to read.

In terms of cognitive development, first graders are more engaged in process over product. They are beginning to be able to conceptualize past and present, cause and effect. They ask many questions and are generally very interested in learning and doing "work." First graders enjoy dramatic play, wordplay, and artistic expression through painting and drawing.

3. Join a 1st grade teacher Facebook group

You're not the only one navigating online learning, so don't go it alone-join a group! While every home and school situation is different, online groups can be a good way to build a community of support and to find your teaching people. Just think of it as your online teacher's lounge. Here are some Facebook groups you might want to check out:

Set Up Your Online Classroom

4. Keep an online classroom where everything is organized

Now that you're ready with your physical space, it's time to tend to your online classroom. Your district or school may have chosen the platform for you, in which case, stick with it. Parents and kids need to hear a consistent message, so doing it differently might cause confusion.

If you do get to create your own online classroom, keep in mind that it should have the same essential elements as your physical classroom including a place to post assignments, a library of resources, an assignment inbox, and student communication tools. There is an abundance of virtual learning platforms from which to choose.

If your first grade hasn't been using a Learning Management Systems (LMS) from the start, you'll need to set it up and consider the best ways to teach how to use it. Many teachers have found that the best way to help students get used to the system is to begin with low-stakes, fun tasks to complete using the LMS.

5. Choose an online video conferencing program, if you are able

During times of online learning, video conferencing can be a powerful way to support young learners and nurture a sense of community. Many schools or school districts choose a video conferencing tool for teachers to use. If you get to choose your own platform, Google Meet and Zoom are popular choices.

Keep in mind that some families may need greater flexibility in their child's online learning schedule, so avoid requiring students to attend all video conferences. For some teachers, video conferencing with students is not allowed by their school or district. Always follow your school's guidelines as appropriate.

Source: Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher

6. Try a threaded discussion chat

Kids need a predictable structure for how to connect and ask questions. So, if you are unable to do video chats or don't want to do them every day, try a threaded discussion chat. Try discussion boards like Google Classroom, Blackboard, and Canvas. Another one of our favorite discussion board apps is Padlet.

7. Have set office hours for kids to reach out to you

First graders need frequent check-ins with a teacher. This isn't going to change when learning online. The simpler you can make it for your students to reach out to you, the less frustration your students will have while completing assignments. Having regular office hours also helps students feel that you are there for them when learning online.

Manage Your Classroom

8. Engage 1st graders online based on their development

You've got the platforms and systems in place. Now it's time to actually manage the classroom online. Here are a few quick initial tips:

Show appreciation and understanding of your students through shout outs, chatbox notes, and one-on-one conversations.

Give mostly individual or one-partner assignments.

Break down assignments into manageable parts and be prepared to break them down into even smaller chunks during online learning.

Take regular movement breaks and create opportunities for students to socialize.

Stick to predictable daily and weekly schedules.

Weave in opportunities for imaginative and dramatic play.

9. Use your previous lesson plans and pacing guide, but prepare to adapt

First graders generally speed through tasks and will need support in slowing down enough to follow instructions for using online tools. Re-evaluate your lesson plans to include time for students to log in, open documents, start video calls, and complete other technology setup tasks. Looking for ways to strategically avoid time pressures will help reduce frustrations for you and your students.

Keep in mind that your pacing guides were developed for an in-person classroom setting. It's awesome if you make it all the way through, but you may also need to slow down if it seems like students are struggling. It can feel like a lot to learn new tools on top of traditional first grade standards. Patience, a willingness to experiment, and a bit of humor may be required as you and your students adapt to online learning.

10. Be consistent about your routines

Building predictable, consistent systems in your online classroom will help your first graders feel comfortable and confident in this new learning environment. Start slowly. At first, keep one simple document with hyperlinks that students can reference and click on to get to the different things they need each day. Weekly checklists can also be an effective way to keep students accountable for assignments while making it easy for parents to know what to expect too.

After you've set up standards for where to find things and what's expected, you can transition to assigning and collecting student work through the LMS and set up your video or threaded message chats there. Ask your students for regular feedback about what's working and what isn't. You may need to experiment with a few different organizational strategies before finding the one that's just right for you and your class.

11. Encourage independence

In a classroom space, teachers often help students choose appropriate spaces for reading, writing, and group work. During online learning, invite your first graders to take the lead in organizing their own learning space and making simple plans for how and where they will complete school activities. First graders enjoy explaining their thoughts, so invite them to notice what helps them focus most effectively.

It's important to help students create routines as they ease into #remotelearning. Here are some rdg, wtg and SEL ideas that came out of collaboration @zoom_us meetings with teachers today. #RSDreading #RSDwriting #RSDLearns #RockwoodALP pic.twitter.com/KG35KwTdbT

- Kristen Forth (@LitROCK_forth) March 27, 2020

12. Let 1st graders do their favorite thing-talk about their thinking

The minds of first graders move a mile a minute and they've always got a million observations to share. Embrace the very social nature of first graders by incorporating frequent opportunities for them to explain their thought process, describe how something works, and share how something happened. This could mean beginning or ending video calls with a short round of student sharing; pairing students online to discuss how they solved a problem; or having students tell about a recent event in their life through a video recoding on Flip Grid.

13. Prioritize student communication & collaboration

First graders are used to getting their answers from you quickly so they can keep going. They're also used to having your help staying organized and on task. These needs aren't going to change. If you prioritize student communication, collaboration, and interaction, the quick feedback will reap the benefit of more connected students.

14. Manage online classroom behaviors

All the same behaviors you managed in your first grade classroom will need to be addressed in your online classroom. Set aside time to coach your students on becoming responsible online learners and be prepared for them to test these boundaries. Outline clear expectations and review them frequently. Make a plan for how you will respond to distractions, rudeness, or other inappropriate behavior.

Many teachers have found it helpful to make a Google slide or PDF document with illustrations and text that outline expected behavior for video conference calls. This free PBIS guide to remote learning behavior can help you put your plan into action. Being intentional about grouping (versus selecting groups randomly) can also help keep some classroom behaviors in check.

Source: Lucky Little Learners

Add To Your Classroom

15. Create your own videos when the topic is more difficult

During online learning, family schedules may prevent students from logging on for every video lesson. Recording your own videos not only supports student learning, but also allows students to see that you are still there for them. Trust us, this means a lot to first graders who are used to seeing their teacher every day. Keep video lessons short (no more than 5 minutes) at the beginning of the year and aim for longer lessons as the year progresses. Upload these videos to the LMS and add assignments to supplement the material. Students can watch the videos when they can and review them as needed while working on assignments.

16. Use these online tools that work particularly well with 1st graders

Boom Cards: Digital task card activities in reading, phonics, math, science, and social studies that kids can do independently.

Flipgrid: This short video response platform makes it fun for everyone to participate.

Teach Your Monster to Read: Fun phonic game that covers everything from letters and sounds to reading full sentences.

EdPuzzle: Great for getting the most out of video resources.

Storyline Online: Students can listen to a variety of high-quality stories read aloud.

Kahoot: This a prime age for games that let everyone participate synchronously.

Glencoe Virtual Math Manipulatives: Help students model explain their thinking and problem-solving with digital manipulatives.

Seesaw: Students can create digital portfolios of their work that are easy to share with families.

WriteReader: Easy-to-use program empowers students to create multimedia digital books.

17. Try some games suited to 1st grader sensibilities

Games can be a great way to build community and get out the wiggles when students can't be together in the classroom and on the playground. First graders are generally quite playful and eager to participate in group activities. Movement games like yoga, dance parties featuring short selections of different musical styles, and charades are popular with first graders. Simple scavenger hunts that invite students to bring something to share at morning meeting are a fun way for you to get to know your students and for them to get to know each other. Scavenger hunts could include finding something: yellow, red, soft, hard, tasty, yucky, etc.

18. Explore these 1st grade resources to add depth to your lessons

Feeling a bit overwhelmed with resources? Then take a break and come back to these later. When you're ready, you'll find everything you need to keep your active, playful, and enthusiastic first graders engaged and learning online.
What are your favorite 1st grade online teaching tips? Please share in the comments! Plus, don't forget to sign up for our weekly emails to receive more ideas! Looking for more ways to connect to your first graders? Check out 350+ Amazing Online Learning Resources!

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First graders are brimming with enthusiasm for learning, friendships, activities, and whatever the day might throw their way. They are good-natured, expressive, and tend to jump in with both feet. How do you keep that joy and excitement in learning when your class moves online?

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Engaging 3rd graders in the Online Classroom!

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Engaging 3rd graders in the Online Classroom!

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As any 3rd grade teacher will tell you, third grade is a year full of energy. The students are excitable, enthusiastic, dramatic, and curious. They are eager to learn and ready to take on new challenges. But how do you channel all this energy into actual learning in an online setting? We've curated practical 3rd grade online teaching tips from teachers who are doing their best to be there for students:

Get Ready and Prepared

1. Be there for yourself so you can be present for them

Creating a centering environment and a regular teaching routine is just as important for teachers as it is for students. Begin by setting up a small space with some of your favorite teaching tools and objects. Many teachers are using a corner of a bedroom, an extra card table, or a shared desk in a home office. Size doesn't matter. It's the idea of having a designated space and a place to keep all your supplies together that's important. You need to feel this space is your classroom, and that when you arrive, it's time to teach. Just like starting your morning with a brisk jog in the park, or updating the whiteboard when you get to school, having a designated online teaching space will help you mentally transition from "home" mode to "teaching" mode.

2. Know thy 3rd grader

Let's discuss the typical third grader. Generally gregarious and easygoing, third graders tend to like school and are eager for the next learning adventure. They are mostly positive, enthusiastic, and willing to try anything. This could mean putting on a class play or tackling larger research projects. However, this boundless enthusiasm can also present the greatest challenge for third graders. Buoyed by their growing skillset and fueled by endless energy, they can be overly ambitious and bite off more than they can chew. This can lead to frustration and a sense of overwhelm when their limited attention span can't keep up with their enthusiasm.

Physically, these eight and nine-year-olds are full of energy. Out on the playground, third graders play hard and tire quickly. Fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination continue to develop at this age.

Third graders are up for anything and generally enjoy working together in groups, so engage them in a variety of community-building activities. When planning group work, expect to see a mix of socializing and working. Change groupings frequently to encourage students to work across gender lines and with a mix of students. Be ready to help students navigate issues of fairness and justice as they work together. In terms of cognitive development, third graders are better at using manipulatives to explain their thinking, so plan for hands-on math and science lessons using household objects or online digital manipulatives (more resources below). While they might have a limited attention span, third graders can become engrossed in topics as well. So stay flexible in your plans and take that deep dive into a topic when your third graders can't bear to stop learning.

3. Join a 3rd grade teacher Facebook group

Across the country and around the world, teachers are navigating online learning. While every home and school situation is different, online groups can be a good way to build a community of support and to find your people . Just think of it as your online teachers' lounge. Here are some Facebook groups you might want to check out:

Set Up Your Online Classroom

4. Keep an online classroom where everything is organized

Now that you're ready with your physical space, it's time to tend to your online classroom. Your district or school may have chosen the platform for you, in which case, stick with it. Parents and kids need to hear a consistent message, so doing it differently might cause confusion. If you can create your own online classroom, keep in mind that it should have the same essential elements as your physical classroom including a place to post assignments, a library of resources, an assignment inbox, and student communication tools.

If your third grade hasn't been using a Learning Management Systems (LMS) from the start, you'll need to set it up and consider the best ways to teach how to use it. Many teachers have found that beginning with low-stakes, fun tasks to complete using the LMS is a great way to help students get used to the system.

Source: Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher

5. Choose an online video conferencing program, if you are able

Third graders are very social! Online video conferencing allows you to have face-to-face time with your students and for your students to see each other too. Many schools or school districts choose a video conferencing tool for teachers to use. If you are choosing your own platform, Google Meet and Zoom are popular choices. For some teachers, video conferencing with students is not allowed by their school or district. Always follow your school's guidelines as appropriate. In general, know that some families and students can't make every video call. Make a few of them required, but others optional.

6. Try a threaded discussion chat

If you are unable to do video chats or don't want to have them daily, try a threaded discussion chat. Kids still need a predictable structure for how to connect and ask questions. Try discussion boards like Google Classroom, Blackboard, and Canvas. Another one of our favorite discussion board apps is Padlet.

7. Have set office hours for kids to reach out to you

Third graders thrive when they have frequent feedback from peers and adults and can access help quickly to move through challenges. The simpler you can make it for your students to reach out to you, the more likely they will avoid feelings of frustration and overwhelm. Having regular office hours also helps students feel that you are there for them even when learning online.

Manage Your Classroom

8. Engage 3rd graders online based on their development

You've got the platforms and systems in place for your 3rd grade online teaching. Now it's time to actually manage the classroom online. Here are a few quick initial tips:

Put them in small online and buddy groups where they can check in with their peers.

Break down assignments into manageable parts and be prepared to break them down into even smaller chunks during online learning.

Tap into their natural curiosity by including a study of world languages and cultures.

Re-imagine assignments to allow for more dramatic play including making short videos and recording expressive podcasts.

Take regular movement breaks and create opportunities for students to socialize.

9. Use your previous lesson plans and pacing guide, but prepare to adapt

Third graders generally adjust well to change and will be eager to explore new online tools. Unfortunately, that same eagerness and excitement can also lead to them hurrying and missing important steps. It may take additional time and effort to help students master online tools, which can make the whole process feel like it's taking forever. That's okay. Re-evaluate your lesson plans to include time for students to log in, open documents, start video calls, and complete other technology setup tasks.

Keep in mind that your pacing guides were developed with in-person classrooms in mind. It's awesome if you make it all the way through, but you may also need to slow down if it seems like students are struggling. You may also need to share information in a different way. Remind yourself and your students that you're growing new skills each day as you adapt to online learning.

10. Be consistent about your routines

Building predictable, consistent systems in your online classroom will help your third graders adapt to online learning routines and will help you keep your sanity too. Start slowly. At first, keep one simple document with hyperlinks that students can reference and click on to get to complete assigned texts or read further. Weekly checklists can also be an effective way to keep students accountable for assignments. It also makes it easy for parents to know what to expect. After you've set up standards for where to find things and what's expected, you can transition to assigning and collecting student work through the LMS and set up your video or threaded message chats there. Ask your students for regular feedback about what's working and what isn't. You may need to experiment with a few different organizational strategies before finding the one that's just right for you and your class.

11. Encourage independence

Third graders are increasingly interested in logic, organization, and the way things work. Take advantage of this curiosity while also helping students become more independent by inviting students to make plans about how they will learn at home. In a classroom space, teachers often help students choose appropriate spaces for reading, writing, and group work. During online learning, students can take on a leadership role in organizing their own learning space and making plans for how and where they will complete school activities.

12. Let 3rd graders do their favorite thing-trying everything

Third graders are willing to try just about anything, so don't resist the wave of energy and curiosity. Embrace it! With the abundance of online resources that allow students to explore everything from aboriginal dance forms ... to foods served on the International Space Station .... to the sound of a hummingbird snoring, create opportunities for students to conduct independent research via safe online platforms and share what they've learned with their peers. Incorporating variety into video conference calls will also keep your students logging on regularly and help keep things light as everyone adapts to online learning. This could mean beginning or ending video calls with short games, minute mysteries, impromptu dance parties, riddles and jokes, or a virtual tour of an art museum gallery.

13. Prioritize student communication & collaboration

Learning remotely is a new experience for students who are used to seeing their classmates every day. If you prioritize student communication, collaboration, and interaction, the quick feedback will reap the benefit of more connected third graders. They are used to getting their answers from you quickly so they can keep going. They're also used to having your help staying organized and on task. These needs aren't going to change just because you're now doing 3rd grade online teaching.

14. Manage online classroom behaviors

For many third graders, participating in a video conference call will be a new experience, so they will have to learn new behaviors. Keep online learning safe, predictable, and positive for students by making your expectations very clear. It will take time for students to adapt to online learning, so be prepared to give frequent friendly reminders. Explain behavior consequences for rudeness, inappropriate behavior, and distractions. This free PBIS guide to remote learning behavior can help you put your plan into action. Being intentional about grouping (versus selecting groups randomly) can also help keep some classroom behaviors in check.

Add To Your Classroom

15. Create your own videos when the topic is more difficult

While it might be tempting to use pre-made videos to help teach all the topics you're covering in class, many teachers find their students respond best to short videos they create themselves. Your students know you and enjoy learning from you. These videos can be uploaded to the LMS and assignments added under each video. Students can watch the videos and review them as needed while working on assignments. This is a great way to help students see that you are still there for them as their teacher.

16. Use these online tools that work particularly well with 3rd graders

Flipgrid: This short video response platform makes it fun for everyone to participate.

EdPuzzle: Great for getting the most out of video resources.

Biblionasium: Students can track what they've read, write reviews, and discover new books.

Kahoot: This a prime age for games that let everyone participate synchronously.

Glencoe Virtual Math Manipulatives: Many 3rd graders benefit from using manipulatives to explain their thinking and problem-solving.

17. Try some games suited to 3rd grader sensibilities

Third graders love to be social, silly, and dramatic. Consider scavenger hunts where students bring an item (something yellow, something soft, etc.) to share at the morning meeting. Third graders also enjoy question games like 20 Questions, Guess the Song, and Would You Rather. Games can be a great way to build community when students can't be together in the classroom and on the playground.

18. Explore these 3rd grade resources to add depth to your lessons

Feeling overwhelmed with resources? Then leave these for later or choose just one to explore. When you're ready, you'll find everything you need to keep your enthusiastic, ambitious, cheerful third graders engaged and learning online.
What are your favorite 3rd grade online teaching tips? Please share in the comments! Plus, don't forget to sign up for our weekly emails to receive more ideas! Looking for more ways to connect to your third graders? Check out 350+ Amazing Online Learning Resources !

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As any 3rd grade teacher will tell you, third grade is a year full of energy. The students are excitable, enthusiastic, dramatic, and curious. They are eager to learn and ready to take on new challenges. But how do you channel all this energy into actual learning in an online setting?

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8 Strategies for Building Belonging with Students and Families Virtually

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8 Strategies for Building Belonging with Students and Families Virtually

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Imagine a day in the life of a student in a traditional school setting. First-grade students greet their teachers with special handshakes as they enter the classroom. Principals hand out high-fives in the hallways. Middle schoolers huddle together during homeroom to discuss their favorite TV shows as they wait to hear the morning announcements over the intercom. Fifth graders sit in a circle as their teacher leads them in a mindfulness exercise to start the day present and focused.

In the wake of coronavirus school closures, educators, parents, and students across the globe are coping with a new reality. How can educators continue to foster a sense of belonging with students while schools are closed and learning has shifted online? What are ways to maintain strong teacher-student relationships and keep students engaged?

In this post, we'll explore research on belonging and connectedness, the key tenets of virtual communication for educators, and effective strategies for building virtual connectedness.

Download Toolkit: 5 Restorative Practices for Building Belonging with Students

I. Research on Sense of Belonging II. Tenets of Virtual Communication and Collaboration III. 8 Strategies for Building Connectedness Virtually IV. Additional Resources
What the Research Says About In-Person and Virtual Connectedness

Research suggests that students with a high sense of belonging are also happier, healthier, and more engaged learners.

Not only is connectedness linked to better academic outcomes, but students who feel connected to school are less likely to skip school, abuse substances, have emotional distress, or be involved in fighting or bullying behavior.

So, can educators still promote student belonging in virtual spaces? Research from the children's media field suggests that technology can, indeed, facilitate meaningful connection. Joint media engagement-a relatively new concept-refers to using technology and media as a co-engagement or co-viewing tool between adults and children. Multiple studies show that a healthier way for children to interact with technology (especially screen media) is if an adult is physically or virtually present and participating in usage with the child. The positive benefits increase when the technology delivers high-quality educational content.

This means that educators can design-or adapt-educational activities, virtual lessons, and online social-emotional learning programs to foster connectedness online. That connectedness can be between students and peers, students and their caregivers, or students and their teacher.

"Students with a high sense of belonging are happier, healthier, and more engaged learners... and less likely to skip school, abuse substances, have emotional distress, or be involved in fighting or bullying behavior."

Tenets of Virtual Communication and Connection

Communication (with students and their caregivers) is a key component to helping students build a strong sense of belonging online. Here are some guiding principles for communicating and connecting with students virtually:

Clear and Consistent. Be clear in your written and oral communication with students and their families. In addition, consistency of timing and cadence can help families anticipate your communications and schedule their days appropriately.

Proactive and Reciprocal. Proactive communication can help you anticipate the needs of students and your community. It can also encourage students and families to proactively communicate with you and other school staff members, and can ensure that they know the best methods to do so.

Authentic and Familiar. Maintain the teaching style you use in the classroom to recreate a sense of comfortability for students. This could mean using similar language and phrases that you would use in the classroom.

Flexible. To meet the needs of all learners, consider multiple options for communication and student participation. Can you call a family to deliver a morning announcement if they do not have access to high-speed internet? Can you provide a pen-and-paper option for a virtual activity? Consider these tips on strategies in special education as children learn from home and resources for English-language and diverse learners.

Creative and Innovative. With so many different virtual tools at your disposal, make sure to take advantage of them. Virtual adaptations are great opportunities to innovate and try something new. See this time as a way to think creatively about ways to reach each student and consider trying tools such as Padlet or Flipgrid.

"To meet the needs of all learners, consider multiple options for communication and student participation. Can you call a family to deliver a morning announcement if they don't have access to high-speed internet? Can you provide a pen-and-paper option for a virtual activity?"

8 Strategies for Building Connectedness Virtually

1. Host a virtual morning meeting.

In typical classroom life, routines are an important way to build connection. Create ways for students to still experience these routines at home! Virtual morning (or afternoon) meetings via a web conferencing service, like Zoom or Google Hangouts, are one way to bring students together routinely -- whether that means hosting a check-in circle, connecting with social-emotional learning activities, or participating in group mindfulness practice. If a student is unable to attend, you might invite them to write a message to their classmates in advance that you can share during the meeting.

Download this toolkit to access templates for virtual morning announcements.

2. Record and share videos or audio clips.

To simulate daily or weekly announcements that students hear over the intercom, consider recording short video or audio clips and sending them out via email or text. These announcements can include student birthday shout-outs, important resource information, or updates on school policies. For students without access to high-speed internet, try calling by phone instead. Many educators recommend rotating through groups of students each day to make the phone calls manageable.

3. Take your class on a virtual field trip.

Many museums, zoos and cultural centers are offering digital tours for free. You and your students can go together (or asynchronously) to museums in Sao Paulo and Paris, watch live footage of animals at a zoo, or walk through Yellowstone National Park. To supplement this activity, consider creating a scavenger hunt for students as they explore individually, and then come together to share-out findings and wonderings in a chat room or video conference.

4. Send daily or weekly newsletters to families and/or students.

Get creative with these communications! Consider recording and uploading a video to include in the email. Many teachers have recorded themselves reading a children's book, conducting a science experiment in the kitchen, or even delivering a short lesson. You can also include academic lessons or SEL strategies to try at home. If you are already using a tool for family engagement (such as ClassDojo or Remind), you can use the messaging capabilities in those apps to send the newsletters.

5. Build a virtual classroom hub, website, or blog.

Using Google Classroom, Google Sites, WordPress, or other free services, you can create a class website or blog for your students to access. Once built, you can add various activities-from virtual journaling to resources for additional learning and movement.

6. Moderate a classroom chat or discussion board.

Host small or large online chats with students using platforms such as Zoom, Canvas, or Google Hangouts. Provide prompts to students ahead of time, especially if you'll be discussing academic content. You can also position the online chats as quick check-ins or informal time for students to connect . Students can also submit ideas about what they'd like to chat with their peers about.

7. Host informal office hours.

Dedicate one to two hours per week to holding office hours in a video conference or chat room. This can allow for students, caregivers, or fellow teachers to connect with you to ask questions, share how they are feeling, or just say hello.

8. Collect and share virtual notes of gratitude and appreciation.

Over the course of a week, ask students to submit notes of appreciation about their peers. Compile these notes in a slide deck or on your classroom website to share with students, caregivers, and staff.
Download this toolkit to access templates on Google Forms and Google Slides for "notes of gratitude."

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8 Strategies for Building Belonging With Students and Families Virtually

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Imagine a day in the life of a student in a traditional school setting. First-grade students greet their teachers with special handshakes as they enter the classroom. Principals hand out high-fives in the hallways. Middle schoolers huddle together during homeroom to discuss their favorite TV shows as they wait to hear the morning announcements over the intercom.

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In one of the articles posted in this Padlet, it said one way to keep students engaged was to break the ice. The video below shares 25 games to play on Zoom which would help break up the learning with some additional fun to keep the students engaged and connected virtually!

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25 Fun Games to Play on Zoom | Virtual Zoom Games for Teachers, Friends, and Families

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How to keep students engaged in a virtual classroom?

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How to keep students engaged in a virtual classroom?

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https://fedena.com/blog/2020/05/how-to-keep-student-engaged-in-virtual-classroom.html

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One of the biggest challenges for teachers across the ages has been to keep the students in the classroom engaged and attentive to the content that is being taught.

Over the years, innovative and enterprising teachers have come up with unique ideas to help the students connect with the subject. From introducing games to the students to including video to make the topics more relatable to the students and to boost engagement rate between student and teacher

In recent times, the introduction of technology in the classroom has helped enrich and enhance the pedagogical process. Tools such as Interactive Whiteboards, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Video and Game based learning among many others have transformed the new-age classroom and made learning more interesting than ever before.

Learning in the Age of COVOD-19

Today, the world is changing once more as work-from-home and learn-from home is the new mandate in almost every part of the world. In this scenario, schools have adopted virtual classrooms as the new norm and educators are making every valiant effort to keep educating kids as best as they can.

While these online classes, ensure that the education of the students in not interrupted, teachers do not have any prior training programs for virtual or remote teaching. As a result, many teachers continue to replicate what they do in a classroom, but they are not always successful as they struggle with disengaged and demotivated students.

To engage with students in a virtual classroom, it is important to shift the way of thinking and learn to adapt to newer methods.

Let's see what are the new ways to keep student engaged in Virtual Classroom:

1. Prepare in Advance

Just like a traditional classroom, a virtual classroom also needs the teachers and the students to be prepared in advance. A useful tip will be for the teachers to create a list of all the things the students need and then to send out the list to all the parents so that they can prep the learners with all the resources. These can include books, texts, stationary etc.

For teachers too, they can test out their slides with the font sizes, colours, template designs and screen ratios to ensure on- screen readability. This preparation can also include an audio clarity test.

2. Set the rules at the beginning

Just like the teachers, the students too are not familiar with the concept of a virtual classroom and hence teachers can start every morning with familiarising the students with the rules of a virtual classroom. These rules can include guidelines on mike, camera, chat etiquette for the students to follow.

3. Create a reward system for the students

One simple way to engage the learners in the virtual classroom is to introduce short-term and long-term goals and rewards into your online classroom. Rewards such as positive feedback, virtual points, badges can go a long way in reinforcing the learnings and motivating the student to engage better in the classroom

4. Questions, questions and more questions

In an attempt to keep the students more engaged, it is important that the teacher ask as many questions to the students as possible. Instead of just reading or explaining the lesson to the students, questions allow the lesson to be more interactive and hence keeps the students engaged. Teachers can ask the five W and H questions related to the lesson - What, Who, Why, Where, When and How.

The teacher must also encourage more questions from the students to augment the engagement levels in the virtual classroom. Many experts also suggest that teachers can keep a count of the number of questions each student asks, to ensure that all the students are engaged and attentive.

5. Keep the class short and lessons crisp

Learning online is a huge task, especially for younger students who may find it daunting to sit before the screen for long hours. By splitting content into smaller more manageable bite-sized chunks, educators can help to keep students to stay engaged and feel enthusiastic about the virtual learning experience. This is also a good way to abate online learning fatigue.

6. Continuous progress check-ins

One of the easiest ways to remind students of the previous lessons and help them feel connected to the class is through short-term progress checks. These can include revision, assignments or quick quizzes on previous topics to jog the student's memories and help them connect the dots between the classes/

7. Building a student teacher bond

Just as some students do not connect in a traditional, physical classroom because they feel invisible and believe that they have no valuable inputs, similarly many students may also feel that they will not be missed in the virtual one. Additionally, some students do not find their teachers very engaging or are unable to relate with them. For such students, teachers can try building a relationship, getting to know them though a video or voice call outside of the classroom to help them feel motivated.

Other small tips can include asking the student for their opinion in the classroom, giving positive and encouraging feedback etc.

8. Use the flipped classroom model to engage the students

Using the flipped classroom model, teachers can send students resources such as texts, videos, podcasts, etc., to provide background knowledge to the topic being learnt.

The actual learning time in the virtual classroom can then be used for subsequent learning activities like group or one-on-one discussions. This will ensure that the precious time in the classroom is used to strengthen the understanding of the concepts, while the students stay interested and motivated.

For many students as well as for teachers this adaptation from a traditional classroom to a virtual meeting space for learning is not easy.

Today, teachers need to remember that the need of the hour is for unlearning their processes and teaching method and look for new ways in which they can harness technology to teach better and made a stronger impact on their students, who are also struggling in isolation without their peers.

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How to keep Student Engaged in Virtual Classroom? - Fedena Blog

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One of the biggest challenges for teachers across the ages has been to keep the students in the classroom engaged and attentive to the content that is being taught. Over the years, innovative and enterprising teachers have come up with unique ideas to help the students connect with the subject.

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I love what this online tool can do with online text. It is great for target language texts as well as cultural reading assignments.

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Teachers of all content areas are likely to agree that virtual instruction is not ideal. In a communicative, dynamic world language class, teaching remotely seemed especially daunting. How do I ensure that my students are gaining proficiency in the language through a computer screen?

After much contemplation and acceptance of the fact that virtual learning simply was not going to be the same as in the classroom, I knew that I needed to make the best of the situation for my students. I could not change the reality. It was time to get creative and design meaningful and immersive interpretive, interpersonal and presentational tasks for our virtual environment.

I considered the four language domains: reading, writing, speaking and listening. I knew that I needed to create interpretive (reading and listening comprehension), interpersonal (two-way speaking and writing) and presentational (one-way speaking and writing) tasks. I needed technology platforms that would support these ends and wanted to use tools my students already knew.

Here's what I did.

Interpretive Tasks

Giving my students opportunities to read in the target language is a constant goal of mine. If you aim to use authentic resources in your classes and expose your students to infographics, advertisements, or news articles in the target language, Actively Learn epitomizes convenience and efficiency. This website allows teachers to embed standards-based questions within an online text. As they read, students can respond in the target language about the main idea and purpose of the text, as well as the author's tone and opinion. Actively Learn also provides useful data for teachers, including the amount of time students spent reading. Rather than opening a series of tabs leading to different documents, students are able to read and respond all in one place.

I use Screencast-o-Matic to help develop listening comprehension skills. The website and application captures your screen (and camera if you choose) and records it. I can launch the recorder while teaching from Google Slides and record a flipped lesson. I also create a corresponding activity in which students respond to questions or take notes as they listen to the lesson. In addition, students can conveniently pause or replay the screencast video file if they need to hear something twice.

EdPuzzle is also good for creating listening comprehension tasks. I typically take a video from YouTube -- or upload my own screencast video of a flipped lesson -- and then use EdPuzzle to add questions for students to answer as they watch. The tool has a "prevent skipping" feature I like. It ensures that students view the entire video before answering the included questions.

Interpersonal Tasks

One "choice" assignment I regularly offer students is letting them engage in a texting conversation in Spanish and send me the screenshots. This assignment seems more like fun than like work. Plus, students are able to use the language in an authentic, realistic way.

If you are able to provide synchronous instruction to your students, try having some spontaneous conversations in the target language via a videoconference on the user-friendly Google Meet or Zoom. I typically arrange my students in small groups and conduct a live class/videoconference session in which I converse with each student. This allows for a two-way conversation on the spot, and again mimics a real-life task.

Another idea: Connect students with another class and set up a virtual pen pal program. (Bonus points if you can arrange this with a class in a country in which the target language is spoken.) Students can exchange emails with their virtual pen pal. You can assign different topics for the students to focus on in their emails, or they can freely converse. Typing an email in the target language is yet another realistic, authentic, useful task.

Presentational Tasks

Flipgrid is an ideal tool for presentational speaking tasks. I assign my students a prompt, and they respond in a video via the Flipgrid website. Students can view their classmates' videos and comment on them with video responses. Even when providing asynchronous assignments, I can ensure that my students are speaking the language with the help of Flipgrid.

The Google extension, Pear Deck, allows for interactive slideshow presentations. On an ordinary Google Slides presentation, with a few clicks, I can add a variety of question types to engage students. To create a presentational task, I can add open-ended questions, in which students respond in writing. I can also add a drawing slide in which students are given a blank digital canvas with a variety of colors to choose from. Rather than with text, students can respond with a drawing that they can later write about or explain aloud, again engaging in a presentational speaking or writing task.

Padlet, a digital discussion board, also facilitates presentational communication. After posting an initial question or prompt, students can provide a written response, or can answer with images, voice recordings or videos, leading to more writing and speaking opportunities in the target language.

Virtual instruction might not be our preference but it still holds value and can be done meaningfully. It is possible to expose our students to the language and to engage them online. Until we are reunited with our students in our physical classroom spaces, it is essential that we make the most of these challenging circumstances.
Elena Spathis teaches Spanish at Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey. Connect with Elena on Twitter. Like this article? Sign up for ACTFL SmartBrief to get news like this in your inbox, or check out all of SmartBrief's education newsletters, covering educational leadership, English-language arts, special education, math instruction and more.

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Teaching world languages in the virtual classroom

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Teachers of all content areas are likely to agree that virtual instruction is not ideal. In a communicative, dynamic world language class, teaching remotely seemed especially daunting. How do I ensure that my students are gaining proficiency in the language through a computer screen?

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These days, not every student rolls out of bed and trudges to the bus stop to head to school. Instead, more and more students are simply flipping open a laptop, turning on a tablet, or unlocking their phones. According to the National Education Policy Center (NEPC), almost 300,000 students were enrolled across 501 full-time virtual schools in the 2017 - 2018 school year. That number may seem big, but it is dwarfed by the six million students who participated in at least one online higher education course in 2017, according to the Online Learning Consortium.

Virtual classrooms offer numerous benefits to students, instructors, and schools. They allow students to learn from anywhere in the world, including in rural and disadvantaged communities where schools and universities may be lacking. Virtual learning can also be a solution for students who may otherwise struggle to fit in with a normal class, and they can save school districts serious money. However, for all the upshots they offer, virtual classrooms also present significant challenges. The virtual nature of the class can leave students feeling disconnected and disengaged from the material.

How can teachers engage and excite their virtual students when they may live a world away? Here are 10 great tips for improving student engagement in your virtual classroom.

Start your course or semester on the right note by creating a fun, engaging atmosphere. Help students feel connected to each other and to you by offering up simple ice breakers that will force the students to learn about each other. One option is to ask students to pair up and interview each other. Another fun game is to ask the class to answer trivia questions or non-controversial personal questions using Poll Everywhere. For example, ask students to choose their favorite color or see how many are the oldest, youngest, middle, or an only child in their family.

Students will feel more engaged in your class if they feel they are part of the larger group. This can be one of the trickiest things to accomplish in a virtual classroom, but there are still plenty of ways to build a strong community. Create a community structure, such as message boards, or even a Twitter hashtag that students can use to communicate and connect during and outside the class.

3. Create individual learning plans

Use the unique benefits that a virtual classroom offers to help build individual learning plans for your students. That includes incorporating technology that will allow you to actively track each student's performance. By assessing a student's performance, you can discover holes in their knowledge, adjust the pace of the lessons, and determine what type of learning they respond to most.

4. Develop curriculum around shorter content

Not only are attention spans shorter than ever, but virtual students can easily skip out on long lectures or skim complicated readings. With so many distractions available to them, you've got to work extra hard to grab and keep their attention. One way to do this is to focus on creating short, captivating lessons. Consider recording 5- to 10-minute lectures or having students engage with interactive media, such as YouTube videos, music, or even live performances as part of your curriculum. Encourage student interaction during your lessons. That means less lecturing and more open discussions.

5. Integrate face-to-face virtual interactions

Isolation is a big downside of virtual classrooms, which can quickly lead to disengagement. You can combat isolation by encouraging or even requiring virtual face-to-face interactions. Start by recording a video of your lectures, so your students can see your face. Next, encourage or require students to meet in small groups via video conference. ( Google Hangouts is a free video conferencing software.)

It can be hard for students to feel engaged in class (virtual or otherwise), if they only listen to lectures and fill out multiple-choice tests. Depending on the topic of the class, encourage them to find creative ways to solve problems or express a lesson. For example, for history class, ask students to design a period costume. For math class, challenge students to find the square footage of a room in their home and document how they did it.

7. Add flexibility into the curriculum

Engage your students by letting them use their existing talents and interests to complete assignments. Not everyone wants to write an essay or do a book report. If you want the class to dive into the novel Dracula, let them show you what they got out of the book in a way that most appeals to them. Maybe a student will perform a one-man show from Dracula's point of view, while another discusses the changing mythology of vampires in history. Be flexible in assignments, and your students will likely surprise you with their ingenuity.

8. Provide opportunities to collaborate

Another great way to fight feelings of isolation among your virtual students is to assign partner, group, and class projects. When students collaborate, they can combine their creativity, share unique perspectives, and create relationships that will help them feel more comfortable participating in class. It will also keep them honest. No one wants to let their partner or their team down.

9. Communicate, communicate, communicate

You'll never know if a student is falling behind or feeling bored unless you ask. Virtual classrooms make it easy for shy or disinterested students to fade into the background unless a teacher makes a concerted effort to reach out. This may go beyond just handing out your email. Offer virtual office hours, create a social media group for the class, and consider scheduling one-on-one consultations with each student during the course.

If you want to know if your students feel engaged and are grasping the material, why not just ask? Not every student will want to be honest if you question them directly, so consider creating anonymous polls that allow students to let you know what they really think. This is a great way to assess how much they know about the topic at the beginning of class, what types of assignments they want, if a topic needs more discussion, and what they would recommend changing at the end of class.

Poll Everywhere gives you the software you need to seamlessly create and administer polls. Your students can answer quickly and easily from their computers or phones. Write multiple choice questions or let students write out their own answers. You'll get valuable feedback that will let you make your next virtual classroom even better.

Want even more great student engagement ideas? Check out our 5 Summer School Secrets to Improve Student Engagement.

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How to Keep Students Interested in Virtual Classrooms | Poll Everywhere Blog

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Virtual classrooms offer many great benefits, like bringing students together from all around the world. But they also have some drawbacks. It's easy for students to feel isolated or disengaged unless teachers make a concerted effort to keep them interested. Poll Everywhere offers 10 great ways to engage your virtual students.