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Blend Online and In-class Discussions to Give Every Student a Voice

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Blended learning is a powerful approach. How many times do you remember as a student or remember a friend who needed to review the materials covered for the week? Students, like adults, are different types of learners and some students may need additional resources to grasp certain concepts.

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LINC Online Discussion Single-Point Rubric

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How to Make Virtual Meetings More Interactive for Students

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How to Make Virtual Meetings More Interactive for Students

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Video conferences can be exhausting. You might notice that students who are highly engaged during an in-person session suddenly disengage in a virtual meeting. Often, there are challenges with video lag or simply the inability to see the room entirely. I created the following visual for how you handle video conferences depending on your Hogwarts house. If you haven't read the Harry Potter series, it might not make sense.

Video conferencing can present huge challenges. Without the built-in, in-person accountability of a classroom and a teacher, it easier to get distracted and fail to attend virtual meetings.

Even when students show up, virtual meetings can feel lonely. It can feel like you're talking under water, where there's this delay in communication and a sense of separation between each person. When the microphones are all on mute, you can't hear any laughter. This is amplified by the sheer number of black screens from students who do not have the video turned on. Sometimes this is an issue of slow wi-fi connectivity. Other times, students are shy or insecure and might not feel comfortable being visible. Still, other times, students might feel embarrassed or ashamed of their home environment. It's important that we give students flexibility in this area.

However, virtual class meetings can actually be a blast. I recently attended a highly interactive, dynamic fourth grade class meeting. Students engaged in a Q&A, met in small groups, and interviewed me as an author. They had read a free book I created about a pizza with superpowers. Toward the end, each student participated in an interactive game using Kahoot. Students were highly engaged in the virtual meeting because the teacher had designed the entire experience using interactive elements. In another article, I shared some specific ideas for how to boost attendance and engagement in virtual meetings. In this article, I want to explore specific strategies for improving student interaction in virtual meetings.

Listen to the Podcast

If you enjoy this blog but you'd like to listen to it on the go, just click on the audio below or subscribe via Apple Podcasts (ideal for iOS users) on Stitcher (ideal for Android users), on Amazon Podcasts, or on Spotify.

https://spencerauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Boost-Engagement-in-Meetings.mp3

When to Use Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning

Last week, I wrote an article about improving student collaboration. It helps to think strategically about when to use both synchronous and asynchronous learning:
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Synchronous communication happens in real-time, in the moment. Synchronous communication might be a video conference, a webinar, a live chat, or a phone call. It's essentially any of the type of communication you would do in-person that you are now doing with digital tools. Synchronous communication works well when you are planning for dynamic and interactive learning tasks.As a teacher, you might want to use a virtual conference for guided practice on a discreet skill. Similarly, a music, art, language, or physical education teacher might use a video conference for a quick performance assessment, where they can provide feedback in the moment. Synchronous learning also works well small group brainstorming, planning, and decision-making. With a slightly larger group, virtual learning can help create a sense of community.

Synchronous communication has its limitations, though. The synchronous, interactive nature makes it a challenge when students have unreliable internet or challenging schedules. It also tends to breakdown in effectiveness as groups grow larger. For this reason, virtual learning is not a great method for direct instruction or for processing new information. It's also less effective in situation where you want to keep a permanent record of communication.

Asynchronous communication does not happen in real-time. Instead, it can happen over a longer period of time. Asynchronous communication might include a prerecorded video, an audio message, or an email. It also includes podcasts, videos, articles, and books. Most online course materials are typically asynchronous because of the ease of ability to read, view, or listen at one's own pace. In remote learning, instructors will often use asynchronous communication for direct instruction or to introduce new ideas or concepts. Students can easily re-watch a video or pause it take additional notes. In performance-based courses, students can record themselves and compare it to a recording created by the teacher or professor.

Moreover, when students create original content, they typically use asynchronous tools. This might be a sketchnote, a blog post, an infographic, a math problem, a video, or a podcast. However, they might still choose to use synchronous tools for elements of creative work, such as an audio interview with an expert, a synchronous video in solving a problem in engineering, or walkie-talkie app during an experiment. In collaborative work, students will often use asynchronous learning for research, inquiry, and project management but use synchronous tools for problem-solving and brainstorming.

Crafting Interactive Virtual Meetings

As we think about how to maximize the effectiveness of virtual meetings, it helps to ask, "What are the key advantages of synchronous meetings?" In general, this includes dynamic, interactive communication and the ability to create shared experiences together.

This is why virtual meetings don't work well for direct instruction. If you are planning to introduce a new concept for students, your best bet would be to create an asynchronous video that they can watch and re-watch again. Instead, it works best to have students watch an asynchronous video on their own and then clarify misconceptions and take a deeper dive into the topic in a virtual meeting.

In terms of discussions, virtual meetings don't work for large class discussions. While it is feasible to have twenty students engaged in a free-flowing Socratic Seminar, the lack of physical space and body language makes these discussions a challenge in a virtual meeting. You've probably witnessed the challenge of a slight video lag as each person says, "you first, no you first," in an ongoing loop. If you're opting for a discussion, use the breakout room functions and keep it to four or five students, tops.

Virtual meetings don't tend to work well for class presentations. Often, there are logistical challenges with having students share screens and there are quality issues if a student wants to use an embedded video clip. Instead, have students craft videos that combine annotated / recorded slideshows, live "talking head" videos, clips, and visuals. Students can then watch their classmates slideshows asynchronously and provide feedback on their own. This also allows students to edit and refine their presentation, leading to shorter videos at a higher quality.

A general question to ask yourself is, "Could this video chat be a recorded video instead?" If the answer is "yes," then a prerecorded video is a better option. In other words, virtual meetings can be dynamic and interactive but they have serious limitations. If you're doing a class video conference, it should be highly interactive and centered on deeper, free-flowing discussions. It works great when you want to clarify ideas or make decisions together as a group.

Specific Strategies for Boosting Engagement

So, how do we make our virtual meetings more interactive? Here are a few ideas:

Do a social / emotional check-in. Begin your class meeting with a quick social emotional check-in to see how students are doing. When the quarantine began, I used the following prompt. Students then shared their band names in the chat feature. Another time, I asked them to sketch a "high/low" for the week and with a quick description. Students then shared their pictures in small groups.

Incorporate movement. I know of a third grade teacher that does a daily dance to start their virtual conferences. This not only gets the blood flowing but it also creates a shared experience. Other teachers have a class phrase or mantra or a long-distance high five that they do. These increase participation and build community.

Use the Q&A feature. Many video conference platforms have both a chat feature and a Q&A feature. The Q&A feature is a great way to create a "parking lot" where students can ask a question at any time and you, as the instructor, can check it out when the time is right. If your video conferencing software doesn't include the Q&A feature, simply add it to your LMS or create a Google Form.

Use polls. Some video conference platforms include a built-in poll. If that doesn't work, you can use an online poll and link to it. Polls provide instant feedback and can help with reviewing information, gathering opinions, or doing a low-stakes ice-breaker. For what it's worth, I'm an introvert, so I don't enjoy breaking the ice. I'd rather it melt slowly over days or weeks.

Allow students to show off their pets. This is a small way to affirm each student's identity and give them a sense of agency in their learning. If they don't have a pet, they can share a stuffed animal (preferably a "stuffy" and not a taxidermy animal) or a house plant. I did this with a recent class and a college student held out a cactus that he had named Spike.

Use the chat function. It can be hard to navigate a large in-person discussion. However, the chat function can allow students to share their thoughts in real-time. They can also send private chats to other classmates for a pair-share or a quick discussion.

Make use of hand-gestures. Find specific hand gestures to get students moving. You might do a "four corners" activity on the screen rather than the room. Here, students place their hand by the corner they agree with and you can provide a slide to mirror the screen. You might also use a Total Physical Response (TPR) for content vocabulary. This can help solidify the knowledge by building an association between a word, a definition, and a movement.

Incorporate silence. Video conferences can still have moments for think time or for quick-writes or sketches. Simply add a timer and mute all participants to create the silence necessary for students to process the information. This benefits introverts who need personal think time to make sense out of ideas. It can also help students who are learning English to process the language at their own pace.

Integrate other platforms into the virtual meeting. A virtual meeting does not have to be locked into the specific video conference platform. You can have students attend via video conference but then edit a Google Document or co-create an infographic or interact with sticky note platforms like Padlet.

Use breakout rooms strategically. Many video conferences offer breakout rooms for small group discussions. As the instructor, you can set these groups up ahead of time or put them together in the moment. You might be worried about students being social in these small groups. What if they talk about football or Minecraft instead of adaptations or chromosones? But, honestly, during a time of quarantine, maybe being social isn't such a bad thing. If you create a safe space where students connect, that's a win.

Use hands-on learning to take it off-screen. You might do a maker project or a scavenger hunt. Or you might have students create sketchnotes. But the idea is to have students engage in a video conference but then go off-screen and return to share what they have found, learned, or created.

Note that you might need to create a set of norms for your meetings. As a class, you can actually negotiate norms and procedures together via the video chat. You'll likely need a process for calling on students or getting each student's attention. But even when they run smoothly, there will be significant challenges in virtual meetings. This is especially true in schools where districts are requiring teachers to live-stream lessons or to do hybrid with students joining for the whole day via video chat. For what it's worth, neither of those approaches employ sound instructional design and often the result of political and community pressure. But as educators, we don't always have control over the context. So, if we teaching virtually, we can choose to be intentional about increasing student interaction in our virtual meetings. And as a result this helps build a cohesive classroom community.

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How to Make Virtual Meetings More Interactive for Students

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Video conferences can be exhausting. You might notice that students who are highly engaged during an in-person session suddenly disengage in a virtual meeting. Often, there are challenges with video lag or simply the inability to see the room entirely. I created the following visual for how you handle video conferences depending on your Hogwarts house.

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Ashley Clark's (LINC Coach) Bitmoji Classroom Resource

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Ashley Clark's (LINC Coach) Bitmoji Classroom Resource

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Improving Student Collaboration in Remote and Hybrid Learning

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Improving Student Collaboration in Remote and Hybrid Learning

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Improving Student Collaboration in Remote and Hybrid Learning

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In this latest article, we explore how to improve collaboration in distance learning by empowering students to own the collaborative process. Listen to the Podcast If you enjoy this blog but you’d like to listen to

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Breakout rooms allow you to split your Zoom meeting in up to 50 separate sessions. The meeting host can choose to split the participants of the meeting into these separate sessions automatically or manually, or they can allow participants to select and enter breakout sessions as they please. The host can switch between sessions at any time.

Note: Zoom Support can increase the maximum capacity of your account's breakout rooms, but this requires all participants to be on Zoom client version 5.2 or higher. If your users do not have administrative control of their computers, this will require assistance from your IT Department to update the client.

This article covers:

Prerequisites for enabling breakout rooms on Zoom

Account owner or admin privileges

Note: Before using breakout rooms, see the limitations of breakout rooms.

How to enable breakout rooms and breakout room options

Account

To enable the breakout room feature for all members of your organization:

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an administrator with the privilege to edit account settings.

2. In the navigation menu, click Account Management then Account Settings.

3. Click the Meeting tab.

4. Under In Meeting (Advanced), click the Breakout room toggle to enable it.

5. If a verification dialog appears, click Enable to verify the change.

6. (Optional) Select the check boxes for the following breakout room options, then click Save:

Allow host to assign participants to breakout rooms when scheduling

Allow host to broadcast message to participants: This allows the host to broadcast a text-based message to all participants in breakout rooms.

Allow host to broadcast voice to breakout rooms: This allows the host to broadcast their microphone audio to all participants in breakout rooms. This feature requires 5.12.0 or higher.

Allow host to create, rename, and delete breakout rooms when rooms are open.
Note: This option must be enabled by Zoom before it is available and requires 5.9.3 or higher.

Allow host to view activity statuses of participants in breakout rooms (e.g. share screen, reactions). This allows hosts and co-hosts to quickly view participants' audio and video status, if they are sharing their screen, and any active reactions or nonverbal feedback. This feature requires hosts and participants to have client version 5.10.3 or higher for activity statuses to appear, and does not apply to participants joining on certain devices such as phone, H.323, and SIP.

7. (Optional) To prevent all users in your account from changing this setting, click the lock icon, and then click Lock to confirm the setting.

Group

To enable the breakout room feature for all members of a specific group:

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an administrator with the privilege to edit groups.

2. In the navigation menu, click User Management then Groups.

3. Click the applicable group name from the list.

4. Click the Meeting tab.

5. Under In Meeting (Advanced), click the Breakout room toggle to enable it.

6. If a verification dialog appears, click Enable to verify the change.
Note: If the option is grayed out, it has been locked at the account level, and needs to be changed at that level.

7. (Optional) Select the check boxes for the following breakout room options, then click Save:

Allow meeting hosts to pre-assign participants to breakout rooms

Allow host to broadcast message to participants: This allows the host to broadcast a text-based message to all participants in breakout rooms.

Allow host to broadcast voice to breakout rooms: This allows the host to broadcast their microphone audio to all participants in breakout rooms. This feature requires 5.12.0 or higher.

Allow hosts to create, rename, and delete breakout rooms when rooms are open.
Note: This option must be enabled by Zoom before it is available and requires 5.9.3 or higher.

Allow host to view activity statuses of participants in breakout rooms (e.g. share screen, reactions). This allows hosts and co-hosts to quickly view participants' audio and video status, if they are sharing their screen, and any active reactions or nonverbal feedback. This feature requires hosts and participants to have client version 5.10.3 or higher for activity statuses to appear, and does not apply to participants joining on certain devices such as phone, H.323, and SIP.

8. (Optional) To prevent all users in the group from changing this setting, click the lock icon , and then click Lock to confirm the setting.

User

To enable the breakout room feature for your own use:

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.

2. In the navigation menu, click Settings.

3. Click the Meeting tab.

4. Under In Meeting (Advanced), click the Breakout room toggle to enable it.

5. If a verification dialog appears, click Enable to verify the change.
Note: If the option is grayed out, it has been locked at either the group or account level. You need to contact your Zoom admin.

6. (Optional) Select the check boxes for the following breakout room options, then click Save:

Allow meeting hosts to pre-assign participants to breakout rooms

Allow host to broadcast message to participants: This allows the host to broadcast a text-based message to all participants in breakout rooms.

Allow host to broadcast voice to breakout rooms: This allows the host to broadcast their microphone audio to all participants in breakout rooms. This feature requires 5.12.0 or higher.

Allow hosts to create, rename, and delete breakout rooms when rooms are open.
Note: This option must be enabled by Zoom before it is available and requires 5.9.3 or higher.

Allow host to view activity statuses of participants in breakout rooms (e.g. share screen, reactions). This allows hosts and co-hosts to quickly view participants' audio and video status, if they are sharing their screen, and any active reactions or nonverbal feedback. This feature requires hosts and participants to have client version 5.10.3 or higher for activity statuses to appear, and does not apply to participants joining on certain devices such as phone, H.323, and SIP.

How to use breakout rooms

After enabling breakout rooms, users can do the following:

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Breakout rooms allow you to split your Zoom meeting in up to 50 separate sessions. The meeting host can choose to split the participants of the meeting into these separate sessions automatically or manually, or they can allow participants to select and enter breakout sessions as they please.

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You've probably heard that Google Docs offers great collaboration features, but maybe you're not quite sure how to get started. Don't worry! Here's how to collaborate on Google Docs, explained in simple terms with helpful screenshots.

Note that these features are offered in Google Sheets and Google Slides as well, and are just as useful there.

Sharing a Document Directly

To get started, you'll need to share your document using the big blue Share button at top-right.

Click this button, and you'll see your sharing options.

The first way to share any document is to type the email address of the person you'd like to share the document with. This is the most secure way to share a Google document because only the exact people you invite can open it. Type the email address of the person you'd like to share with. Your Google Contacts account is integrated, so in most cases you can start typing a name and see the address you're looking for.

By clicking the pencil, you can decide on permissions for the document.

By default anyone you share with via their email address can edit, but you can instead set this so they can only leave comments or just view the document.

Share a Document by Copying a URL

You can also get a shareable link for the document, allowing you to share the document by pasting a URL in your chat application of choice.

To do this click the Get shareable link button at top-right.

You'll get the URL after clicking.

If your Google account belongs to an organization the link will only work for other people inside the organization by default, as shown above. If you have a standard Google account, the link will be open to anyone by default.

By default people with the URL will only be able to view the article. You can change this by clicking the arrow beside the words can view:

As before you can choose whether people can view, leave comments, or edit the document.

Collaborate in Real-Time

Are you used to sending documents back and forth to make edits? You're in for a treat, then. Edits in Google Docs can be watched in real-time.

This makes it easy to collaborate just by looking at the screen. It's even better if you connect by phone or video chat: You can talk about the edits in real time, then make them.

Leave Comments

Editing doesn't have to happen in real-time, however. You can leave comments for your co-workers instead, recommending edits or pointing out things that already work really well. To do this, highlight any text and click the comments button, which will be to the right of what you're editing right now.

You can now leave a comment.

You can also respond to comments, allowing you to have a conversation with your co-workers about edits that may or may not be required.

Too much clutter? Click Resolve when a conversation is done, and it will be archived. You can view all of your archives comment threads by clicking the comments button at to top of the screen, to the left of the Share button.

If you want to tag someone in a comment, type @ followed by their email address. Or you can assign a comment to someone by typing + and their email address.

Recommend Edits

Editors can also recommend edits, instead of editing the document directly. To get started, click the pencil at top-right, then click Suggesting.

Now edit the document as you normally would. You'll notice things look a little different.

Any edits you make will now appear as recommendations, which the primary owner of the document can accept or reject. Anyone can also make comments on the edits, allowing for collaboration on the entire editing process.

Integrate Google Docs With Other Apps

Want to collaborate outside of Google Docs? With Zapier you connect your documents with 1000+ other applications. For example, you could automatically send every new Google Doc over to Dropbox:

You could automatically get an email every time a new Google Doc is added:

Or you could get a Slack notification instead:

This is just the beginning. Check out our list of Google Docs integrations to learn more ways you can automate your Google Docs collaborations.

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How To Collaborate in Google Docs - Google Docs | Zapier

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You've probably heard that Google Docs offers great collaboration features, but maybe you're not quite sure how to get started. Don't worry! Here's how to collaborate on Google Docs, explained in simple terms with helpful screenshots. Note that these features are offered in Google Sheets and Google Slides as well, and are just as useful there.

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Creating Discussions

You can create an interactive discussion for your students. Each discussion has threaded commenting that allows students to respond to any post by another student. These comments can also be moderated, which will require a Course Admin (the teacher) to approve each post before it is published. Deleted posts will are listed under Moderate Posts in theCourse Options section.

1. Click Add Materials.

2. Select Add Discussion.

3. Fill out the Discussion form.

Enter a Description (optional instructions for the discussion).

To display the discussion in the Upcoming feed, enter aDue Date. If you do not enter a due date, the discussion will remain accessible in the Discussions index or course folder.

To make the discussion a graded item, selectEnable Gradingand adjust the grading preferences.

4. Options

5. Clickto complete. Create

Discussions can also be created within course folders, or added to folders after their creation.

Sharing Discussions

You can share your ungraded discussion with other courses. Shared Discussions is located in the Options section when creating a discussion.

Sharing the discussion will give the discussion a ShareID that other instructors can use to join their classes into the same discussion. Other instructors can find the discussion in Materials by changing the filter from All Materials to Discussions and then clicking Join Shared Discussions from the Options drop-down menu. Enter the Share ID and password into the pop-up window.

You can also automatically share the discussion with your courses and sections.

Limitations of Shared Discussions:

If you do not see the option to share the discussion under Advanced, it is likely that Grading is enabled. Graded discussions cannot be shared with other courses.

You cannot share discussions after they have been created.

Shared discussions are not available across linked sections.

Reading Discussion Posts

From the Discussion post, you can access a toolbar that remains on the screen as you scroll through each post. The toolbar includes the following tools:

Post Count and Unread Posts: ThePost Count displays the total number of posts and replies on the discussion. The Unread Posts displays the number of posts and replies that have been added since you last loaded the page.

Unread Postsare highlighted in orange.

Expand All and Collapse All: On very long discussions, you may find it useful to useCollapse All to make the page easier to scan and to find posts more quickly. Clicking Collapse All truncates all posts and hides all replies to each post.

To expand the text on a particular post, click Read More next to where the post is truncated.

To show the replies on a particular post, clickView Replies below the post.

To display all posts and all replies, click Expand All.

Scroll to Top: When you are finished reading the latest posts by your students, you can quickly jump back to the top of the discussion in one click by clicking the Scroll to Top icon in the toolbar.

Formatting Posts

Sometimes, students opt to draft their discussion posts in another program - such as Microsoft Word or another text editor - and then copy and paste the response into the Schoology discussions post field. Copying and pasting can sometimes bring in unwanted formatting from another program. If this happens, encourage your students to use the Remove Formattingbutton.

Grading Discussion Posts

Highlight User

Click Highlight User to filter posts by author. ClickingHighlight Userdisplays a list of members in the course, accompanied by the number of posts each member has contributed to this discussion. The total posts appear in green, and the number of posts you have not yet read appears in orange. Students who have not yet posted to the discussion display in the Not Submitted section.

Selecting a student from the drop-down menu highlights all of the posts that student has created in this discussion, allowing you to access all of the discussion posts by a particular student at a glance.

Unread Posts

Discussions are one of the most dynamic course material types on Schoology. To help you stay organized and keep track of the posts you haven't reviewed yet while grading students' posts to a discussion, you can now review the number of unread posts on a discussion right from the Course Materials page. The number of unread posts display in orange in line with the discussion's title.

Administering Discussions

Course Admins have a star icon attached to their personal image on discussion posts. This helps students see at a glance which posts may be directions or feedback from the instructor, and which are from their fellow students.

To delete or edit students' posts:

1. From the three vertical dots on the post clickEditorDelete.

2. ClickDeleteto confirm or enter your change and clickSave Changes.

Grading

Students who have not yet received a grade for the discussion are indicated by an orange dot.

Clicking the grading button brings up the grading window, where you are able to enter a grade and a comment for the student. This grade applies to all of the students' posts on the discussion, not just the one you have selected.

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Creating Discussions You can create an interactive discussion for your students. Each discussion has threaded commenting that allows students to re...

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7 Strategies to Increase Student Engagement in Online Discussions

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7 Strategies to Increase Student Engagement in Online Discussions

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7 Strategies Designed to Increase Student Engagement in Synchronous Online Discussions Using Video Conferencing - Dr. Catlin Tucker

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One of the primary roles that a teacher plays in an online class is the facilitation of learning. Facilitation is the teacher's ability to clearly communicate learning objectives and support learners as they make progress toward those objectives. When teachers are working with students online, their role as facilitator encompasses their interactions with students in [...]

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How to use Breakout rooms in Zoom for Teaching and learning

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Student Collaboration in Shared Google Slides

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Student Collaboration in Shared Google Slides

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Student collaboration in shared Google Slides

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Canvas provides an integrated system for class discussions, allowing both instructors and students to start and contribute to as many discussion topics as desired. Discussions allows for interactive communication between two or more people; users can participate in a conversation with an entire class or group.

Discussions can also be created as an assignment for grading purposes (and seamlessly integrated with the Canvas Gradebook), or simply serve as a forum for topical and current events. Discussions can also be created within student groups.

Discussion topics can be organized as focused or threaded discussions. Focused discussions only allow for two levels of nesting, the original post and subsequent replies. Threaded discussions allow for infinite levels of nesting. Focused discussions are relatively short-lived interactions, while threaded discussions allow replies within replies and may last for a longer period of time.

Focused Discussions

Focused discussions include one response and one layer of comment nesting. Focused discussions are relatively short-lived interactions that tend to disappear as the course progresses, such as a weekly forum for questions related to that week's activities.

Use a focused discussion for single posts and related comments. One discussion leader typically posts a message and multiple learners comment on it. Participants may leave a side comment to a reply, but cannot develop the conversation beyond two layers of nesting.

focused discussions might also be used to:

answer a single question

share resources amongst peers

collect results from a simple research activity

share solutions to a single problem

correct misconceptions

clarify course policies

get feedback on a work in progress

share insights about a single reading

Threaded Discussions

Threaded discussions include infinite layers of response nesting, allowing commenters to continue responding on a single nested thread. Threaded discussions lend themselves to the refining of complex ideas. Responses and different lines of inquiry that can be quickly navigated due to its hierarchical structure. Threaded discussions may be long-standing spaces for thoughts that persist throughout an entire course.

Use a threaded discussion for multiple posts and related comments. One or more discussion leaders post a message and multiple learners comment on it with the freedom to create any number of related discussion topics and comments.

Threaded Discussions might also be used to:

post and answer multiple related or unrelated questions

organize results from a complex research activity

share and iterate upon ideas shared by each student in the course

debate the pros and cons of a single issue or multiple issues

ask multiple questions of a single discussion leader

refine ideas between multiple discussion leaders and multiple learners

facilitate group discussions around multiple topics

facilitate discussions around a discussion (fishbowl conversations)

explore at length the feasibility of different solutions to a complex problem

How do I use Discussions as an Instructor?

Within Discussions you can:

Create, edit, and delete discussion topics. You can also reply to, edit, and delete individual student discussion posts.

Create threaded or focused discussions within your course. (Private discussions can be initiated within student groups, which are not viewable by others outside that group.)

Create discussions with varied due dates for different sections within your course.

Create a group discussion as an assignment.

Create a graded discussion for everyone, individual students, course sections, or course groups. When a discussion is marked as a graded assignment, the Canvas SpeedGrader isolates each student's comments from the thread and combines them into one easily readable view for grading.

Subscribe to a discussion and be notified of replies.

Enable podcast feeds within your discussions.

Embed or attach files, images, and YouTube videos.

Add course content directly from your course.

Delay discussion posts until a defined date.

Pin discussion threads that you want your students to see at the top of the Discussions page.

Note: You can also use keyboard shortcuts to navigate individual discussion threads. Press the comma key and a pop-up window with keyboard shortcuts will appear for keyboard navigation.

What Settings Can I Control in Discussions?

You can control certain settings within Discussions:

Tell Canvas how to mark your discussion posts as read and unread. You can also manually mark posts as read.

Require students to reply to a discussion before viewing other replies.

Allow students to edit or delete their own discussion posts.

Allow students to create new discussions and attach files in your course discussions (this setting does not apply to student groups).

Allow students to like discussion replies in your course discussions.

Close discussion threads to comments.

How do I use Discussions as a Student?

Within Discussions you can:

Create, edit, and delete discussion topics. You can also reply to individual student discussion posts.

Subscribe to a discussion and be notified of replies.

Subscribe to podcast feeds within discussions.

Embed or attach files, images, and YouTube videos.

Note: Your instructor may have some of these options disabled in your course.

Table of Contents > Canvas Features > What are Discussions?

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Last modified on May 8, 2020 11:41 PM

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Skip navigation Like * Show 20 Likes 20 Canvas provides an integrated system for class discussions, allowing both instructors and students to start and contribute to as many discussion topics as desired. Discussions allows for interactive communication between two or more people; users can participate in a conversation with an entire class or group.

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LINC Digital Toolbox | LINC: The Learning Innovation Catalyst

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Welcome to LINC's Digital Toolbox, a unique, curated collection of our favorite tools for blended and project-based learning, sorted by category. Download the Toolbox in PDF, PowerPoint, or Google Slides format using the links below. PDF Google Slides PPT Note: The Google Slides version i ...

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clayCodes.org - Google Meet Breakout Rooms

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Breakout Rooms can be achieved in Google Meet with a bit of preparation. Students can be in various Google Meet rooms which a teacher can participate and monitor.
Create a Google Doc to hold the hyperlinks of your Breakout Rooms
Create names for your rooms
Create random characters to be your

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Using Google Docs for Student Collaboration in Small Groups

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Using Google Docs for Student Collaboration in Small Groups

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Russell Stannard (Teacher Training Videos)

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Ideas for Lessons: Using Google Docs in group work for blended/flipped lessons #teachonline

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Fostering Collaboration and Connectivity in the Classroom 

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Fostering Collaboration and Connectivity in the Classroom 

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By Charity Dodd

Collaboration and teamwork are skills our students need in the classroom and in any future path they choose. Having access to digital tools such as a Learning Management System (LMS) makes it easier than ever for educators to create opportunities for students to connect and collaborate within the classroom.

In engaging in this work, it is important to understand both why teachers should create opportunities for students to collaborate and connect with others and how we can get students to collaborate within the classroom. When students collaborate with others, they build their social skills. Online discussions can create a sense of community within the class by bringing all learners into the discussion. Students can learn from their peers, build writing skills, and build empathy through understanding and appreciating others' viewpoints. Another very important reason is that written responses provide time for students to reflect and synthesize information. This eliminates the "if I don't make eye contact, the teacher won't call on me" tactic or the complete silence that often comes when asking questions to the whole class.
How can you help students build these key skills?
A good way to begin building these collaboration muscles is to engage students in online discussion boards. First, you might talk with students about the purpose of the discussion board. Then have students create, with you, guidelines for discussion prompts. Finally, share with students a rubric, like the one below, so they can clearly see what makes a good discussion.

Getting students to engage in discussions in not easy. I've provided you a few ideas to get you started!

Debates
Group your students according to the pro or con position on an important issue and ask the groups to formulate 2-3 arguments or examples to support their position. Write each group's statements on the board and use these as a starting point for discussion.

Polling
Use a polling feature (within your LMS or a tool such as Poll Everywhere ) to engage students in polls. Then offer a discussion prompt focused on the results on the discussion board.

Role Play
Engage students in role play by having them respond to questions on the discussion board as their "character" would. Students act as the teacher, or a student explains a concept to a "neighbor."

Small Groups or Partners
Assign discussion prompts to small groups or partners rather than the entire class. The discussion board can serve as the communication vehicle for group projects.

Current events
Read or listen to current topics or podcasts and discuss views on discussion boards.

Virtual Field Trips
Locate an interesting place for your students to virtually travel to, then have them describe their experiences on the discussion board. ( googlelittrips.org , Google Arts & Culture , Google Street View )

Math and/or Science Class

Post incorrect solutions and have students "grade" your work and explain why something is a mistake.

In math class, students act as the teacher, a student explains a concept to a "neighbor."

Ask students what challenges they had with the homework.

Post incorrect problems asking students to find the mistakes and work the problems correctly.

Once you engage in collaborative discussions, it can be useful to assess these online conversations. Here are a few suggestions for how you might conduct these assessments: Ask students to write a one-minute paper. Ask students to write about how their thinking changed as a result of the discussion or have them summarize what they learned from the discussion.

Survey students regarding specific questions about the discussion.

Was the topic defined effectively?

Did everyone have the opportunity to speak?

Was your participation invited and encouraged?

What questions related to the discussion remain unanswered? In what ways could the discussion have been improved?

Conduct your own informal evaluation of the discussion. Consider the following questions when making your evaluation: Did everyone contribute to the discussion? How much was I, as the facilitator, involved? Did the discussion stay focused? What questions worked especially well? What would I do differently next time?

Use a rubric like the one below to help students understand how to engage in online discussions.

Online discussions are a great way to bring all students into the conversation. Teachers may be pleasantly surprised hearing from students who are typically quiet in face-to-face discussions. Once students gain confidence and trust the process they will begin to open up more during online and in-class discussions. We do have to make sure we provide guidelines to make this time as effective and engaging as possible.

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Fostering Collaboration and Connectivity Within Classrooms | LINC: The Learning Innovation Catalyst

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Collaboration and teamwork are skills our students need in the classroom and in any future path they choose. Having access to digital tools such as a Learning Management System (LMS) makes it easier than ever for educators to create opportunities for students to connect and collaborate within t ...

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30 collaborative Google Apps activities for schools

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G Suite Apps are collaborative, which makes them highly powerful. They offer opportunities for students to engage unlike ever before. Here are 30 ideas

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30+ creative ways to use Padlet for teachers and students

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I’m always excited when I’m using Padlet. Is it the interface, the way everything is designed, its purpose or the fact that I’m organizing things smoothly? I don’t know. It just makes me happy.

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2023 TEACH Conference

The TEACH Conference is a free, full-day in-person event held on May 5, 2023, at Paul Brest Hall on the theme of belonging and wellness in teaching and learning. All Stanford community members are invited to attend.
Details and registration

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Skip to main content The TEACH Conference is a free, full-day in-person event held on May 5, 2023, at Paul Brest Hall on the theme of belonging and wellness in teaching and learning. All Stanford community members are invited to attend. Details and registration

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Zoom has been booming, especially in the world of education.

When coronavirus sent schools into emergency virtual learning last March, educators (like myself) hastily learned how to utilize this video conferencing platform to interact with students, colleagues, and sometimes parents.

We dabbled, but most of us didn't get the chance to employ all of its features with fidelity. As we prepare for continued virtual (or hybrid) learning models this fall, let's dig deeper into the use of breakout rooms.

Our students need personalized learning opportunities that honor their strengths, needs, interests, experiences, preferences, processes, etc. Finding effective ways to facilitate small-group instruction and rich, peer-to-peer collaboration is crucial. One way we can make this happen is through the use of Zoom breakout rooms (or other platforms such as Google Meet with similar capabilities).

View this step-by-step video from Zoom for a quick tutorial on managing breakout rooms. This special feature allows us to seamlessly split a whole-group meeting into separate, smaller meetings. After the allotted time, it redirects students back to the whole group.

If you're worried about off-task behavior because you can't be in every room at once, believe me, I hear you! This has been on my brain bigtime, too. We don't see/hear everything that happens in the face-to-face classroom setting, but there's something a little unsettling about having blind spots while teaching in this new, online environment. We'll have to lean into this discomfort to discover what works best for the particular age/personality of our class(es).

But in the meantime, here are 13 ideas to consider for facilitating productive breakout rooms in Zoom:

1. Bite, Chew, Savor: For skill or discussion-based synchronous sessions, present a small "bite" via targeted whole-group instruction along with clear directions for the breakout activity. Give students time to "chew" on the skill or discussion topic together in breakout rooms. Finally, have students reunite with the whole group to "savor" or share what resonated. This structure can be utilized multiple times depending on the length of the session.

2. Distant Socializing: Be proactive to help prevent off-topic conversations during breakouts (or in the chat box) by providing students five or so minutes at the start of your session for peers to discuss whatever's on their minds. If they need prompting, have them tell/type weekend news, a thankful thought, a compliment to a classmate, etc. Step back from the "front of the room" and allow students to take ownership of this talk time. You may even consider having their first breakout session of the day circle around soft subjects. This builds relationships. Plus, it's better to work out any breakout room management kinks with a low-stakes activity.

3. Revisit the Class "Netiquette": When introducing breakout rooms (with gradual release of responsibility), review the virtual classroom rules/norms you and your students generated together. Ask them to contribute any additional items needed for fostering successful breakout room activities/discussions. Have students reflect upon how well they abided by the Netiquette at the close of breakouts.

4. Divide and Conquer with Co-Teaching: We are each other's most valuable resources. Invite your colleagues to co-teach with you! Who can help? Special education teachers? Specialists? TAs? As a Literacy Coach, I miss seeing students daily and will take any face time with them that I can get! Even if the class is just divided in half, it will still increase you and your co-teacher's ability to support/challenge students. This is a safe way to start, especially if you work with younger students.

5. Real-Time Monitoring: Want to know what's going on in the breakrooms? Well, you can't totally. But, you can pair your breakout room sessions with Padlet or Google doc activities to capture thoughts. This way you can watch their ideation live. Just be sure to drop the link in the Zoom chat (and have them open it) before launching breakouts so it's ready to go. And if you notice a specific group isn't producing as expected, swing by their breakout room to help. Web filtering services such as Securly and be especially helpful, too.

6. Cooperative Roles: Assign a specific responsibility to each breakout group participant. For example, you could assign a student the role of chat facilitator who guides the dialogue, word processer who enters the responses on the deliverable piece, time keeper who monitors the group's pace, speaker who shares resonating thoughts to the whole group afterward, etc. This ensures individual and group accountability.

7. Pre-Assign Breakout Rooms: Save time and avoid logistical issues by assigning students to breakout rooms in advance. This allows you to more thoughtfully group students as well. See these instructions to learn how to pre-assign breakout rooms. Also, be sure to enable the breakout room option in your Meeting (Advanced) settings.

8. Make the Rounds: Practice the good ole' "proximity to the teacher" rule. Pop into different breakout rooms just as you would circle around to listen in on students in a traditional setting. You can also log into a second account from another device and assign yourself to be the co-host. This work-around will let you "see" what's happening in a second breakout room. As you're making the rounds, just make sure to let students lead their learning.

9. Broadcast a Message: Send a short, text-based reminder message of some kind to one or more groups. It could be a reminder of the discussion prompt, words of encouragement, a two-minute countdown, etc.

10. "Ask for Help" Button: Shows students how to use the "ask for help" feature which allows them to notify you should they require assistance in their breakout rooms.

11. Gamify in Groups: Create a Kahoot, Gimkit, or Quizziz tied to learning objectives for students to play together in teams while in breakout rooms. This will allow them to debate the answers with one another while keeping them captivated. Again, be sure they've accessed the platform prior to sending them into their rooms.

12. Three is a Magic Number: Speaking in a breakout room with a few students is generally less intimidating than speaking in front of the entire class, but breakout room activities/discussions may still cause anxiety for some students. Staring at someone face-to-face on a screen with no other classroom distractions is rather personal. Make camera use optional and assign a minimum of three participants per room to ensure that it doesn't feel like an awkward speed date, especially for our tweens and teens. If you want to pair students up, consider allowing them to choose their partners in advance. Or, just wait a bit into the school year until a strong sense of classroom community has been cultivated.

13. The Trust Principle: Let students know early and often that you believe in their ability to make good choices. Trust empowers!

I hope these ideas ignite some sparks! Undoubtedly, facilitating Zoom breakout rooms will be a learning process for students, teachers, and administrators. If you're interested in giving them a shot, be sure to acquire/follow your school division's specific directives regarding the use of Zoom (which are likely being drafted up as we speak along with digital consent forms). It's a good time to review FERPA, too.

Let's keep learning. Let's keep growing. Are we kind of making this up as we go? Yes. But, if we enter this unprecedented school year with open hearts and open minds, anything is possible!

*For more ideas on optimizing online learning, see my posts Virtual Learning: 20 Structure for Small-Group Instruction, Virtual Learning: 25 Social-Emotional Learning Activities, Virtual Learning: Maybe We ARE Prepared for This, Virtual Learning: 33 Ways to Build Relationships and Virtual Learning: Best Practices for Parents.

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Virtual Learning: 13 Tips for Zoom Breakout Rooms - teachtrainlove.com

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Zoom has been booming, especially in the world of education. When coronavirus sent schools into emergency virtual learning last March, educators (like myself) hastily learned how to utilize this video conferencing platform to interact with students, colleagues, and sometimes parents. We dabbled, but most of us didn't get the chance to employ all of its features with fidelity.

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UPDATED 3/11/2021 - See the end of this article for a Twitter thread from Jeffery E. Frieden (@SurthrivEDU) explaining how he uses Jamboard and Google Slides with linked doors for his breakout rooms. UPDATED 2/22/2021 - Here is a great article of tips for virtual breakout rooms from Stephanie Rothstein at Edutopia. UPDATED 10/20/2020 - Also read my article on "How to Facilitate Meaningful Conversations in Hybrid or Virtual Classrooms."
One technique that many teachers involved in distance learning right now are using is to use virtual breakout rooms, where students are in smaller groups with some sort of task to discuss and/or complete. Some of the Interactive Google Slides that I shared yesterday could be helpful with this. One use for Zoom breakout rooms that I've seen being shared quite a bit is to have one Slides presentation that is shared with editing privileges to the whole class, and small groups are assigned particular slides to work on in their breakout room. The big advantage of this method is that the teacher can turn on grid view on his/her computer, and see what work is being completed by each group on their slide. Some teachers are color coding their slides to make them even easier to distinguish.

I've seen a lot of breakout room celebrations on social media from teachers - but older students seem to be less impressed. If you do a search for breakout rooms on Twitter, you will see that a lot of college students despise them, and are finding creative memes to share their contempt. (They are quite vocal and often comical about their feelings!)

breakout rooms be mad awkward when nobody is talking, they all just be like pic.twitter.com/Q64P0Dp8ej

- 𝐀𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐚𝐚𝐚🍓 (@MezaAlmaris) August 25, 2020

I spoke to a few high school and college students to learn more, and the consensus seems to be that expecting small groups to speak to each other in a virtual room is awkward and everyone ends up being reluctant to speak. A few of the comments I saw on Twitter referred to racist comments and other derogatory statements that were made when the professor wasn't monitoring the room.

A lot of the problems that appear in virtual breakout rooms are similar to the ones we have in the physical classroom with small group work, especially with older students. They become more self-conscious, and don't feel safe sharing with a group of strangers. They don't want to take the lead in the conversation because they may appear "uncool" if they show interest in academics. Just as we need to do in person, we should establish connections and develop norms before throwing students into a group with unrealistic expectations. On Twitter, Theresa Wills (@TheresaWills, theresawills.com) shared this model, suggesting a gradual release.

A good example of beginning in the low stakes stage would be to develop connections using something like this "Frayer a Friend" from @sarahjteacher.

Having a straightforward process for convening to breakout rooms and returning is essential. If you are using Google Meet for breakout rooms, @ajchambers suggested using a slide like the one below, where students can click on the color of their assigned breakout room. (Google Meet is rolling out breakout rooms this fall, but you can find "hacks" like this one by doing a Google search. Daniel Kaufman (@KauDan721) also has a YouTube video with an explanation and a link to a template here. There is also an extension you can add to your browser to create breakout rooms, but I have not used it so I can't say how well it works.)

Mollie Safran (@afsocialstudy) offered this suggestion, allowing students to choose a breakout room depending on their comfort level with a topic.

The extremely productive Esther Park (@MrsParkShine) recently offered the following template on Twitter (you can find more of her free templates on her website):
In addition, Esther Park has released an awesome video showing you tips and tricks for managing breakout rooms with Google Meet and a couple of helpful chrome extensions.
SlidesMania just added this template by Stephanie DeMichele (@sdemichele) for teachers who want to create virtual station rotations:

Jen Roberts (@JenRoberts1) created this spreadsheet tool to help teachers create automatic breakout groups for Zoom.

Do you use OneNote? You can find Breakout Templates for OneNote here - provided by @jlo731 and @SalleeClark.

Assigning roles can help alleviate some of the stress once students are in a breakout room. How to Use a Breakout Room Notetaker from Shana Ramin (@ShanaTeaches) gives instructions and a template you can copy on how a notetaker can be helpful in virtual breakout rooms. In this document from Stanford, it is suggested to even assign the role of "first-to-speak!" Here are a few other roles from the same document, and methods for assigning them:

Assign roles to students. Assigning roles will help students start the conversation and support equitable participation. Possible roles include first-to-speak, note-taker, reporter, timekeeper, equity monitor, or questioner/devil's advocate.

Randomly assign roles or select students with an equitable prompt. This may have the added benefit of acting as an icebreaker. Examples include assigning or selecting the person: whose first name is closest to the end of the alphabet, is wearing the shortest sleeves, whose birthday is coming up the soonest, whose hometown is closest to campus, etc.

One of the high school students I spoke to mentioned that it would get awkward when they finished their task before the time was up and they would all just "stare at each other" in the room, so you should address what they should do when their assignment is complete, and exit strategies as well.

Here are a few more resources on virtual breakout rooms that I highly recommend (some of these have ideas for breakout room activities, and some also give more ideas for facilitation):

Some parting thoughts:

Think carefully about your reason for using breakouts, and set the stage so they will be successful and meaningful.

Different platforms may have more or less features for creating and monitoring breakouts - and technology is changing quickly to meet the current demand.

It's always great to practice first with a willing partner - significant other, best friend, your own children - so you can iron out the kinks before you use it with an entire class.

3/11/2021 UPDATE: Read the embedded Twitter thread below for a great breakout room workflow using Jamboard and Google Slides.

I think I cracked the code on encouraging students to engage in meaningful academic discussion in Google Meet breakout rooms.

1/
- Jeffery E. Frieden 🌱 (@SurthrivEDU) March 10, 2021

Terri is a curriculum and tech integration specialist, speaker, and author with a passion for engaging and empowering learners. She delivers engaging professional learning, consultations on a variety of educational needs, and professional articles for various outlets . Find out more about Terri on the About page in the site menu. View all posts by Terri Eichholz

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UPDATED 3/11/2021 - See the end of this article for a Twitter thread from Jeffery E. Frieden (@SurthrivEDU) explaining how he uses Jamboard and Google Slides with linked doors for his breakout rooms. UPDATED 2/22/2021 - Here is a great article of tips for virtual breakout rooms from Stephanie Rothstein at Edutopia.

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March 2003 | Volume 60 | Number 6
Creating Caring Schools Pages 72-75

Rachel A. Lotan

Carefully constructed group learning activities can foster students' academic and social growth and help close the achievement gap.

Many educators believe that group work and collaborative learning are effective in academically and linguistically heterogeneous classrooms, and the evidence for the academic and social benefits of these instructional strategies is substantial (Sharan, 1990; Slavin, 1983). Too few educators, however, understand the crucial design elements needed for successful group tasks. Some students who easily complete tasks designed for individuals may refuse to devote time and energy to building group cohesiveness or group consensus; others may openly resist making their grades dependent on the efforts (or lack thereof) of other members of their group. The teacher, therefore, must deliberately and carefully craft learning tasks that are "group-worthy."

Such tasks have the following five design features:

They are open-ended and require complex problem solving.

They provide students with multiple entry points to the task and multiple opportunities to show intellectual competence.

They deal with discipline-based, intellectually important content.

They require positive interdependence as well as individual accountability.

They include clear criteria for the evaluation of the group's product.

Open-Ended Tasks

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March 2003 | Volume 60 | Number 6 Creating Caring Schools Pages 72-75 Rachel A. Lotan Carefully constructed group learning activities can foster students' academic and social growth and help close the achievement gap.

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Streamline class management while providing every student with individualized learning experiences. Create, customize, and collaborate on lessons to help learners grow their skills. Use virtual classrooms to promote learning any time, anywhere. Keep meetings, documents, and reports all within reach.

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Google for Education - Online Resources for Teachers & Students

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Access educational and online tools for teachers and students, including lesson plans, apps, and games to advance learning in the classroom at no cost.

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Three Ways to Boost Collaboration in Student Projects

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Three Ways to Boost Collaboration in Student Projects

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We've all been there before when we were students. You'd hear the dreaded words "group project," and immediately begin calculating the additional work that you would need to do to keep the group afloat; especially if the teacher chose the members. You check the list of names on the board. You'll be with the drifter, who wanders around the class chatting with friends. You'll have the needy student who wants to ask the teacher questions before making any decisions. Then you'll have the feisty fighter who picks arguments because he's bored. So, at that point, you realize, as a student, that you'll be doing four times the amount of work you would normally do on a project.

But then as a teacher, you see a new perspective. That floater is actually avoiding work because she's scared of doing it wrong. She's been burned too many times in group projects where she tried to contribute only to have other members redo her work. Might as well give up. And that needy student is also scared - of getting it wrong, of doing something embarrassing, of letting down his teacher. And that feisty fighter has such a drive for autonomy and such potential to lead but is still learning what it means to work collaboratively.

It's no wonder that you end up with group dynamics where members split up or where one member does all the work. Collaborative work is hard. Really hard. But it's also vital for life. Despite the myth of the lone artist or inventor toiling away in isolation, creative work is often rooted in community. If we want students to think like artists, engineers, architects, makers, and problem-solvers, they'll need to learn how to work collaboratively. They will need to depend on each other through every aspect of the project process.

If you enjoy this blog but you'd like to listen to it on the go, just click on the audio below or subscribe via iTunes/Apple Podcasts (ideal for iOS users) or Google Play and Stitcher (ideal for Android users).

https://johnspencer.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Collaborative-Project-Ways.mp3

When Google began Project Oxygen, they assumed the best predictor of employee success would be university program and grades. Instead, the top of their list was, "being a good coach; communicating and listening well; possessing insights into others (including others different values and points of view); having empathy toward and being supportive of one's colleagues." In other words, the most critical factors for success involved collaboration. Later, when they studied their teams in Project Aristotle, they found the top skills were, "equality, generosity, curiosity toward the ideas of your teammates, empathy, and emotional intelligence." Again, these were the soft skills most closely aligned to collaboration.

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But how do you actually do this? How do you create projects that boost collaboration in a K-12 environment?

When I first attempted project-based learning, I created hyper-detailed project directions. I wanted to make sure that every student understood exactly what they needed to do. If a student said, "I'm confused," I responded by adding details to the original document. When a student asked, "how many blog posts do I need?" I clarified by tightening the parameters. However, something strange happened. The students grew less engaged. I realized that they were working for me rather than working for themselves.

I love this quote from my friend, Chris Lehmann, who writes, "If you assign a project and get back 30 of the exact same thing, that's not a project, that's a recipe."

That was my problem. I had created recipes with the best of intentions. Over time, though, I shifted toward student ownership of the entire project process. Consider the LAUNCH Cycle framework that A.J. Juliani and I co-created:

Look, Listen, and Learn: You start from a place of student ownership by tapping into their geeky interests, their questions, or their prior knowledge. If they observe a natural phenomenon, you encourage them to jot down their findings. As they develop empathy, it will need to be student-directed.

Ask Tons of Questions: Students ask their own questions. Although you might provide sentence stems or sample questions, you can ask students to self-select their scaffolding and ultimately generate their own questions.

Understanding the Process or Problem: Students engage in their own research. They ask the questions, find the sources, and paraphrase the information. Students can also decide which research strategy they want to use, including note-taking, spreadsheets, or sketch-noting.

Navigate Ideas: Students generate their own ideas and then create their own project plan. When this happens, you avoid the recipe projects that Chris Lehmann describes.

Create a Prototype: Students engage in their own project management, choose their own approaches, and ultimately own the prototyping process.

Highlight and Fix: Students own the assessment process as they engage in self-assessment and peer assessment, including a critical friends structure (that I'll be getting into in the last section).

When we empower students to own the project process, we increase buy-in. Students who might initially seem needy become confident as they internalize the reality that they are no longer working for their teacher. Their designing for themselves and, more importantly, for an authentic audience.

Ownership also increases metacognition. Notice the connection between the design process and the metacognition cycle:
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However, ownership is not enough. For collaboration to work, students need to work interdependently.

The best projects are the ones where the group creates something way more epic than what any individual student could have created alone. This is why I love interdependent structures. Too often in group projects, one member works independently while other members are dependent on the single member, merely filling in the gaps when asked to help. However, when they work interdependently, each member is adding value to the group project. Interdependence begins with trust, with each member depending on other members to complete their tasks. It can feel risky and even vulnerable, which is why it can help to establish norms or engage in team-building. This is also why, as an eighth-grade teacher, I often had teams work for an entire quarter on different projects before changing up the grouping.

Once you've developed trust, you can incorporate project tasks that build up interdependence. Take, for example, this brainstorming strategy. Students actually benefit from listening to one another depending on each other for new ideas. Even the "low" student has something valuable to add to the group.
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Or consider the following structure for inquiry and research:

Students generate questions independently. They might need sample questions or sentence stems, but they can all create questions.

Once they have their questions, they can send them to a Google Document or submit them on a Google Form. Or if you want to go old school, students can have chart paper and smelly markers. Seriously, Mr. Sketch markers are the best. I don't care about being Google Certified or Apple Certified but if Mr. Sketch ever does a certification, I might just do it.

Students analyze the questions to see if they are actually research questions. Each member has a role:

Member #1: Is this question fact-based?

Member #2: Is this question on-topic?

Member #3: Is this question specific?

Member #4: Quality control

Members #1-3 can put a star by each question that fits their criteria. So, member #1 looks at each question and puts a star by questions that are fact-based. Meanwhile, member #4 is available to help and observe. Then member #4 double-checks all the questions with three stars and circles or highlights it if it's an actual research question.

Note that a struggling student might still be able to do the job of member #1 or 2 while a more advanced student can do #3. Meanwhile, the group member who typically dominates and achieves at a top level learns to trust other members and wait and observe. However, they can still provide expertise as the quality control person who has the final say.

Although you want to avoid recipes in collaborative projects, there's a danger in doing a total free-for-all in PBL. Early on in my PBL journey, I would give students loose guidelines and then say, "Have at it. Make it work." But they didn't make it work. They actually didn't do the work at all. Still, I felt like structure would squash the creative impulse and hamper their collaboration. It felt artificial. Authentic projects didn't need structure. But then I realized that I always used structures in my creative work. I had systems that I used to facilitate my creativity.

The truth is, structures are vital for creative work. They provide the necessary creative constraint to push divergent thinking and they help facilitate the actual work of creative work. One of the fascinating things I've learned in researching collaboration and innovation is how often organizations, teams, and companies use structures to facilitate creative work. Pixar uses the Brain Trust concept and countless companies have used the Radical Candor structures developed by Kim Scott. If you haven't checked out her book, I highly recommend it.

Nearly every discipline uses a framework or blueprint for their creative work, it's a writer's workshop structure, an engineering process, the scientific method, or a design thinking framework. However, these structures should inspire creativity and respect student agency.

For example, when students engage in research, I use a specific critical reading structure:

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Or consider the following critical friends structure:

Part Two:

I've found it helpful to provide sentence stems, examples, and tutorials as well. If we want every to succeed in creative collaboration, we need to ensure that they can all access the project tasks.

Note that ownership, interdependency, and structure all work together. The best structures incorporate all of these elements in a way that is seamless and interconnected. However, even when things are working well, you'll still have challenges. Group members will sometimes fight. Students will be having a bad day and simply not feel like working. Fear and insecurity will still creep in.

There's no magical formula to make creative collaboration work. However, as the architect, you can design the structures that build creative collaboration among your students. It's not easy. It will never work perfectly. Yet, ultimately, it's worth it as students develop the lifelong collaborative skills they will need forever.

Looking for More?

If you're interested in getting started with project-based learning, check out my Getting Started with PBL page, complete with articles, videos, and resources. You might also want to check out my PBL toolkit with a free PDF overview of PBL, along with sample structures and strategies you can use in your PBL journey. There are even a few free projects you can use! Just sign up below!

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Three Ways to Boost Collaboration in Student Projects

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We've all been there before when we were students. You'd hear the dreaded words "group project," and immediately begin calculating the additional work that you would need to do to keep the group afloat; especially if the teacher chose the members. You check the list of names on the board.

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Modernize workflows with Zoom's trusted collaboration tools: including video meetings, team chat, VoIP phone, webinars, whiteboard, contact center, and events.

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Padlet  Create a Padlet and post it on Google Classroom

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Deeper Dive - Getting Started with Flipgrid

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Deeper Dive - Getting Started with Flipgrid

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Learn basic and advanced skills across Google tools with free of charge online training courses designed for educators of all levels.

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Create a Flipgrid and Upload to Google Classroom