Achieving students’ involvement while conducting online classes is a real challenge. Creating online courses is more than video lessons and course enrollment. As an instructor, you should ensure that all your students are actively engaged in your course and get actual value from it.
All the hard work pays off over time when people start recognizing your course and teaching methodologies as the most effective.
Strategies to Encourage Participation in Class
You may have prepared your lectures, selected a platform, and are all set to teach a group of students with unique learning styles. The one thing that you now need to focus on is how you can entice students to participate and stay involved throughout the lessons?
We have listed eight effective approaches to help you improve student participation in your online classes.
Establish Ground Rules and Guidelines
Making the guidelines clear ensures that everyone is on the same page once the lecture begins. To do so, make sure that participants understand what is expected of them throughout the online lesson and how you reward the engagement.
If you clearly define the participation goals, you can have the result that you are aiming for. Consider your students to be collaborators in the learning process.
After all, this is a two-way process that will benefit everyone if you can keep the conversation clear and exciting throughout.
Keep It Interactive With Smaller Groups
It is easy to find yourself lost in a crowded space. The same logic applies in a classroom with too many students. Break the class into smaller groups to ensure that everyone gets their fair chance to participate.
Allow the groups to work on projects or have debates amongst themselves. You can assign different projects and stir discussion to facilitate interactions. At this point, be open to stepping away from the setting and letting them lead the activity.
It creates an informal environment for students, where everyone assists each other.
Make Lessons Simple and Comprehensive
Lessons do not have to be tough all the time. A pop quiz now and then is an excellent way to see how learners are doing. But again, these quizzes don’t have to be hard. Tedious tasks prompt students to delegate work to an EssayWritingService reviews to submit everything in time.
You must know that well-thought-out lesson plans work wonders. You can allow students to leverage the Internet. Start by discussing the topic first before giving students minor homework to find out how well they can apply the learning.
Reward Those Who Participate Actively
Make it a point to encourage students who love participating in an online class. Their behavior will serve as an example for others to follow.
It’s great if you announce small rewards for the ones who are actively participating. It sends out the signal to the rest of the class that engagement results in rewards.
The competitive environment raises excitement in the class and motivates all individuals to participate.
Pose Questions That Improve Engagement
Wondering what types of questions improve engagement within the online class? The same ones that bring classroom debates to life. Don’t shy away from stirring a conspiracy when a discussion is turning too dull. Your questions can be the following.
- Open-ended questions that cannot be answered in plain YES or NO. Open-ended questions encourage students to develop curiosity and explore options.
- Questions based on the course’s content offering students a progressive view of the subject matter. It helps connect the topic and figure out what lies ahead in terms of the course content.
Offer Diverse in-Class Activities
Question-and-answer sessions should not always be the norm in class. Use diverse activities that push the boundaries for student participation around the topic being discussed.
Experiences such as real-life problem-solving, case studies, and a range of innovative activities contribute to the learning objectives rather than serving as filler.
You can also employ flipped classrooms to break away from regular classroom models for a while. Flipped classes allow students to learn and understand topics before the class and apply the knowledge to problem-solving assignments in the class.
Incorporate Fun off-Subject Activities
Making use of Google forms for the simultaneous answering of questions can be of great help. Creating a Google Doc and sharing a slide for each student’s name at the top can be done through Google classrooms.
You can also organize small group conferences to understand your students better.
Making the students play group games is another effective way to ensure their participation. Websites such as Kahoot allow you to frame questions around any subject. Games are an interesting way to engage students and make learning effective.
Integrate a Feeling of Purpose Into Lessons
How many times did you say in school, “What’s the point?” or “This is something I’ll never use in real life!”? We all seem to have said things like these in class.
And that’s the reason it is essential to create a lecture that isn’t so hazy and abstract that your students feel the same way.
Use the lessons to “show-and-tell” how this specific information applies to students’ daily work and lives. Until you identify a relatable story to link the dots, a lesson may appear irrelevant to students and can result in lower participation.
Conclusion
You’ll need more than much-talked-about teaching techniques to improve participation in your online class. Each of the tips will help you deliver an online course that encourages student engagement and long-term learning achievement.
