How to Get Your Students Engaged with Online Learning

Many teachers were forced to dive headfirst into the deep end of online teaching, with little to no support or guidance. A common thing that I’m hearing from teachers is that during synchronous class calls, students’ cameras are off, they’re disengaged, and it feels like you’re teaching to a black hole. Maybe you are.

Before we’re defeated, we need to be honest about a few things.

1. When teaching in person, just because students were sitting in seats where you could see them, that does not mean that they were listening, understanding, or engaging, they were simply sitting. Know, that while you’re teaching… they’re probably sitting somewhere. That’s a bit snarky, I know, and it’s the truth. Do we want 100% of students to be engaged, YES, and we should keep striving for that. And as we strive, we need to understand that we’re suddenly setting the bar 100 feet higher than we did in the past, and we’re trying to jump over that bar with 2 broken legs.
2. Yes, it is possible that they are logged in, and then walked away. Confession time, how many times have you played the required standardized testing video and walked away? I really don’t think that I”m the only one. Students, everyone, has so much to process and to deal with right now, that for some, the only way to make, is to disengage. Again, I’m not making excuses and instead want us to be clear on reality. We have to be honest about what we’re dealing with if we’re going to have any chance of finding a solution. If we simply decide that students are lazy, we won’t even bother.
3. They might be trying to engage and don’t know how.

• Their internet might not be strong enough to have the video on.
• They might be embarrassed about what others will be able to see in the background. (Consider teaching them how to have a “fake” background on a zoom call)
• They might be struggling with depression and haven’t gotten dressed, but they’re listening.
• They might be taking care of their siblings.
• They might have to go to work to help make up for lost wages.
• They might not be interested. ( I’m not trying to be mean, I’m being honest, not all students are interested in ALL subjects, and maybe that is okay.)

Now, let’s talk about having fun with our students.

I wanted to help my students think about how we visually communicate emotions. It’s something that a lot of them have expressed interest in and are having trouble with. We used a free program called Draw Chat, where they could all engage and create at the same time. When you watch the video example below, you’ll see that I don’t require them to add their name, that’s intentional. That allows them to feel safe drawing in front of their peers. You’ll also notice that we keep it really simple, and started with 5 minutes of play time.

When you want students to engage in synchronous learning, it’s essential that they feel safe, which means, start out very very simple.

PS: Myself and Shannan Lauffer are launching a new Podcast on Wednesday, Nov 11th, sign up below to be sure not to miss an episode. Season 1 is all about online education.