As the world becomes increasingly digital, more educators are finding themselves teaching in remote (or virtual) classrooms. While this can provide some unique opportunities for students, it requires a new skill set and approach that takes into consideration the challenges of technology, communication, and distance in keeping students engaged and motivated to learn.
Strategies for the Remote Classroom
To explore practical strategies for engaging students in the virtual classroom, click the tabs below.
Flip Your Classroom
A flipped classroom reverses the traditional relationship between class time and homework. Students review instructional materials online during their own time and spend live, online class sessions working on collaborative activities in real time with their classmates.
Use a Design Document
Use a Design Document to set clear goals and expectations for each week of class, including your remote class meetings, to ensure students have a clear understanding of what they need to accomplish. Map out your course instructional content and activities in alignment with your course goals and learning outcomes.
Create a Routine
Establish a consistent routine for your remote teaching sessions, including regular meeting times, assignment due dates, and feedback deadlines. This helps students stay organized and on track and provides them with a sense of structure and familiarity.
Be Prepared and Organized
Before class begins, make sure all the necessary materials that will be used, such as textbooks, videos, and presentation slides, are prepared and available in the Canvas learning platform. Provide a schedule prior to each meeting, including goals for the class session, topics that will be discussed, break times, and activities that will be completed.
Use Interactive Tools
Take advantage of the various interactive features available with the Zoom web conferencing tool directly integrated into your Canvas course. You can use virtual whiteboards, screen share, breakout groups, and online polls to keep students focused and actively participating in the meeting.
Create a Collaborative Environment
Encourage student interaction and active learning by including breakout group activities, group projects, reflective activities, and peer-to-peer feedback during live sessions. This provides students with the opportunity to learn from one another. Explore these Active Learning Strategies and Techniques.
Add Multimedia Strategically
Intentionally incorporating videos, audio recordings, and visual aids into your Canvas course can help break longer or complex lectures down into smaller, more digestible chunks. By breaking traditional lectures down into shorter experiences, students can absorb the material more easily and at their own pace.
Incorporate Experiential Learning
Experiential learning activities provide opportunities for students to apply their learning to real-world scenarios. For example, you could have them work on a project for a local non-profit organization or conduct research related to a current event.
Use Real-time Assessments
Use online tools like Zoom polls to assess student understanding in real-time during virtual class sessions. This can help you adjust your teaching approach on the spot and provide immediate feedback to students.
Provide Group and Individual Feedback
In addition to group feedback during live sessions, provide individual feedback to students on their class participation and performance on assignments. This helps students understand their strengths and weaknesses and how they can improve.
Be Available and Communicative
Make yourself available to students and communicate regularly, whether through Zoom meetings or messaging on the Canvas learning platform. Encourage students to ask questions and seek clarification, and be sure to respond promptly.
Create a Sense of Community
Foster a sense of community in your virtual classroom by creating opportunities for students to connect with each other outside of class time, such as online discussion forums in Canvas. This can help students feel more connected to one another.
Encourage Self-reflection
Encourage students to reflect on their learning experience and to provide feedback on the effectiveness of your teaching methods. This feedback can be used to improve future remote teaching sessions and make them even more effective.
Use Gamification
Incorporate game-like elements into your virtual classroom to make learning more engaging and enjoyable. For example, you could create quizzes, puzzles, or challenges that students can complete to earn rewards.
Overall, it's important to be creative and flexible in your approach to teaching in a virtual classroom. By incorporating a variety of strategies and adapting to the needs of your students, you can create a more engaging and effective learning experience.