Interaction & Engagement in Hybrid Classes

When we are teaching virtually with Zoom, it can be overwhelming.  Not only do we have the stress of managing our virtual classroom and our stressed out students, but we have to manage Zoom and the environment we're Zooming from.  That's a lot of stress!  So let's take it one step at a time.

Interaction and Engagement

When teaching virtually with Zoom, try to remember all the great things that you do in the classroom that makes for good interaction and engagement.  If you use small groups, great!  Zoom breakouts can do that. If you use clickers, great!  Zoom can do that, too. If you do a lot of think-pair-share, that might be a little more complicated, but we can give it a try. The only thing that's missing is just being in the same physical space at the same time.

  • Start each class with small talk Links to an external site..  Before getting into the work of the day, you and some students could share some good news Links to an external site. from the previous week.  Or you could create a theme of the day:  hat day, favorite color day, stuffed animal day.  Tell your students to show up wearing their favorite hat or their favorite color, and start the class by sharing.
  • Small group discussions?  Try using Zoom breakout rooms.  You can break up your class into small groups, give them a task or discussion questions, and visit them in their breakout rooms.  The thing that's better than being in class together is that when you want to come back to a whole group discussion, you can close the breakout rooms and force everyone to come back!

  • Do you use clickers?  Try Zoom polls.  You can prepare the polls ahead of time and deploy them during class.  You can even see live results as students respond to your poll and show them the results.

  • Want to try a think-pair-share?  Try breakout rooms, but with fewer numbers of people.  Maybe two to three students.

Lesson Plans & Reflection

If this still seems a little nebulous, magnificent instructors Prairie Brown and Aleya Dhanji have great ideas for organizing your Zoom classes.  Here is a Download basic structure

of how your Zoom class can operate.  In addition, Maurea Brown has some tips for reflecting on how your Zoom class went:

  • What were the high engaging times?  How can I make this better next time?

  • Did I specifically talk about the purpose of the topics and connect it to their real world?

  • At what points did I check what my students knew?

  • What am I responsible for in this Zoom class so my students are successful outside of it?  (Canvas, other classes, etc.)