Community Building in the Virtual Classroom

Community Building in the Virtual Classroom

Creating a classroom culture that promotes community for engagement and collaboration

Feedback

Games

Provides immediate feedback and rewards; Incorporate elements of competition and collaboration; Helps maintain interest an fosters a deeper connection with material.

Targeted and meaningful Feedback can help students gain confidence, self-awareness, and enthusiasm for what they are learning.

Video

Easter Eggs

When used strategically, builds personal connection between you and your students.

Encourage students to complete their lessons by hiding little "easter eggs" within the lessons.

Chat Waterfall

Engagement

"Reimagining Student Engagement" by Amy Berry presents a continuum of engagement that helps students become active agents in their learning.

Used to generate ideas, engage participants, and gather quick feedback in a way that is less intimidating than individual responses.

Targeted and Meaningful Feedback

Building community by helping students gain confidence, self-awareness, and ethusiasm for what they are learning. Feedback should be Targeted, Continous, Timely, and Actionable.

Be Mindful - Of Your Written Tone

Tone & Voice Shapes Your Classroom

Do More

Consider verbal and non-verbal communication Feedback Examples Needs Improvement - It looks like you didn't fully understand the content. Review the topics you missed and try again. Better - I noticed a few content errors in the project you submitted. Let's take a look at them together to develop a better process. Even Better - The submitted project does not accurately describe the impacts seen on the environment. Review the information from lesson 3.2. What information from the lesson coudl help refocus the project? Use this information to map out the rest of the assignment details.

• Focus on the work, not the student

• Be Specific

• Consider questions over statements

• With (+) stick to process, with (-) stick to progress.

Dylan William, "Embedded Formative Assessment", 2011

Family Communication

"Reimagining Student Engagement", by Amy Berry describes six forms of engagement, from disengagement to active investment, and provides strategies for teachers to foster self-regulation and meaningful participation in learning. By understanding this continuum, teacherts can better support stduents in drive their own learning experiences and buidling a stronger classroom community.

See the Continuum

Article

Twists & Bonus Ideas

• Add a picture of a waterfall in the corner of the slide where you want to use this strategy
• Use the time app in Zoom so students know how long they have to answer
• Twist: Have half the class answer the question. When they have answered, have the other half choose someone to respond to
• Twist: Respond using emojis!
• Twist: have the students put in a question!
• Twist: Have the students put in a wrong answer
• Twist: Have learners list their prior knowledge about a topic.

Sync Strategy

Chat Waterfall

Directions:

• Ask a question.
• Students answer in the chat, but wait to push "enter" to send their chat until you say "go"
• After sufficient wait time has elapsed, say "3-2-1-GO!"
• Everyone pressed enter

The Power of Games

Games enhance engagement in online learning by making the educational experience more interactive and enjoyable. They provide immediate feedback and rewards, which can motivate students to continue learning and improve their skills. Additionally, games often incorporate elements of competition and collaboration, encouraging students to actively participate and stay focused. This dynamic approach helps maintain interest and fosters a deeper connetion with the learning materials.

Hide Easter Eggs in Course Content

Encourage students to complete their lessons by hiding little "easter eggs" within the lessons.

Need Ideas?

• Celebrate birthdays by posting them within the lesson
• Add random fun facts about course content
• Celebrate the random fun holidays
• Include "on this day in history..." facts
• Add student names to the content
• Shift questions to be about learners
• Share about yourself and the content
• Add Padlets for all learners to respond
• Include challenges - if students complete this challenge and put the password in the form, learners can earn a prize (bonus point, etc)
• Hide an image with a word

SYNC

While real-time feedback can be tricky with async learners, here are some tips and tricks:

• Put feedback into the chat feature in Zoom using Grammarly Snippits (for feedback that you give often). (Only available in Pro Version)
• Build in a way for students to submit a draft first before fully submitting assignments.

ASYNC

Real Time Feedback

• Encourage students to come on the mic to share their thoughts. Then, ask the student to reply before you respond

• Send students to private chats during class to encourage participation.

• Utilize tech like Zoom Whiteboard to see what students are doing in real time and respond.

• Keep in mind, wait time is much longer in cyber!

• Utlize tools like Nearpod, Quizziz, etc. that lets you see participation in real time.

VS

GrammarlySnippits

Pro-Tips

The Power of Video

Using videos strategically throughout the school year can go a long way to building personal connections between you and your students. Videos are most effective when they are no more than 2 minutes in length - so don't over extend yourself.

My Favorite Screen Recorder

Weekly Updates

Strategic Feedback

Major Benefits of using Video in Education

Content Connection

Playlist Potential