Online synchronous classes can be designed to be engaging, interactive, and productive. These strategies can help you make the most out of your synchronous time with students.
Chunk Class Time for Meaningful Active Learning
Chunking the synchronous class time into segments can help keep students engaged and allow for meaningful active learning experiences. Consider incorporating a 10-minute lecture, 10-15 minutes of students engaged with active learning (discussion, problem-solving, low-stakes formative assessments), another 10-minute lecture, and 5 minutes of student reflection to enhance engagement.
For additional information, watch this Organizing Content Overview: Chunking Content YouTube video (6m 10s) from the University of Saskatchewan.
Engaging students during synchronous sessions
To engage students during online synchronous sessions, you may use many strategies similar to those you would use in a face-to-face classroom.
- Prepare. Include a page in your Brightspace course that clearly states, “How to Join Class Synchronously.” Here you will provide students with detailed directions for joining your synchronous class using Microsoft Teams Meetings. You may also want to give students directions about joining and interacting in breakout rooms.
- Structure. Write a clear agenda or outline for the class meeting that students see in advance to give them time to prepare their contributions. Giving students specific instructions and building time to prepare is a recipe for success.
- Invite students to think about the topics related to your subject matter but not extensively covered in your instructional materials.
- Suppose students have difficulty with a particularly challenging issue or have another round of review before a midterm exam. Ask them to send the requests and use these as opportunities for learning.
- Quick participation pulse. Either display a problem with a plausible solution or a prompt to respond non-verbally using reactions, the raise hand feature, or chat features in Teams Meetings. These features provide ways for your students to raise their hand, provide a quick reaction such as a thumbs up, or express themselves using a few emojis like happy (smile face), thinking (thinking face), and more. As emoticons are displayed by their names, call on students to explain their choices.
- Pause. Yes, be silent. Sometimes we may have to endure some uncomfortable silence before students respond to our questions. It’s okay to pause in your synchronous sessions to give students time to think and answer.
- Use informal and formal polls. Before you use topic-based, consider getting to know your students with these types of questions:
- Which superpower would you like to have? (Multiple choice)
- a) Mind reading
- b) Invisibility
- c) Teleportation
- d) Flying
- e) I already have a superpower
- Are you an early bird or a night owl? (Multiple choice)
- a) Early bird
- b) Night owl
- What’s your best personal online learning advice? (Open text)
- Special guests. Invite speakers to join the synchronous meeting to address a topic or share stories.
- Answer in chat. Pose a question and ask students to send replies to the chat area. As you read their answers, call on students to expand on their responses.
- Share out. Invite students to share out via audio and or audio/video. This option should be optional and encouraged, not forced. Shift to encouraging responses in the chat, but don’t give up on encouraging audio and video participation. Sometimes, it takes some time for students to work up to this.
- Annotation tools. Allow students to use the annotation tools as you present. For example, ask them to circle a specific graph part or underline keywords.
- Breakout rooms. You can split students into multiple rooms in Teams Meetings to work on a collaborative project (perhaps via Word in OneDrive) or discuss a topic as a smaller group. These can be an option to switch up the energy of a session and can be useful for creating a less intimidating space for students to share.
- Create highlights. Assign note-takers to record the highlights of the synchronous session. Use a shared Word document in OneDrive for collaborative notes.
- Use a backchannel. Encourage a simultaneous online chat using the chat feature in Teams Meetings so students can add to an ongoing backchannel while they listen. You might even assign a handful of students to be the backchannel moderators. The moderators’ job would be to ask questions, engage with classmates, and speak for the class when the instructor pauses for questions.
Well-structured, interactive synchronous class meetings that ensure student engagement are a better way to get everyone into class ready to learn. For additional ideas, read Encouraging student engagement during synchronous meetings: Preventing midterm drop-off (Faculty Focus).
Online Synchronous Strategies, by the Iowa State University Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) is licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0.