Classrooms incorporate students with different characters some are always ready to raise their hands to participate & some are hesitant to come forward also engage in classroom discussions. It’s a complex process to bring students into conversations that need them to be vocal.
To boost participation in the virtual classroom & reduce achievement gaps, we must explore different strategies to see which ones motivate our students to learn.
Digital platforms can form communication barriers by making it tough to understand when to talk, for example, or how to read exact but essential elements of discourse like a person’s body language & their facial expressions. Online discussions are usually hindered by variability in students’ entrance to technology also by some privacy concerns, consequently, many teachers have had to rely on students submitting work over separate channels like email, which can leave back-and-forth within peers.
Synchronous learning Techniques
Before the beginning of the live session, ask students to write their questions & answer them independently on the topic which is to be discussed on that day. Also, let them share their responses at the start of the sessions/class for a broader discussion.
Then teachers are supposed to track the progress of conversation in a sheet of paper. Later, they can show the picture & ask their all students what they learned from their peers, who shared better and reliable ideas and who listened attentively. In this way, students will get a chance to examine each other’s work and also imbibe some positive qualities from them.
Chats to check their understanding: after that lecture, students can use any chat feature to answer those questions or type to show whether they have understood the topic or not.
For example, they can write T or F to answer true or false questions or thumbs up or down emoji to make teachers better understand their students.
One of the teachers believes that giving students the freedom to experiment, research plus pursue interest would help them to hold richer discussions. Starting project-based learning activities for elementary & middle school is also a great option.
Asynchronous Learning Techniques
Virtual feedbacks: Seeing & critiquing others’ work digitally would allow students to monitor each other’s work. Using Google sheets students can give feedback by answering questions like what is something new they have learned or which section of the presentation did they like the most etc. The online forum allows students to review their peer’s work & attain a deeper reflection of a particular topic.
Virtual Brainstorming of ideas:
Students can be divided into groups & Teachers can ask them to create Google slides where they can consider their thoughts or ideas about a particular topic. In this way, children will be smart to get different perspectives.
What looks important is the point that the learning process is more effective than learning. When students actively collaborate with their teachers plus peers generate a positive atmosphere which ultimately leads to a greater understanding and enhanced experience in their journey towards progress.
