Online learning offers many benefits despite the various challenges that arose during its growth in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Educators have become increasingly literate and creative with online learning, adapting long-time classroom strategies and curricula for the digital space, and even implementing some new ideas as well.
Graduates of the program will also possess the necessary problem-solving and preparation skills to develop enriching learning environments in digital classrooms and learning spaces.
Teachers can employ the following strategies to improve remote learning environments:
Use Virtual Breakout Rooms
Digital meetings make it easier than ever to split classes into groups for breakout discussions, or for teachers to flip the dynamics of the classroom settings in other ways. An Edutopia article titled “8 Strategies to Improve Participation in Your Virtual Classroom” suggests incorporating group activities for students to discuss their responses and record them in a digital document to share with the class upon regrouping. The document keeps the students accountable for their work.
Share Popular Media
Sharing movies, TV shows or other popular visual media in a classroom setting isn’t always a simple proposition. Screen-sharing in digital classrooms helps and adding live internet resources to a lesson puts a vast collection of popular media right at teachers’ fingertips. If your lesson could benefit from visual cues, cultural references or any of a million other pieces of art that are searchable on the Internet, it’s never been easier to share them with your students.
Engage Students With Video
An Inside HigherEd article suggests having your students demonstrate their “exploring, editing and creative skills” in order to better engage them in a digital classroom. Given the number of videos that younger generations consume on a daily basis, offering assignments and allowing them to respond in that medium are a practical approach. Consider allowing students to submit video responses to certain questions. You can also configure assignments that fit the medium in ways that suit your students.
Highlight the Individual Experiences of Students
Unlike being in person, students learning in a digital setting are located in different places in the physical world. Asking students to share a bit about what’s happening in their lives can be an easy, low-stakes way to create engagement, learn about different students and foster community. Not all students want to disclose personal information, so it’s important not to push anyone, but getting students to share anecdotes or experiences can open classroom discussions in general.
Use a Variety of Assessment Tools
The National Association of Secondary School Principals suggests giving students a variety of submission options. For instance, digital classrooms can simplify presenting technical topics like creating HTML websites. Allowing students to create different kinds of responses, when appropriate, is an excellent way to promote individual approaches and diverse ways of thinking.
Try Asynchronous Activities
Although synchronous or real-time discussions more closely resemble a traditional classroom structure, asynchronous activities can also offer remarkable benefits. Crucially, as Edutopia notes, this type of work can often be more equitable because it creates more opportunities for engagement among students who had “low (internet) bandwidth, who had schedule limitations, or who were uncomfortable engaging with the full class.”
An advanced degree focused on educational leadership in K-12 administration can equip educators with tools and teaching strategies for the digital learning space. After all, the future of education is sure to include more technology, and preparing for this digital future is one of the best ways to succeed in the field.
