Online Learning Techniques

Eight Techniques to Engage Students in Virtual Learning

1. Use the hand-raise tool or polling feature in a videoconferencing platform to solicit quick responses from students.

2. During a live Zoom or Blackboard Collaborate lecture, stop periodically throughout the presentation and have students complete a poll to provide feedback on a question or issue.

3. Set up rotating groups where students present a topic during a live video lecture.

4. Create discussion questions that lend themselves to more than one point of view. This strategy engages students in back- and- forth discussion similar to an in- person class conversation.

5. Publicly acknowledge students who make good contributions to a discussion assignment to the entire class. Use the student's name when you identify and reinforce a good contribution to a discussion. Students appreciate the recognition.

6. Assign students to work together in a breakout group in Blackboard Collaborate or Zoom. Have them work on a task and then return to the main class to report the results of their discussions.

7. Assign students to small groups in Blackboard using the Groups tool. Examples include review of an article or video clip, discussion of a chapter reading assignment, peer-review of papers.

8. Create a survey in Blackboard to introduce a lesson or start the lesson with a virtual brainstorming activity.