How to Activate Students Online

Students learn more when they are engaged with the course content.

When we are in-person, we can directly address the students who are daydreaming or who may be too shy to speak in front of others.

Whether in-person or online, students need to be properly prepared for discussions and activities. That means that professors need to ensure students know what to read, watch or listen to for the upcoming class.

Assigning students to upload comments to the Canvas Discussion sections after they read, watch or listen to the assigned material is a way of letting the students find a comfort zone. It means that they will have processed and analyzed before the class begins, so if called upon, they will not have to scramble for a comment.

Here are a few other tools and tips for fostering an active learning environment:

Zoom chat

Ask questions on Zoom and ask for responses in the chat function. It can be awkward with larger classes but some students seem to respond better to chat than face-to-face.

Breakout Rooms

Use Zoom’s Breakout Room function. Students can help each other understand concepts. They can exchange their opinions. Afterward, ask students to comment on chat and reflect on what happened in the breakout rooms. This could be a way to apply the think-pair-share method.

Gamify Attendance

Snap an “attendance photo” (screenshot) of every class. Try different poses and themes each time to have a little fun. This will lighten the mood and make students feel comfortable to be amongst each other.

Shared docs

Try doing online group projects using Docs in Canvas. Students work together in real-time.

Peer Review

Students can do peer reviews of a paper and projects by exchanging student papers in advance.

Polls and surveys

Ask your students how they would like to conduct the class – topics, lessons, method of learning, assignments, etc. Getting them involved in the format of the class will give them a sense of ownership of the course.

Information gathered by Sunghee Ahn, Dennis Bacani, Ian Lynam, George Miller, Mariko Nagai and Makoto Negishi, April 2020. Images by George Miller. Art by Ian Lynam.