Ten Ways to Get Your Students Talking in an Online Class

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If you’ve recently started teaching online, you may have discovered that, like so many activities in the time of coronavirus, it can be a lonely experience. Virtual classrooms have the potential to foster strong interpersonal connections, but it doesn’t feel that way when you’re looking at a sea of black screens generated by off-camera, off-mic participants logged in as “iPhone 2.”  In the past few weeks, I’ve interacted with instructors of all varieties who are looking for the “secret sauce” of student engagement in the online classroom.

At Manhattan Prep, we’ve been teaching online for over ten years. We’re well aware that not only does active online participation make teaching more fun, but it’s also essential to student learning. If we can’t see or hear our students, we don’t know whether they’re learning. Over the years, we’ve learned a few tricks for getting students on mic and on camera in a virtual classroom:

  1. Arrive early for small talk. Be on-camera in your virtual classroom before your students join, and introduce yourself to them as they trickle in. This will help you build relationships and help your students to feel more comfortable.
  2. Get students on camera from the start. Having students on camera helps to build a sense of community that allows for greater engagement. In my introductory email, I let students know that they should come to class camera-ready. I begin the first session by explaining why it’s so important to be on camera: as a teacher, I rely on non-verbal cues to gather information about my students’ needs. Then, I prompt participants to come on camera if at all possible and introduce themselves. I let them know that if they’re off-camera, I’ll assume they’re away from their device unless they inform me otherwise. 
  3. Use icebreakers. Every experienced teacher knows an icebreaker or two that can help participants get their jitters out and feel more at home. Online icebreakers can be even more personal and fun than in-person ones, because participants can often share a bit about their home environments. Do introductions at the start of your first class, and in subsequent classes, ask your students to put their pets or kids on camera, or to tell you about the art or plants behind them.
  4. Use small groups. Some free platforms for online teaching and learning, like Zoom, allow you to use “breakout rooms” to put participants in small groups. Giving students the chance to chat or work together without the presence of the instructor can foster relationships and help them feel comfortable speaking up in the whole-group setting.
  5. Let students know how to “raise their hand.” Because so many students are trained to raise their hand and wait to be called on, they may feel uncomfortable speaking up in the online classroom. Some students are much more likely to participate if you let them know how they can raise their hand to be called on. They might raise their actual hands if they’re on camera, or they might use a tool like the “raise hand” feature in Zoom.
  6. Cold-call. Open questions often lead to awkward silences in online classes, and I’ve found that even the “seven seconds of silence rule” doesn’t always apply in cyberspace. Don’t be afraid to cold-call one of your students: “Julia, hop on the mic and tell us….” But do be courteous about it. Give your students think time before cold-calling (“I’d like everyone to think about this question for a few seconds, and then I’ll call on one of you”) or use cold-calling for questions that don’t have a definitive right or wrong answer.
  7. Use the chat as a precursor to discussion. I often start a discussion by asking for a short answer response in the chat, then calling on students to elaborate. For example, I might say, “Tell me what grammatical issues you see in this sentence,” and then ask one student to elaborate on what they typed. This gives students time to think and allows me to direct the flow of the conversation in a way that supports my objectives.
  8. Positively reinforce students who speak up. When a student stops you to ask a question, give them a shout out. This will spread the message to others that speaking up is a good thing. For example, in a recent math lesson, a student of mine stopped me to say they really didn’t get how I’d arrived at the solution. Before explaining, I said, “I love that you stopped me to ask that, because that’s really the heart of learning: noticing what you don’t understand and putting in the effort to get it.” 
  9. Have students respond to each other. One move that I employ frequently in class is to direct students to critique each other’s responses (“Maria, do you agree with what Jose just said?”). This gets students used to listening and responding to each other, and eventually yields spontaneous interpersonal feedback.
  10. Reframe “awkward silence” as “think time.” Because often, that’s exactly what it is. As teachers, we’re sometimes guilty of jumping in too quickly to answer our own questions, when all our students really need is a bit more time to think. You can get more comfortable with wait time by letting your students in on the secret: “I’m going to ask you a question and then give you a little time to think about it.” Trust me, they’ll appreciate it!

Ally Bell is a Manhattan Prep Instructor who lives in San Francisco, CA. Ally served as a public school teacher for nine years, teaching primarily middle school English, history, and reading. Along the way, she earned a master’s degree in Reading Education from University of Virginia, served as the department chair in two schools, and presented at the National Council for Teachers of English annual conference. She now uses her experience as a teacher leader in her roles as the Manager of Training Programs and Instructor Manager at Manhattan Prep.