Getting closer and get involved: How to support social closeness and active participation in the virtual classroom

Measures to promote social closeness and active participation for all sessions

Social routines fo all sessions

There are very many different ways to encourage closeness and participation in online teaching.

The social routines presented here should therefore by no means all be implemented in a course, but serve as a pool of ideas from which you should select specifically what suits you personally.

Therefore, rather pick 2-3 favorite routines and schedule a little time for them in each session. Every now and then, surprise yourself and your students with something new.

How are you today? Drop-In Time

As a lecturer, it is recommended to be there 15 minutes before the start (this should be announced in advance) to have time for a short informal exchange with the students. In smaller groups you can also greet arriving participants personally (ideally even by name, the names are usually given in the webconference tool). If students don't ask questions on their own, you can include conversation-stimulating stimuli - such as asking the week before for items to be brought in or backgrounds to be posted that reveal something about the student's personality (their favorite book or movie, an item related to a hobby, etc.), or you can post a small garlic knot that you'd like to share with the students. ), or you can set a small brainteaser whose solution is discussed (cf. Baumann 2009: pp. 9-10)[1], play picture, music, or quote stimuli and have them express thoughts about them, give one or more "fun facts," etc. The end of the drop-in time should be clearly signaled (e.g., fade in a slide, play a gong) and the course should start on time.

Ice-Breaker: Warming up socially

Conceptboard:
Digital pin board which can also be used for mindmaps; ideal for collaborative work; account necessary, free of charge

Onlinequestions:
Digital pin board which can be used to collect questions, for a written brainstorming or for obtaining feedback; no account necessary, free of charge

A social warm-up can positively influence the atmosphere of the whole session. A good relationship between you and your students also has a positive effect on the motivation, emotions and behavior of the learners (e.g. active participation) (cf. Wettstein/Raufelder 2021, p.18f.)[2]. Examples of social interactions to start with:
  • Have one (not multiple) ice-breaker question answered in chat, e.g., Where are you right now? What do you see when you look out the window? How has your day been so far? For later events, when some trust has already been established: what has been a highlight for you this week? What are you grateful for right now? What made you smile this week? What are you most looking forward to right now?
  • Photo challenge: Everyone sends in a picture of their workplace/favorite food/hobby/view from their own window and the others guess who owns which picture (for medium-sized groups this can be done over several weeks, each week some participants present their photo). This can be implemented, for example, with a collaborative pinboard such as Conceptboard (share board: "Everyone with link has access to edit" - then students can upload photos to the pinboard and comment on others' photos).
  • Can also be used to "warm up" content, e.g., to ask about expectations for the course: What would you like to see in today's course? What question do you have for today? Students can answer the question either in the chat (names are visible) or anonymously via a bulletin board such as Onlinequestions.

Some kind of Hollywood for everyone: Using the camera

The sooner an inhibition threshold is overcome, the easier it is to stick with it in the follow-up events. This also applies to the use of cameras in the online setting. By asking queries that involve the camera, you can get your students used to leaving it on (more often). For example:
  • Living statistics: indicate your point of view by proximity/distance to the camera (sample questions: How close are you to Giessen? When did you start to get involved with topic XY?).
  • Voting by thumbs: have yes/no questions answered by camera - thumbs on camera means no.
  • Voting via facial expressions or gestures: ask students to answer questions about mood based on facial expressions, gestures and body posture; initial content-related questions for the thematic introduction are also conceivable.
  • Design background: Ask students to choose a background image related to the topic of the seminar, either use the backgrounds for a round of introductions or make them a topic in the discussion.
  • Use analogies to film: Students' attitudes toward the camera can possibly be positively promoted through analogies to film. For example, you can ask the students to design the real background scenically in such a way that it fits the topic or to choose their own outfit in a topic-specific way and discuss these scenes and outfits with reference to the relevant content in the plenary; alternatively, you can have a film poster or trailer created for a topic or create it yourself to arouse curiosity about a topic; you can include short films instead of the classic presentations; or ask which aspects are "main and supporting actors" in the context of a particular topic area; etc.

Three, two, one - Action: Interaction Routines

Harvard University: Going Digital - Section 3: Encourage student interactions

Mind the gap! 5 communicative activities for the socially distanced classroom

Flinga:
Digital pin board, also useful for creating simple mindmaps; can be used collaboratively; account necessary for teacher (not for students), free of charge

Onlinequestions:
Digital pin board which can be used to collect questions, for a written brainstorming or for obtaining feedback; no account necessary, free of charge

Sli.do:
Tool for polls and votings, integrated in Webex

Tweedback:
Plattform for obtaining anonymous real-time feedback (Chat-Wall, Panic-Button, Quiz)

After 20 minutes of lecture/instruction at the latest, you should include interaction to keep your students involved: "Ideally, the audience's attention, which already wanes after 10 to 20 minutes, can be cushioned by a constant change in the teaching-learning format, such as can be systematically integrated into the planning and delivery of a lecture with the help of the sandwich format (Kadmon 2008, Kornacker/Venn 2013)." (cf. Baumann 2009, p.6)[3]. These interactions, whether in a lecture or seminar, can be kept small and need not take much time - but it must be ensured that there is a subsequent response to student participation. For example:
  • Conduct a partner interview on a specific question, have results noted (in chat, on an Etherpad, via mindmap, on virtual cards with Onlinequestions or Flinga) and refer to them afterwards.
  • Start a survey (e.g. via survey tool) and comment and discuss the results.
  • Collect topics and questions of the students on a board and prioritize them via star rating (e.g. via Onlinequestions). The most urgent questions are dealt with directly afterwards.
  • Conduct (anonymous) written brainstorming (via an Etherpad or a digital bulletin board such as Onlinequestions or Conceptboard) - either in advance on prior knowledge ("What do you already know about topic XY?") or after an input ("Which three points have stuck with you?"). Subsequently, incorporate the mentioned and/or also missing points into the course.
  • "Panic button": students can anonymously signal by selecting a button if there is a problem (e.g. "too fast", "too quiet", "please give an example", "last slide again" - e.g. via Tweedback.
  • Provide a platform where questions can be asked anonymously at any time (e.g. online requests or via an anonymous forum); these questions should then be taken up during the course or dealt with later (the forum is particularly suitable for this).
  • At the end of a session, have small groups (via breakout rooms) create five-minute collaborative take-home messages or review questions ("What could be review questions for today's session?"). If a digital bulletin board or Etherpad is used for this, the results can also be shared between groups. This collection is a good way to start the upcoming session.

„Together Everyone Achieves More“: TEAMs in online learning

Group work that extends over a longer period of time can strengthen the sense of community among the students and thus have a positive effect on the working atmosphere in the course. It is important that you, as the lecturer, provide very good guidance for the groups (what exactly is required, what time is available for processing, when can questions be asked, how is the learning product evaluated if necessary), insert interim checks to check whether everyone is on the right track, as well as a clear safeguarding of results (where/when/in what form are the results presented). It is also very helpful for successful group work to discuss group dynamics with the students in advance and to let them jointly define the rules of good cooperation in the groups. Instead of "groups" and "group work," you can also talk about "teams of experts" to emphasize the professional roles your students take on in this setting. Examples of larger-scale group work:
  • Working on a project (Project-Based Learning), e.g., collaboratively creating a digital learning product (video, podcast, tutorial, etc.).
  • Working on a problem (problem-based learning, case-based learning).
  • Working on a research assignment (inquiry-based learning).
If you as a lecturer have the possibility to have tutorial support for your course, this is also a good way to support group work. The introduction of a peer level can very well contribute to students feeling picked up and taken care of.

Meet and mingle: Get in touch with other teams

Etherpad:
Editor for synchronous, collaborative text creation; integrated in ILIAS

Conceptboard:
Digital pin board which can also be used for mindmaps; ideal for collaborative work; account necessary, free of charge

Onlinequestions:
Digital pin board which can be used to collect questions, for a written brainstorming or for obtaining feedback; no account necessary, free of charge

In non-virtual settings, there is a lot of activity in the room during team work. The groups can usually see and hear each other, comments can be shouted to each other or the others can be briefly "eavesdropped" on. In addition, you as the teacher wander through the room, are approachable and intervene in a corrective manner if necessary. This gives the students and you orientation: Where are we right now? What are the individual groups saying? Are we on the right track? In the digital space, this orientation is missing. This can be remedied by wandering through the virtual group spaces and by offering targeted contact opportunities for the groups among themselves. For example:
  • Use of collaborative tools (e.g. Etherpad, online bulletin board or similar), in which all groups as well as the teacher can make entries and view those of the other groups at the same time.
  • Set up a "mingle phase"/"get together": for a certain period of time, students are allowed to visit another group and then go back to their group with new information.
  • A method in which structured mixing (between core groups and expert groups) is designed is the group puzzle.
  • Indirect contacts of the groups can also be established via the teacher, for example by carrying information from one group to the next (e.g. "the other group has also wondered about this, ..."). Communication of new questions that affect everyone can be sent to all groups at once via a "broadcast" message, for example.
  • Alternatively, the message can be copied into each chat of the subgroups or channels or entered into the collaborative tools used (e.g. Etherpad or Onlinequestions).

Give me a break

Being "nailed down" at the PC is very exhausting. You can strengthen the sense of community by taking breaks together. For example:
  • A nice way to get active during a break is to do some sports together.The Justus Liebig University offers trainers for online breaks. A sports trainer comes into the online-meeting and does exercises with the participants for 5 minutes.
  • Drinking coffee together: everyone picks up a cup and holds it up.
  • Include playful elements like "Rock - paper - scissors" - each person chooses a partner on the screen and makes a laola when he/she has won);
  • search for objects at home (everyone turns off the camera, order: "Search as fast as you can for something round, something blue, something soft, something liquid .... If you are successful, please quickly turn on the camera and show your found items").
  • Instead of turning off the camera during a break, instructors and students can place a "placeholder" in front of the camera (attach a smiley face to the chair, present a character, an object, a book, etc.). This creates interest in each other and probably a laugh or two. It also shows when the room slowly fills up with students again, and it gives an opportunity to engage in small talk after the break.

Let’s talk about our learning success: What have we actually learned today?

Conceptboard:
Digital pin board which can also be used for mindmaps; ideal for collaborative work; account necessary, free of charge

Oncoo:
Several tools for synchronous teaching (account necessary, free of charge)

Sli.do:
Tool for polls and votings, integrated in Webex

Onlinequestions:
Digital pin board which can be used to collect questions, for a written brainstorming or for obtaining feedback; no account necessary, free of charge

At the end of the session, it makes sense to summarize together: What have we actually learned today?
The following methods can be used here, for example:
  • Collaborative creation of a Take Home Message (e.g., on an online bulletin board or as an online card prompt with Oncoo or online queries).
  • Flashlight (e.g., as posts sent together at a specific time in chat / "waterfall")
  • collaborative creation of a word cloud, mindmap or learning map for the session (e.g. with an online pinboard like Conceptboard or a WordCloud question in Sli.do)

Let’s talk about the learning process: How well were we actually able to learn today - and what could go better next time?

Oncoo:
Several tools for synchronous teaching (account necessary, free of charge)

Conceptboard:
Digital pin board which can also be used for mindmaps; ideal for collaborative work; account necessary, free of charge

A dialogue about the learning process can be initiated by keeping individual learning diaries and/or asking for anonymous feedback. Through individual preparation or anonymous participation opportunities, inhibitions can be lowered so that students are then more likely to participate verbally in plenary sessions. It may sound paradoxical that anonymity can promote social inclusion, but according to Mittelstädt (2020, p.75)[4], "of all things, the anonymity of the digital offers a form of community and connectedness for which presence is otherwise an obstacle." The (anonymous) sharing of personal learning experiences via digital surveys can also lead to "deeper reflection and more productive processes of cognition" (cf. ibid.).
It is important that the feedback from the students then also has consequences, e.g. a topic is explained again, a teaching method is modified or a good suggestion is taken up. Feedback can be obtained in the digital space, for example, as follows, and then put up for discussion:
  • Anonymous poll: As a poll or vote with the polling tools of the web conferencing systems.
  • Mood picture: Show several pictures/photos/postcards etc. and ask participants to put a cross on the picture that best corresponds to their current mood via the commenting tool of Webex (when the screen is released, a bar appears at the top where the "commenting tools" can be activated and released "for all participants"). If applicable, as an addition: whoever wants to can say something either in the chat or verbally about why he/she chose a picture.
  • Dialogue corners on digital pin board (e.g. concept board): What helped you learn today? What made your learning difficult today? What suggestions do you have for improvement? What other feedback would you like to give?
  • Also conceivable as "5-finger feedback": thumb: this is top; index finger: I would like to point this out; middle finger: this is flop; ring finger: I will take this with me; little finger: this came up short for me.

What experiences did you make? What other ideas do you have?

Have you already tried out some of the tips and ideas? What went well? What didn't work so well?
Are there any other ideas you've tried to get in touch with students in the sessions and to foster communication and collaboration in the learning community?

Share your experiences and ideas with us - use the comment function on this page.

[1] Baumann, Martin (2009): „Hallo, ich spreche auch zu Ihnen da hinten! Wie man große Gruppen nicht nur „be-lehren“, sondern auch mit ihnen arbeiten kann.“ In: Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre (NHHL), E 2.15.
[2] Wettstein, Alexander & Diana Raufelder (2021): Beziehungs- und Interaktionsqualität im Unterricht. Theoretical foundations and empirical ascertainability. In: Hagenauer, Gerda & Diana Raufelder (Eds.): Social Inclusiveness. Social relations in the focus of school and teacher education. Waxmann: Münster/New York, pp. 17-31.
[3] Baumann, Martin (2009): „Hallo, ich spreche auch zu Ihnen da hinten! Wie man große Gruppen nicht nur „be-lehren“, sondern auch mit ihnen arbeiten kann.“ In: Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre (NHHL), E 2.15.
[4] Mittelstädt, Ina (2020): Welche Präsenz? In: In: Stanisavljevic, Marija & Tremp, Peter (Hrsg.): (Digitale) Präsenz – Ein Rundumblick auf das soziale Phänomen Lehre. Pädagogische Hochschule Luzern: Luzern, S.73-75.


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