5 ways to keep your pupils engaged remotely.
Thu 11 February, 2021
During these uncertain times, remote learning continues to be an essential form of education. But of course, this means that the teacher is not sat directly in front of the pupils. In some instances this isn’t a problem, however, there are times where it can be.
These instances would be if pupils require help as well as keeping them interested and engaged with the lessons. This article will give 5 ways which may help with this. By altering your lessons using these it will make lessons more enjoyable which links to the pupils learning more. So, let’s get to it.
1. Find ways for pupils to communicate with each other
In a normal classroom environment, it is easy to get students to communicate with the teacher and the rest of the class, but on a computer this can become hard on the likes of ZOOM. This can make group activities much harder and less interaction taking place. This may cause boredom as well as students communication skills to deteriorate. To solve this there have been new portals on communication apps that allow for 1 to 1 communication as well as the ability to split students off into smaller chats to do classroom activities. Making online learning experience much more like a normal classroom. These smaller groups can still be monitored for help and assistance. This allows pupils to communicate and engage in group activities and can be seen, as better than a normal classroom as other groups won’t distract each other.
2. Frequent communication with students
Holding students’ attention for an hour at a time can be challenging, particularly for elementary schoolers. Keeping them actively engaged with lessons on their computer can be even more difficult. Depending on the needs of your class, consider breaking up real-time sessions into shorter blocks of 15 to 20 minutes, split up with independent learning activities. For example, instead of holding a live class from 9 to 10 a.m., you could meet from 9 to 9:20, send students to do some research for 40 minutes and gather again from 10 to 10:20 to hear about their findings.
Making time for the students on top of this is also greatly important. If a student appears to be struggling with their work or isn’t showing up to lessons, send them (or their parents) a private message to ask about how they’re doing. Student engagement is about relationships, and while you might have to work harder to cultivate those relationships remotely, it’s still possible and important to connect with your students and let them know they have your support.
3. Make lessons fun with new educational activities and game’s
Being on your computer day in day out for school on endless meetings school can become monotonous and demotivational. Therefore, it is key to make lessons more interactive and fun. There are so many educational activities and games out there that can split the day up and create things to look forwards to. For example, a Kahoot quiz in the morning to go over what was learned the day before. Or even send a student off on an educational game for 20 minutes and come back to compare who got what scores and what they have learned. these make lessons fun, interactive and give them something to look forwards to. Which are all key to online learning.
4. Set targets frequently to give students something to aim for
Setting frequent targets for students allows students, teachers and parents to monitor their progress and make sure that they are performing as they should on the online learning platforms. This also gives chance for teachers and pupils to communicate frequently as suggested to do before. By monitoring students closely any sudden changes could be the signs of not understanding teachers or poor teaching methods. This allows teachers to go back over misunderstandings. This may be missed in a normal teaching environment but by setting frequent targets this will be picked up and acted on.
5. Feedback, find out what the students want
Moving on from Communication and setting targets it is also key for students to give feedback to the teachers or uncomfortable doing so get their parents to. This allows teachers to know if pupils are understanding and enjoying the lessons. By doing this it also shows if pupils are engaged. Even if unscheduled it should be encouraged for pupils to give feedback to teachers and parents whenever they feel comfortable.
To conclude, these 5 ways to keep pupils engaged during remote learning should give pupils a much better learning experience. This is due to higher engagement levels creating a better learning environment and allowing students to have a better understanding. All key in helping students get the best out of remote learning.