Virtual learning has expanded significantly in the last few years. Not only have children experienced online classrooms, but some companies have also adopted virtual training programs for new employees, including adopting virtual office backgrounds in order to build a sense of community and consistency. However, instructors can do more to increase the effectiveness of virtual learning environments.
Collaborate Often With Students
Whether your students are five or 50 years old, they need your time. Make appointments to meet with them one-on-one, even if these meetings occur in virtual environments. Give them opportunities to collaborate with you and their peers regularly. This collaboration encourages your students to get to know you and their peers, building a sense of community while creating innovative solutions.
Set Expectations
Every student needs to know what is expected of them prior to starting their coursework. Therefore, share your expectations with them. For example, do you want regular feedback and will you ask questions that require volunteer responses? How often and what quality of work is required? Will there be tests or other learning measurements used?
Identify how you expect your students to respond when they encounter difficulties. Discuss discussion and group participation requirements as well.
Make Things Fun With Ice Breakers
To improve learning effectiveness, your students need to feel comfortable. One way to improve their comfort level is to use icebreakers. These fun games, tasks and discussions allow the students to learn more about you and their peers. They help develop relationships and connections that the students may be intimidated to initiate on their own.
Create Separate Discussion Rooms
Your curriculum should include assignments that encourage collaboration among your students, such as group tasks. These students will then need areas where they can work together. You can use free Zoom office backgrounds to designate additional breakout or discussion rooms. You can also set aside rooms where your students can meet to work on assignments, get tutoring or simply get to know one another. These rooms also give your students a chance to see you and their peers face-to-face.
Create a Reasonable Curriculum
Many instructors start out with weighty curricula. They believe in their students and may overestimate the amount of information they can process. Therefore, as you build your curriculum, create lessons that have manageable amounts of new information. Be prepared to review each lesson, sometimes several times. Also, give your students time and opportunities to practice and apply what they learn.
Your students may still have questions, so be available for questions and willing to clarify what you are trying to teach them. Overall, give your students the time and exercises they need to solidify the knowledge in their brains.
Vary the Learning Environment
One mistake many instructors make is that they require their students to learn everything on screen. This can be taxing on students’ brains, attention spans and motivation. Although you can increase their attention if you can get them to take notes by hand, they still may become bored watching lectures or doing virtual classroom activities all day.
Therefore, provide variety. Give them off-screen activities. You can also call your students every so often rather than relying solely on video calls.
As you build your classroom environment, don’t forget to adopt customize Zoom backgrounds to distinguish your class from others.