How to Pull Your Students Out of the Screen and Encourage Engagement During Class

I know my student's ID numbers and profile pictures more than I know their faces. While I can bemoan this or whine about how much I'm frustrated by this, none of that will make a difference. Here's the other thing I know people are thinking: "Well, just have them turn their cameras on?" 

Every time I hear this, my brain automatically goes: "That's the lazy way to feel like students are engaged." I somewhat apologize if that statement stings a bit, but it's true. Having a camera on proves a student is engaged as much as putting them in a classroom does. You can see all your students in your room when you're face-to-face with them. Are they all engaged? Does that automatically cause engagement? 

More importantly, from a number of teachers I've talked to, they tried to enforce a cameras-on policy only to have their attendance drop significantly. Their attempt to engage more students ended up having the exact opposite effect in that it resulted in completely disengaged students, who often were the students we need to be focused on the most. 

I don't think the issue is that we can't see students; I think the issue is that we aren't asking for evidence of engagement. We are expecting students to sit passively at their computer while we communicate information to them. How does it go when this is the approach during professional development? Even teachers, supposed to be the model of a lifelong learner, have a hard time being willing to engage in this setup, and that's usually with their cameras on. 

The issue isn't the technology; the issue is the pedagogy. I say that with a sincere understanding that most of us tried student-centered approaches with inquiry built in or group work, only to have them fail miserably in the online environment, which prompted us to switch back to what was comfortable: one-way communication. It sucks waiting for students to respond when we ask a question, so we just stopped asking them. It sucks going into a breakout room to see they've done nothing, so we just stopped doing them. 

I've spent a lot of time thinking about how we got here, and for me it comes down to this: We never built a culture of engagement in our virtual spaces. 

For a lot of us, this is because we didn't know how. Everything was thrown at us all at once, and we just had to survive. We didn't know what was available or how to teach with it. We had to just make it work, and the incredible thing is that teachers everywhere found ways to make it work. 

Now, however, our goal is to make it better. Here is where we get to the big question: How do we build a culture of engagement in an online environment?

1. Intermittent Checks

If you know there isn't going to be a cop checking speed on an open stretch of freeway, are you likely to follow the rules? If you're a better person than me, maybe. If you are like most people and know that you can do what you want without fear of consequences, maybe a different story. 

Kids are no different in this environment. Too often we don't ask students to engage, and as such, they aren't engaged. These don't have to be complicated, but here are some of my favorite ways to ask students to engage in what I call "Signs of Life."

1. Zoom chat (private or public) - Every once in a while, ask a question for students to respond to. Ideally, this should be about their learning, but when all else fails, it can be task-oriented. Sometimes I ask students to explain to me what they need to do on the task; sometimes I tell every student to type their understanding of the concept we're talking about. The key is that every student is expected to engage at whatever level they can. 
2. Participant reactions - Chromebooks may not have access to the emojis in Zoom, but they do have access to the participant reactions where they can put a check or X, tell you to speed up or slow down, etc. Use these. They're quick and simple. Sometimes I literally just yell, "SIGNS OF LIFE" and students give me a check to let me know they're there. 
3. Polls - If you have an account that has polls enabled in Zoom, use them! I have one always set up in my class that just says, "How are you doing with what we're learning?" and the options are (1) I've got it. (2) I have questions. (3) What are we talking about? Once it's set up for that class, I can use it over and over. It's a good pulse check for the class.

2. Interactive Content

If you are going to have students watch a lesson, watch a video, read an article, etc. during class, always ask yourself, "How can I create an interactive experience for the student?" Not only does this provide accountability, but it's just good practice. A passive brain is not a learning brain. So, how do we make these experiences active for our learners?

1. Zoom chat - I'm starting with the easiest because it can really be this simple. "As we watch this video, I'm going to pause, and every time I pause, I want you to put an observation or question in the chat." We do this when we're in the classroom, so why did we stop doing it online?
2. Silent social reading - This is my favorite way for students to read something during class (or asynchronously, too). The idea is that everyone has commenting privileges on one Google Doc, and they add comments as they go. This actually shows me where they are at in the reading while also making it a social activity. (Note: it is helpful to have a plain copy too so that the cursors aren't distracting students who have a harder time focusing while they read)
3. EdPuzzle or Playposit - When I have students watch videos on their own, I almost always use EdPuzzle (but Playposit is great, too). The reason I do it is two-fold. First, it lets me know who actually watched it. There's nothing worse than expecting a student to use the content in an activity only to just then find out they never got the content. Second, it helps the student process the video as they watch.
4. PearDeck or Nearpod - If you're going to use slides for a lesson, use a tool that will help you get students to engage. I use PearDeck for this, but I've seen people use Nearpod for the same thing and have great success. The goal is to be able to actually plan out intentional moments to gather data.

3. Follow-up and Accountability

Before I get into this section, let me say this: PLEASE DON'T GRADE THIS. Like, really, don't. When I say "accountability" I am not at all talking about grades. I've written extensively about why punishing behavior with grades is meaningless and harmful, but the main reason is because it doesn't produce positive long-term effects. The goal here is to give yourself data that you need to inform conversations, have a conversation with students who need to know that you notice their lack of engagement, and provide supports as necessary. 

The goal of this section isn't to punish students. The goal is to take away barriers and provide supports so that they can engage in the learning. Here are some of the important things I've found to help with this:

1. Keep a record. I have a physical table of my students on my desk while I teach. When I ask for students to engage, I make a mark when a student responds. At the end of class, my goal is to have given students multiple chances to engage. A student who has zero marks by their name is now a priority student. That shows me their is a barrier to them engaging (yes, sometimes of their own making) that needs to be addressed.
2. Make contact with the student. Students feel anonymous and unnoticed too often in online environments, and it's this feeling that convinces them they don't have to engage. I have a template made up in Gmail that I send out after classes to touch base with any student who doesn't engage. I don't send them every day. Often I just target students who haven't engaged a few days in a row. They need to know that you notice them, that they are seen. 
3. Make contact with the guardians. Parents are overwhelmed right now. They aren't often able to monitor their student to see if they are engaged. As such, be mindful of what you say when you contact a caregiver. My template usually goes something like this: (1) Be specific in identifying the problem ([Student] hasn't provided evidence of engagement in the past X classes). (2) Acknowledge the reality of the situation (Online learning is incredibly difficult, and I wanted to see how best to support [Student]). (3) Offer an idea that doesn't require labor from the caregiver. (I am going to try to use the private message feature to stay connected with [Student] more during class.) (4) Ask for ideas from the caregiver. (Since you know your student best, do you have any ideas for things that might help them engage more during class?)
4. Leverage support systems. For example, my school allows us to bring small groups of students on campus from 3:00-4:00. My students who aren't engaging are encouraged to come to this, if they would feel safe doing so. Other ideas include checking for anyone who makes home visits, checking for anyone who might be calling students regularly and asking them to add a student or two, etc. It's also important to identify any barriers that might be causing the lack of engagement. If WiFi is an issue, ask hard questions about how students are all being connected.

Final Thoughts

When we talk about building a culture of engagement, it comes down to two things: (1) Frequent, low-stakes opportunities to engage. (2) Data to support conversations and solutions. I don't think this needs to be any more complicated than that. Students should know every day when they show up to our classes that they are going to have lots of opportunities to engage, and that someone is paying attention to them and how they're doing. 

It might take a little time to perfect and really make it flow well, but start by not making things more complicated than they need to be. Tomorrow, have students restate the topic they're learning about in the chat. Record who doesn't do it (or who seems confused), and get in touch with those students (to make it easy, set up a Gmail template). 

That's all it really is, but we have to do it. Students have gotten comfortable not engaging. It will take time to work on that, but it can happen. 

And let's end by talking about why it should happen. The goal is not simply to force all students to pay attention. If students aren't engaging, hopefully that means they are missing social interaction, opportunities for feedback, deepening their understanding of a topic that's relevant to them. That is where the real work lies. We can't expect students to engage in things that don't matter. Step 1 is to create things that matter. Step 2 then, and only then, is to help students learn to engage with it.