Encouraging Student Engagement During Synchronous Meetings: Preventing Midterm Drop-Off

From Faculty Focus

Some students become busy, overwhelmed, or unmotivated by the middle of the semester. This phenomenon has become even more apparent with COVID-19 protocols. Which is why building a community of learners has become so important despite physical distancing, but it’s also much more challenging. Below are six scenarios with strategies and ideas to encourage accountability and build in motivation from the start of the semester so the momentum continues until the end.

Scenario 1: Your student logs onto the synchronous meeting, but they do not move in or out of their breakout room, or they are still logged in after class has ended.

Accountability

• Create a shared workspace for students (Google doc, virtual team story board, Microsoft Teams)
• Tie participation points to the submission of an in-class activity
• Assign a reflection piece about the activity, or have students’ self-grade their effort on a learning activity and identify skills they can build
• Embed hands-on activities or real-world relevance in which students are obliged to work together
• Have students complete a writing activity after the class meeting to answer a question. To encourage academic integrity, phrase the question as a synthesis and have students connect previous class material, personal experience, or have them critically assess their reasoning or the steps they completed for the activity
• If grading is burdensome, have students submit as a group assignment

Strategies

• Assign roles to each student and rotate them during the semester to ensure an opportunity in each role
• Let particular groups know beforehand you will call on them to share with the class
• Let the class know you will randomly call on groups to share with the rest of class
• Contact individual students with a kind email: “I noticed during the past few classes you are still logged onto the LMS when class finishes. I hope everything is okay. I am concerned that you are not engaged in the class and wanted to let you know that I have noticed.” When I’ve sent these to students, I often receive a speedy reply. Students either explain what is going on or commit to make a better effort in the class

Continue reading for more scenarios…