Best Strategies to Ensure Higher Student Engagement

Improving engagement in virtual learning is important for achieving the best outcomes in the learning process.

FREMONT, CA: Virtual classrooms are the new normal in teaching and learning, particularly after the COVID-19 outbreak. This sea change in the education system has achieved considerable success. But with the advantages of flexible learning come a set of hurdles—the significant one being how to keep the learners engaged, alert, and willing to communicate. Achieving students’ attention and keeping them engaged is always daunting, but it has become all the more tricky with the virtual environment. Here are some learning strategies to improve engagement in the virtual classroom.

• Online Classroom Decorum

Educators can advise students to maintain decorum in a virtual class environment, with a proper place to sit, away from all kinds of distractions. Selecting a virtual platform that provides a structured classroom environment with two-way communication is key. Students can mute/unmute themselves, raise a query during a class. The audio and video must be of high quality. The language of communication should not be rude and discouraging. It should provide opportunities to all students alike to ask questions. 

• Using the Right Technology Platform

Leveraging the right platform helps enhance student participation through real-time interaction and access to data. Choosing a platform that is feature-packed for improved communication, interaction, and engagement. In today’s fast-paced world, learners expect to be constantly connected and want immediate responses. Online learning must be active learning with features like raise-hand, surveys, and reactions.

• Communicating in Many Formats

Exploring and utilizing multiple choices for online teaching and learning. Firms can arrange discussion forums, share recorded audios or videos, attach large documents in emails, and many others. Explanatory screencast videos are seamless to create and can be accessed easily by learners at a convenient time. Formats should not be complex for users to understand. 

• Interactive Learning

Online classes should not mean that learners just sit around and attend a class passively. It should be interactive. Therefore, educators should design a course to engage online learners, get them speaking, raise hands, and actively participate in learning. Students can be given several tasks for active learning where they perform a survey after collecting data, do a group discussion, conduct interviews, case studies, analyze data, and many more. 

Improving engagement in virtual learning is important for achieving the best outcomes in the learning process.