G-Suit Training

Facilitating Student
Engagement in Virtual
Classrooms
Developed specifcially for the Council’s G-Suite Training Activity

September, 2020
Student Engagement in F2F Classrooms
● In face-to-face (F2F) classrooms, students engage
formally and informally with each other and with the
teacher
● Formal Engagement ● Informal Engagement
○ Organized group work ○ Friendly rivalry
○ Class discussions ○ Gossip and banter
○ Whole class tasks and ○ Friendships & relationships
activities ○ Conflicts and arguments
○ Peer sharing and ○ Jokes and pranks
collaboration
2
Student Engagement in Virtual Clsssrooms
● It is difficult for virtual classrooms
to foster the high levels of Student
engagement found in F2F settings. engagement
with the teacher
● There are 3 types of engagement
that should be considered for
Student Student
virtual classrooms. engagement engagement
● The next few slides suggest some with each with the
other content
strategies for fostering student
engagement in virtual classrooms. 3
Strategies for promoting
Students’ Engagement with the Teacher
● Provide students with different ways to engage you:
o Incorporate opportunities for synchronous video-
conferencing;
o Schedule ‘office hours’ for students to engage you
directly and personally;
o Make yourself available oustide of the virtual
classroom – by telephone, email, WhatsApp, etc.
4
Students’ Engagement with the Teacher
● Use feedback to move the course forward. Provide timely,
meaningful feedback that challenges students and
compels them to respond.
● Use feedback to put ‘pressure’ on students to say
something. Do not try to have ‘the final word’ when
interacting with students. An example is shown in the next
few slides:
5
Sample Feedback to Students
● Students in a grade 7 Social Studies Class were asked to respond to this
item in a Google Classroom…
● Here is how one student responded…
6
Continued >>>
Here is an example of a poor response from the teacher to the student’s comment:
Response A
The teacher’s s feedback does not encourage the student to give a meaningful
response. The teacher’s feedback has effectively ended the discussion. The natural
response the student is likely to give is ‘noted’ or simply something to acknowledge
the teachers’ comment.
7
Continued >>>
Here is an example of a better response from the teacher to the student’s comment:
Response B
In this case, the teacher’s feedback invites the student to continue engaging in the
discussion. By asking questions – rather than making declarative statements – the
teacher places ‘pressure’ on the students to keep the dialogue going.
8
Continued >>>
Students’ Engagement with Each Other
Develop class/community
Incorporate discussion Set and share standards for
rules (netiquette) to guide
questions as a part of course discussion posts – frequency,
students’ interaction with
assessment adequacy, etc.
each other.
Assign scores for Develop and assign Delay your intervention when
participation in class collaborative tasks for students ‘cross talk’ (talk to
discussion students to complete in groups each other directly).
9
Students’ Engagement with Each Other
● A course can employ either self-paced learning (SPL) or
directed learning (DL). Students’ engagement with content is
significantly affected by the decision to self-pace a course or not.
● ‘Self-paced’ means learners determine how quickly they
progress from one topic to the next. SPL allows learners to move
on to new material once they believe they are ready or have
mastered the current material.
● In DL, the teacher determines the pace at which students
advance through the course. 10
Self-Paced Learning vs. Directed Learning
Self-Paced Learning Directed Learning
• Students take course at their • Structured learning environment which
own pace is led by the teacher and who sets the
• No set schedule is in place pace for the class
• All course material available • A fixed, pre-determined schedule and
once the course begins progression sequence is in place
• Flexible assessment points and • Course material is opened or unlocked
dates at specific time or after certain
• Flexible course sequence – performance standards have been met
students may choose to access • Set dates are established for exams
the course in any sequence and assignments. 11
Self-Paced Learning vs. Directed Learning
Pros and Cons
Self-Paced Learning
Pros Cons
• Student mastery is prioritised • Low sense of community as students are at
• Higher levels of students’ motivation due different points in the lesson
to greater control • Student-to-student (S2S) engagement is low
Directed Learning
Pros Cons
• High sense of community and higher levels • Gaps may develop in students’
of participation mong students understanding if the pace is too quick.
• Greater degree of course structure helps • Students may become frustrated if the pace
students to complete the course of the lesson is too quick or too slow. 12
Self Pacing and S2S engagement
● Student-to-student (S2S) engagement may be low in
courses that are self-paced. This is due to the fact that:
o learners do not usually engage with the same material concurrently
o Collaborative learning is not usually practical since students do not
focus on each topic as a community.
● The decision to self-paced a lesson must consider the

trade-off between promoting students’ mastery (as SPL
does) and facilitating S2S engagement (as DL does).
13
Students’ Engagement with the Content
● Build predictability into your course by establishing
patterns of course activities:
o Design each topic so that it follows a set pattern – for example, if a
topic always has 2 discussion questions and a quiz, this structure
helps student to plan accordingly.
o Establish a rhythm for the course – there is a quiz every Friday and a
discussion post due every Wednesday, for example.
o Develop standard length/duration for topics – all the work in a topic
is to be covered in a week, for example. 14
● Just as in F2F lessons, make an effort to share learning
objectives for each topic, and if necessary, for each lesson
● Provide students with a roadmap for each topic – not just
the learning objectives, but also assessment activities
present in the topic.
● Use a variety of media within a topic – videos, images,
interactive PowerPoint, for example.
15
● Organise course in a systematic and logical manner.
This is the topic
representing a
unit of work
Here is one way

of organising a
week’s lessons These are
lessons for each
day over a 1
for a Grade 6 week period.
Math class.
16
● Here is another way of organising the Mathematics
content for a week.
This is the topic

representing a
unit of work
These are lessons
that students will
cover for the
week.
17
These lessons could be placed
Here is a final way to organise under topics to help students
determine how they interact
the course for the week. with the content.
These learning materials are not

sequenced in any meaningful
This is a very poor way of way. Using numbers (1.1, 1.2,
etc) could help.
structuring the course.
o Topics are poorly used This topic is ‘Comparing
o Sequencing of content is
Fractions’ but it contains
material related to ordering
virtually non-existent and addition of fractions.
o Very few visual cues are used to

organise the lessons/learning This topic does not have any
materials – topics, sequencing material in it. The lesson on
ordering fractions should be
cues such as numbers, etc. placed here. 18
Final words
● It is crucial to develop an orientation package for your
course.
● When learners access the course, they should be able to
find information regarding
o the structure of the course
o the protocols regarding assessment – type, frequency, etc.
o the rhythm/structure of the course
o the support measures built into the course – contact info, etc
19

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Facilitating Student

Developed specifcially for the Council’s G-Suite Training Activity

● Here is how one student responded…

● The decision to self-paced a lesson must consider the

Here is one way

This is the topic

These learning materials are not

o Very few visual cues are used to

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