3/9/21

 

Student Engagement During Hybrid Learning

@LisaBerghoff/@MrKimDHS

Unsurprisingly, it seems like staff and students have been able to adjust to the added hurdle of essentially teaching and learning in two unique and separate environments at the same time. But while we're keeping our boat afloat, it is clear that we still need some instruction and guidance on where the ship is headed. Even though we can put together the technical pieces of getting Zoom and your webcam and your projector all powered up and interconnected, it's going to be a heck of a challenge to use those synergies to create authentic learning for kids. 

After the novelty of Zoom/Meet wore off long ago, I'm sure you've felt the uneasy feeling that something wasn't quite right about collaborating via video conference. It became exhausting teaching to a bunch of squared, blank faces on your computer screen, and if you've ever been on the participant side of a video conference meeting, I'm sure you know how hard it can be to stay engaged and how easy it can be to mute yourself and turn off video. So with hybrid learning, I'm finding that I'm increasingly worried about splitting my attention between my physical students, who generally seem revitalized and eager to communicate live, and your students on the other side of the screen. So how do we keep our remote students engaged, while simultaneously taking advantage of students being in the classroom?

Tools for formative checks: Physical vs Remote

Continue utilizing instructional tech tools to structure conversation and collaboration with your remote students in small groups. This strategy isn't new, but now you've got some decisions to make about your physical students. Do you ask your physical students to take out their Chromebooks and interact with your remote students the same way they would've done if they were at home? Maybe, maybe not. I constantly think about their incentives for being in the building. If we ask them to do the same thing they would've done at home, but now with masks, are we effectively leveraging the benefits of their physical presence? Perhaps create a Jamboard session and have students groups create their own graphical representations of a problem or solution. Have your physical students interact on the actual whiteboard (social distancing of course), take a picture of their work and upload it as a separate frame for your remote students to see. While that may not seem like much of a structural difference, I've already noticed a stark contrast in engagement with my physical students.

Instructional Tools for Formative checks (among many...don't have to do them all. Pick a few that work for your students)

• Jamboard: Digital Whiteboard
• Sample activity, Sample Activity
• Padlet
• Sample Activity
• GimKit
• Peardeck
• Prezi
• Flipgrid

Staying connected with Communication

Speaking of splitting your attention, it can be easy for you to miss a Zoom/Meet chat question that a remote student asked if your focus is elsewhere. While you can continue to utilize Zoom/Meet chat, there are other options:

• Google Chat: Create a room and threaded conversations that are easily archived and accessed

Also, have you also noticed that weirdly enough coming back to school has made it harder to have private conversations? Back when everyone was remote, you could utilize breakout rooms for 1:1 talks. While there is no easy fix, at the very least you can plug in headphones, make sure your audio is switched from your BCC950 Webcam to your headset/earphones, and utilize a breakout room. Even though your physical students might be able to hear your side of the conversation, they won't hear the student (or even know who they are)

Another quick note, if you are worried about your private Zoom chats being projected to the board, you can also toggle its position by "popping" it off of your main Zoom window and to a separate screen:

While also being able to merge it back:

You can also simultaneously join your Zoom/Meet twice on your cellphone or iPad. If your laptop is chained to the front of the classroom due to the Monitor/Webcam/HDMI setup, you can move to different parts of your classroom (if possible with social distancing) with your second device to stay connected with your remote students. Your phone would essentially be a second camera/mic (just remember to mute your laptop).

Still learning and growing

Every day we are collectively learning more about the nuances of hybrid learning. Like remote, it's impossibly far from ideal but still within the realm of our adaptive practices. Again take some pressure off of yourself and your students! You're probably doing much better than you think. If you have any other tips or strategies for Hybrid, feel free to write below!