By Lindsay Lamb
As we move to online learning this fall, we are documenting best practices for educators to use in a virtual environment. We gathered insight from interviews with educators, reviewed recent literature, attended virtual summits and webinars, and interviewed students and families.
As we discussed in our previous post, providing students with social and emotional learning is critical at this time. That being said, as important as fostering social and emotional skill development and creating engaging content are, they will fall flat if educators do not build relationships with their students. As all educators know, building relationships is critical to successful student engagement, both in person and virtually. It is also a major challenge for the virtual environment. To build relationships virtually, we urge educators to consider embedding the following practices into their lessons:
- Share personal stories
- Set norms
- Set expectations of the online learning environment
- Foster small group discussions
- Routinely check in with students and families
Share personal stories. Sharing experiences and being open and vulnerable was a common theme that ran throughout the internship. During an observation of a mentor circle call, one mentor described how she handled a difficult work situation, showing her vulnerability in order to help her interns relate to the material.
Set norms. Educators can begin to build community by setting norms at the beginning of the school year (or program) to convey clear expectations and promote mutual trust and respect. These norms should include guidance on when cameras should be turned on and off, when and how to mute or unmute yourself, how much participation is required, when emails can be sent, what students can do if they have a question, and how students should communicate with others. It is important to revisit these norms during each class/group meeting to make sure they are still relevant and to check in to see if new norms should be added. To ensure that norms are internalized and adopted, consider co-constructing the norms with students. Doing so will increase buy-in, ensure students’ voices are heard, and help make the norms constructive and positive.
Set expectations for the online learning environment. As part of the norm setting process, it would be wise for educators to spend some time discussing expectations for the online lessons. In particular, younger students will require additional time learning how to engage in online learning. It is unrealistic to begin school online in the way teachers normally would in an in-person setting. Much more time must be spent describing the virtual format and what is expected of students, answering students’ (and families) questions, and providing ample time for students to get used to online learning. Many students do not know how to interact in an online environment and need help learning how to do so (e.g., difficulty for teachers to see all students, when the teacher or another student is talking, do not talk over them; raise your hand if you have a question; know how to mute yourself). Even older students can use guidelines to help set norms to foster positive interactions with each other online.
Foster small group discussions. Only offering Zoom meetings for 20 or more students will not effectively build relationships with students. Instead, educators can use the breakout session feature in Zoom to create small groups for students to engage and connect with each other in a more meaningful way. This allows students to connect with each other and build relationships, talk to each other without the conversation getting lost, and relate to each other outside of the larger group setting. This will be difficult for younger students, so family help will be required. Another option is for educators to meet one-on-one or in small groups with each student as frequently as possible. This could be done weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly and is particularly important for younger students. All students need to know that they matter, that they are cared for, especially now. While this might be more time consuming for some educators, the payoff is far reaching.
Routinely check in with students and families. Finally, we know online learning will have its ups and downs. Not everything educators planned out will work, and some things will work well for some students and families while others will not. The key to navigating this conundrum is constantly checking in with students and families. Our advice is to have daily check ins regarding the technology access, duration of lessons, content of lessons, and how the student is feeling. This will also build relationships with each student and their family allowing them to feel more comfortable advocating for their/their child’s needs.
Online learning is not perfect, particularly for young children. Helping educators identify best practices to use while engaging with children online will help make online learning a more positive experience for everyone. Stay tuned for more best practices and the launch of our report in partnership with Ignite MindShift soon!