by Lisa Forbes
Maybe it’s just me but if I do the same thing for too long, I get extremely bored. Maybe I’m projecting this issue onto my students but I assume they feel the same so I try to design classes so students never know what is going to happen next. I believe that the ever-changing nature keeps them more engaged because they don’t want to miss what is going to happen. They never know when there’s going to be a shift in visual scenery or when they might be asked to do something entirely different than what they were asked to do in the last 15 minutes.
I recently studied my own teaching and the students involved in my study said that due to the highly interactive nature of my classes, if they weren’t paying attention they feared they would let down their peers if we suddenly began a group competition or activity. I’ve never required my students to be “on-camera” in Zoom but all of them always are. Maybe that’s normal for other faculty too but if not, I wonder if it has to do with the fact that my students feel that it is important to be engaged due to the unpredictability of class time or that I expect them to be co-constructors of knowledge instead of passive learners.
Back to ever-changing environments – It might not seem as though you’re able to “move around” a lot while sitting in front of separate computer screens, but think about it as moving visually rather than physically. Think of the main Zoom room as one setting, breakout rooms as another setting, then different components of digital technology as other settings (i.e., videos, games, websites, etc.). From small group discussions, you can instruct students to go back to the main Zoom room to consolidate smaller group discussions then you can take a break, maybe play an optional 2-minute video of a guided deep breathing exercise (because virtual learning is stressful!) and then assign them to breakout rooms again but this time with a different set of peers. See, ever-changing. I try to never stay in one virtual environment for too long so they do not disengage.
I like to think of my lesson plans as a big sandbox of endless opportunities. As I am designing a class, I sit down in the sand and start scooping, shaping, molding, using different toys to try and create a new and exciting piece. I think this is part of the fun in teaching – coming up with new and fresh ways to teach content and facilitate discussions. I have found that the more creative I can make my classes, the more excited I am to teach them. The more excited I am to teach, the more energy, enthusiasm, and passion I bring with me. I think students can see that. I’m not sure how that impacts their learning but I know it can’t hurt. So, jump in the sand and start building. 🙂
