by Lisa Forbes

I don’t think that a lot of lecturing is a good idea for any class but even more so for a virtual course. I bet you’ve been on some Zoom meetings where someone was just talking AT you and I bet you found it difficult to stay present and engaged. With my virtual classes, I’ve found that if I talk for more than 10 minutes straight without engaging them in some way, I’ve lost them. Therefore, I believe that synchronous class time should be reserved for discussions, role-plays, and interactive games. Here’s some ideas I have tried in place of synchronous lectures:

Role-Plays

I teach mental health counseling courses so my classes naturally lend themselves to role-plays because students have to practice the counseling skills. But, no matter what the discipline, consider how you can incorporate role-plays. Role-plays enhance student engagement and drastically reduce the theory-to-practice gap in order to increase skill acquisition. Even within the role-plays in my classes, I try to get creative or switch them up so they aren’t the same old thing every single time. One time I had all the students engage in a suicide assessment role-play with the students as a collective-mind counselor and me as the client and I played Demi Levato but I didn’t tell them who I was ahead of time. It was a game in my head to see who would figure out what person I was playing. They did. I also created what I now call the “very complicated role-play” where I sent the students to smaller breakout rooms and provided them detailed instructions. Essentially, there were five mini role-plays within the larger role-play where students assumed a role and each role-play built on the previous one. The students said they liked struggling through it and just figuring it out together. It probably activated their brain way more than if I spewed information at them that they’d likely end up forgetting soon anyway.

Self-Initiated Research

I believe it’s important to make students responsible for their learning so instead of a boring lecture, I instruct students to research a topic on their own time to come back to the next synchronous class prepared for a group discussion or activity. Students then engage in a discussion and I have them share something that they found from their research – an interesting and related blog, video, resource, etc. Student-lead research forces them to go down a lot of “rabbit holes” as they search for answers which makes them learn the material on a deeper level and in turn, makes them more invested in their learning. I’ve even received a few enthusiastic side-bar emails from students as they researched telling me something they found or sending me something they thought I might like. But, one of the biggest benefits from student-initiated research is that students usually speak about the concept with much more passion than they would have if I simply spewed the information at them. One big wake up call I had as a mom was when my oldest went to Kindergarten – the kinds of things they expected them to do independently made me realize I wasn’t putting enough trust in my child and that I could put more responsibility on him and in turn, he will achieve more. The same goes for our adult students – we need to put more trust in them and put more of the responsibility of learning on their shoulders. I’ve found they enthusiastically rise to the challenge. 

Small-Group Competitions During Discussions

I randomly assign students to Zoom breakout rooms for small group discussions. I have the groups discuss the topic for a certain amount of time, just as any typical discussion would go, but to enhance their investment and engagement in the discussion, I have the groups create some type of “product” from the discussion to share when they return to the large group. Sometimes I have them come up with a three-sentence theory to explain an issue that has no one right answer, or develop an acrostic based on a list they constructed from their conversations, or a metaphor for the concept being discussed, or develop “best practice” indicators based on the topic, or suggestions for a person or population we are discussing, etc. The “products” can be anything because the type of product isn’t important, the actual discussion around the content is the important part but when the students know they have to produce a product that they will soon show their peers to possibly win a prize, it makes the discussions much more lively and focused. Hint: be sure to continuously pop in and out of the small group discussions, provide them very clear instructions so they don’t get disengaged or frustrated, and use the “broadcasting” feature in the breakout rooms to provide time warnings. 

Video Critiques

I believe the best way to learn something is by actually doing it (e.g., role-plays) but the next best, in my mind, is critiquing someone else engaging in the skill. I’ve found that video critiques can work really well in a synchronous session because students can discuss their ideas and critiques within real-time and get immediate feedback on their thought processes and have an opportunity for co-construction of knowledge. This is much more meaningful in real-time discussion than stale and impersonal asynchronous discussion boards. In the large Zoom room, I describe the activity, provide them the link to the video that will be viewed and critiqued, then I send them to smaller breakout rooms where one person in each group shares their screen and they watch the video as a group. I give them a specific prompt to serve as a lens to view the video from and to guide their discussions. I think these types of discussions work best when there’s no one “right” answer, that way students engage in dialogue from multiple perspectives and viewpoints. This activity makes the learning more hands-on with a real-life example and requires higher level thinking.

As I design fun and play into my classes, sometimes I’m actually designing play but sometimes I am simply taking “dry” or “boring” aspects of traditional education and figuring out ways to do it differently to make it more lively and more engaging. Maybe there’s an idea from above that you could try too. Or, maybe you have other ideas that effectively replace synchronous lecture, I’d love to hear about it!

I think icebreakers are underutilized in higher education. You don’t start playing a sport without stretching so why do we expect students to jump straight into learning and without a warm-up? Maybe it’s because the term “icebreaker” has become cliche from all of the obligatory professional development retreats where unenthusiastic professionals are forced to engage with their colleagues. Maybe the activities are forced or maybe they’re just not done right but I think we should reclaim icebreakers or maybe rename them to “connection-formers.” Whatever you call them, they’re important.

I recently conducted a research study of my own teaching and the inclusion of fun and play in learning and one approach I used was connection-forming activities. Students who participated in my research study reported that fun and play at the start of each class helped build a sense of community and it allowed them to decompress from their stressful days which opened them up for learning. Once students were able to relax and ease into class and feel a sense of comradery, they were more engaged and active during class. These activities don’t have to take up substantial class time, but I find they have a huge impact on the learning community and the level of active engagement of students. Here are a few ideas for virtual learning that I have tried:

• Polleverywhere Check-ins – Polleverywhere sets up surveys where students text in their answers and the group can instantly see a visual of everyone’s responses in real-time. You can make your prompt anything but I usually ask a single prompt where students text in their current mood with only using an emoji. Students said it felt normalizing to see that they weren’t the only ones overwhelmed or stressed from the day. An added bonus is that some of the emojis students submit are silly and also provide some laughter at the start of class.

   

• Virtual Handshakes or “Selfies” – I split the class into separate Zoom breakout rooms and instruct each group to design their own secret virtual group handshake or instead you could have them take a virtual group “selfie” screenshot. After they create their handshake or screenshot selfies, I have them return to the main Zoom room where each group performs their handshake or shows their selfie. The group with the best example wins a prize. I also have been doing end-of-class virtual group selfies. For my last class, on the last synchronous session, we took a group selfie where everyone wore a hat (the students decided this theme) but the term “hat” was a loose one because some students wore cups, books, and other random objects on their heads. Then after the class I emailed the screen shot selfie to everyone. It’s a fun way to wrap up a course!

   

• Flappy Bird Competitions – Flappy Bird is a free computer-based video game that’s completely absurd – you have to get this little bird to fly through openings in pipes to see who can get to the highest level. I hold these competitions with all students in the main Zoom room, I give them two minutes to play individually and at the end of the two minutes, the student who achieved the highest level wins a prize. Hint: be sure to unmute everyone because hearing their laughter and competitive nature will just make your day. Or with the same idea and set up you can try Can You Draw a Perfect Circle which is also a free computer-based game where you have to try and draw a perfect circle with your mouse and with each try the game gives you a “perfect” percentage – as far as I know, no one’s ever gotten 100%.

   

• Scrolly Questions – For this game, I divide students in groups in breakout rooms and provide them this webpage that contains like, a bagillion random questions. In their groups, one person shares their screen showing the scrolly question website and they start scrolling down the page of random questions. Students take turns and randomly tell the scroller to “STOP!” and whatever question the mouse arrow is pointing to must be answered by the “stopper.” It’s fun and it produces a rich and in-depth discussion that cuts through superficial ways of knowing each other – it creates an instant human connection. The questions on this webpage are just random but you could create your own document with tons of questions that are related to your discipline to make it have more educational value.

   

• Virtual Escape Room – At the start of one of my classes, I randomly assigned the students to different breakout rooms and provided them a link to a virtual escape room I had designed. In their groups they have to use clues to unlock and escape the breakout room which is their ticket back to the main Zoom room to start class. The way I know they actually escaped each lock instead of just leaving the breakout room is once they finally escape, I set a message containing a false promise of virtual cake and a secret password (“bananas”) to get back into the main room. Keep popping in and out of students’ escape rooms in case they need an extra hint and also because it’s so fun to see students struggle through the clues and work as a team to break free!

   

• Cell Phone Photo Fun! – This game can really go in many different directions based on the prompt. I teach mental health counseling so I might give the students a “feeling” as a prompt and they have to scroll through their phone photos and find the first picture that reminds them of that feeling or is the facial expression of that feeling. If they don’t have a phone, you can provide an alternative option of finding anything in their house. Then they share the photo with their small group. You could even connect it to the reading for that class where you have them search for a photo that represents a metaphor for the main concept of the reading for that class period. For example, if my students read about the power of the therapeutic relationship and empathy, they might find a photo in their phone that represents something foundational to a process. Really though, the prompt could be anything…

These are just a few ideas for virtual classes. As I’m exploring the world of fun and play in higher education, I’m discovering that it’s really a lot about creativity, so just think outside of the box and I’m sure you can come up with a lot of other connection-formers! I’d love to hear what you have tried or come up with!

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