Zoom lessons: getting off to a dynamic start!

We all know that engaging students right at the start of a lesson is important. So how do we do this effectively via zoom or other online platforms?

Here are some strategies that we have used:

Using the Chat facility in zoom:

Start the lesson by asking students to answer a short question related to their homework in the Chat area. This can work as a check to see if they have done their preparation work and allows you to ask students to enlarge on their answers. This means that all students are involved in the lesson right from the start.

A Kahoot poll

Kahoot is allowing teachers to upgrade during Covid-19 to 'premium' which has extra features. The poll function is useful as a starter to a lesson i.e. setting 3 or 4 questions re students' current learning experiences or their views on an issue related to the topic students are currently studying. Using a poll is different to a normal Kahoot quiz – no rush to get the right answer, and no winners – only the percentages of who thinks what. Easy to do during a zoom class - just share the kahoot screen with the students - they can do the answers on their phones or toggle between zoom and kahoot pages on their computer.  The results will provide a useful lead in to further discussion.

Using note.ly

note.ly  allows students to put up 'sticky notes' on a board and this is more visual and colourful than just using the Chat box. If you set up an account, you can share your link with students. They then open the link in their browser and each student posts on the board their thoughts/answers to the question you have set - these sticky notes then appear on your main note.ly board which you can share via zoom.

Involving students in a written feedback task

We have already done a blog on using breakout rooms for setting up a debate. Another idea is to get students to complete a written task to summarise their Breakout room discussions and which they can then feedback to the rest of the group. It is possible to use the Whiteboard function for this; students write their ideas on the whiteboard in their groups and then share with the whole class. An alternative to the whiteboard which I find a bit clunky on Zoom is to ask students to write on a PPT slide or word document. You can prepare a PPT slide template or a document that you want the groups to work on as explained below.

Step 1:  Prepare a slide/document with the task on – upload this into the chat area where you see the File icon (check you have enabled File upload within the Chat in your zoom settings).

Step 2:  Students download and save the document before breakout rooms begin – you will also need to add instructions into the Chat before you assign the breakout rooms (See image).

Step 3: One student in each breakout room then opens the PPT or document on their computer and shares screen with the rest of the students in their Breakout room.

Step 4: This student can be the sole scribe  - typing or writing on the slide/document - or all students can contribute using the annotate tool.

Step 5: When the group has finished the task, they need to save the document

Step 6:  When everyone returns to the main room, the leaders of each group take it in turns to share their work with the rest of the class and talk through/explain their points. They can also upload the work they have done on 'file upload' under Chat so that other students can download.

Note that you need to make sure you have enabled students to also share their screens by clicking on 'share screen' and then 'advanced sharing options' on your toolbar at the bottom of your screen.

This is a good activity to do with essay planning - getting each group to plan a different essay on a topic, or for getting students to examine different themes on a topic to feed back.

Students can take screen shots or photos of each presentation (or download the files) and then the activity can be followed up with a written task for homework which gets them to use the information from all of the groups.