I bet that if you are reading this, you are teaching remotely at least some part of your week. Keeping students motivated and engaged in this new learning format is an ongoing challenge.
Below are some thoughts from fellow educators and researchers to spark some ideas you can try in your virtual classrooms.
By Katie Novak and Mike Anderson
Engagement, intrinsic motivation and student-ownership are more important than ever during periods of remote learning. This article examines how teacher language impacts students’ experiences. It offers practical tips and suggestions to examine and shift your language habits to encourage engagement over compliance, stimulate intrinsic motivation and foster student, rather than teacher, ownership.”
By Ian Kelleher and Chris Hulleman
The authors explore how teachers can quickly leverage what scientists know about learning mindsets—students’ beliefs about themselves, their potential and the learning context. Use the outlined strategies to impact three types of student mindset in your remote classroom: sense of belonging, purpose and relevance and growth mindset.
By Kathryn Caprino and Sean Ruday
This article examines ways in which a curriculum based on inquiry is a good fit for remote learning. Through inquiry work, students can investigate topics that interest them as they read a variety of texts (such as books, songs, videos, blogs, tweets, nonfiction texts, etc.) in order to answer an essential question. Use the five tips here to try out this approach in your classroom and build your students’ motivation.
By Andrea Gabor and Vera Haller
If you are looking for a resource on how to conduct a high-level project-based course remotely, this is it! The authors describe how they adapted a college-level journalism course to a remote environment and share what worked. High school teachers will be inspired by the high-quality work of these students and their deep engagement in the project.
By Eric Toshalis
As schools continue to refine their reopening plans or shift between in-person, hybrid and remote schooling, leaders and educators must replace these old lenses and bad proxies with better, more authentic measures of engagement that reflect the kinds of fluid learning environments our students are now experiencing regularly. This article outlines 10 drivers of engagement that educators can use to anchor their lessons while they’re in new learning environments.