Making Your Virtual Classroom Experience More Meaningful

It's always a great feeling when your learners feel engaged and appreciate your efforts.

Making Your Virtual Classroom 
Experience More Meaningful

Remember that virtual learning is very special. Successful virtual teachers do the best they can to deliver meaningful lessons, help their learners feel cared for, and inspire them to give their best.  

It’s often said that it’s challenging to maintain your learners' attention through online interactions. Virtual classroom is not always easy when you also have to engage your learners and make learning experience fun as well as interactive.

It does take a bit of creativity and lots of love (for teaching) to keep your learners' brains stimulated. To engage my learners, here is the methodology I used as a course instructor for two Life Skills courses, (i) Living Conversations, and (ii) Leadership and Teamwork.

Please find this methodology explained in form of simple suggestions for those who wish to make virtual classroom experience fun as well as interactive, 

1. Break down the lesson and make it digestible. Make content that students can connect emotionally too. 
   
   
2. Be well prepared with any assets you’ll be using in class, which include slide show, images, audio or video links, documents, etc. 
   
   
3. When you are presenting through slide show, personalize them with your learners' pictures or names. They will enjoy the personal touch. 
   
   
4. Be a storyteller and present your best (online) self. Also, be patient with your learners. 
   
   
5. Use humor and bring some fun into the classroom. Take brain breaks for fun activities like '60 Seconds to Fame', 'DJ of the Day' etc. 
   
   
6. Emphasize group projects. Figure out what students should be practicing and create exercises/ activities/ assignments that help them reflect on their own perspectives and learn from one another. 
   
   
7. Gamify your virtual classroom experience, and create a kind of healthy competition to inspire your learners with intrinsic motivation. 
   
   
8. Set polls, conduct break-out sessions, and use the chat box. Ask insightful questions and try to relate them with day-to-day life experiences. 
   
   
9. Recognize and appreciate learners who participate proactively. It does help in influencing the behavior of other learners positively. 
   
   
10. Have guest speakers come in to talk about a subject or interest area, to offer a fresh perspective and variety in the subject matter. 
    
    
11. Once in a while, meet your learners in small groups for personalized feedback on Zoom or Google Meet. 
    
    
12. And last but not the least, make your learners feel valued. Allow them to present and share their favorite learning takeaway/s. 

It's always a great feeling when your learners feel engaged and appreciate your efforts.

Remember that virtual learning is very special. Successful virtual teachers do the best they can to deliver meaningful lessons, help their learners feel cared for, and inspire them to give their best. 

How do you make your virtual classroom experience more meaningful?

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