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Here are some important things that I learned on how to foster student engagement and classroom community after completing my first week of remote teaching:
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It's important to reach out to your students by sending them personal messages about things they are doing well in your classes. Now, more than ever, students need to know that their efforts and accomplishments are being recognized!
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Sign into all your Zoom classrooms >10 minutes early and be present as your students sign on. You don't have to have your camera and audio on, but make sure they know you are there and can "approach you" for questions before class like they might in-person.
Speaking of discussion boards, make sure you too engage in these! Students do well with positive feedback, so reply to their posts and make sure they know you are engaged too!
Stick in your Zoom calls until all your students leave. Usually at least one or two will want to stick around to ask a question or socialize with you after class. Do make sure to stop recording for these engagements.
Edit all the start and stop times on your Zoom recordings before sharing the videos with your students. This cuts out time for them as they watch them, and helps you make sure you didn't catch a personal conversation on camera before sharing widely.
Teach your students the basics of Zoom. It takes 5 minutes to walk through how to unmute with the space bar, how to set a virtual background for privacy, and how turning off their video can save bandwidth if their internet is slow.
Make sure to set a recurring link that is either the same link for every class OR schedule the classes in their personal Zoom accounts so that they have the schedule and link available whenever they sign into Zoom.
Share your personal Zoom meeting room ID as your virtual office. Stay signed in when you are "available" so they can drop in as they would by knocking on your office door. This demonstrates your accessibility!
Use the Zoom Breakout rooms! They allow students to engage with their classmates in meaningful ways. You can even "walk" around through the groups to overhear what they are discussing and answer questions, and the can call you over for help with the "Ask for help" button.
If you have a tablet, use it as a virtual whiteboard. I hook up my iPad through the Share Screen option. It is seamless and helps for when I need to draw out concepts for my students.
