Easy Hacks to Increase Student Engagement

Simple ideas to cognitively involve students in a face-to-face, hybrid or virtual class.

The pandemic has not yet come to an end; on the contrary, cases of COVID-19 are on the rise shortly after starting the next school year, 2021-2022. We do not know for sure whether we will return to classrooms in person. One of the main challenges facing academic leaders and teachers is preparing for possible scenarios to start the school year. Mainly three modalities are analyzed: face-to-face or hybrid with the corresponding health protocols or 100 % virtual classes without sacrificing the physical and mental well-being of those who participate.

After 17 months of the pandemic, students and teachers struggle to stay focused and engaged with virtual classes. Teachers are constantly looking for tools that motivate students in their learning process. Although we can find many applications and programs on the Internet, we could feel overwhelmed deciding what techniques, strategies, methods, or applications to use in class. This article shares simple ideas for cognitively engaging students, whether in a virtual, face-to-face, or hybrid learning model.

“The pandemic is ongoing, and COVID-19 cases are on the rise. Given the imminent start of the new school year, the challenge for all educators is to be prepared to teach in different settings: face-to-face, hybrid or 100% virtual classes, without sacrificing our physical and mental well-being.”

I want to start with an interesting reflection by Gray and Madson (2007, p. 85) discussing the fable of the pitcher and the glass. “Before all times, in a school not too far from ours, a pitcher tried to teach a glass. The pitcher wanted to teach him as much as possible, so he poured everything he had into the glass with great speed. The glass caught some water, but much of it was lost on the table. The moral of the story is that learning is not what is poured from the pitcher but what falls into the glass. “The water that remains in the glass is what the student learns, retains, and can apply in different situations. This fable contains a powerful idea for teachers to reflect on how students learn, retain, and apply new concepts.

Tips to make your classes more attractive

I have learned some lessons from the pandemic and my teaching experience and as a life learner. Here I share some ideas to make your classes more cognitively engaging, effective, and productive.

1) Make a diagnosis

Before introducing a new topic, find out what the students know. It’s like what a mechanic would do when he checks a car; before taking out parts and pieces, he first connects it to a machine and performs a diagnosis. It can be as simple as a quick survey before or during class. You can also ask random students to briefly share what they know about the week’s topic, write, or draw something related. “It helps students to relate what they are learning with what they already know” (Gray and Madson, 2007). It is crucial for memory and the meaning of new information; it also helps to activate the student’s previous knowledge.

Making a quick diagnosis has helped me teach better classes, better organize the week’s activities, and allow students to regain previous knowledge.

2) Check what was learned in the previous class, session, or week

Having students retrieve saved information strengthens memory. Ask two students to briefly recount what was discussed or seen in the last session or the last week. For example, what were the three most important ideas or concepts from the last class? It helps students to focus on class and activities through recall and prior knowledge. According to Karpicke (2018), “a successful repeated recovery encourages better retention, more than just one.”

3) Communicate course expectations

With all the virtual, face-to-face, or hybrid classroom distractions, students need to understand what is expected from them in class. Regarding attendance, homework delivery, group work, camera turning on or off, learning outcomes of the course, how to get in touch with the teacher, etc. Therefore, it is essential to communicate the expectations of the course, the week, and even by class. Post the learning outcomes or goals and the roadmap or plan to achieve those goals. It is much easier to stay motivated and be successful when you know what is expected of you, why, and where you are going.

For example, this last summer semester, I taught a one-month intensive course on bilingual education for prospective teachers. The course objectives, policies, activities, themes, and even the final project were discussed from the first day of class. A couple of students were a bit nervous the first week because we didn’t know each other, and with the added factor that the course was taught in English (the students’ first language was Spanish), it was also their first time in the hybrid classroom. As a result, the first few days shared the learning outcomes that I had envisioned the students would achieve and the activities, topics, and schedule. The students had a clear roadmap and understood where the course was going; with this, the nervousness disappeared. It was a pleasant experience with highly motivated students who maximized their learning.

4) Take breaks

Our attention in a class may vary, whether due to fatigue, distractions, or other reasons. Therefore, consider taking small breaks during class. It helps to divide the material into more manageable pieces. Consider the following statistics from the MOOC edX platform: “the average attention time for any video reaches a maximum of 6 minutes, regardless of its duration. The times of interest and curiosity decrease as the videos get longer.” (Guo, 2013)

If so, in the videos, imagine during a 20-minute lecture how much the students have retained. Remember the example of the jug pouring water into a glass at the beginning of this text.

On the other hand, Gray and Madson mention that a teacher can take three breaks in a 50-minute class and even mention that students do better on exams when teachers use this pause procedure. Consider that this recommendation was written in 2007 based on college courses in which a college professor spoke most of the time in class. Today that class model has changed into a more student-centered model. However, the idea of breaks is still a great idea. Gray and Madsen suggest giving students 2 minutes to discuss their notes during these breaks; By updating this to the online class, you could send the students to break rooms in pairs for 2 minutes to discuss.

5) Assign roles during group work

According to the Center for Teaching and Learning, assigning students different roles during group work can provide several benefits, such as responsibility for completing work and a clear description of what each student must do to stay on task. (note: roles can rotate throughout the month or even the semester). There is a great variety of roles; some of them are the questioner, the one who reflects, the one who visualizes, the one w
ho summarizes, the leader, and others. You choose the number of students and the roles that work best in your subject.

6) Encourage feedback from students

Feedback is essential to our performance in the classroom or at work. Feedback to students shapes their learning and performance in the course. Since a teacher usually has more than 100 students, waiting for this feedback can last many days. So, the idea is to accelerate that process through peer feedback while students develop their critical thinking, language, and feedback skills.

What is peer feedback? It is when students comment on the activities, speeches, videos, essays, and other classmates’ work. It is not about giving a grade but about commenting on a colleague’s work’s strengths, weaknesses, and unclear points. Consider using the warm-cold feedback protocol. According to Sackstein (2017), “Peer feedback gives students control over their learning, increases their commitment and self-awareness as learners, and frees the teacher to provide specific support where it is needed.”

7) Do activities like Think or write – Get together in small groups – Share

With this classic technique, the teacher asks questions and then gives the students 1 or 2 minutes to think or write about them. The students are then sent to a “discussion room” in pairs to discuss. This activity works best in online discussion rooms, as students are isolated in their private rooms to speak. While students are in meeting rooms, the teacher can assign a tab in Google Sheets or a slide in Google Slides for students to write their ideas. In this way, students take responsibility for showing that they have participated. When the break rooms are closed, and the students return to the main room, the teacher can review the activity.

8) Fishbowl

The name comes from the inner circle and the outer circle of students. The inner circle is the one in the tank, and the outer circle of students is the observers. If you have a large group of students, try this fishbowl technique for in-depth discussions or discussions. Here you have a video of its use in the classroom, but you can also adapt it to the online classroom. You can adapt it so that 2, 3, or 4 students debate or have an in-depth discussion on a topic, and the rest of the class observes and give their opinion. You can apply this activity in small groups or in meeting rooms of 2 to 4 students, where two students debate or discuss, and the other 2 observe. Thus, students can change the roles of speaker and observer.

9) Self-reflections or anonymous surveys

Consider using anonymous self-reflections or surveys for students to reflect and evaluate their learning to be aware of their learning processes. Help students take ownership of their learning as they reflect on and evaluate their learning and the course. Some possible questions are In which activity have you learned the most? From which activity have you learned the least? What is it that you still have trouble understanding? An added benefit for the teacher is keeping track of practical activities and those that need improvement.

Other ideas are making learning meaningful, connecting emotionally with your students, finding their interests, and more.

In summary, the above list is not exhaustive; instead, a few tips will help you on your way to more effective participation of your students. Feel free to share your ideas in the comment section below.

About the author

Mary Meinecke (mary.meinecke@udem.edu) has over 20 years of experience teaching English as a Second and Foreign Language. She has a master’s in Bilingual Education and a second master’s also in Higher Education. Currently, Mary teaches at the Universidad de Monterrey in the Modern Languages Department. Her interests include online education, cognitive psychology, educational innovation, and swimming.

References

Ariel, R., & Karpicke, J. D. (2018). Improving self-regulated learning with a retrieval practice intervention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 24(1), 43–56. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000133

Burns, M. (2018). Tasks before apps: Designing rigorous learning in a tech-rich classroom. Alexandria, VA, USA: ASCD.

Freire, Paulo (2006) [1970]. “The banking model of education”. In Provenzo, Eugene F. (ed.). Critical issues in education: an anthology of readings. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. pp. 105–117. ISBN 1412936551. OCLC 62324920.

Gray, T., & Madson, L. (2007). Ten Easy Ways to Engage Your Students. College Teaching, 55(2), 83–87. https://doi.org/10.3200/ctch.55.2.83-87

Guo, P. (2013, November 13). Optimal Video Length for Student Engagement. https://blog.edx.org/optimal-video-length-student-engagement

Sackstein, S. (2017). Peer feedback in the classroom: empowering students to be the experts. ASCD.

Saldana, H. (2020) Presencia en el Aula virtual (Presence in the virtual classroom) May 6, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi4vo0YoEKM&t=840s

Stobaugh, R. (2019). 50 Strategies to boost cognitive engagement: creating a thinking culture in the classroom. Solution Tree Press.

Using Roles in Group Work. Center for Teaching and Learning. (2021, March 2). https://ctl.wustl.edu/resources/using-roles-in-group-work/#:~:text=Group%20roles%20encourage%20individual%20accountability,less%20confident%20in%20volunteering%20for.

Edited by Rubí Román (rubi.roman@tec.mx) – Observatory of Educational Innovation.

Translation by Daniel Wetta.

Mary Ann Meinecke

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