In today’s time, the whole world is facing the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdown has been implemented in various countries and people are working from home as moving out of the house is not an option. Slowly, all the things are getting back to normalcy but, the education institutes are still shut. In such a scenario where schools and colleges are closed, the only option for the students to gain education is through virtual classrooms. But, at times the students lose interest in virtual teaching. This becomes a big challenge for the teachers to keep the students engaged in the virtual classroom.

Ways To Make An Engaging Online Classroom

• Prepare The Lecture In Advance

Like in a traditional classroom, in virtual classrooms the teachers need to prepare their lectures in advance. The lecture should be well planned in order to make sure that nothing is left out. When a lecture is well prepared and delivered in a structured way, the students grasp it in a better way.

• Use Various Tools

In a virtual classroom, teachers have options to use various tools in order to make the learning process more interesting. The study material can be provided through PPTs, audio files, video recordings, PDFs, etc. This will help to engage the students better as lectures can be a bit tedious. Tools like PDFs, PPTs, and audio files will not be a one-time thing. The students can go back to these materials whenever they sit for self-study.

• Interactive Sessions

In most of the virtual classrooms, the students sit in front of their laptops and mobile phones and listen to the lectures that are being delivered. Mostly, the lectures become one-sided where only the teacher is speaking and the students are listening. To make students more attentive, the lectures should be made interactive where the students are also an active part. Students should be asked questions on the basis of the lectures. Case studies, question/answer sessions, etc can opt.

• Building Of Student Teacher Bond

Unlike in the traditional classroom, the virtual classroom does not provide a face-to-face interaction which can lead some students to fade into the background. This can be avoided only if the teacher takes some effort to keep track of all the students. At times, the teacher must keep the academics aside and talk to students about their well-being and their problems. This will help to build a friendly relationship between the students and teacher and help the students to be more focused in the virtual classroom.

• Get The Feedbacks

Getting the feedback from the students will help a teacher to know about a student’s satisfaction with the subject and also help the teacher to know what areas he/she needs to work. Also, feedbacks will make the students feel that their opinions matter and that the teacher is ready to make changes in their pedagogy according to the students.

This pandemic has surely made changes in the way students normally gain education and in the way teachers give lectures. But, using these tips, the engagement level can be increased in virtual classrooms.