Planning for Student Engagement in the Virtual Classroom

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For many years, educators have been testing the waters of technological integration and teaching. The 2020 pandemic has accelerated this process. Like it or not, students and teachers now find themselves swimming in the ocean of virtual learning[1]—surrounded by hundreds of apps and online tools that promise to be the way of the future. Even the most tech-savvy among us have found ourselves overwhelmed by the sheer volume of options.

There is so much technology available that deciding which tools to try can be daunting. Rather than focusing on the tools, however, teachers should take a step back and consider the learning. This isn’t new advice; we have been doing this in traditional classrooms for decades. We now just need to transfer this skill to virtual learning environments.
 
What do students need to do to accomplish the learning we are after? In their Distance Learning Playbook, Fisher, Frey & Hattie summarise the four basic functions of learning engagement:

  • “Find information efficiently and be able to evaluate whether the information is useful, credible, accurate, and corroborated by other sources.
  • “Use information accurately and ethically.
  • “Create information such that its creation deepens one’s understanding.
  • “Share information responsibly with audiences for a variety of purposes.”[2]

 
When designing lesson plans, teachers are constantly evaluating which of these functions their students need to maximise their learning and are providing opportunities for students to engage in activities that promote these functions. That process shouldn’t change as instruction shifts to virtual platforms.
 
True, it is easier in the short term to create several instructional videos and rely on them as the primary vehicle for transmitting knowledge. But we all know that teacher instruction does not automatically equate to student learning. In the physical classroom, the best teachers constantly move between different types of learning activities—some teacher-directed, others student-led. They move around, monitoring student engagement and providing support and encouragement, as students interact in multiple ways with the information being studied.
 
When making the shift to virtual learning, teachers should build lessons using the same thought process: what do my students need to do with this information to maximise their engagement in meaningful learning? Once that question has been answered, then choosing the right tool from the myriad of available virtual learning apps becomes easier.[3] What tool(s) will help students accomplish the learning you are after? Is this a tool that requires students to work together in real time? Or is it something that fosters asynchronous learning?  
 
One caution offered by Fisher, et al, is to “avoid overwhelming your students and yourself with too many tools.”[4] Choosing a handful of engaging tools, teaching your students how to use these (over time), and creating routines that allow the tool itself to fade into the background, so learning takes centre stage, are far more effective for promoting student learning than introducing new technology every week. Just because a tool is available and fosters a certain type of learning, doesn’t mean it’s the best option. Curate the educational technology tools you use in the same way you do in-person learning strategies. Sometimes less really is more.

Another caution these authors offer is the reminder that everyone benefits from breaks in screen time. If there is an offline option that serves the same educational purpose, even during distance education, take advantage of it. Then you can maximise the time you are “live” with students by prioritising “connection, discussion, and interaction.”[5]
 
The particular set of educational technology tools is far less important than the type of learning engagement you want for your students. Remembering this can lessen stress caused by the flood of apps inundating the field in recent months. Virtual instruction planned with these principles in mind benefits everyone—students and teachers alike.

Becky Hunsberger, M.Ed.

Coordinator of Global Teacher Education Services
TeachBeyond Global

[1] While schools in well-resourced communities have this option, there are many around the world for whom this kind of virtual technology is not really an option. At TeachBeyond, we feel a heavy burden for these schools and the students they serve. If you have ideas for how to support teachers and students in these environments, would you please reach out to OnPractice@teachbeyond.org? Thank you!

[2] Fisher, Douglas, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie. The Distance Learning Playbook: Teaching for Engagement and Impact in Any Setting. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Publishers, 2020. pg 104-105.

[3] For some ideas on how to replicate common in person learning strategies on line, check out this PDF: “Active Learning While Physically Distancing” by LSU.

[4] Fisher, Douglas, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie. The Distance Learning Playbook: Teaching for Engagement and Impact in Any Setting. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Publishers, 2020. pg. 109.[5] Ibid. pg. 116.

Photo Credits: Learning via Shutterstock. Math and Art via Shutterstock.

The Importance of Healthy Teacher/Student Relationships

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How can we help our students to learn? According to educational research, two of the strongest factors in student learning relate back to the teacher/student relationship. This shouldn’t surprise us, since we know that we are created as relational beings in the image of a relational God.

According to researcher John Hattie, healthy teacher/student relationships have a strong positive effect on student learning[1]. When students believe their teachers know and care for them as individuals, they are more willing to take risks and make mistakes and to see these mistakes not as failures but as opportunities to learn. A student who knows his teacher cares for him is likely to work harder and aim higher. Conversely, a student who believes that her teacher sees her as difficult or “a problem” (whether this perception is true or not) will be less likely to fully engage in the learning process.
 
Even more impactful to learning than a positive teacher/student relationship is teacher credibility. When students believe that they can learn from their teachers, it positively impacts learning almost twice as much as healthy relationships [2]. What builds teacher credibility? Foremost is trust. Students need to believe that their teachers know them as individuals and “have their best academic and social interests at heart.[3]” In addition to trust, students need to believe their teachers are competent in both knowledge of content and practice of pedagogy, that they are passionate about their teaching and why it is important, and that they will be reliably accessible and relatable.
 
What does all this mean for teachers? Here are some ideas that ring true for both physical and virtual classrooms.
 
Call students by name. Just as the Lord spoke to Israel in Isaiah 43:1, we should call our student by name and let them know they are ours, that we know them and care for their needs. This can be done when addressing students, but it can also be incorporated in more subtle ways such as by adding student names & interests into your teaching examples.
 
Notice individual students and respond to their needs. It can be easy to only respond to those students who seek attention (raising their hands, adding comments to chat bar, etc). However, all our students need to know they are valued. We should be intentional about including every student in class and finding avenues to give every student a voice. (I found it helpful to keep a tally in my grade book or planner of every learning interaction. This highlighted the inequities in my classroom and helped me engage everyone.)
 
Provide opportunities for students to fail. This may seem counter-intuitive, but allowing students to fail and then giving them tools to change that failure into a learning opportunity increases student confidence in the learning process. Students need to understand that an incorrect answer or undesirable behaviour is not going to impact their teacher’s care for them. They also need tools that will help them learn from their mistakes. This could take the form of meaningful feedback, opportunities to make corrections, or even the chance to try again. The key here is that students know that the teacher believes in them and will support them.
 
Make yourself available. In a physical classroom this could be as simple as moving around the classroom which signals to students that you are there if they need you. In an online environment, communicating clearly and frequently when and how students can contact you for help is essential. The way you respond—your physical demeanor, tone of voice, etc.—should communicate to your students that their concerns are important to you and you have the time and desire to engage them.
 
In a season where so much of life—not to mention school—has been disrupted and feels very uncertain, taking time to intentionally build positive relationships with your students is an essential ingredient in both student learning and in the ministry of transformational education. It is also one of the most rewarding investments you will make this year!


Becky Hunsberger, M.Ed.
Global Coordinator of Teacher Education Services
TeachBeyond Global

[1] Fisher, Douglas, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie. The Distance Learning Playbook: Teaching for Engagement and Impact in any Setting. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2020. pg. 48. The positive effect size is 0.48. 

[2] Ibid. pg. 66. The positive effect size of this is 1.09.

[3] Ibid. pg. 66. teach by.

Photo Credits: On the chalkboard. via Shutterstock. Learning to Write. via Shutterstock. 

Digging Deeper: What Have We Learned from this Year?

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What a year this has been! My guess is that when you started school you didn’t foresee weeks of school closures, a global pandemic, the evacuation of friends and students, disrupted patterns of teaching and learning, riots in the streets, or distributing food to the needy in your community. And yet, while we might have been blindsided by the events of the first half of 2020, we know that our Lord was not. He is the one who called us and appointed us to care for our students and communities in “such a time as this.”
 
Now that the academic year (for many) is ending and local restrictions are beginning to ease, we have the opportunity reflect on what we’ve learned over these last six months. Sudden, traumatic change has a way of uncovering the thoughts, attitudes and behaviours that dwell deep underneath the surface of our conscious thought. In the moment, we find ourselves simply reacting, doing what we can to survive the onslaught. However, we would be foolish not to stop and reflect on these things once the situation stabilises. In many ways, this exposure is a gift. It offers us a rare opportunity to consciously examine those things we normally don’t even consider thinking about.
 
As you process the events of this spring, here are some questions for you to consider:

  1. What is there to celebrate? We were faced with so many hard things all at once that we may lose sight of the fact that in the midst of the trials some lovely things were exposed. What did you, your students, your school do well during this time? What brought you moments of joy? What positive patterns or new ways of thinking, feeling, or doing emerged?  
     
  2. What evidence do you have of the work of transformation that the Lord is doing in your heart, life, and teaching through this time? We may have been caught up in a cycle of reaction and survival, but God was not. We know that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus[1], and that our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.[2]  So what has He been doing in your heart through the challenges you’ve faced during this time? Where can you see His hand at work in your life?  
     
  3. How will what you’ve learned—personally and professionally—influence the way you approach teaching in the future? Are there elements of distance learning that worked so well you want to keep them or adapt them for use in the future? What about the ways you communicated with families and students? How might this year spur your thinking about other types of disruptions schools face—snow days, political protests, natural disasters, even student illness?
     
  4. What areas of weakness were exposed during this time? How will you proactively address these for the future? While I certainly hope that we don’t face another global pandemic or other disruption of this magnitude in our lifetimes, there is no guarantee that we won’t. And we are almost certainly guaranteed to face other unexpected difficulties or disruptions. So what can we do now to help prepare us for the next time—whatever that next time might look like? Who will we share this with to help hold us accountable?

 
Let us collectively rejoice that we’ve survived another school year. Let us grieve the losses we need to grieve.  But let us not remain there. Let us take the next step and invite the Holy Spirit to show us where He was—and still is—at work in our lives, in our classrooms, in our schools and in our communities. May we look back on the spring of 2020 not just as a time of global pandemic and challenge and loss, but also as a time of great learning and deep transformation.
 
Becky Hunsberger, M.Ed.
Coordinator of Teacher Education Services
TeachBeyond Global

[1] Phil. 1:6

[2] 2 Cor. 4:17
Photo Credits: Boy with Mask. via Shutterstock.

Cascading Impact–Moving from Doing to Being

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One of my favourite moments is sitting beside a rushing stream in the mountains of Colorado. Dana and I have hiked from above tree line to the whitewater of the Arkansas River. Tucked in crevices on the mountains are hundreds of waterways that cascade from the high mountain lakes and melting snow to the Arkansas River, flowing towards the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico.

Sitting along a roaring creek in an unknown little corner brings peace and perspective. I can’t hear anything but the water; it splashes and roars over and over but never the same as the moment before. There is a power that is beyond me and that I can’t control.

Our fourth pillar for transformational education is about cascading, and the streams falling out of the mountain help me understand.

Doing the First Three Pillars

We explored the first three “pillars of transformational education” this year. We looked at how transformational education works and what we can do to help it along, knowing that the Holy Spirit brings about transformation, not us.

Pillar one is about pursuing the Creator’s design while trusting the Spirit for complete transformation into the image of Christ—essentially our “teaching objective,” what we want to happen in a learner. Pillar two talks about the Spirit using excellent educational environments—our “teaching methods.” And  pillar three notes that transformation happens in the heart-mind before behavior—a reminder to always “know your learner” and how learning works.

These three pillars are things we can work at. They are rich in possibility as we live out transformational education and pray that God uses them.

Watching and Praying for Pillar Four

But then we get to pillar four. It is different. We don’t do much. We affirm it and we hope for it and like the mountain stream, we mostly watch as it cascades to larger places. Pillar four tells us that “Transformation cascades from the individual to communities and beyond.”

We hope and pray that God will grow fruit from our work, “some hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty,” as Jesus says in Matthew 13:23. We hope we will see God “pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on dry ground.[1]” We look forward to God transforming lives and neighbourhoods, cities and nations. Even the world.

It is His way to begin with individuals. Look at the disciples: Jesus left them, and Christianity spread to millions and millions. When God is doing the work, nothing stops it. The Good News pours into crevices and to rivers and oceans, flowing out to more and more people and places.

How can we affirm this Cascade of Transformation?

  1. Know that transforming communities begins with individuals. Your moment by moment engagement with learners and neighbours is valuable. You don’t know what seed will spring up, grow, and drop more seed in places beyond you. Don’t minimise even the smallest transformation in one leaner. We value each person and look forward to what God will do.
  2. Know that transformation takes time. You will hardly ever see the downstream results of what you do tomorrow. But God uses your work, the life He gives you overflows and the Truth of His Word is molded in His great plan. Never give up. Changed communities take time that may be beyond your eyes.
  3. Don’t get in the way. Maybe we can’t stop a rushing stream, but we can certainly pile rocks in a small one or channel it in different ways. Encourage and support an outward view for learners and yourself. Arrange opportunities for your learners to reach others outside your walls and into communities. Then watch what happens.
  4. Enjoy moments when you can see a stream starting to flow. God is at work in our world. When you can hear or see His power, let it fill your heart and tell someone else.

Don’t forget that the streams cascading down a mountain start up high, they come from snow melt and peaceful lakes. Transformed communities begin with letting God transform you. One peaceful and loving classroom at a time. One sip of cold snow melt. This is where it starts. What you do and who you are is at the top of the cascade

Joe Neff, Th.M.
Coordinating Director of Education Services
TeachBeyond Global

[1] Isaiah 44:3
Photo Credits: all photos by D.Neff.