Maximise In-Class Time by Moving Student Presentations Online

There’s no doubt that the web has altered the student learning experience—class time is now spent interacting online via a variety of remote learning tools such as Zoom, messaging apps, email, and learning management systems. While both teachers and students have loved the new virtual classroom setting, many teachers are discovering that the most important component of learning – face time with students — is suffering. The truth is that no remote learning technology, even Zoom, can completely replace the engaging in-person experiences that a physical classroom can deliver. You can get smart about using your remote learning tools to create an interesting virtual learning environment that preserves more of your life by employing a few clever online teaching tactics.

“The students of the future will demand the learning support that is appropriate for their situation or context. Nothing more, nothing less. And they want it at the moment the need arises. Not sooner, not later. Mobile devices will be a key technology for providing that learning support.” – Dr. Marcus Specht, Professor of Advanced Learning Technologies, Open University of Netherlands

Simple Ways to Make the Most of Your Online Time With Your Students

• There’s no doubt that the web has altered the student learning experience—class time is now spent interacting online via a variety of remote learning tools such as Zoom, messaging apps, email, and learning management systems. While both teachers and students have loved the new virtual classroom setting, many teachers are discovering that the most important component of learning – face time with students — is suffering.
• The truth is that no remote learning technology, even Zoom, can completely replace the engaging in-person experiences that a physical classroom can deliver. You may get savvy about using your remote learning tools by employing a few creative online teaching tactics.

Before class, assign and explain the homework.

• Another way to allow yourself more time to communicate with students during live online class sessions is to make a small video explaining the forthcoming homework assignment (s). You can keep it short and sweet in your video, or go into more detail, mentioning components of the flipped class lesson that will reinforce the principles they’ll learn in their homework projects.
• To make the most of your live class time with students, send your explainer video to them via your learning management system ahead of time so they can familiarise themselves with the assignment and come to class or Zoom office hours prepared with any questions they may have.

Steps to implementing virtual presentations are as follow

Step 1:

Come up with a presentation theme with your pupils. Students can also use these presentations to fill out a subject that is mentioned but not discussed in depth in the course handbook. In either case, the topic should make a deliberate connection to the course objectives and content, as well as give students the option to choose a topic that interests them. After you’ve decided on a topic, you’ll need to decide on a specific objective for your presentation. Students have been asked to summarize and explain the findings of many research studies.

Step 2:

Establish a set of guidelines. This includes instructing students on presentation duration, professional appearance, and audience engagement during a presentation. Because the possibilities for using technology are unlimited, it’s critical to set some limits and expectations for children. I’ve discovered that shorter presentations (7-10 minutes) are more effective.

Step 3:

Create a virtual environment for sharing and receiving comments on presentations. The ability for students to learn from each other is one of the advantages of virtual student presentations. Use your Learning Management System (LMS) to create a location for students to upload their presentations and receive comments.

Step 4:

Lead a whole-class discussion. If the class size allows, it is always excellent to conclude the assignment with a brief in-class discussion stressing everyone’s important learning points. This allows students who did not review certain presentations to learn more or enable the instructor to ask the entire class deeper universal questions.

Strategies for active learning in the online classroom

Zooming in and out

• Moving your classroom sessions to a virtual environment, such as Zoom video conferencing, opens up new possibilities for active learning and student involvement. This resource offers simple techniques for students to encounter and engage with material and ideas, as well as reflect on their learning, by combining active learning principles with internet resources.
• These tactics work for both small and large groups, depending on your video conferencing programs and license’s participant restriction.
• Many governments have declared public health emergencies in the aftermath of the COVID-19 epidemic, and some have issued shelter-in-place orders. Universities all around the world have responded by relocating students off-campus and relocating classes online for the remainder of the semester.
• Transitioning from a classroom to an online video conference is difficult for everyone involved—teachers must put in extra work to effectively engage students, and students must put in extra effort to stay attentive from home amid distractions. According to research, students often perform worse in courses that are totally online.
• We’ve tested a variety of techniques for online learning and discovered two critical principles for keeping students engaged—and really learning.

Rethinking lecture forms is the first lesson.

• High degrees of motivation, focus, and organization are required for remote learning. You can make some efforts to increase student involvement and guarantee that all students have access to the same materials.
• Divide lectures into small segments to keep your students’ attention.
• Check for understanding by asking fast questions to see if students grasped the main point of the short lecture section.
• Lecturers can use polls in Zoom or Google forms to test knowledge retention and gauge students’ understanding of what is being addressed in the course when lecturing online via Zoom or another platform. These quizzes motivate students to keep on top of the course and study on a regular basis.

Step-by-step instructions are provided.

• When students switch to online courses, they often miss out on the chance to interact in small discussion groups with other students and teaching assistants to see a difficult topic or concept worked out step by step.
• Studying worked examples has been shown to be an effective approach for non-experts, such as students, to learn. Teachers (or a teaching assistant) should set aside some time to practice exercises or problems related to the homework issues. Many tablet apps allow instructors working from home without a whiteboard to video themselves working on a practice problem.
• Ensure that all pupils have equal access to materials.
• All instruction, including live lectures, should be recorded so that all students can watch or revisit it (especially important for students in different time zones). Make sure to describe any visuals or graphics for students who are blind or have limited vision during your presentation.
• Transcripts will also help students, particularly those who require accessibility modifications. Zoom has automated captioning built-in for recorded sessions, but not for live captioning. Google Slides, on the other hand, includes a live captioning capability.

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Also read: Teaching and Learning Without Grading

FAQs

Ques.1. What can I do to make my online session more interactive?

Ans.1. There are different techniques to make online learning more interactive:

1. Inquire about comments.
2. Any option for learners to provide feedback is a fantastic opportunity for interaction.
3. Allow everyone to select their own path.
4. Make it a social event
5. Invite students to participate.

Ques.2. What can I do to make a video presentation more engaging?

Ans.2. Here are a few amazing presentation ideas:

• Begin with a strong statement. A strong remark might grab your audience’s attention right away.
• Makeup stories
• Make use of music
• Visual metaphor
• Make use of questions.
• Humour
• Repetition
• Motion graphics

Ques.3. How do you put together an online class presentation?

Ans.3. Create compelling presentations

• Find a template that is appropriate for your age group and subject.
• Make a separate presentation for each subject.
• Don’t cram too much text onto your presentations.
• Audio and video can be used to enhance your presentations.
• Make use of mind maps.
• Experiment with additional graphic organizers.
• Make a set of flashcards.