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One of the things that we are faced with as teachers and when we are teaching is that our context will change. Every day we have to think about what else is going on in the world today, where our students might be when they’re learning. If we’re recording for use later, then this could be being watched at a time when the world could be in disruption. So really thinking about the tone of how you are bringing in these interactions so that if it was launched when you didn’t have so much control over it, would it still be right? You lose a lot of spontaneity when you’re teaching online and I think it’s really important to think about that online can be spontaneous, but you also have to think about where you are going to plan that in. If you want to keep some spontaneity and I really suggest you do, then it’s about understanding your level of technical competence and comfort with what you’re using.
So I’m very comfortable with a number of teaching platforms which means I can be more spontaneous in most of those platforms. But if I was given a new platform today to teach in even though I’m very comfortable with the content, I will have to plan in those interactions more because of the technology. So technology becomes part of your context of thinking about how are you going to adapt and apply. And one of the suggestions I make here is spend some time playing with the technology and worrying more about that than the content. Usually when we are teaching, we are content experts so being comfortable in the context of your technology and also thinking about what could happen in the world that might change how students might come into my classroom today and actually acknowledging how they come into the classroom really helps a student to want to do this interaction.
So you might be asking, what technology do I use? And I’ve taught on Blackboard Collaborate. I’ve taught on Zoom, I’ve taught on Teams, I’ve taught in Google Classrooms. I tend to go back to Blackboard Collaborate because it is a teaching product which means it is a virtual classroom with everything you could expect to have in your own classroom and a lot of control over what’s happening. Now, every piece of technology isn’t perfect and you can do everything that I’m talking about on all those four platforms but spend some time to play with each platform and understand how you are going to use that and ask yourself the really big question of, it’s not about how I’m presenting, it is about the student’s usability.
I also work with the students so that we learn together so that I don’t assume that they have used the platform or that they’ll be able to work it out. I say, let’s go on a tour together of this technology. It’s really worth five minutes. It creates a lot of fun and you can build in a lot of interactivity there when nobody’s trying to do anything else. And that really creates this space for students to say, ‘Oh let’s just play with this.’ And then now when I’m asking them to do it in the classroom, they’ve already got a playful sense of how to come into the classroom and interact with me and with each other ’cause they’ve done that at the setup.
I have used these activities teaching management and social science-based subjects with students across the globe in post graduate settings. I have also introduced them to colleagues in health-based subjects and beyond for post and undergraduate students with equal success. It appears they adapt well to any online classroom.
When using polls, stay with informal ‘show of hands’ style answers – making it personal such as ‘I’m lost’ tells students this is informal and learning together. You can prepare your polls to paste in, but imperfect polls on the ‘fly’ tell students to go with the lesson and once you are practiced at using them impromptu ones are more authentic – just like a show of hands.
The use of emojis needs an introduction to ensure they are not infantilised and have appropriate boundaries to ensure only classroom appropriate ones are used. Teacher led practices also provide the ‘signals’ which can be followed in a social learning style and context.
There are some barriers for teachers to consider. Start with your own use of emojis and build your emoji language bank. Talk to your students about those you use and what you use, and don’t expect students to know what a star or cup of coffee means. Because a picture tells a thousand words, teachers must be explicit and consistent with their use. One emoji, one meaning.
Set up an emoji bank for quick and consistent emoji usage. Most software stores your frequently used emojis from your last session, including Blackboard. I use welcome and goodbye emojis, gold stars for excellent answers or engagement, a constellation for outstanding answers, speaking up awards for participation, virtual coffees for class support, and celebration awards. Consistency is key as emojis replace words efficiently.
Discussions
What impromptu actions do you take in a face-to-face class that you would like to be able to ‘replicate’ online?
Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments section below.