Something behind you – OneHE

Activity

Community building activities, Introductory activities

Something behind you

Rebecca J. Hogue

The purpose of the activity is to help students to get to know each other a little better in an online classroom.

Share:

ACTIVITY PURPOSE

The purpose of the activity is to allow students to get to know each other in an online environment.

USEFUL FOR

Introductions on the first day of class.

PREPARATION

None, but it helps if you put the prompt on the agenda so students can think about it.

INSTRUCTIONS

During introductions, ask students to describe ‘something that is behind them‘ on the screen if they are on camera. For those who prefer to stay off camera, encourage them to just describe something behind themselves; the other students don’t need to see the object. The activity‘s purpose is to act as a prompt for sharing a story. Students can use virtual backgrounds and describe them, or they can use physical objects from their backgrounds. Sometimes students might want to share about something that is usually behind them but isn’t currently.

DURATION

1 minute per student.

ADAPTATIONS AND EXAMPLES

If a student doesn’t want to turn their camera on or use a virtual background you could ask them to share a photo of something by sharing their screen.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

For synchronous session – video on.

USEFUL RESOURCES

Do you have any suggestions? Please share them in the comments below.

ABOUT

Educator prep: None
Student prep: None
Synchronous
Video conferencing
Duration: < 5 mins

This activity is one of a series of activities from Equity Unbound, focused on equitable online community building.

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