Whether in class or in a meeting, a few little tricks and tools can help engage participants in low stakes ways. I can't take credit for these — I'm collating tips from a recent conference and my university's HyFlex training.
Annotate - You can ask participants to mark up your slides. This requires some thought beforehand like checking your settings to make sure you have allowed for participants to annotate slides. You could have a slide in your presentation with lots of space for student comments. Or it could be a T chart where students leave an emoji or drawing to indicate a level of comfort with a subject or even their opinions about a course topic. As someone who has taught editing, I'm tempted to insert a bunch of typos and have students edit as we move along. (Remember to clear the annotations as you move to the next slide.)
Breakout rooms - Everyone needs a change of scenery. Using breakout rooms gives participants a chance to refresh. Maybe ask the participants in each room to do quick intros or answer an easy question to get the ball rolling in the new room. Ask participants to assume roles like notetaker and reporter. When you reconvene as the larger group, small group reporters can help lead the larger discussion.
Rename feature - In Zoom, you have the option to change how your name appears. Once I joined a session at a national convention with "Sarah's Iphone" appearing on the screen. I quickly changed that to a more professional name with personal pronouns. One suggestion was to have students change their screen name to "Anon" and then with video muted, they could anonymously chat with feedback or check understanding with reactions. For a fun change, have them rename their profile with a pet's name.
Reactions - Simply ask participants to use the reaction (clap or thumbs up) to a question or comment. You could use the symbols as a polling feature, too. Participants can change the skin tone of their hand icons in the settings.
Write or speak option - It's not ideal to have everyone responding in unison, but you can give participants the option to write or speak in a discussion moment. You could use the chat feature for a quick one-minute writing assignment that can be used to check understanding. Or ask everyone to type one question others might want to ask about the topic.
Chat advocate - You can assign a chat advocate who makes certain the questions being asked in the chat stream receive attention. You could throw the mic to this advocate every-so-often to change up the pacing and the speaker's voice.
If we're honest, people can check-out mentally in face-to-face classes and meetings, too. Just as we read the room in a physical situation, we need to read the virtual room and decide if the audience needs a change or a check-in.
What tricks or tips have worked for you?
