Creating a Comfortable Virtual Classroom: Two Important Elements

Virtual classrooms and live sessions can be intimidating. Students might be afraid of speaking out, uncomfortable in the setting, or simply fatigued as a result of online meetings. Like the rest of the world, I have been attending more online meetings lately, so a few things stand out to me when creating a relaxing virtual classroom. Here are two important elements I have discovered in successful virtual classrooms that can help you create a comfortable setting for your students:

Conserve Energy

Everyone today is familiar with using web conferencing tools and enjoys the ease of virtual collaboration. As a result, I have found myself scheduling more meetings and my calendar is filling up. With a busy schedule, I am taking fewer breaks and rarely standing up from my desk. While it may seem obvious that I should take more breaks to replenish, I am still unable to remember to do so. 

My Tip: Design Learning Breaks Into the Live Session Lesson Plan

In addition to not taking breaks, using web conferencing tools like Zoom heightens your sense of self-awareness as you tend to stare at a picture of yourself. Constant self-awareness has led to the term “Zoom Fatigue” that gives you that tired feeling at the end of every meeting. Since this is natural for everyone, designing learning breaks is a great step to combat this problem. Learning breaks are proven to be effective in educational theories such as cognitive overload and spatial learning.

Script the Conversations

How many times have you been asked to join a breakout room, but once you get there you are still not sure how to converse, how to start, or what to talk about. While conversations are normal in everyday life, they are still new to us in the virtual environment. It can be uncomfortable for many to have a “natural” conversation in a virtual classroom.

My Tip: Provide a Script for the Conversations and Create Short Meetings.

Just like how a movie script provides roles, instructions, and what to say, a breakout room in a live session would also benefit from a script. It is important to provide clear instructions on what should be accomplished and assign roles in terms of facilitating the conversation. I have been in countless meetings where we have ended our conversation way before the allotted time. This creates an awkward environment and leads to even more fatigue. Short meetings make the conversation easier and create a more comfortable classroom environment.

Virtual meetings are not going away anytime soon. Taking time to think through how to alleviate the fatigue of being continually online will help your students get the most from your time learning together.

Photo by Antenna on Unsplash