5 Ways To Boost Student Engagement in Virtual Classes
One question I’ve been hearing a lot of lately is, ‘how can I keep my students engaged while we’re in virtual classrooms?’ The COVID crisis turned many of us to online platforms in an attempt to keep dance classes in businesses as usual mode.
And while virtual learning is saving the day for many of us, allowing technique classes and rehearsals to continue taking place, many dance educators are struggling with not having the same engagement with their online classrooms as they would in their physical classrooms.
Friends: with all the love in my heart, I’m here today to relieve you of the expectation that your online classes will have the same engagement as your virtual classes. They won’t. So stop expecting them to.
BUT, there are things that you can do, right now, to help you feel better about your online classes, and maximize the engagement you do have. I guarantee if you try these tips, you’ll generate some fresh momentum for your classes, and walk away from your next online class feeling waaaay better than before.
1. Check Your Expectations
As I just said, it’s going to be darn next to impossible to have the same kind of student engagement in your virtual classes as you have with in person classes. Tech is glitchy, students (and teachers) have distractions at home they’re working against, everyone’s stress levels are through the roof… there are just too many factors creating barriers to a 100% tuned in online dance class. So accept that fact and move on. The harder you fight it, the greater your frustrations will be. It is what it is. Let it be what it’s going to be.
2. Appreciate The Engagement You Do Have
Have a class, or a handful of students that are just rocking the online dance class thing? Appreciate the heck out of those kids! Write a sonnet, or a haiku about how grateful you are for their presence, attention, and the fact that they’re on the other side of that screen with you! What we appreciate, appreciates. Which brings me to my next point…
3. Tell Your Students What They’re Great At
While you’re going on an appreciation binge, communicate to your students how fantastically great they are. Tell them that you appreciate them coming, showing up, and giving their all. Bolster their confidence by calling out when they apply a correction, holla at them from your screen that you saw that great pirouette.
Your students will only continue to show up if they feel good when they do. Kids won’t show up, or be motivated to show up when they feel like their presence doesn’t make a difference. Shout loud and proud what your students are rocking at, and that you’re grateful for them.
4. Tell Your Dance Parents What They’re Great At
Every dancer comes with a parent or guardian. And that person is your gateway to your student. So it’s worth your while to lavish some of that gratitude and positive communication on your dance parents. Do you have a dance parent who’s been super supportive? Maybe a parent who’s sent you photos and videos of their dancer? Tell them how much it means to you! By all means, over communicate how great their efforts and energy are. When people know what they’re doing is helping us to feel good, 99% of the time they’ll want to do more of that! So even if a student’s engagement with dance flails, their parent will be right there to encourage them to get back on track.
5. Try The Engagement Intervention
You may have seen, or heard a lot about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs lately. At the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid are the elements of physiological and safety, meaning, that before any human can engage with others, or the material in your dance classes, their physiological and safety needs have to be met first.
The Engagement Intervention Webinar I did shows you exactly how to meet these needs of students first, and then maximize the time you have with them in your virtual classes. The replay of this webinar is available now, giving you an easy to implement plan you can use for your very next class!
There you go! I hope you find these tactics helpful and insightful, and if you have any you’d like to add to this list please let me know! I always love hearing from you in the comments, or connecting with you on social media. Stay safe, healthy and well my friends - we can do hard things!