A sense of community through the screen
Before going through the content of this lesson, please watch the introductory video below.
When teaching online, teachers have very different approaches. Some request students not to eat or drink anything during the lesson, while some are fine with students doing this. Some request proper clothes and some allow students to show up in pyjamas (especially when the class starts very early). However, managing to get students to keep their cameras open is a big challenge. Keeping the camera off can have very, very different reasons. Of course, there can be cases of students who are not interested in the lesson. But there are others that do not like to show themselves and see themselves on the screen. For them, talking with the camera off, or in the chat, might work out very well. And then there are the ones that do not want to show their room. Blurring the background or choosing another background that does not show the room could work here.
Camera on or camera off, the sense of being part of a community and feeling as comfortable as possible is a great step towards making online learning “human”.
Now let’s see how we can foster a sense of community.
Here are a few ideas related to creating an “inclusive camera policy”, learned from how teachers in the USA approached hybrid and online learning(3):
➡️ A teacher working in a school having a policy against requiring students to open their cameras asked students “to send her video responses to a prompt via the app Flipgrid, allowing her to ‘meet’ her students while still giving them control over when and how they portrayed themselves on video”;
➡️ A teacher asks students to open their camera “if they’re performing a poem, or a scene from a play”;
➡️ Even in situations where students keep cameras on, “a lot of students might be shy, so they would rather type it in”, says another teacher. She allows them to give written answers, and she even wants to consider using this option even in the face-to-face classroom - “offering nonverbal methods of class participation, like typing into a chat box or private messaging a teacher, was a common tactic — 67 percent of teachers said they encouraged students to do this more now than they did at the beginning of the school year”, states the quoted article.
How can we create a sense of community in the online classroom?
- The “favourite place” moment - ask students to choose a favourite place, find a photo that depicts it and change their background in order to show themselves in that place. Discuss about the different places.
- The “special colour” moment - ask students to wear the same colour in a certain moment. You can vote / negotiate the colour with them in order to make sure they have such a piece of clothing around. Make a photo with all the group in one colour (including yourself, of course).
- The “special hat” moment… or if you are familiar with Alice in Wonderland, you can even call it the “Mad Hatter” moment - ask students to choose or build something to put on their heads: a hat, a turban, a paper helmet.
- The “get your pet to class” moment - have a moment when students show their pets, if they have any.
- The “favourite toy/object” moment - ask students to choose a favourite object that they can show at the beginning of the next lesson/day and share why it is their favourite.
- The “visit to the castle” day - tell students that you will all go together to the castle to meet the king and queen. Give them time to prepare an outfit and a background that suits the moment. When all are ready and show themselves, have a discussion related to their outfits, backgrounds, and preparations, and of course, make a picture.
Reflection time
Talking about creating a comfortable learning environment and a sense of community, what other ideas would you put in practice?
