Engaging Students on the First Day and Every Day

7 Strategies for Connecting in the Classroom from a faculty at Havard Business School.

Michael Roberto is the Trustee Professor of Management and the director of the Center for Program Innovation at Bryant University. He joined the tenured faculty at Bryant after serving for six years on the faculty at Harvard Business School.

Here are seven strategies to help you connect and engage with students in every class you teach, whether that’s in person, online, or in hybrid classrooms.

1. Really Get to Know Your Students

The research shows that the bonding relationship between students and instructors will better connect class content to their lives. Here are some ways to get to know the students:

The students will write their introduction on an Index Card. The student information will respond through the GoogleForms document before the first session. VoiceThread allows the students to upload a short introduction video. Other peers can also see and comment on the post.

Informal group meetings: In the first few weeks of class, set a time when students and instructors can meet together outside the office hour.

2. Establish Expectations for Participation

The hesitation speaks up in class will be an obstacle to collective learning and the exchange of ideas. Here are some ways to encourage participation in your classes:

Call on students—but pay attention when extra support is needed. Have students grade each others in-class involvement. Ban the podium when teaching in person.

3. Answer the “So What?” in Everything You Do and Say

Motivate students to work well on the assignment and not just for the grade. For instance, The topic can relate the case to the headlines of today and their personal experience with the pandemic.

4. Create Meaningful Prework

The prework activities allow student to be well prepared to contribute in class. There’s ways more effective than assigned reading:

ShowMe is an Apple app help create a short video that break down the concept that breaks down concept and readies students to apply that information. You can record short audio podcasts with Audacity that students can listen to on the go.

Conduct interviews give students to be active on the material by having them interview the surrounding people.

5. Pace Your lesson well

Avoid the long lecture and instead of choose activities involve students. Here are some ways to break up the passive classroom activity:

Get student respond to the Short video.

Polling apps get students’ quick responses to a particular question or topic. Engage student in group work and sharing what they’ve done to the rest of the class.

6. Make Learning Experiences Active and Varied

Pacing the class activities goes hand in hand with incorporating multiple approaches to learning.

7. Show Students That You Care

Maintain the rapport from the first day by celebrating the student’s success beyond the classrom.