Keeping your students engaged is a challenge that many educators face these days. Regardless of how important a topic or a subject is, chances are that your students might end up losing focus after a certain amount of time. This is particularly true for subjects that are already tricky (yes, math included).
While many educators are actively leveraging the benefits of AI in eLearning to create interactive, easy-to-understand, and detailed course modules, a lot of leg work still goes into encouraging and motivating students to stay consistent throughout the course.
Nevertheless, the creative thinking of educators has enabled them to come up with engaging ways to keep students interested throughout the class, and here are some you must try, too!
9 Ways To Keep Your Classroom Interested
1. Start on a warm note:
Regardless of the time of the day you are taking the class, warming up can make a huge difference. It can be something as simple as doing a quick activity, a rapid-fire, or merely asking your students what they enjoy the most about the subject you are teaching. These activities can help build a connection between you and your students.
Moreover, getting inside the classroom and starting teaching right away can be difficult as it allows no time for students to settle in and grasp what you are teaching. Additionally, warming up with your students makes you seem more approachable, giving students the confidence that you will be helping them whenever they are stuck.
2. Integrate technology into your course design:
When preparing for the next class or when working on coursework modules, make use of technology (artificial intelligence and machine learning) to break down complex topics into manageable, simpler, and bite-size chapters that students can complete.
As AI and ML are designed to adapt, they can continuously upgrade the course modules to ensure that you are able to make your subject easy to understand and engaging for your students.
3. Gamification:
Imagine going through a tough chapter in your coursework and getting rewarded with positive feedback and motivational messages. It will instantly boost your confidence and will make you want to take on more challenging tasks.
Through gamification, keep your students motivated and engaged while they conquer subjects and topics that challenge them the most. Additionally, gamification encourages cognitive development and enables students with all abilities to participate.
4. Promote self-learning:
Instead of focusing on covering everything in the classroom, consider giving your students homework. It can involve sharing a bunch of topics they need to research before the next session. This will ensure they are not relying on classroom teaching altogether but are also investing efforts into learning at their own pace and time.
You can also consider creating an assignment to assess your student’s ability to conduct their research and understand the topic better. This works great when you want to help your students with developing their own learning methodologies.
5. Use visual content instead of being heavy on text:
Keeping your coursework extensively heavy on text will make your class extremely monotonous. Instead, focus on adding visual elements like graphs, pictures, infographics, videos, and animation. These break the monotony of the learning process, creating room to imagine how things are actually unfolding.
Additionally, infographics are an excellent way to present bite-size information, statistics, and facts without overwhelming learners. Video formats can be used to explain complex concepts in smaller details. Moreover, as these formats are made to look attractive, there are higher chances that your students will save them for later reference and learning.
However, remember that it is important not to make these visuals heavy with text, as it hampers readability. Instead, focus on making your visuals light on texts and more focused on explaining with visual elements.
6. Encourage group discussions:
Regarded as one of the best ways to reinforce and practice what your students have learned, group discussions boost interaction and ensure learners put an effort towards deeply learning and researching the topic before coming to the discussion room.
The other benefits of organizing a group discussion include improving the ability to articulate ideas and information better, increasing attention & listening skills, and improving one’s ability to process information within short amounts of time.
Additionally, group discussions also give educators insights into the learning abilities of their students and accordingly customize class lessons to enhance learning experiences.
7. Create a break every 45 minutes:
Countless studies have shown that the human brain can dedicatedly focus for only 45 minutes before it starts to wander. So, if your classes are going beyond the 45-minute mark, consider giving your students a small break. It will allow their brains to refocus again.
Alternatively, you can consider dividing your class into multiple segments where, for the first 20 minutes, you can introduce the subject, allow 15 minutes for students to read through their course material, and have a 10-minute Q&A session followed by 15 minutes of group discussions.
Changing the format will give your learners time to recall what they have learned and ask questions in case there is something they weren’t able to understand fully.
8. Hold a recap session at the beginning of the class:
A recap is a great way to remind your learners what they have learned the previous day. It helps them feel connected to the current class and mentally draw parallels to what they have learned and where it is headed.
It is highly recommended to open a window for Q&A to ensure your learners have their doubts and concepts in place before they start making progress. You can also consider organizing quizzes to help your students tap into what they learned yesterday.
9. Keep yourself updated with what’s happening in the education sector:
The education sector in recent years has grown exponentially, and technology has become an integral part of the classroom. Whether you are designing modules to train your employees to match current industry standards or are looking to introduce new services by upskilling new joiners and interns, technology can help save time and cut down on extra costs.
For instance, with AI and machine learning, you can ensure your course modules adapt to the learning pace of the students to provide a smoother and less stressful learning experience.
Parting words:
Keeping your students engaged has been a constant worry in the minds of even the most talented and skilled educators.
By combining technology and teaching methodologies while ensuring you are using multiple formats of teaching, classrooms can keep students engaged and interested in the learning process.
Learning is an easy process when taught well.
