Engaging Students with Blended Learning

Returning from Winter Break can be tough!

Students (and teachers!) often struggle to pay attention and lack energy as January roles round, and with exam season coming up, classrooms can’t waste any time keeping kids on track using digital fixes to make the most of your teaching-time.

Problems with Remote and Blended Learning and How to Fix Them

The last few years of remote and blended learning have instilled many habits in students that are not beneficial to learning.

In studies on the effects of remote learning during the Covid-19 pandemic, the long-term issues become clear.

Hyperactivity and disruptive behaviours emerge when children are not given enough energy-outlets and lack interaction with peers and mentors. Especially in elementary school students, these maladaptive learning patterns can be problematic for the development of their learning, having knock-on effects on grades and access to higher-education.

For students with learning difficulties such as those with ADHD and ADD, a return to school, even in just a blended learning environment can make for a difficult transition. Therefore it is important to remember what you personally have learnt from remote teaching to make the switch back as easy as possible. This can mean continuing to use the digital fixes and classroom management software you found success in when teaching remotely.

Making sure learning content is accessible and appropriate can be hard when there is a lack of opportunity for one-to-one contact with students. Structure and support is more important than ever as many students struggle with pressures and problems at home and at school. Keeping communication open and friendly, making your classroom a free space to talk and discuss problems can help you tailor your teaching style to your students.

To combat these problems, be aware of how setting expectations for students which are fixed and inflexible is not a positive pathway to learning. Instead, it is key to communicate and experiment throughout your learning, finding new and novel ways to engage students.

One amazing way to do this is with handy digital fixes and classroom management strategies to boost your classroom management.

Classroom Management Software

Classroom Management Software is a great way to increase engagement, while also appealing to students’ interests. There are many ways to use classroom management software to update your teaching style, but there are also a range of specific, methods and assignments that can be used to boost kids’ involvement using Cloud Class digital software and other digital fixes.

Keep Kids on Task

Attention can easily wander when working with the internet, but there are easy to stop students from going too far off topic:
- Content filtering blocks harmful or inappropriate websites easily, it’s important to insure especially that social media sites are restricted to prevent distraction in the classroom
- View student screens in easy to see live thumbnails as part of a Class Instructor package with Google classroom sync to monitor and take control of multiple devices to give support or warn them away from inappropriate content.
- Final warning lock screen software really helps a teacher put their foot down on students not focusing on their devices. With one click disable screens and send important messages.

Fun and Interactive Learning

Engage with students on their level for the most effective teaching:
- Quick question Quizzes provide multi-choice or open questions at any time, broadcasting them to all or some screens to quickly regain attentions on the learning in a fun, easy way!
- Using web applications like skribbl.io, engaging games are simple to play and share. Use Run Website software to push out the site to students and get creative! Play hangman with Spanish vocab words, or get kids to draw color-coded quadratic equations to engage tactile learning styles and help them learn without knowing.

Remote Learning is Still Important

Away from the classroom keeping students engaged is just as important. Homework shouldn’t be an after-thought but instead use and extend the teaching methods used in classrooms.

Homework Assignment Ideas

Relating to students is important to keep them interested in learning.

Gear your assignments towards their interests, help them exercise their independence and individuality by letting them choose a subject to apply your teaching to. Whether writing a celeb Instagram post in another language, making memes about assigned literature, or creating a history PowerPoint centered on their favorite sport and presented to the class through broadcasting. Minds are engaged and research skills are developed while students have fun with their own interests.

Retaining Privacy and Safety

Senso takes online student safety very seriously both in school and at home.

Therefore our Safeguard Network Cloud Bundle provides effective remote device monitoring no matter where the device is in the world. Centralised information is easy for administrators to access on the cloud and is proud to be COPPA and FERPA compliant regarding student privacy.

We also offer effective and easy Microsoft Teams Chat monitoring and safeguarding to assist in your remote and blended working.

Keeping track of mental health and bullying

Issues of bullying at home or in school can seriously impact engagement, student well-being and mental-health. As supporters of David’s Law against cyberbullying, this is a top priority to assist teachers in. Here are some ways you can support students’ mental health and build their resilience in the classroom.

Create a Strong Connection

Addressing students by name and relating to their individual interests can encourage children to trust their educators, making them more likely to reach out if they are having a hard time. Integrating digital tools and the internet into lesson plans makes teachers more relatable to their students and increases their confidence in you as a responsible, friendly face.

One-To-One Communication

Using Quick Question messaging from Class Cloud, discrete and personal communication between teachers and students is possible even in a buys, noisy classroom. If a student looks unengaged or is often alone, sending a Quick Question as a first line of communication allows the student to take notice of your digital classroom as a safe way to talk.

This can even benefit larger classes by sending regular check in messages- ideally at the end of the period- to larger groups to ensure they understand your lesson content and to keep up with your students’ wellbeing.

Help them Stay Ready for the Exam Season with Senso Cloud

You can book a demo to see for yourself how easy-to-use and helpful our software can be to revolutionise your teaching! We help you to adapt it to your specific teaching style to keep your students ready to learn, with a helping hand from our expert software engineers.

If you want to learn more about our many services, you can call our pre-sales team on 866-664-1520 or fill in our contact form.