Cultivating Relationships in an Online Classroom

Casey Medlock Paul
Jul 24, 2020
3 min read

Creating that classroom environment and learning about your students is harder online. It just is. But that doesn't mean it can't happen! Here are some tips and tricks.

Create a Course Water Cooler

A course water cooler is a discussion board where students can post ANYTHING they like. They can share accomplishments, concerns, questions, Netflix recommendations, Youtube videos--and none of it has to do with the class. It helps prompt some of those impromptu conversations that happen between students (and the teacher too) on the way in and out of the classroom and during short breaks.

If possible in your Learning Management System, plop this discussion board front and center and leave it there for easy access. It should be the first thing people see. Auto subscribe students to it so they get emails every time someone posts. Is that annoying? Possibly. But what happens is that students virtually "overhear" conversations and might join in...and that's how relationships start to blossom. See mine below.

Design Course Expectations Together

Creating expectations for behavior can help your course be empowering and inclusive. What better way to do that than together? You can do this synchronously, in breakout groups, or asynchronously, depending on your preference.

Check out this teacher's tweet with an idea on how to this: https://twitter.com/magicalmsmurphy/status/1286407013023404039/photo/1

(She has a whole thread devoted to the first day of online learning that's really useful as well!)

Make Time for Socializing During Synchronous Sessions

You don't want to waste people's time during synchronous sessions, but setting aside 5 or 10 minutes of "How are you doing? Any fun news anyone wants to share?" chit chat can make a world of difference. It shows you as the teacher care, it lets students get to know each other, and it lets students know your priority is them--not the class. If you have a small class, you can have everyone share a "rose" and a "thorn," some good news and some less good news.

If you hold only asynchronous classes, offer to have a 1 hour optional socializing session every so often and see who shows up. If only one student shows up, just chat with them!

Try Using FlipGrid Instead of Discussion Boards

Flipgrid is a free tool that makes discussion boards more personal because it includes video and voice. Bonus: you can set time limits on responses which will SAVE YOU TIME! Students can respond to each other as well. I like to provide rubrics to guide appropriate, well-thought out posts and responses. Encourage students to include pets, kids, and hobbies in their posts. You sometimes get some creative things...plus all the cuteness!

Keep in mind that some students may not want to be on video due to their surroundings. Try and encourage the use of camera filters that can blur out or change a background, but be understanding if this isn't their jam.

Use Small Group Work

Small group work is totally possible online. For asynchronous courses, students can use the Course Water Cooler to find a partner and then set up their own phone calls or video sessions. I always set deadlines for finding a partner (ahead of when the work will need to begin) and assist any straggling students with fitting into a group. Students send me their groups so I know who is working together.

In synchronous sessions, utilize breakout groups to have students engage in strategies such as Think, Pair, Share. This can help some quieter students feel more confident in their ideas and encourage them to participate.

Small group work helps build relationships among students, reduces workload (sometimes), and can reduce the amount of work you have to grade. Utilize structured peer review (assign students to a peer reviewer and provide a rubric) to help you get better quality work and to reduce the amount of time you review student work.

Let Your Students Lead Discussion

Send out a Google or Office365 form ahead of synchronous discussions and let your students sign up with a topic they'd like to discuss from the readings/videos. Give them each the same amount of time. This will be more inclusive of students' ideas, allow you to take a break from lecturing, and let you hear more about what your students are picking up from the readings. Students don't have to necessarily bring a presentation--just thoughts and questions.