How to Keep Students Engaged During Remote Learning

Educators understand the unique challenges of keeping students engaged in a classroom. However, committing to a remote learning curriculum in the middle of a pandemic is something entirely different.

With additional challenges like countless distractions, mental fatigue and more thrown into the mix, it’s no wonder that student engagement overall is beginning to wane.

To provide some insight on how to keep students engaged during remote learning, host Shelby Skrhak met with Angelica Casillas-Wortham and Tina Cole from Istation.

“Children are getting tired sitting in front of the computer,” said Casillas-Wortham. “That’s not normally what they do. They don’t sit all day long in one classroom for hours at a time. They get to get up and transition and move around.”

To help combat restlessness, she encouraged teachers to pause their online instruction every so often and get students to move around and get their blood flowing.

After offering a personal anecdote where a student didn’t understand the purpose of his Istation lesson, Casillas-Wortham also explained how transparency from teachers can often encourage students to work harder in their studies. “They don’t understand why they’re being asked to do what they’re doing on the computer, and having a little bit of time to have something explained to them helps motivate them.”

Cole also used the story as an example of why and how to implement social and emotional learning in a remote setting.

She noted that sometimes educators push back against this type of learning because they’re not sure if they fully understand it. “But, truly, what it means is allowing students to realize that emotions are important, and it’s part of their learning. Because, if they’re feeling frustrated, you need to get underneath that.”

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