Given what we know about the positive impacts of active learning on student achievement, it is important to consider alternative methods for student engagement during in-person instruction.

Active Engagement

Encourage Engagement:

• Synchronous Learning Activity: Use breakout meeting rooms in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra to simulate small group discussions.
• Asynchronous Learning Activity: Pose an equivalent question to the asynchronous students, either in video or text, and ask the students to respond in a small group discussion forum. Examples include the Blackboard discussion board, Padlet, and Slack. The group reports can be shared to the larger class discussion forum.

Engage/Check Understanding:

• Synchronous Learning Activity: Use the polling or status features in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra or another online polling system to ask questions and show responses in real-time. Additional examples include PollEverywhere, TopHat, Turning Technologies, Quizlet Live and Kahoot.
• Asynchronous Learning Activity: Use anonymous survey feature in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra and share out the results in a class announcement, email, or within the module. Some online polling systems, such as Kahoot, also permit asynchronous play.

Monitor/Access Student Understanding

Providing/Receiving Feedback