Whether you are new to online teaching or looking to sharpen your approach, running an engaging virtual classroom takes a different set of habits than teaching in person. Here is how to build a classroom environment, communicate, and keep students motivated in a remote setting.
Key Takeaways
- Effective virtual teaching begins with creating a welcoming, organized online environment where students understand how to participate.
- Clear, consistent communication helps students stay informed about assignments, expectations, and upcoming course activities.
- Interactive discussions, collaborative activities, games, and surveys can help strengthen engagement and classroom community.
- Timely feedback and an active instructor presence can help students feel supported throughout the online learning experience.
- Establishing classroom norms and participation guidelines early gives students a clearer understanding of what is expected of them.
Creating an Effective Virtual Classroom Environment
The learning environment for your virtual classroom may vary based on the age of your students or the subject area you are teaching. However, you can take steps to ensure that any virtual learning environment is welcoming and effective.
As you begin to plan your course and create your classroom environment, get creative. You can add personal touches that will make your online learning space feel both fun and inviting. For example, you may want to create a classroom home page that mimics an in-person classroom — design a virtual bulletin board, include a link to an e-library for quiet reading, and add a button where students can quickly send you a message.
When the course begins, you should involve your students in the process of establishing a classroom environment. Together, you and your students can come up with a set of norms and etiquette rules that will guide behavior in your online learning environment. For instance, you can decide whether students should raise their hands during a video conference to ask a question, or simply type their question into the chat. By allowing students to help establish norms and guidelines, you are showing them that they are a valued and respected part of the classroom.
| Teaching Element | What It Looks Like in Practice | How It Supports Students |
|---|---|---|
| Welcoming environment | Create an organized course home page with helpful links, resources, and contact options. | Helps students locate information and feel comfortable participating. |
| Shared classroom norms | Involve students in establishing expectations for discussions, video calls, and online behavior. | Encourages participation, respect, and a sense of belonging. |
| Consistent communication | Send regular updates, identify action items, and use multiple communication formats. | Helps students understand priorities, deadlines, and next steps. |
| Interactive instruction | Incorporate discussions, collaborative activities, games, polls, and surveys. | Creates opportunities for active learning and peer interaction. |
| Clear expectations | Explain attendance, participation, assignment, and communication requirements early. | Reduces confusion and gives students a clearer path for participating successfully. |
| Active instructor presence | Participate in discussions, respond to questions, and provide timely, actionable feedback. | Helps students feel supported and connected to the course. |
Encouraging Student Interaction and Discussions
Research supports making interaction an intentional part of online instruction. A systematic review of 32 studies identified student-to-student interaction, instructor-to-student interaction, teaching presence, motivation, and course organization among the factors most frequently associated with student engagement in online learning. As an online teacher, you should create moments where students can interact with one another and engage in discussion, as this will help create a greater sense of community within your online classroom.
Communication Strategies for Online Teaching
You must be able to communicate clearly and effectively if you are planning to teach online. When communicating with your students online, you should:
- Keep messages as short as possible and only include the most pertinent information.
- Clearly identify action items within the communication.
- Communicate on a regular basis. For example, you may want to send a classroom update each Monday or a wrap-up e-mail every Friday.
- Rely on different communication methods to reach all your students. E-mail, text messages, video messages, and audio recordings can all be incorporated into an online teaching communication plan.
Motivating Your Students in Online Classes
Keeping students motivated in an online learning environment can be challenging. By keeping students engaged and interested in your coursework, you will ensure that they keep signing on day after day, week after week. You can increase student motivation by:
- Using varied instructional methods to ensure no two days are alike.
- Adding interactive components, such as games and surveys, to your classroom lesson plans.
- Providing students with timely feedback and being receptive to any feedback they have for you.
Setting Clear Expectations for Your Students
Similar to a traditional, in-person learning environment, you will want to establish guidelines and expectations for your classroom. When your students know what you expect of them, they are less likely to become disenchanted or disengaged by the learning experience. As an online teacher, you should outline when you expect students to appear for synchronous learning, how you expect them to submit assignments, and what they can do to participate fully in class.
These practices align with the National Standards for Quality Online Teaching, which emphasize clear communication expectations, actionable and timely feedback, collaborative learning, appropriate online behavior, and an active instructor presence.
Being Present and Active in the Virtual Classroom
As a teacher, you play a key role in the classroom environment and community culture. A meta-analysis of 19 studies found that teaching presence was moderately associated with actual learning and strongly associated with student satisfaction in online and blended courses.
You should be present and active in classroom life, including on discussion boards, in social media groups that you have created for your class, and during video conferencing sessions. Students should feel as if they can come to you to discuss any concerns or questions they have, and they cannot do that unless you are an active participant in your own virtual learning space.
Still deciding whether online teaching is the right path, or want to know what it takes to get certified and land your first role? See Is Online Teaching Right for You? and How to Become an Online Teacher.
Earn a Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching at Post University
At Post University, we offer a Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching that features a skills-based curriculum specific to remote teaching. Request more information about our programs today.
The Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching is not designed to fulfill the educational requirements for any educational credential, such as a state teacher’s license. Professional credentials vary by state and include requirements outside of education, which may include exams, background checks, work experience, and more. Learn about teaching certification requirements through the state departments of education: https://www2.ed.gov/about/contacts/state/index.html.
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