Engaging Students in Virtual Learning

2020 brought a series of challenges for higher education and schools in general. Both students and teachers were forced into a new way of learning and teaching, with classrooms being closed and moved to virtual formats. Figuring out how to keep students engaged was already a challenge in it’s own, but now new obstacles are thrown into the equation. With remote learning, students are outside of the classroom and are attending virtual classes via video.

Virtual learning poses a series of challenges for students: what if they don’t understand a lesson, have clarifying questions, want to discuss something with other students, or need to visit their professors’ office hours? While all of these elements are still feasible in a virtual environment, it’s definitely much more difficult to carry out. The abrupt change to virtual learning has impacted both students and teachers, but luckily, there are tools available that streamline the process, making it more effective and accessible to each student.

First, upgrade communication channels

Students are flooded with emails daily. These plain-text emails inform them about their student portal, registering for classes, signing up for meal plans, paying for tuition, applying for student housing, and many other things.

One major issue with plain-text emails is that very few students respond to text alone. Or chances are if students see a long text-heavy email, they’ll skim through it half-heartedly or ignore it altogether.

Unlike a face-to-face meeting, a phone call or email doesn’t provide the most effective communication. People, in general, misinterpret an email and get frustrated over a phone call. 

Now imagine if you’re an overwhelmed student having a difficult time transition to your university! A mountain of plain-text emails may be a contributing factor to low student engagement. 

So to help minimize negative student experiences, Universities need to incorporate video into their communication. 

How to engage students online

Increasing student engagement starts with an engaging communication tool. 

With a video, you get to see and hear the message like an in-person meeting. Better yet, when you communicate via video, you are speaking to students in their preferred medium. The average teen watches nearly 68 videos a day. A recipient of a video email will put a face to the sender’s name and receive screen recordings demonstrating various important systems. For example, faculty members can send a screen recording on how to login into their student portal or pay tuition.

You’re more likely to improve student retention and satisfaction when you include video in your emails. 

For starters, 70% of students are likely to stay on campus if someone at your school knows their name or has a personal connection with them. Making students feel seen and letting them know their success is important by incorporating video from orientation to the classroom.

Below are the top 4 student engagement strategies that incorporate video email into your outreach. 

4 ways to improve classroom engagement with video

1. Advising

Advising centers often need to know how to keep students engaged and prepared. Advisors will communicate more effectively with a video by explaining their role and the students’ different requirements to graduate. Plus, putting a face to the advisor’s name humanizes online communication and helps build a relationship with the student. 

2. Early alert system

Use a video email to reach out to high-risk students and share urgent information regarding their educational success. A college’s early-alert program can measure a student’s engagement through viewer analytics when messages are sent from a video emailing platform. Video email helps prevalent students from slipping through the cracks by providing college faculty with the necessary tools to communicate in a useful and timely manner.

3. Personal communication from faculty & staff

Faculty and staff will provide better service when they add personalized video messages to their emails. Use personalized videos to follow-up with students about a study-abroad program or answer any questions about starting a club on campus. A personalized video email is also useful if a staff member needs to express sincerely or clarify a message. As a result of sending videos, emails, faculty and staff will form a better rapport with the student body creating a more positive school experience.

4. Classroom application

Many teachers understand that adding visuals is one of the top classroom engagement strategies. The brain responds to visuals fast, better than text or any other kind of learning material. Engaging students online and in-person is easier and faster through a video email. 

For more student engagement strategies, contact Covideo to talk to a video expert or see our software in action. 

Start increasing student engagement today

Before you start increasing student engagement, universities need to first discover how to keep students engaged and what strategy works for students. It’s important to note, that every student has different learning styles – so what might work for one, might not work for another. Incorporating video into your virtual classroom helps offer a personalized learning experience for each student. Students can receive personalized support, have visual cues, and can also reference back and replay certain parts of your video if needed.

Using a video platform like Covideo is your first step to delivering quality and effective communication. With excellent communication, you’ll be able to drive more action and, in the end, increase student engagement at your institution.