Post-pandemic in the “new normal” world of online education and teachers have an ever-increasing challenge and they must adapt quickly to keep up with the times. After my last column in BOL News, several LinkedIn and Facebook friends asked what opportunities exist for positive and adaptive change amid these pressures. What follows are the best practices for engaging students in dialogue in an online and hybrid environment.

When teaching online, give your students a chance to interact with you. Have them work together on the projects and exchange information about themselves. Distribute students into groups of two to four and have them discuss a subject that isn’t covered in class.

Create a discussion group and ask each student to post an image of an item and some explanation of the item’s significance in their lives. You should make a short introduction video, publish your bio and have, at least, one personal conversation with your students. Create a standard for both official and casual conversations. Share your proposed code of dialogue on the discussion board. Ensure measures include how to disagree respectfully and convey hurt or apologies — a more human approach (e.g., referring to people by name, allowing humour). Ask participants to vote on your communication plan review regularly and revise as necessary.

Provide cues that encourage participants to share unique points of view.

Place works of literature or research into conversation with one another (e.g., “A says x, while B says y.” Ask students to write imagined conversations between advocates of different points of view (e.g., “Who do you believe is a more accurate image of z, and why?”

Start with a problem statement (e.g., “Create at least three separate proofs for q.” or “How might we create an experiment to test for x, while controlling for y?” or “Passage 1 makes a case for A, while Passage 2 appears to be stating not-A.”) and end with a solution statement. When asked, “How can they be resolved?”)

Use thought-provoking queries. If you read something like, “The author claims that democracy is equalising, yet the United States is a democracy replete with inequality,” you’d be correct. Is there any way to argue for the author’s side?

The author believes that democracy is equalising. Discuss why you agree or disagree with the author based on your own experiences with different types of governance, whether as a citizen (national) or a leader (class president).

Show things that can be read in several ways, whether pictures, numbers, words or anything else.

As the students engage in distance learning, they may be subject to varying monitoring and surveillance; thus, teachers should be wary of addressing any questions that might put participants in danger. It’s essential to have a framework for conversations and change that structure.

Steer clear of “What reactions did you have to this reading?” and other such open-ended conversation starters, as well as those that give advice exclusively in terms of word count or response numbers (e.g., “Write a post of 100 to 150 words,” “Respond to at least two others”).

Space out your questions and postings so that the students have time to reflect on their answers and refine their thinking in the light of the feedback they received from their peers and further research. Is your original opinion still valid? Why/not?”)

Allow for student conversation to take place in a variety of formats, including but not limited to written text, photos, short movies, screencasts and audio snippets. Summarise debate into significant themes or areas of (dis)agreement that arise, in various ways, including a vocal summary, a concept map, an argument tree, or sketch-noting and the teacher or the pupils can do it.

Please make it so that the students have to post in an LMS conversation before seeing responses.

In smaller groups, have students take on different roles.

The facilitator sets the tone, guides the conversation, and summarises and synthesises critical points at the conclusion. The questioner suggests several possible routes to go. Keeps tabs on and documents thoughts (during synchronous conversation; in a discussion thread, all the students contribute in writing). Use a chat log to record the student interactions with a wide range of classmates. Reduce the number of times you chime in to increase the students’ involvement.

During the marking period, call attention to at least one positive contribution from each student and keep tabs on yourself to ensure you’re not favouring particular learners over others.

Include student feedback in the overall course progression.

Teach students the purpose of each class discussion (for example, “One of our learning objectives in the course is to examine the merits of x. The primary goal of today’s debate is to ascertain whether or not the issues presented in the readings for today argue clearly against one category of x.”

Link class discussions to course requirements (e.g., “Today, we’ll discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using mixed techniques to gather data. This will be helpful when defending the methods you used to collect data in your thesis or dissertation.

To gauge the impact of conversation on students’ perspectives, conduct a pre- and post-survey at the beginning and end of the course. Assess the outcomes on several scales. Have the students provide short summaries of their key learnings from assigned class topics. Assess whether or not the students’ participation in class discussions has contributed to the achievement of learning objectives and provide them with feedback.

Use a poll or discussion thread to have students provide regular feedback on how well the class discussions are going, compared with the established standards. Consider using criteria to evaluate the students’ participation in class discussions or have them develop their own.

Encourage students to share their experiences.

Include in-class debriefing and discussion of activities conducted outside the classroom, such as kitchen experiments, excursions around the neighbourhood, interviews, or chats with the family and friends.

Assign class-related tasks, such as gathering student testimonies on the topics such as frequent misunderstandings of critical ideas, immigrant experiences, ethical concerns and user experiences.

To develop their questions for the future discussions, have the students explain a class idea to a family member or friend and then reflect on the experience.

The ability to talk is a transferrable talent.

Highlight the general skills that the class discussion helps develop, such as clear and succinct communication, providing reasons or evidence for what one says, attentive listening, empathy or appreciation for different perspectives and honestly and respectfully voicing disagreement.

Help the students see how their class skills may help them in other contexts, such as improving their ability to listen to friends, argue with the family members, empathise with those with different political beliefs, or speak more effectively.

Let students take charge of class discussions.

Assigning students responsibilities in small-group talks and ensure that the facilitator is a role, which allows the students to experience leading conversations at a more manageable size. This may happen in real-time chat or with the help of a thread moderator.

Help students prepare to facilitate a class discussion by outlining the steps they should take, the conversation’s format and providing opportunities for the students to reflect on and learn from their experience.

Don’t wait to share your thoughts on how things went and how to improve it for the next attempt.

(The writer is an EdTech expert)