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Ten Things on Motivation and Increasing Engagement in the Digital Classroom

Motivation increases when we address issues of accountability and engagement. A lot of what we already know and do in a regular teaching situation still applies to the digital classroom.  It only takes small tweaks and a knowledge of where to look to get your favorite motivators working for you.

1. Involve students in tracking their learning and digital task completion

Checklists help make expectations clear and break large tasks down into smaller, more manageable steps. They are the perfect tool to help students track their learning and/or completion of digital tasks. You can keep them clean by using concise language or make them complex with detailed explanations or steps. Hyperdocs increase productivity because they link directly to other resources students will need to complete their tasks.

Checklist Styles to Consider:

  • Daily or Weekly Schedule with a complete list of tasks | Sample
  • Individual checklists of subtasks needed to complete a single task.
  • Checklist of "I can" statements linked to objectives.
  • Student-generated checklists written down as the teacher reviews the daily work during a morning video call.

Learn How to Create Online Checklists:

Schools who use Google Classroom can easily involve students in tracking digital task completion. Teach your students to use the calendar and/or to do list. Also see item 3 below for more!

2. Help students set goals and self-reflect

You can use Google Forms or make digital worksheets on your favorite software that will help your students set goals and/or self-reflect. When I taught second grade in a traditional classroom we would set goals on Monday and reflect every Friday. Students often used the data they were tracking to select their goals. 

Ideas for student self-reflection:

  • Set subject-specific goals linked to data you've been tracking or student work samples
  • Reflect on what you are proud of
  • Reflect on what you still need to work on
  • Identify a specific task for the week that you are still working on
  • Reflect before or after teacher feedback
Here are some Seesaw activities I found for goal setting and reflections:

3. Use rubrics and online gradebooks

Google Classroom's built-in rubric tool helps you quickly grade assignments. Providing feedback in the form of a grade helps students stay accountable and increases engagement. For assignments that you would not typically grade just simply make them worth 1 point. Use the rubric to grade the assignment as Completed (1 point) and Not Completed (0 points).

In my district we grade students on their attainment of the state standards using a 1-4 scale. The numbers are accompanied by the descriptors Exceeds, Meets, Approaching, and Does not meet. I created a matching generic rubric in Google Classroom and have added Not attempted with a score of 0.

If you want to create assignment-specific rubrics you have that option too!

Make sure you prompt your students to regularly check their grades. Use this video to teach them how.

If you're not using Google Classroom consider creating an online gradebook that students and their parents have access to. Your district may already have software for this, but if not use my Google Sheet template. When you enter grades on the Teacher Gradebook tab it automatically displays them on the appropriate tab for that student. Students can see their grades if you publish each tab and share the published link with the student. Learn how here.

4. Use interactives that track student progress

One of the biggest challenges for a teacher of a digital classroom is ensuring students are actually engaging in their learning activities. In a traditional classroom we can do a quick visual sweep of the room and see the children that are off-task. In a digital classroom it might not be as apparent. 

Software like Deck.Toys, Pear Deck, Nearpod, and Edpuzzle offer a solution to that problem. These tools help teachers insert interactive elements to ensure engagement and reinforce content. They help track student progress within a lesson.

5. Gamify

Gamifying educational tasks is not new nor is it limited to digital activities—students have been playing review Jeopardy since the 80s. However, digitalization of learning has certainly given gamification new life. Check out these ideas and apps that take the appeal of play and apply it to learning activities:

6. Use behavior management software

I've been using Class Dojo for years now, but lately I've had my eye on another company, Classcraft. Both of these apps apply gamification principles to behavior management. With both apps you can define behaviors to reinforce and discourage and help students track their behavior. 

Class Dojo is simple to set up and understand. Students each have a monster avatar that earns and loses points based on student behavior. The teacher can decide what to do with those points. I give rewards at 5 point intervals. For me, Class Dojo works best with my youngest students.

Classcraft seems a bit complicated, but, for that reason, also a lot more fun. I hope to learn to use the software alongside my 5th grade classes this year.

7.  Reward your students

Choose your favorite rewards to give out and match them with the task. Here is my list of digital classroom friendly rewards.

  • Digital stickers—I love to use my Bitmoji
  • Take a selfie
  • Earn the link to a game
  • Be the deejay at a class dance party
  • Choose the brain break
  • Choose the story to be read
  • Read to the class
  • Choose a virtual field trip
  • Change your desktop background
  • Change your profile icon/avatar
  • Choose a virtual background during Zoom
  • Digital Student of the Week poster
  • Share a personal post on Seesaw or Flipgrid (pets, sing, dance, art, etc.)
  • Choose the teacher's or principal’s tie/hat/shirt for their next video
  • Snack or lunch video call with the teacher or principal

8. Communicate regularly with caregivers

I attended a virtual workshop this summer at a local university. One of the best practices they mentioned for teaching virtually was to use multiple methods of communication with caregivers. Here are a few digital communication methods to consider:

9. Use social media engagement strategies

Today's popular social media apps make use of engagement strategies that have been proven to keep users coming back.  Likes and comments were some of the first tools put into place for that reason. Now users can also view the number of people engaging with their content, watch their streaks grow, and earn badges based on the different ways they have interacted with the app.  Below are some suggestions on how social media engagement strategies might be used in education:

  • Use teacher to student, student to student, and caregiver to student likes and comments with Seesaw or other blogging software
  • Use badges/stickers for behavior, work completed, or objectives mastered
  • Track student “streaks” and add up points for the amount of days in a row students complete certain activities
  • Let students collect and redeem points on software like Class Dojo

10. Allow for student choice

Let students choose which learning content to engage in on a single topic. This can be accomplished by creating hyperdocs, choice boards, or by using software like Wakelet. Include a variety of content on the topic including videos, eBooks and articles, and learning games.

Let students choose how they demonstrate their learning. Here are some ways to do that with digital tools:

  • Upload or draw a picture and include a caption and/or labels
  • Create a Video response
  • Write a response
  • Create a presentation
  • Create a Voki or Chatterpix
  • Make a whiteboard video or other screencast
Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay
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