Engage students during wait times in Zoom

Have you ever experienced that awkward moment in Zoom when students are slowly arriving in your meeting and no one is talking? Or when you try to engage students with pleasant chit chat before class and no one responds? One solution is to implement the “While We Wait” community building activity from OneHE.

Arrive to your Zoom meeting 5-10 minutes early and implement one of these strategies to deal with the dreaded Zoom dead time:

• Play music from one of the target language cultures you teach. As students enter, ask them to react to the music in the chat.
• Announce a “topic of the day” that students can see as they enter Zoom and engage them in conversation about the topic (e.g., what they’re streaming on Netflix, a game they love playing on their phone, a time management tip for online learning)
• Project a personal or course-related photo. Ask students to react to the photo and try to guess why you chose it to be the photo of the day.

Once you establish a “While we wait” rhythm, ask your students to take over by suggesting and sharing songs, topics, or photos to react to in the minutes before class begins. Not only will you help minimize awkward Zoom dead time, you’ll also create an increased sense of community among you and your students.

-- Kate Paesani