Connecting with your students remotely is not a simple task, and it’ll probably never replace the physical connection. But, with some creativity and minor adjustments to your mindset and teaching approaches, you can make your lectures more welcoming and favorable for bonding.

In this episode, I talk about 4 different strategies to connect with your students and how to encourage learning in a remote classroom. 

Remember that learning is a social process, connection and trust are essential. As an educator, our job is not only to pass on knowledge and give access to learning resources but also to ensure that the environment is safe and auspicious for learning to happen.

Remote doesn’t have to mean distant. Virtual doesn’t have to mean computerized. Let’s not forget about the human component of learning. No matter the channel we teach through, we are teaching humans, and humans need connections.

Links to applications:

https://gosynth.com/ ---> audio channels and audio conversations

https://www.canva.com/  ---> for creating beautiful videos, social media posts, reels and slides

https://slack.com/  ---> for backchannels

https://discord.com/--->for backchannels

https://wakelet.com/ ---> for creating and sharing virtual collections + backchannels

https://info.flipgrid.com/ ---> for video introductions before lectures

If you want to read more about building meaningful connections with your students in the virtual and hybrid classroom you can read the full article here:  4 Ways to Connect With Students in a Virtual Classroom

Traditional assessment methods are far from being a fair indicator of intelligence, knowledge, skills, or effort. And they don't reflect whatsoever the abilities and preparedness for work life.

Poor performance in an exam has nothing to do with incompetence or lack of knowledge. Many students suffer from attention deficit, hyperactive disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, and other forms of attention and learning disorders. Other students just suffer from anxiety, stress, and fear of judgment and evaluation. Others have just bad luck.

The pandemic situation and the abrupt shift of schools and universities to remote teaching are finally opening our eyes: the way we assess students’ knowledge and skills needs to change. We have to think about more appropriate assessment methods that encourage reflection, learning, and skills development.

In this episode, I discuss different effective methods for assessing students’ learning outcomes both online and offline.

Also, you can check a full article with more assessment techniques here: 10 alternative assessment methods for the online classroom.

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Links to Apps mentioned in this episode

Synth for micro podcasting and private class audio channels: https://gosynth.com/

Mote for audio messages: https://www.mote.com/

Flipgrid for video channels and social platforms: https://info.flipgrid.com/

Wakelet for class topic boards and collections: https://wakelet.com/

Welcome to The Hybrid Professor Podcast, stay tuned for more tips, tools, and strategies to make your online and hybrid classroom more engaging.