The students’ transition from physical to online classes was a bit abrupt due to the Covid-19. That’s why many students, as well as teachers, complain about it. A lot of students treated it as a vacation. Therefore, teachers couldn’t continue the process of nurturing students’ creativity during online classes. However, creating an engaging environment, preparing a good timetable, and giving flexibility in the assigned tasks can encourage safe online learning . Here are a few tips to Nurture students’ creativity and keep them safe online.
Limit Screen Time:
With online classes, students are already spending plenty of time staring at screens. It is important to limit their screen time because it will make them lazy and less creative. Students need that fresh air to freshen up and reset their minds. Nowadays, frequent meetings with friends might not be the best option; that’s why after online classes, families should arrange some fun activities at home to engage children.
According to Mayo Clinic, too much low-quality screen time, like watching unproductive videos or video games for multiple hours, can cause obesity, health problems, and lack of social skills.
Safe online Learning is vital
Along with learning and productivity, the safety of the students is also vital during online classes. Students need a clear and sharp mind during lectures to acquire the concepts and unleash their creativity. If something is bothering them, they won’t reach their full potential.
Services like Safe Doc ensures a safe learning environment. It prevents students from accessing obscene images, unethical emojis and minimizes distractions.
- It allows you to manage the Google Workspace for Education’s features according to your needs
- You can choose which class can access which features
- You can restrict students’ access to chat in meet or sharing screen to reduce distractions in the class
Build An Environment:
Build a controlled environment for your students. Follow a certain pattern of teaching like physical classes. In the end, give everyone a chance to participate in the discussion and add their perspective. It will help students attend the class attentively and share opinions at the end of the online session.
Empower your students: “Ask 3 before me”
Teachers need to empower students in the class. Edutopia proposes many strategies to engage students in the class. “Ask three before me” is one such strategy. The teacher suggests that students should ask the query from 3 fellows before asking me.
This strategy is proposed because sometimes students understand their fellows more than teachers. It creates an autonomous environment in the class where students feel empowered.
Similarly, the students who teach other classmates gain confidence. It helps them grow and get better at this skill over time.
Such practices help build social, emotional, cognitive skills and nurture creativity.
Assign Safe Online Learning Practical projects:
Some instructors suggest that educators should assign projects that involve practical activity. Instead of theoretical assignments, students pick activities of interest in practical assignments. Moreover, they like to talk about it and share about the process and what they learned and achieved.
Therefore, it’s better to involve students in the process and let them pick subject-related activities. They will participate passionately in the activities and the discussion afterwards.
Divide students in the Google Docs
An instructor named Ryan Tahmaseb divided students into virtual rooms in an online session and gave them a topic to discuss with their groupmates critically. They had to record their answers on a shared google doc. When their discussion ended, the teacher invited students from each group to share their answers with one another.
This is an effective way to safely engage and nurture students’ creativity online. No one is going out of the class or the controlled environment. The groups were independent and free because their teacher wasn’t present there. Therefore, they had autonomous discussions and raw responses to share with the whole class.
Prepare a Timetable for your Students:
Students face time management problems during online learning. Multiple teachers have noticed this and received complaints from students. It limits their creativity because they stress due to less time and more work.
To solve this problem, a sixth-to-eighth-grade English teacher Olivia Gregory conducted one-on-one video sessions with her students. She understood their situation and then provided tips on creating a proper schedule for daily studying, prioritizing tasks, and understanding teachers’ instructions.
Learn From Other Teachers:
Every sincere teacher is trying individually to teach the students in the best way possible online. They come up with different methods to teach their students unique to them. Many teachers share fun educational activities with students to make them learn lessons in a light or humorous way.
Some educators conduct anonymous polls asking students to express their feelings by clicking on the related emoji. It can be done through google docs. This way, the teacher knows how many students are mentally healthy during the online learning process and how many are stressed.
Get in touch and learn these methods from your colleagues.
Mimic Your Physical Class:
If you’re sitting in a room with a dull wall or background, the students might feel bored. Visuals are important to energize your students and motivate them to actively participate in the online class. Therefore, experts suggest mimicking your physical class. Bring the charts, board, or other elements from your physical class to keep in the background during the online classes. It will not only decorate your background but also remind the on-campus classes and excite your students.
Therefore, try to engage students in online classes like physical classes. It will take effort and different strategies, but it is essential.
Conclusion:
Adapting to online teaching and learning was difficult for teachers as well as students. It was an abrupt change, and both are trying to adjust. For students, it becomes boring and overwhelming at times, undermining their creativity. Similarly, teachers try to encourage and motivate students to learn and stay creative. Methods like limiting screen time, empowering students, practical assignments, and increased autonomy in discussions will help parents and educators nurture students’ creativity while keeping them safe online. With services like safe doc, teachers can ensure students’ online safety and customize a controlled environment for learning.
