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I’m an avid tennis player. We start any practice, drill session, or match with a dynamic warm-up. The warm-up helps get our minds and bodies engaged and ready for tennis.
Engaging your learners as they join the virtual classroom is just as important. A warm-up sets the tone for the rest of the session. If the warm-up is dynamic and engaging, you’re more likely to have engaged learners for your virtual session. Here at Langevin, our producers greet each learner and get the warm-up started 15 minutes before the learning begins.
Some of my favorite virtual classroom warm-up activities include:
- 1. Start with a fun puzzle or brainteaser. These are typically non-content related. Post these activities on a slide and ask participants to respond in chat or on the whiteboard/slide.
2. Poll the group (if you have polls built into your platform) or ask a question in chat. I like to find out people’s experience level. You can also ask fun questions to get people engaging, sharing, and connecting.
- 3. Ask learners to come off mute and elaborate on their responses to the warm-up activities or engage in “small talk” to continue building rapport before the session officially starts.
- 4. Include opportunities to practice with the virtual classroom tools on day one.
- 5. Mix it up for multi-day sessions and have a different type of warm-up each day.
Start your next virtual session with a fun warm-up activity to prepare your learners to engage and participate. You’ll find the combination of these will be a winning choice!
If you’d like to learn other ways to maximize learner engagement, check out our Maximizing Engagement in the Virtual Classroom workshop. You’ll learn how to implement a variety of strategies to increase participation and opportunities for learning success!
