Icebreakers for the 21st Century Classroom: Part 2, Online and Hybrid Learning

In last week’s Icebreakers for the 21^st Century Classroom: Part 1, we explored some viable icebreakers for in-person courses. These ranged from name tags to fun games, which allowed students to interact face-to-face and learn about their peers. But, what happens when everything is online or some students are remoting into a class with in-person classmates? Many of us who were new to teaching online or hybrid courses had to grapple with this new scenario of creating an active community virtually.

Thankfully, this is not as alien to us as it might first appear. We are all aware of social media applications, fan pages, and online groups and thus know that creating successful online communities is possible. For quite some time now, many people even have friends who they have only known from online interactions. This suggests that our online courses can still achieve creating a sense of community, especially when we are teaching a younger demographic.

As you would begin fostering a sense of community for an in-person classroom, it is advisable to start developing your course’s online community-building through icebreakers. Icebreakers for the 21^st Century Classroom: Part 2, Online and Hybrid Learning will be exploring different activities below for synchronous, asynchronous, and hybrid courses.

Icebreakers for Synchronous Online Courses

• Breakout Rooms
• Polling
• Green screen background changes
• Interactive white boards

Icebreakers can be adapted to online environments quite well, and, out of all of the online learning environments, synchronous courses are the most similar to in-person teaching. During the COVID pandemic, some students reported that they felt isolated from each other, but icebreakers can help overcome that sense of isolation by establishing an online community. Your goal in any learning environment is to help foster a sense of kinship to facilitate student engagement. Breakout rooms are accessible and readily available over Zoom and instructors are able to set the number of groups and participants per group. You can turn these breakout rooms into musical chairs by ending a breakout session and then creating new randomized breakout rooms with different individuals every 5 or 10 minutes. Students will enjoy the chance to greet and socialize as if they were in-person.

Another type of online engagement can be polling students. Ask a question to the group and have them respond. Their responses can be answered in the chat, through a pre-designed poll, or by emoji reactions. A third option can be a fun video background change. Prompt students by asking them to share a photo of where they would like to travel to, share the cover of their favorite book, or a picture of their hometown. This can be a fun way to start-off multiple classes for students to warm-up. Finally, through interactive virtual whiteboards students can interact with each other in a “hands-on” manner by drawing an answer prompted by you. These questions can range from their current mood to a short review question such as recreating a diagram or drawing a representation of a literary phrase. Students will laugh and enjoy interacting with an in-class interpretive game of Telestrations. 

Icebreakers for Asynchronous Online Courses

• Fun Online Forum Prompts
• Word Clouds
• Living Group Work Contract

Icebreakers for asynchronous online courses may at first seem impossible to create a community that is engaged; however, there are many potential activities that can meet the need of introductions and having your students interact with one another. Outside of the classroom, we often participate asynchronously with each other online, whether it is on Facebook, Twitter, Tik-Tok, or the comment section of a news article. It is no longer as unfamiliar as it would have been for some of us ten to fifteen years ago. Your learning management system can function similarly for students. For example, in Canvas you may utilize discussion forums, where students can answer fun question prompts and interact with one another. Ensure that questions are open-ended with the requirement for students to respond and discuss with classmates.  If you are interested in something beyond an online forum, word clouds are a great approach to learn about each other collectively. After providing a prompt, ask students to engage with it by inputting a single word that they feel can be associated with that prompt into a word cloud generator. By the end, that word cloud should be diverse, and students can later reflect on the words in the cloud through online discussion or a homework assignment. Finally, if you decide to have group work during your asynchronous course, it would be a good idea to incorporate a living group work contract that your students help develop. Google documents allows students the ability to write, edit, and comment collaboratively in real-time, so it can be a great tool to facilitate this icebreaker. Students will be able to engage with one another and place their mark on developing rules in the course.

Icebreakers for a Hybrid Class (Both In-person and Online Students)

• This or That?
• What’s in Common Challenge?
• Where were you?

Finally, some of us have students joining the classroom physically and virtually. Any of the previous icebreakers will work, but will need to be pared down and made accessible for those virtually joining the classroom. In these situations, structure the icebreaker to use technology for both in-person and virtual students. Polling, word clouds, and share-out questions focusing on introductions and quick answers are a great way to bridge the interaction gap between both sets of students. Some easy games include This or That?, What’s in Common?, and Where were you?. These open-ended questions have students state a preference between two choices, find a commonality, or share stories of where they were during different years and dates. These are easy conversation starters, which both virtual and in-person students will enjoy.

Closing Thoughts

Icebreakers can be used in any teaching environment with a few adjustments, depending on your goal for the icebreaker and the size of your course. Some activities may fit better with in-person classrooms than with online environments and vice versa.  Choosing the appropriate activity requires to be aware of student needs, your desired outcomes for the activity, and its classroom feasibility.

If you are interested in further exploring icebreaker activities and tools, reach out to the Center for Faculty Excellence for additional resources and one-on-one consultations. We are happy to help!

Please feel free to share in the comments below an icebreaker that you have enjoyed using in your classroom.

Dayton L. Kinney, Ph.D.

Coordinator of Teaching, Learning, & Academic Excellence
Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE)
Texas Woman’s University
Stoddard Hall – Room 305A
940.898.3427
dkinney@twu.edu

 

Reference List

(2022). Icebreakers. Cornell University Center for Teaching Innovation.

(2022). The Best Ice-breakers Games for Large Groups. SurfOffice.

Bagley, D. (2020). 65 Icebreaker questions for online meetings. Michigan State University Extension.

Barber, K. (2021). 9 Virtual Icebreaker Games for Remote Teams & Meetings. Conceptboard.

Dr. KB. (2022). Connecting Before We Can Physically Connect: Online Icebreakers to Use for the First Dayof Class. Faculty Focus.

Fraser, K. Bosanquet, A., & Harvey, M. Contemporary Approaches to University Teaching [MOOC]. Canvas. 

Jaggars, S.S., & Xu, D. (2016). How do online course design features influence student performance?. Computers & Education, 95, 270-284.

Mrvova, K. (2021). 35 Best Icebreakers for Your Virtual and Hybrid Meetings. Slido.

Waltje, J. & Evans, A. (2019). The First Days of Class: Building Authenticity and Community. Faculty Focus.

Weimer, M. (2017). First Day of Class Activities that Create a Climate for Learning. Faculty Focus.

Whenham, T. 11 Icebreakers for College Students in HyFlex Classrooms. Fierce Education.

Icebreakers for the 21st Century Classroom: Part 1, In-Person

Icebreakers are an invaluable tool for the start of the semester when you are introducing new students, faculty, or staff to one another. Icebreakers are also great to continue building rapport at the beginning of a class or meeting as the semester progresses. Their benefits include creating fun introductions, alleviating group nervousness, preparing for collaborative work, and energizing a classroom to dive into actively participating in their learning.

For many instructors, it can be quite daunting to know how to implement an icebreaker that needs to be repackaged for a variety of learning environments, while creating an inclusively equitable space. Our classes can range from small seminars to large lecture halls. They can be in-person, online, or a hybrid with some combination of synchronous and asynchronous work.

Thankfully, ice-breakers can still be used effectively in all of these formats, but some activities are more easily suited for some modes of student engagement over others. This two-part blog will focus on icebreakers. Part 1 will focus on in-person icebreaker activities for both large and small class sizes, while Part 2 will focus on icebreakers for online and hybrid learning environments

Icebreakers that Work Universally for All Learning Environments

• Name Tags
• Photo
• Mood Barometer via Polling
• Coffee Breaks

Many icebreakers can work universally with some minor or major adjustments.  Nametags, photos, mood barometers, and “coffee breaks” generally work in every environment because of their low stakes and practicality. For in-person and online, name tags are great for everyone to be addressed easily by both their preferred names and pronouns. They help the instructor to remember names more easily, while students can refer to each other more comfortably. Students may even take the opportunity to decorate their nametags for fun. Photos are also a great addition to name tags because often those student photos on our rosters never quite match the student in-person. Students can take their own selfies with name tags and add them to the course site with additional information. Students can also upload the photo to their Zoom account, so the virtual meeting can feel less like an empty void, if cameras are off.  Mood barometers are great to use at the start of class to see how students are feeling or whether they understand the course material. This can be implemented though raising hands, polling, using emoji reactions, etc. Finally, having short coffee breaks are great for everyone to freely mingle, particularly for courses that meet for longer hours. Coffee breaks might not be ideal for a first meet-and-greet, but it can be used throughout the course to create a comradery and open-communication throughout the semester.

Icebreakers for Smaller In-person Groups

• Charades
• Two truths and a lie
• Fact Hunt

Beyond nametags, photos, mood barometers, and coffee breaks, there is a slew of icebreakers that can create more high-energy engagement for those students, who appreciate more exciting activities. You may want your students to have an icebreaker that is not being duplicated by another class. For smaller groups, icebreakers have the luxury that they can be more complex in their instructions or require more energy from their participants. Some great examples include charades, two truths and a lie, and fact hunt. These three examples share some commonalities that they are games that involve more time, active engagement, and social deduction. Students have fun while competing and collaborating with one another. Charades involve a person acting out simple words or common phrases without speaking while the rest of the group attempts to guess the answer. To make it competitive, divide the class into two teams. Two truths and a lie allows students to state three things about themselves where two of those statements are true and the third is a lie. Everyone must guess which statement is false. The goal is for everyone to learn something new about each other, while using critical thinking to determine the lie. Lastly, fact hunt is similar to a scavenger hunt, but, instead of searching for physical items, the goal is to match a person to a fact. This requires the instructor to compile a list of miscellaneous facts ahead of time that can include “never left the state,” “high school athlete,” “traveled outside the country,” “speaks more than one language,” “never left the state,” “prefers vegetables over sweets,” etc. Students must meet as many other classmates within the time limit and make match the facts with names of classmates. Another option would be to have students send you interesting facts ahead of time to personalize the game.

Icebreakers for Larger In-person Groups without Breaking into Smaller Groups

• Share their name, pronouns, and one interesting fact with the entire class
• People Bingo
• Answer the following question out loud:
• Who would be your dream dinner guest, living or otherwise?
• Favorite Band / Singer
• What superhero would win in a fight? And why?
• Speed Meeting              

For larger groups, even simple introductions can take much longer because of the amount students in the course. There are a few ways to approach this. One potential solution would be to divide the large class into smaller groups for icebreakers. This would allow students to know some of their classmates, but not everyone. Another approach would be to utilize nametags as discussed above. A third solution would be to lean into the larger size and potential time commitment. Some great ideas for this third option can include a share-out, people bingo, answering a no stakes question aloud, and speed meeting. For a class share-out, the entire class can state their names, pronouns, and one interesting fact one-by-one. If you are more interested in providing a game for students, people bingo allows people to learn from each other as well. Another icebreaker well-suited for large groups includes answering fun questions out loud. It is a great low-pressure way to have students acclimate to their larger classroom setting. Questions can range from naming their favorite musician to identifying and explaining which superhero would win in a hero versus hero showdown. Finally, speed meeting permits students to quickly introduce themselves one-on-one quickly. For larger group settings, there can be a greater emphasis on either individual meet-and-greets or introductions to the entire class. Either choice has its own strengths.

Closing Thoughts

For in-person meetings, there are many traditional and unique options for icebreakers. They often involve simple games or activities that we are familiar with. They can be used as a standalone introductions or in combination with other in-classroom activities to provide momentum at the start of every class.  Successful icebreakers are ones that makes the class become involved in starting a community of learners. However, as mentioned in the opening paragraph, conceptualizing icebreakers for online and hybrid courses provides its own seemingly daunting challenges. In next week’s Icebreakers for the 21^st Century Classroom: Part 2, Online and Hybrid Learning, we will explore some options for icebreaking opportunities for our synchronous and asynchronous students.

If you are interested in further exploring icebreaker activities and tools, reach out to the Center for Faculty Excellence for additional resources and one-on-one consultations. We are happy to help!

Please feel free to share in the comments below an icebreaker that you have enjoyed using in your classroom.

Dayton L. Kinney, Ph.D.

Coordinator of Teaching, Learning, & Academic Excellence
Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE)
Texas Woman’s University
Stoddard Hall – Room 305A
940.898.3427
dkinney@twu.edu

 

Reference List

(2022). Icebreakers. Cornell University Center for Teaching Innovation.

(2022). The Best Ice-breakers Games for Large Groups. SurfOffice.

Fraser, K. Bosanquet, A., & Harvey, M. Contemporary Approaches to University Teaching [MOOC]. Canvas. 

Waltje, J. & Evans, A. (2019). The First Days of Class: Building Authenticity and Community. Faculty Focus.

Weimer, M. (2017). First Day of Class Activities that Create a Climate for Learning. Faculty Focus.

Beginning the First Day of the Semester Right

 

We all anticipate that first day, which can bring a range of emotions from excitement to nervousness. But, regardless whether you have been teaching for years or are a newly minted instructor, that first impression on Day 1 with your students can set the tone for your course, while needing to serve multiple functions. It must be a combination of an introduction to the course, a review of institutional policies, a meet-and-greet, and a fully realized lesson in the subject matter for a group of students who are experiencing a similar range of emotion as yourself. Thus, first days are a tall order for educators and students alike, but they can be planned in a manner that meets all of their functions, while still creating an atmosphere where learning and classroom community can take center stage. Below is a First Day Teaching Checklist to help you succeed on the first day of the semester.

Introduce Yourself and the Course

The first day is the first impression of you as an instructor, of your course, and of your academic department. Dress professionally, but your first impression should focus more on your actions within your course, which includes interpersonal connections, your contribution to the subject, fostering an authentic classroom community, and making those interdisciplinary real-world connections. 

Your introduction to students should begin before class time commences. Arrive early to welcome your students to class. Focus on treating students with a warm welcome like you would with a professional colleague: ask questions, share stories, or have them begin filling out notecards about themselves. Welcoming your students gives a chance to ease any first day tension that you or your students might be experiencing. This is also a good time to choose how you would like to be referred to when speaking. You might choose to use your standard salutation, your first name, or your job title. There is no right answer, but your choice can reflect the level of formality that you expect in your classroom.

Once class begins, introduce your course. Your goal is to ensure as many students stay enrolled in your course. Students typically register for their courses for a multitude of reasons that can include: degree requirements, intriguing subject matter, scheduling needs, balances a demanding workload, holding the place in their schedule for another course, etc. That first day is how students are going to sample your course and make the decision about staying for the semester. Therefore, your introduction should be a two sentence elevator pitch summary of what students can expect to learn for the semester. It should then be followed by noting your course topic’s contemporary and interdisciplinary significance because students may not be aware of the pedagogical value of your course. Finally, explaining what you can prepare them for in regards to a career, new skills, and major/minor degree preparation grants students a chance to see the extrinsic motivations to register for your course before they experience the intrinsic value of learning the subject for its own sake. You may even pique the interest of a student who becomes interested in your field.

Ice-breakers and Learning Names

Ideally, prior to class you will have prepared three items. First, you should have reviewed your student roster. Second, you would also have noted preferred names, pronunciation, and pronouns, if that information is made available to you. Finally, you should have also developed some form of an activity, called an icebreaker, for your students to participate in that will allow for everyone to learn about each other.

Icebreakers are an essential community building process because it allows students to create peer-to-peer connections, while you learn more about them. These low-stakes activities are great for students to meet other students with similar interests or new perspectives, especially when most of your students do not know one another. It also allows everyone’s preferred names and pronouns to be introduced equitably in a safe space. By ensuring that your classroom becomes a safe and authentic environment for everyone, you will be fostering a support system. This will aid in your course’s student retention and matriculation. Students will look forward to attending a class with friends and will support each other with studying or peer-editing assignments.

Syllabus and its Details

Make sure you share a finished syllabus with your students as a hard copy, which will help establish professionalism and assurance that their education will be taken seriously. For your classroom, your syllabus is your contract between you and your students for the course’s obligations and expectations.  Therefore, it needs to be shared with students on the first day of class. Otherwise, your students do not know what to expect and your course preparation may appear to be unfinished. The syllabus should follow your institution’s template and cover items that include attendance, grading, weekly assignments, assessment, and illness. TWU’s syllabus template can be located here.

During class, only highlight the major sections and anything unique that students should be alerted to. Instead of losing valuable class time from reading the entire document to them, ensure that each student reads and signs a copy of the syllabus to be submitted to you next class. Also, you should consider assigning an announced syllabus quiz at the next class meeting. This will help ensure that there are immediate stakes for students to prioritize reviewing the syllabus and your course’s policy. Finally, make sure to post a copy of your syllabus to your learning management system because loose sheets of paper tend to be misplaced and your students will want a copy of your syllabus to refer to as the semester progresses.

Teaching the Course Content

Jumping into the subject matter on Day 1 is a great opportunity for students to experience how your course will operate, especially for those students who are new. There are many ways to teach during the shortened lesson time. One approach for the remaining allotted time would be to use the lesson as an introductory sampling of what is to come. Perhaps you can provide some examples of where the course will be in a few weeks and frame the first day’s content as the foundation for those more complex topics.

Another approach would be to engage in using learning activities that can assess your students’ prior knowledge on the subject matter. You may start with an assessment quiz or a hands-on group activity. In fact, creating small groups for larger topic discussions is a great way to continue developing that supportive peer network, while also diving into the course materials. No matter how you choose to proceed, it is essential that you start teaching on the first day as it ties together your introduction, the syllabus, and your icebreaker by actively allowing your students the chance to experience your teaching, the course’s expectations, and their collective roles in your class.

Closing Thoughts

Successful first days are important to begin the semester well because they set the foundation for students on how their class functions. Through preparing your introduction, an ice breaker, a syllabus assessment, and a lesson plan, you will be well along your way to having a successful semester of teaching.

If you are interested in discussing more classroom strategies, please feel free to reach out to the Center for Faculty Excellence, where we may assist you. Have a wonderful start to your year!

 

Dayton L. Kinney, Ph.D.

Coordinator of Teaching, Learning, & Academic Excellence
Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE)
Texas Woman’s University
Stoddard Hall – Room 305A
940.898.3427
dkinney@twu.edu

Reference List

Fraser, K. Bosanquet, A., & Harvey, M. Contemporary Approaches to University Teaching [MOOC]. Canvas. 

Vick, J., Furlong, J., & Lurie, R. (2016). The Academic Job Search Handbook. (Fifth Edition). University of Pennsylvania Press. 

Waltje, J. & Evans, A. (2019). The First Days of Class: Building Authenticity and Community. Faculty Focus.

Weimer, M. (2018). The First Day of Class: A Once-a-Semester Opportunity. Faculty Focus.

Whitaker, M. (2019). How to Start off Right in Your New Job. The Chronicle of Higher Education.