Designing Engaging and Interactive Class Sessions

In a world of independent learning opportunities, students are intentionally choosing our real-time classes (e.g., in-person or synchronous online). As educators, we need to validate and reinforce this decision by having the courage to create innovative experiences during their education that cannot be recreated through independent student learning. Innovative strategies include those that educate the whole student by building brave classroom communities, hearing student perspectives on their experiences in and out of the classroom, making explicit connections to the real world, practicing mindfulness and reflection, and using a variety of teaching strategies beyond traditional lectures. The book Designing Engaging and Interactive Synchronous Online Class Sessions outlines these strategies using Adobe Connect as a delivery method. However, these strategies can be modified to be used in a traditional classroom and on a variety of online learning platforms.