It often feels like getting students to attend regularly, pay attention, and participate are the most difficult parts of teaching. Here we've outlined some tips for activating student engagement.

Establish authentic human connections 

• Keep in mind that your students are human beings with lives outside of class.

  • Building Relationships with Students 

  • Establishing Rapport: Personal Interaction and Learning  

  • Everyone Can Contribute to Student Well-Being

  • Humanizing the Large Lecture: Why It’s Important and How to Start 

• Display your own humanity; let your uniqueness and idiosyncrasies come through. 

  • “So, make the friendship bracelets”: Fostering student belonging in large lectures

  • Using Canvas to Promote Belonging in Undergraduate Courses 

• Model intellectual approaches and share your process of solving difficult problems. 

  • Checking for Readiness to Move On 

  • Jumpstart Student Engagement and Curiosity with ABC 

• Emphasize the classroom as a space of experiment and growth rather than a place to perform perfection. 

  • The Gift of Error: Reclaiming Failure in the Classroom

  • Two Strategies that Promote a Growth Mindset

Foster curiosity 

• Pull students in with examples of unanswered questions and mysteries within your discipline. 

  • Jumpstart Student Engagement and Curiosity with ABC

  • Advance Organizers: Setting the Stage for Learning and Retention

• Communicate your passion for your subject. 

  • Student Goal Orientation, Motivation, and Learning

  • Teaching Tip: Motivating Your Students

• Recognize that emotions guide learning. 

  • Emotions, Learning and the Brain

  • Positive Projects: Cultivating Positive Emotions for Enhanced Learning and Professional Growth

  • Creating a Positive Climate for Learning

Use variety to activate cognition 

• Vary activities and pedagogical approaches. 

  • Teaching Methods and Activities

• Switch between the students and you as idea generators.

  • Making the Most of Classroom Polling

  • Tech Tip: Back Channel Chat Options 

• Consider having students physically move, discuss with one another, pose and answer questions, or apply newly gained knowledge. 

  • Teaching Beyond the Syllabus: How to Foster Community in the Classroom 

  • Active Learning Techniques for Large Lectures 

  • Best Practices for Zoom Breakout Rooms

• Incorporate flexibility within structure by offering students choices where possible. 

  • Opening Doors: Promoting Equity through Accessibility

  • Multiple Ways to Access and Understand Content

  • Getting to Know the New Universal Design for Learning Guidelines

Build a sense of community and belonging 

• Emphasize the value each student brings to the learning environment. 

  • Teaching Beyond the Syllabus: How to Foster Community in the Classroom 

  • Four Ways to Cultivate Community in Your Online Class 

  • Ice Breakers: Ideas for Fostering Student Belonging

  • A Little EDvice for Teaching Inclusively 

  • Strengths-Based Education: Boost Engagement and Success

• Encourage study groups and shared documents. 

  • Creating Connection in the Asynchronous Online Classroom

  • Making Group Work Work in the Asynchronous Online Classroom 

  • Teaching Tip: Collaborative Learning as an Equitable Practice 

  • Enhancing Learning Through Cooperative Learning

• Survey the students during Week 1 and ask what they want to get out of the course. 

Convey the relevance of the content 

• Integrate actual real-life examples. 

  • Helping Students See the Big Picture with Integrative Learning Strategies 
  • Iterative Work to Strengthen Student Engagement

• Be mindful of representation in your course content, cases, and examples. 

  • Inclusive Teaching: Principle 3

• Explain the benefit of the lesson beyond the discipline. 

  • Teaching for Meaning and Purpose 

  • Demonstrate the Importance and Significance of the Subject Matter 

  • Teaching Tip: Career Readiness and the Importance of Career Services

• Challenge students to connect the material to their own lives. 

  • Helping Students See the Big Picture with Integrative Learning Strategies 

  • Value & Meaning In Assignments

Set the tone early, often 

• Consider all of these strategies when planning your course. 

  • Designing Courses to Promote Belonging

• Use the first class period to model the type of engagement you want to see. 

  • Full Disclosure of the Terms of Success: Nine Things to Tell Your Students

  • Beyond Icebreakers: Make the Most of the First Day of Class 

  • Ice Breakers: Ideas for Fostering Student Belonging

• Explicitly communicate the value of attending class and participating in discussions. 

  • Student Participation

  • Making the Most of Classroom Polling 

  • Creating Brave and Inclusive Spaces for Challenging Discussions

• Emphasize where the syllabus encourages attendance and participation. 

  • Building a Better Syllabus

  • Language for a Welcoming Syllabus 

  • Teaching Tip: Creating a Promising Syllabus

Take care of yourself 

• Get plenty of sleep, exercise, and healthy foods. 

  • Self Care for Faculty: Four Ways to Cope When Teaching in Hard Times
  • Teaching in Tumultuous Times: Prioritizing Your Mental Health Wellness

• Be explicit with yourself and your students regarding the boundaries you have set (e.g., responding to emails only during business hours). 

• Don’t overdo these suggestions! Pick two or three to try this semester and slowly incorporate more of them over time. 

Want to talk out how to implement some of these ideas? Book an appointment with a CAT staffer or send us an email!

Additional Materials

Handout for Students

Handout for Faculty