How to Engage Shy Students in the Virtual Classroom

There’s at least one in every class: The student who reflexively slinks into the back, avoids eye contact, and doesn’t dare raise their hand no matter how friendly, chatty, or open you may be.

While you may have developed clever workarounds for making these students feel included in your classroom, these once full-proof methods may be difficult to recreate as we transition to distance learning. What’s a proactive teacher like yourself to do to ensure that even the shyest students remain engaged in the virtual classroom?

As a former bashful student myself, I always appreciated when teachers gave me multiple points of entry. Write a one-page response paper, or explain my reasoning to the person next to me? No problem! But share my opinion? Out loud? In front of everyone? And risk looking stupid?!

Gif of Debbie Reynolds saying "Never!"

While we certainly want to encourage students to go beyond their comfort zones, it’s also critical that we create the space for them to gradually build their confidence and elevate their voice. This is particularly important when working with historically marginalized groups, like low-income students and students of color, who may not otherwise be encouraged to ask questions, express themselves, or self-advocate.

We’ve brainstormed several easy ways that any teacher can elevate student voices in the virtual classroom. Who knows? Maybe the student who hesitates to speak in class will emerge from quarantine an expressive, opinionated butterfly (or, at least, a butterfly who raises their hand).

Ways to Engage Shy Students in the Virtual Classroom

Use short daily check-ins

You can keep in touch with even your shyest students by asking your students to complete short, daily check-ins using Google Forms or a similar survey tool.

Without day-to-day facetime, it’s difficult for students to communicate to you (verbally or otherwise) how they’re feeling. This makes it difficult for you to assess how it may be impacting their learning.

Inviting students to check in with you on a daily basis not only gives them the chance to air their thoughts, but also gives you the opportunity to take a quick temperature check on your class as a whole.

Examples of questions you might ask your students:

  • Describe your mood using three emojis. (In case you’re wondering, our mood right now is 🙃💤🗣️)

  • What are you most grateful for right now?

  • What’s something you’re looking forward to?

  • What questions do you have about your assignment?

  • Do you have anything to tell me? This can be about school or life.

Check out these daily check-in form templates.

Coordinate open office hours

Sometimes a little one-on-one time is all you really need! Some students may already be texting/calling/emailing you 24/7, but creating a specific time and space for students to come to you with questions may be just the push your more timid students need to make the first move and reach out to you.

Arrange open office hours once or twice a week with a group of your colleagues; if students don’t necessarily want to go to you with one question, they can go to another teacher.

Encourage students to meet (virtually) outside of class.

Of course, we don’t want to flood your entire day with help requests! Recommend that students meet up informally outside of class time to work together on assignments, just like they would do during lunch, study hall, or after school. Students can use Zoom, Google Hangouts, text, FaceTime — whatever works best for them.

You can create a spreadsheet of potential “study group” times throughout the week and ask students to sign-up for at least one slot. By explicitly opening the door for peer-to-peer communication, you ensure that everyone in the class has the opportunity to engage meaningfully with the course content as well as one another.

Invite students to give virtual classroom feedback

Keeping students engaged by inviting students to anonymously submit questions, comments, and suggestions via email, text, or survey.

Once a week (or at whatever frequency is most feasible for you), select one or two student inquiries to address in a short video. Share your response with your class — fanfare is optional, of course, but highly encouraged.

Scaffold this exercise by giving your students a weekly prompt, like:

  • What did you find most difficult to learn this week?

  • Challenge me to explain _____ in 60 seconds or less!

  • Ask me for a real-life example of ______.

  • Ask me a ridiculous (but still school-appropriate!) question.

This gives individual students a glimpse into what their peers are struggling with and opens up broader discussions for the class as a whole.

BONUS TIP: Suggest that your students get online tutoring!

It’s always a great idea to suggest extra resources that students can use on their own time, especially since some shy students would much rather work independently and anonymously if they can. UPchieve’s online tutoring services are free for qualifying students, and have been shown to help students bring up their grade.

We’ve observed that our text-based chat is particularly appealing to students who would otherwise be too shy to ask questions one-on-one or in-person. Students are free to screenshot or record their sessions, so they can easily follow up with you if they need any additional clarifications.

Gif saying "The reinforcements have arrived!"

Consider our volunteer tutors your back-up teachers!

Final Thoughts

How are you creating space for student voice online? What do you need in order to feel included in a conversation, and how can you replicate those conditions in a virtual learning environment? Continue the conversation with us on Twitter or TikTok.

TeachingCinthia Fabianonline learning