While it’s true that students today spend more time interfacing with technology than students in the past, that certainly doesn’t mean that relationships and personal connections are incompatible with tech use. What it does mean, however, is that we need to be thoughtful and intentional about how we structure screen time in our classrooms. When done well, the use of technology at school can enhance personal connections, collaboration, and relationship building. Here are three ways that this can be accomplished.
1. Learn about each other.
While not all interactions should be virtual, starting with virtual sharing can open doors to better and more connected face-to-face communication.
When students first arrive in a classroom, they are often more reserved. Many of them are trying to get a feel for the classroom culture and the personalities of their teacher and classmates; they want to know if this is a safe place.
Beginning with virtual sharing can help break the ice. For instance, to help you get to know your students, you might begin with a digital “Get to Know You” survey. You could have each student submit a survey that includes interests, hobbies, family background, goals, dreams, concerns, and maybe a section that speaks to how they learn best, things they want you to know about them, or what they’re most hoping to get from the class. Having this information can give you a much better feel for the personality of the room.
Similarly, you could have students engage in an online discussion forum where they introduce themselves to their classmates. Doing this online can give students more time to process their words than if they were put on the spot in front of their peers in the physical classroom. To make this a safe space, you can outline basic courtesy and commenting rules to ensure that students are kind in their responses to classmates. Some platforms also let you monitor and review posts before they go live in the discussion thread; if you’re concerned that students may be unkind, this is a good option.
While this virtual sharing can be a great way to get started, we also want students to connect in person. One way to facilitate this is to use the virtual responses you’ve gathered to connect students with similar interests. Maybe you put them in small groups together and give them a common task, like creating a group T-shirt design or writing a group cheer. The shared interests can help them connect, and the collaborative activity can give them a common purpose, which can help continue to nurture the relational capacity in your classroom.
Another follow-up activity could be to create a Kahoot! or Quizlet Live activity that quizzes the class on student interests and backgrounds. Quizlet Live is a fun way to make this an interactive and interdependent group experience. Since each participant has some of the answers, the team needs to rely on all members to answer the questions. This can really engage students and bring a positive energy in their getting to know one another. It also sends the signal that every student is valued because they are all included in the set of quiz questions.
2. Provide time to meet with students.
While building classroom community can be done through full-class activities, deeper relationships of trust are often built one-on-one or in small groups. Thoughtful use of technology can also help here. By designing lessons that leverage technology to enable students to learn independently or with peers, you can be freed up to meet and connect with students.
One way that this can happen is if students are working independently or in groups. This work can be guided by virtual resources and directions, freeing you up to circulate through the room. Teachers have done this for years while students are working on homework or practice activities. Technology takes this a step further by providing more scaffolding and better support resources to guide the learning. Embedding videos where you explain directions can reduce the number of questions that students have. Utilizing self-paced courses, a blended learning playlist, or an artificial intelligence chatbot can guide students through the learning activity without your direct presence.
The strength of this approach is that by empowering students to work more independently, you now have that ability to circulate and connect with students. Maybe you join a group or kneel down by a student desk to check in on their progress or see how their day is going. As you do this, it’s important to be intentional about connecting with each student. With large classes, it’s easy to miss some students, especially the quiet ones. Having a checklist can be helpful to track who you’ve met with.
Other than circulating the room to meet with students, you can also schedule more formal conferences, perhaps at your teacher desk or at a table in the room. Again, if technology is used to help keep the majority of students engaged and on track, it can provide you with the ability to conduct these check-in conferences. Writing teachers have done this for years; as students are working on their drafts, the teacher calls students up to their desk to review the writing in a one-on-one conference. This approach can be extended to any subject area, providing students with a safe place to ask questions and the teacher with a chance to assess where the student is at.
Another option is to use the blended learning approach of station rotation. With this approach, you can build a teacher station into the rotation, which gives you a structured opportunity to meet with groups of students for more personalized instruction, check-ins, and reteaching. This works with students of any age and even with adult learners. Everyone appreciates personal connection; it allows people to feel seen and heard, while providing the teacher with invaluable learner insights.
3. Facilitate collaborative student creation.
Too often, technology is seen and used as a solitary activity. This overlooks one of the most powerful uses of technology in the classroom: collaborative creation.
Put students in pairs or small groups and give them an assignment that requires them to create something with technology. They could be tasked with creating a video explaining a curricular concept, or perhaps they are asked to record a newscast addressing a controversial issue related to the course content. In math or science class, they could collaboratively work through a virtual simulation or use technology to teach a concept.
Not only do students love this approach because it’s engaging, hands-on, and mentally stimulating, it also addresses the 4 Cs: collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. Students must communicate in order to collaboratively accomplish a group task. If the task is designed well, it should also challenge them to solve a problem, which involves critical thinking and creativity. These are key life skills, and with this approach, you can build them into powerful, tech-fueled learning experiences.
With this strategy, students are not staring individually into a screen for long periods of time. They are spending the majority of their time interacting with one another to solve a problem or complete a task. The technology becomes a means for students to complete a challenge. They might access and use tech to conduct research. They could discuss the best approach for using a tech tool to build out a final product. They could review each other’s work and provide feedback. You could even have them take it a step further and share their work with the class, bringing in presentation and additional communication skills.
Technology does not have to be a solitary experience. It can and should be used to bring people closer together. Education is an inherently human experience, and we don’t want to lose that.
At the same time, technology is an integral part of our world. We owe it to our students to help them learn how to use these tools productively and also navigate an increasingly digital society in a way that is human and personal. If we plan carefully, we can make sure that tech skills and human interaction work together in very positive and productive ways for both our classrooms and our students.
AVID Connections
This resource connects with the following components of the AVID College and Career Readiness Framework:
- Instruction
- Culture
- Relational Capacity
- Rigorous Academic Preparedness
- Student Agency
- Break Down Barriers
Extend Your Learning
- Using Free Edtech Tools to Get to Know Your New Middle and High School Students (Matthew X. Joseph via Edutopia)
- AI Can Make Schools More Human, but Only if Schools Prioritize Relationship Metrics (Julia Freeland Fisher via Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Social Impact Review)
- A Rising Priority for Edtech: Relationship Building in Schools (Kent Pekel via ASCD)
- Technology as a Bridge—Not a Shortcut—to Student Relationships (Julia Freeland Fisher and Dr. Heather D. Wathington via eSchool News)