The global EdTech market is slated to touch $348 billion by 2030. With such a high-trust and high-touch business, retention and engagement are core problems that need to be addressed alongside the unprecedented growth in EdTech.
One of the critical problems is that you can’t track live class engagement. Most video conferencing platforms are opaque, providing online instructors with few avenues to invest and grow the engagement metrics for their classes. This lack of engagement tracking can have several negative consequences, including:
- Increased student dropout rates
- Decreased student satisfaction
- Decreased instructor satisfaction
To address these challenges, developing tools and strategies to help online instructors track student engagement in live classes is essential.
The Engagement Problem
Over half of the students in online classes are not engaged, according to a report from Idaho. So, it’s necessary to build strategies and bake them into your product early on to avoid drop-offs at any level.
Ultimately, the downstream effects of the engagement problem are high. In a business, it can translate to higher CAC across the board (without referrals); in universities, the higher drop-off rates can hurt the next round of funding grants, etc. Considering this, the problem needs to be investigated.
The core of the problem arises from the difference between live and offline classes. In offline classes, teachers get real-time insights into which students aren’t paying attention or engaging as much, and the physical presence ensures that the student can’t drop off during class.
In live classes, this system isn’t as intuitive or easy. However, you can track live class engagement using tools like Lens.
Strategies to track live class engagement
1. Track attentiveness
While tracking “attentiveness” as a quantitative measure in live and physical classes is impossible, a quick proxy exists. With Lens, you can check if the learner is focused on the meeting screen and has it in full view.
Effectively, if the participant hasn’t moved away from your video conferencing screen, they’re not doing anything else other than attending the class and are fully “attentive.”
Another method, though bulkier, tracks the eye movement of the student to check for attentiveness. This recent innovation mostly captures eye movements to interpret if the student is paying attention. Since this requires the live capture of video and active tracking, this method might be unsuitable for live classes where privacy is essential.
2. Track Engagement
There are many ways to track engagement during a live class. You can check “Raised Hands” and “Emojis” in Zoom, but it doesn’t collect the quanta of participants who speak without using these tools.
Zoom gives talktime data post-facto but doesn’t offer it during meetings, making real-time live class engagement tracking difficult. Lens provides you with drill-down student engagement data in class with real-time data on their talktime.
This is not equivalent to the “Unmute” time but the time the participant spends speaking into the microphone.
Strategies to Increase Engagement in Live Classes
Here are some strategies that can help you increase engagement in your live classes:
Run polls
Polls are a great way to get your students’ feedback and see how they understand the material. You can use polls to ask questions about the material, to get opinions on different topics, or to gauge student interest in other issues.
Lens offers you options around different formats of polls and quizzes, allowing you to run live quizzing during a class and ensuring maximum participation.
Hold a live Q&A
Holding a live Q&A is a great way to answer students’ questions and get them involved in the class. You can set aside a specific time for the Q&A or allow students to submit questions throughout the class.
You can ask them to upvote relevant and interesting questions so that you can prioritize them. You can also moderate the questions on Lens for a cleaner and more organized conversation.
Create a performance leaderboard
Creating a performance leaderboard is a great way to motivate students and see their performance in class. You can use a leaderboard to track student attentiveness, engagement, and scores from polls and quizzes.
Lens allows you to customize these metrics and form an engagement rubric that makes sense.
In addition to these strategies, there are a few other things you can do to increase engagement in your live classes:
- Make sure your students are prepared. Ensure your students have all the materials they need for the class and are familiar with the technology you will be using.
- Start on time. Start your classes on time and make sure you have a clear agenda for the class.
- Be engaging. Use engaging methods to teach the material, such as videos, games, and interactive exercises.
- Be interactive. Encourage your students to interact with you and with each other.
- Be flexible. Be prepared to adjust your plans if necessary.
These tips can increase engagement in your live classes and help your students learn the material.
One of the critical problems plaguing the EdTech industry is the lack of engagement. With growing alternatives,d the students tend to drop off frequently. And higher drop-off rates correspond to lower retention rates.
Several strategies can be used to increase engagement in live classes. Using various methods, you can keep students engaged and help them learn the material. Some of the most effective strategies include running polls, holding live Q&As, and creating performance leaderboards. Following these tips can make your live classes more engaging and productive for your students.
