Online and Blended Teaching Hub
Engaging the "Hard to Reach" Student
Overview
Some students are much harder to reach than others, and different factors influence their disengagement from the home environment to various academic, communication, and relationship factors. Teachers might not have control over students’ home environment but can play an important role in overcoming academic, communication, and relationship barriers. Teachers can apply different strategies to strengthen teacher-student interaction and help increase student engagement: randomly calling on students; keeping track of student contributions; having live, synchronous, whole group and small group discussions; actively participating in asynchronous discussions through audio, video, or text; and implementing various ways of connecting with students even outside live virtual sessions.
Questions to Consider
What aspects of my teaching responsibilities have the most impact on hard to reach students?
How do my instructional approaches change in online environments, particularly with my harder to reach students?
How do my interactions with students impact their motivation and engagement in online environments?
At-a-Glance Video
Printables
Web Resources
Student Engagement Resources
Related Online and Blended Teaching Hub Topics
- Adapting Face-to-Face Activities for an Online Environment
- Building Effective Relationships
- Collaborative Learning
- Culturally Responsive Teaching
- Expectations and Procedures for Online and Blended Learning
- Social Emotional Learning
- Strategies for Engaging Students
- Student Accountability in Online Environments
- Student and Stakeholder Communication
- Student Motivation and Engagement
- Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning
- Universal Design for Learning
- Video Conferencing
Online and Blended Teaching Hub Tool Pages
- Accessibility: Immersive Reader, Google Translate, Microsoft Translator
- Game-Based: Kahoot!, Minecraft, Quizlet
- Interactive Video/Presentation: EdPuzzle, NearPod, Prezi
- Learning Management Systems: Canvas, Google Classroom, Schoology
- Stakeholder Communication: Class Dojo, Remind, Talking Points
- Student Voice: Book Creator, Edublogs, Flipgrid
- Video Conferencing: Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom
- Visualized Collaboration: Google Jamboard, Microsoft Whiteboard, Padlet
- Website Platforms: Google Sites, Weebly, Wix