Contributed by Jane Nguyen, Instructional Designer I (CSE)
One of the biggest challenges of online learning is student interaction. Students are often well aware of other students in the course with them but feel almost no connection to them. An “introduce yourself” discussion board can help if the prompt is dynamic enough, but professors may want to liven up even from that with an icebreaker activity or two. These activities open up the lines of communication in a non-threatening manner and set the tone for the rest of the semester.
An icebreaker activity should focus on personal lives rather than academic knowledge or career goals as relates to the course’s subject. Allowing students to share their personal background, interests, & experiences—a humanizing approach--helps to counter the “inhumanness” of the technology being used.
Here are a few ideas for icebreakers in online courses:
(*Note: I have done all three of these myself in in-person and online courses I taught, and students really enjoyed them.)
- BINGO – Have students post a 2-paragraph bio of themselves, but add a “bingo” component. Send out an instructor-created bingo card (can be made easily with tables in Microsoft Word) with each class member’s name in one square. Post an audio-only file or written document in which you read/type out statements like “traveled to Europe in July,” “has a dog named Wilbur,” “Ran the Houston marathon in 2018.” Give students 24 hours to post their bingo card. Winners, based on time submitted and number of correct responses, will be announced later.
- PERSONAL IMAGES – We are a very visual society, and pictures always have more impact and provide more connection than just words. Instead of having students just type text to describe their background, ask them to post three personal images and talk to the class about them. Students can be in the pictures themselves, but the images can, alternatively, be of quirky, fun, meaningful, and/or novel aspects of their lives (pets, favorite meals, new car, favorite book, recent vacations, etc.) Students find commonality and connection easily with others when they see their pics.
- CLASSMATE COMMONALITY – Immediately pair two students and tell them to communicate (in whatever way they want, whether text/email exchange, chat/phone conversation, Zoom session) with the goal of making a list of 8 to 10 things they have in common. (Instruct students to avoid banal commonalities like “we both have a sister”). One of the two will post to the discussion board what they have in common—in effect, introducing each other to the class. You can still require students to reply to one or two posts. This format allows everyone to get to know the two students who were paired, and the two students who talked directly got to know each other even more closely.
Icebreakers are a fun part of in-person classes, and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be the same for online classes. These resources offer even more ideas:
