Virtual Classroom Management: 4 Strategies to Address Overcrowding in Online Class Sessions

Virtual Classroom Overcrowding

Every state and local school district needed to reinvent education delivery models during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the most extensive use of online learning management systems and other virtual platforms in U.S. history is taking place by schools. But with so many families electing to pursue online classroom management options, a persistent problem in physical classrooms—classroom overcrowding—is now an issue in some virtual classrooms as well.

In Arizona, for example, some virtual classrooms are hosting more than 50, 60, or even 70 students at a time. Perhaps this occurs because a virtual environment is more conducive for larger classes than the traditional classroom. But it sure doesn’t make things easier for students and teachers! Quite the opposite. So, what to do? Proactive and engaging virtual classroom management strategies may be the best (or, at present, the only) way to survive this dramatic shift. Here are four strategies you can implement to make the best of a tough situation.

In the brick-and-mortar classroom space, a master teacher reliably creates daily routines carried out seamlessly by students. Better yet, the teacher and the students develop many of those routines and procedures collaboratively, building a well-oiled machine together. For example, while the master teacher greets students at the door and focuses on building the relationships that social-emotional experts say are critical for student success, the class begins immediately. Furthermore, a clear schedule and objectives create smooth operations. As a result, students know exactly where to turn in work and/or locate materials if they are absent, have an assigned workspace, and more.

In an online class, and especially in an overcrowded one, routines and procedures have heightened importance. Instead of mass chaos and chatter as everyone is joining a videoconference, what if you were able to spend your time greeting students and building relationships as they followed an established, daily routine? For example, students could check the learning management system (LMS) for the day’s objective(s)/agenda, completing an introductory activity or discussion question and other routines, just like in the physical classroom. The more you automate these routines with your students, the less crowded and chaotic your online classroom will feel.

Like in-person classroom overcrowding, you have to keep students busy and engaged for effective online classroom management. You can remain learning objective-focused while planning a range of activities to keep students active and engaged in the lesson.

For example, do you plan bell work, in which students automatically engage when they enter your classroom? Apply the same strategy online. Let’s say you’re opening a lesson on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado. The bell work question that students should think about, respond to, and comment on at least two of their peers could be: “Is revenge justified?” That’s a simple, direct, yet profoundly engaging question. The question helps increase focus, even with a large class, on the ideas and themes for the day. All you would need to do is tee it up for them as a discussion in your learning management system and let them run with it.

Synchronous online direct instruction is tough. It’s even tougher to have meaningful conversations in a virtual, whole-class format that faces classroom overcrowding. One of many virtual classroom management strategies is to break up your large online classes into smaller working groups by utilizing breakout rooms.

Many video conferencing software programs now allow you to create breakout, or small group, rooms. It may take an initial investment of time to set up the rooms, demonstrate for students how they work, and practice using them. However, once you complete all the initial work, you’ll be ready to reap the rewards and notice improvements such as increased student engagement in the virtual classroom.

Ask follow-up questions. Just like providing personalized assistance to smaller groups in the traditional classroom, breakout rooms allow you to transport students from a crowded online space to a smaller, more intentional space. Students may not feel comfortable participating (or have a chance to participate at all) in a crowded classroom. However, smaller groups that you can join, monitor, and use to increase one-on-one time encourage participation.

Depending on how your online classroom management is structured by the school and/or district policy, time flexibility may be on your side. This flexibility can help you efficiently schedule your online classroom time. As a result, this can help alleviate problems caused by online classroom overcrowding.

Are you on a block schedule? If so, you might have time to meet with different students via video conference at various times during the lesson. You can do this using the LMS as the asynchronous hub of most learning activities and your video conference sessions as one of the spokes—essentially a 21st-century station-based activity model.

Even if you aren’t on a block schedule, you might be able to modify a flipped-classroom approach to meet the needs of you and your students. For example, let’s say as part of a lesson on the Harlem Renaissance, students have pre-recorded themselves reading a poem, part of a short story, or analyzing a work of art. Perhaps they use a tool like FlipGrid to engage in a video discussion about the content. You have also flipped the lesson by providing a pre-recorded presentation on the importance and enduring legacy of the Harlem Renaissance on American culture and civil rights. You are then free to spend your time conferencing with individual students, commenting on student videos, and posing thoughtful questions for discussion and a digital exit ticket assignment. Thinking asynchronously and using time purposefully can help you triumph over the daunting numbers game of the overcrowded online classroom.

Reconceptualize the Classroom

Districts who face stretched budgets with the inability to use their traditional facilities face great temptation. Specifically, the temptation is to use the existence of technology to justify the overcrowding of online classrooms during the pandemic. But online classroom overcrowding is just as challenging—or more so— than overcrowded brick and mortar settings. It requires reconceptualizing how the classroom can and should look.

When you use a learning management system as the hub, you’ll need to reconceptualize your role as well. Try to embrace your role as a coach. Guide and use the best practices that make you a veteran of the physical classroom space to get results in your online classroom as well.