Ditch the "Introduce Yourself" Discussion Post and Try This Online Activity Instead

If you're looking for something new to do during the first week of online teaching, here's an idea! Welcome students to your class and help them meet each other with this engaging, collaborative online activity. Instead of having students write a discussion post introducing themselves, invite them to help create a class scrapbook. It accomplishes the goals of group participation, sharing information, navigating technologies, and invites creativity and expression. I like to use Google Slides because it is fairly ubiquitous and familiar to students, but you could use a different platform. 

How to Set Up a Class Scrapbook Online Activity

It's fairly easy to set up a class scrapbook activity for an online class. Here are some instructions, but you can definitely customize the details to suit your teaching goals and student needs.

First, create a new Google Slides project. Start by adding a title slide that identifies the course name and term. This will help keep your files organized, in case you have multiple classes. You can make it fun, or keep it simple.

Start the online activity by creating a title slide to introduce the course.

Next, create an instruction slide with simple directions for students.  Describe the purpose of the activity and explain how to participate. You might write something like this:

The purpose of this activity is to introduce ourselves, share some of our favorite things, and build a class scrapbook. Please build a slide to introduce yourself.

• Create a new slide. (Click Insert > New Slide or type CTRL-M)

• Add your name, year in school, and major. 

• Add anything else you would like to share (photos, music, favorite memes).

• Be creative and show your personality.

Finally, create your own slide to introduce yourself and set an example for students. Then click Share to adjust the privacy settings so the students will be able to access the project.

• Click Share

• Make sure the General Access is set to Restricted

• Copy the link

Adjust the access settings for the online scrapbook activity.

Once you have set the access to Restricted (this means the project is only accessible to people you invite), add the class to the project.

• Enter email addresses into the window

• Make sure to select Editor, so students will be able to edit the slides

• Choose whether you want Google to Notify people (I uncheck the box and invite them myself)

• Copy the link (put it into the course or send it to students via email)

• Click Share

Set the participant role to Editor so students can build their own slides.

Benefits of the Group Scrapbook Online Activity

This is an engaging and low-stakes activity for students to do during the first week of class (or anytime). It's a way to encourage shy students to participate. Maybe those who prefer not to speak up will be more comfortable with this activity.

It allows students to be creative, use a combination of media, and choose how to present their information. Hopefully, they will enjoy the assignment, learn about their classmates, and start to build a sense of community.

For the instructor, the online scrapbook is a group artifact that can be evaluated individually. Each student works on one slide, but together the slides create a collaborative product. You can use what you learn about students' interests to connect the course material to examples they might find relevant. And not least-importantly, it is an opportunity for you as the instructor to establish your presence as an active participant in the learning community. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!