Online & Hybrid Teaching

Share / assign

Why it works

Online and hybrid teaching have distinct demands: without the in-person classroom, engagement and interaction must be built in deliberately, structure and clarity matter even more, and remote students are easy to lose without intentional attention. Research on online learning points to clear organization, regular interaction and presence, active engagement rather than passive video, and proactive outreach to disengaged students as what makes it work.

The research: Research on online and hybrid learning; community of inquiry.

The run-of-show

Choose your slot. The agenda, timings, and length update to match.

The core activity: design for online or hybrid

Teachers leave with one online or hybrid lesson built for engagement and inclusion.

Take a lesson you teach online or hybrid.
Build in deliberate engagement and interaction, not passive video.
Structure it clearly so students always know what to do.
Plan how you reach and include remote students, especially in hybrid, and proactively reach anyone disengaging.

Build engagement in, do not assume itOnline and hybrid lose students who are only watching. Build in interaction, structure, and presence, and watch for the ones slipping away.

Facilitator notes

Build deliberate engagement, and keep it active.
Structure clearly, and be present and responsive.
Reach disengaging students; do not make remote students an afterthought.

A lesson on video is not online teachingPassive video loses students. Build interaction, structure, and presence, and in hybrid, include remote students deliberately.

Adapt it

Elementary: short active segments, family support, structure.
Secondary: interaction, clear structure, proactive outreach.
Hybrid: deliberately include remote students.

Participant handout

One page for every teacher. Print it, or save it as a PDF.

K12 Academics · Professional Learning

Online & Hybrid Teaching: engagement and presence

Not video of a lesson: deliberate engagement, clear structure, presence, and remote students included.

The online or hybrid lesson:
The deliberate engagement and interaction:
The clear structure:
How I reach and include remote students:
My proactive outreach to anyone disengaging:

Make it stick

Engagement and inclusion:

Build engagement in.
Include remote students.
Bring an online or hybrid approach that worked to the next PLC.

Common questions

Can't I just teach my normal lesson over video?

Rarely well. Online attention and interaction work differently. Build in deliberate engagement, keep it active not passive, and structure it clearly.

How do I keep remote students engaged?

Frequent interaction and checks, active tasks rather than long passive video, clear structure, and presence, being visibly there and responsive. Passive watching loses students fast.

What about hybrid, some in-person, some remote?

The hardest case. Plan deliberately so remote students are not an afterthought: give them interaction, visibility, and tasks, not just a view of the room.