An icebreaker is a simple but powerful way to begin to establish a sense of community and social presence in an online, blended, or virtual class. An asset-based icebreaker asks students to think about the strengths and skills they are bringing to the course, rather than inadvertently asking questions that expose class, race, ability, and other divides. This way, the class as whole is getting to know one another for the different skills, interests, and strengths they are bringing to the classroom. This type of icebreaker can be easily adapted to be content focused, facilitated either synchronously or asynchronously, and used with various tools.

The buttons below will take you to the webcast slides, as well as additional resources for virtual icebreakers.