Using Wonder.me as Alternative Platform for Student Engagement in Tutorials and Workshops

Currently our main tool for synchronous online teaching sessions is Zoom. This enables breakout rooms, which principally allows students to work in small groups on a given task. In my experience, and that of others, only a minority of students engage in breakout rooms. Many do not ever open their mics, let alone their video. I have been trialling wonder.me as an alternative platform. In contrast to Zoom, groups are not set. Instead, users can move around a room and form a circle with others. In the circle video and mic are enabled. This more flexible and playful format encouraged students to interact more freely. In the session I will explain the main features of wonder.me, and we will try it out.

Session Aims

The aims of this session are to:

• Illustrate the use of the online platform wonder.me

• Evaluate if wonder.me is suitable as a tool on your module(s)

Links to UKPSF

A1: Provides a more flexible alternative for interactive sessions

A4: May be a more suitable environment for particular learning activities

K4: Provides an additional, and different, tool for synchronous activities

V2: Some students find wonder.me less intimidating than zoom breakout rooms