As education shifted a lot to the digital world over the past few years, teachers have discovered that there is a need for a new approach in some cases. It is naturally more difficult to keep the attention of the class if you all are not in the same classroom but scattered all over the globe sitting in front of the computer screen. Both primary school teachers and college professors have been discovering new ways of making their lessons unique and engaging.
There is not much to work with in the first place if you are sitting in your room or office without moving, and all the students see is you and some background. Luckily, the background is exactly what you can use to your advantage. Discovering high-quality online teaching software is not enough to make your classes exciting and impactful. You need to work on the presentation too.
The Importance of Having Relevant Background for Online Classes
Even if there is not much visible on the screen apart from the speaker, it is important to make sure that the surroundings look good and suit the occasion. Picking a fitting background for online classes is a must as it sets the mood for students and increases their productivity.
Paying attention to the looks of your backdrop also makes you look professional. Of course, not everybody can afford to have a dedicated office with a nice interior design to look good on video calls, but the place needs to be tidy and fitting at least. Using your creativity with backgrounds is rewarding as your classes can become more memorable for students and create a friendly atmosphere.
Top Ideas for Virtual Studying Backgrounds
While students can pay less attention to their backgrounds or join video calls without turning their cameras on at all, this is not the case for the teacher. Here are some great ideas for your background during digital lessons:
- Maps – a geographical map is a classic attribute in any classroom. Such maps can be used for creating a nice-looking background on your video calls. Not only geography teachers can use them but everyone. For language classes, it would be nice to use the maps of the countries where these languages are spoken.
- Classic classroom – you can buy a small blackboard, magnets, colorful chalk, tiny flags, etc. You will need all the décor normally found in a real classroom. Having a tiny blackboard is nice for writing down the teacher’s name, current date, some important info, etc.
- Holidays – nothing puts people more in the holiday spirit than beautiful decorations for the occasion. When we talk about the most popular and widely celebrated holidays like Christmas, Easter, or even Halloween, it is nice to have appropriate décor for at least a few days. There are many important holidays in all countries, and you can also celebrate diversity by teaching students about traditions they do not know. Besides, decorating for holidays is usually easy: you can simply print out some ornaments and stick them to the wall.
- Various flags – it is important to learn about flags of different countries, and in the meantime, they can count as background décor. You can opt for numerous small flags or use some bigger ones of your country and the countries of your students.
- Minimalism – some teachers might feel pressured to compose intricate decorations for their backgrounds to entice students. However, in many cases, less is more. You can add something to liven up a plain background, such as a houseplant or a shelf with a couple of books. Lighting is also often used to decorate the background, although make sure that your lamp or another source of light is not too bright.
- Markerboard – this idea is very functional and can serve multiple purposes. If you have a dedicated space where you can hang the board and leave it there, it can be a nice idea. There, you can make notes, hang posters, draw pictures and graphs, etc. This is a perfect solution for students of all ages.
- Posters – with posters, you can go for a certain aesthetic or hand pictures of something relevant to your class. It can be a random mood board or things like the periodic table, photos of famous writers, etc.
- Virtual background – as opposed to actually decorating your surroundings, you can simply use a digital background. This is an extremely convenient feature that comes together with Digital Samba. All the users need to do is pick an image and set it as their background. The software will replace the actual background with the picture automatically, leaving the speaker visible in the foreground.
Digital Samba has many other useful features for educators and students. It is convenient, securely encrypted with E2EE, and GDPR-compliant as well. Digital backgrounds can be used regularly, especially considering that it is possible to swap them as much as you want, even every day.
Picking an Appropriate Background for Students
When selecting a background for your classes, it is important to consider a few things. One of the most important things to keep in mind is the age of your students. Teaching preschoolers and university students is very different. Older students will not appreciate ABCs and numbers in the background, and younger children will not enjoy more serious and business décor. Even if you opt for the same idea for students of different age, such as a map, for instance, you should consider picking a suitable one. For children, it would be better to pick a bright map with fun images to make it easier to comprehend. For older students, you can play with fancy map designs, something more sophisticated.
When talking about simple backgrounds, you should probably leave minimalism for high school and college students. This does not mean that you cannot design fun backgrounds for adults; they just need to be tasteful and relevant. But for kids, it is definitely necessary to make the background colorful, fun, and welcoming. Teachers often write their names in the background so the children can remember them. In any case, you can experiment with different ideas to find what suits you best.
