2.1. Warming-up
Depending on the size of the group and familiarity of its members to each other, some warm-up activities may be needed for getting the online group acquainted to each other. Many traditional warm-up exercises work well online, too.
Examples of online warm-up activities and digital tools:
:: Interactive synchronous learning groups: The group of learners is divided into breakout-rooms. In each room, participants introduce themselves and share some personal facts with help of a personal item (anything they may have in their proximity such as a coffee cup or a poster in the background). Breakout rooms in Teams; Break out rooms in Zoom.
:: Asynchronous and automated learning groups: Each learner is requested to write their short introductions in Padlet. By using a map template, learners can place themselves on the map, for example, based on their native country (Figure). The next step is to guide students to get in touch with each other e.g. by choosing four peers from different countries.
Alternatively, learners can indicate where they would like to travel to in the future. Interactive maps in Padlet.
:: Synchronous or asynchronous groups of any size and course types: Whiteboard applications can be used to share personal facts, pictures or photos to initiate interaction among learners. Examples of whiteboards are built-in whiteboards in Teams and Zoom; miro.com, conceptboard.com, flip.com, padlet.com, whiteboard.fi
In Resources section, many more icebreaker activities suitable for online learning are listed.