There are various options available to you for activating students. Especially in larger courses, it is advisable to additionally use the chat function for questions and contributions. Especially for spontaneous discussions, brainstorming sessions, etc., you can collect contributions in the team meeting, for example, in the chat or using digital brainstorming tools (e.g. Mural, Padlet, etc.), before asking individual students to explain their contribution in detail. This reduces the inhibition threshold for students to speak up in the virtual plenary. Small group work, group discussions or "turn to your neighbor", which are possible by means of break-out rooms, are also suitable for this purpose. You can also include surveys, live voting or quizzes to keep students engaged after input phases.

When conducting group work with break-out rooms, it is advisable to additionally post the task, discussion questions, time details, etc. in the chat and clearly communicate the requirements. Also take advantage of the opportunity to enter the virtual group rooms and be available for immediate queries.

In addition, you can ask the respective groups to record their results on a virtual flipchart such as Padlet. This allows you to directly follow how the students are progressing with the task. In the small groups, you can also work with changing roles such as timekeeper, moderator, course instructor, etc. Especially at the beginning of the semester, you can use the random group composition so that students get to know different colleagues.

A check-in for online participants may be advisable for larger courses or at the first course date. Online participants can do a technology check (e.g. test camera and microphone, get information about necessary documents such as websites, breakout rooms, etc.) ten minutes before the course.

If you want to create a setting for casual chit-chat, you can offer to start your teams conference a little earlier or let it run longer to talk informally with students. By offering virtual office hours, you create additional space between classes for social interaction with students. For casual coffee breaks, you can also provide break-out rooms for your students where you are not present so they can interact with each other. Especially when students do not know each other, the inhibition threshold to express themselves in plenary sessions during the course increases and group work also works less well. As get-to-know-you methods, you can work with "speed dating" or casual "warm-ups", for example.