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By Paul Dagnall

“Ok class! Let’s have each of you take turns saying your name, your major, and what you hate most about Zoom icebreaker activities. Ready? Go!”

Icebreaker activities often feel forced and awkward. On Zoom it can be even worse because students are in a random order, half of them aren’t paying attention, and some may fumble their audio tech.

“Ricardo, I think you’re on mute…”

Still, the idea of an icebreaker is not without value. They provide a way for students to gain comfort expressing themselves in class. They can help relax away the stuffiness of a first meeting. They help instructors and students get to know each other, and they also initiate a small amount of collegial conversation which can lay the groundwork for what comes next.

Plenty of good instructors use them, and if you want them to go well, we suggest the following three tips.

1. Create Instructor Presence

This part is, by far, the most important, so we’ll cover it first.

If the instructor does nothing more than kick it off and call on the next person, the icebreaker will fall flat. 

Unfortunately, this is often how it goes. 

Initiate the icebreaker by VERY BRIEFLY sharing why you think it matters. Say something like, “It’s important to me to get to know each of you, so we’re going to shake off this awkward first-day-of-class feeling and have a little fun.”

Next, while students are actually speaking, It goes MUCH better when the instructor volunteers comments and asks follow-up questions. This projects engagement and attentiveness, which can be contagious! Additionally, those comments and questions help validate and affirm the student. 

2. Manage Your Zoom Stuff

Give some thought in advance of how you will orchestrate each student getting a chance to speak. You can’t just go by rows or columns in your Zoom grid because Zoom uses an algorithm to constantly adjust the order based on who spoke last, turned their camera on, and when they joined. Even the Participants list can change a bit throughout the meeting. 

You might pull up a list of students in your roster and go in that order, or you could ask your students to 'tag' other students after they are finished speaking. As the leader of the meeting, you should be keeping track of everyone who has spoken to ensure that no one is left out. 

3. Ask Good Questions

Most instructors that ask me about icebreaker activities want to start here, but it doesn’t matter how good your questions are if you fail at creating a positive instructor presence or poorly manage your Zoom stuff. 

Think about why you are doing an icebreaker to begin with. Your goals might be things like:

• Learning student biographical information
• Determining student motivations
• Highlighting interests
• Having fun and lightening the mood

Once you’ve settled on some goals, ask questions that align with your goals.

Before we suggest some example questions, we suggest doing a mixture of “serious” and “fun” prompts. Be sure students don’t just answer with a single sentence. Let them know that you expect some elaboration. Also, do not ask too many questions. It can be overwhelming and take up way too much time. Lastly, try to avoid questions that could make students uncomfortable whether in the answering or the hearing.

Example Questions:

• Biographical
  • Name? Major? Hometown? Employment? Etc.?
  • Favorite or farthest place traveled?
  • First job?
• Motivations
  • Why are you taking this course?
  • What do you hope to take away from this course?
  • Career/life goals?
  • What is your backup major or career path?
• Interests
  • General interest questions about your course topic. 
    • E.g., if it’s a geology class, ask if they’ve ever witnessed a natural disaster.
  • Favorite piece of art, movie, TV show, book, smartphone app, etc?
  • What is your favorite restaurant?
  • Describe the best teacher, at any level, you ever had.
• Fun & Levity
  • Who is the most famous person you have ever met?
  • If you could travel back in time, when and where would you go?
  • What animal scares you the most?
  • What is something you are terrible at?

There are numerous web pages that also example icebreaker questions, so feel free to search them up. 

And there you have it. Go forth and break some ice! On Zoom.