Continue to lean into the Cooking Matters gold standards in online classes: engage participants in conversation through facilitated dialogue and a learner-centered approach, and use team-teaching when possible to offer varying perspectives and a change of pace.   


Consider some additional ways to engage providers during online classes:


Make use of your technology

  • Utilize interpretation functions and/or accessibility options (such as closed captions) to include your entire audience in all aspects of the class.  
  • Consider using break-out rooms to engage in small group activities and discussions at least once every hour. Small group settings can encourage providers to speak up in ways that the larger group discussion does not. Consider incorporating these small group discussions early on in a session to break the ice and get participants engaged. 
  • Encourage participants to use their video when possible, unmute and have real-time conversation. 
  • Utilize other technology tools: 
  • Whiteboards 
  • Polling 
  • Reactions (raising of hands, thumbs up, etc.) 
  • For more information on options for some popular platforms, check out the Help Desk article, Zoom, Cisco WebEx, and Adobe Connect Resources.

Engage participants in activities 

  • Incorporate food demonstrations and/or participatory cooking activities (see Help Desk article, How do you adapt cooking activities for online facilitation?). 
  • Practice kid-friendly activities found in Exploring Food Together, for example, Fruit and Vegetable Mystery Bag can easily be done in an online setting.

Adapt slide presentations to your teaching style 

  • The CMCCP slide presentations are meant to be used as a guide and can be adapted and manipulated to suit your teaching style. Use your judgement to rearrange and/or hide slides as you see fit for your intended audience.  
  • Consider utilizing props just like you might in-person rather than relying heavily on the slides. For example, use a physical whole grain model to describe the benefits of a whole grain rather than the slide.


Take breaks

Best practice is to give participants a ten-minute break halfway through a two-hour session. Encourage participants to get up and move.