In an audio or elive session you may often find yourself going through the task of taking class attendance.   This article from Faculty Focus outlines an interactive way to get students thinking about the topic of the day and interacting in the class if not more productively, at least in a more creative way then simply saying “here”!

Ask students to respond to the call of there name with a term or concept from the reading, ask for examples or how the reading relates to their personal or professional existence, ask for brief reflections about home assignments or other prompts that might relate to your class session objective. Mix up your prompts with questions that help to build classroom community such as having students tell about an event that is happening in their community or what they ate for breakfast.

The article further says not to allow students to pass and ask to come back to them later. Especially in an elive class where students can use the chat features, allow a student to ask and to get help from other classmates. What better way to build community than to pit students against the instructor!