Connection to peers: group activities Group discussions are a great way to support community in online classes by allowing student to share ideas and collaborate with a smaller group of their peers. To help group members get to know each other before diving into course content, start off with an ice breaker discussion. Provide an informal prompt that encourages students to share something about themselves, then ask each group member to reply to their groupmates' posts. Depending on the size of the groups, you may ask students to reply to every member's post, or to choose two or three posts to reply to.

Here are some ice breaker prompt ideas to use for group discussions:

Introduce yourself with a picture: Each student posts a picture of their choice (could be of themselves, a pet, a hobby, etc.) and explains the significance of the image to them.
Reaction to current event: In a discussion, post a text, poem, excerpt, article, link to a current event, etc. Have students respond first by adding an image that reflects their reaction, interpretation, or connect to the stimulus provided. Then write/record an explanation of the image and the connection to the stimulus.
Two truths and a lie: ask students to list two facts about themselves and one lie. The other group members then try to guess which statement is the lie.
What are your weekend plans and/or what does your ideal weekend look like?
When you were in grades school what was your dream job and why? What about now?
If you had to be stranded on a deserted island with one person, who would it be and why?