Boost Student Engagement with Kami Tools & Templates

Modified: Aug 25

8 min read

Inspiration

Table of contents

Shirin Bradfield

What is student engagement?

In today’s fast-paced world, student engagement is essential to effective teaching and learning. At its core, engagement refers to how interested and involved students are in their learning experiences. When students are engaged, they’re excited about learning, asking questions, completing tasks with confidence, and taking charge of their own progress.

And there’s more, engaged students retain information better, understand more deeply, and make meaningful connections between lessons and the real world. When we foster curiosity and support students in becoming self-directed learners, we set them up for long-term success.

Creating a positive learning environment

Start with creating a positive classroom environment where students participate and seek feedback. Students should feel safe and supported through classroom norms such as collaboration, structure, inclusiveness, and flexibility. With Kami, you can transform any material into a highly effective learning experience. Our powerful tools are designed to keep students engaged and eager to learn.

For example, a teacher could use the Comment tool to not only offer students audio and visual directions for classwork, but allow students the chance to react and respond to their work in a variety of ways to suit their personal preference. That opportunity for student autonomy is a key component in establishing an environment where students thrive.

Making connections with students

Connection is the foundation of engagement. Building a relationship with students takes time and intentionality. Whether it’s chatting about a favorite movie or working through challenges together, forming genuine connections increases student participation and motivation.

Kami supports this through simple but powerful templates like:

These tools help start conversations and check in with students in a meaningful way—anytime throughout the year.

Positive reinforcement strategies

Using positive reinforcement, descriptive praise, and opportunities for collaboration can go a long way toward increasing engagement.

For example:

Offer verbal praise for desired behavior
Use incentives to encourage effort and growth
Highlight peer achievements to foster community

Kami makes this process interactive with Text, Voice, Video, and Screen Capture Comments, allowing students and teachers to exchange encouragement and suggestions. Need ideas on how to give effective feedback? Head over to the Kami Training Hub for a tutorial video on best practices.

Activities like This or That and building a classroom contract can also encourage students to engage with one another and co-create shared expectations.

Gamification in the classroom

Want to inject energy into your lessons? Try adding a little fun with gamification.

Games promote movement, conversation, and community—all while shifting the focus toward a love of learning. Kami’s Library includes over 30 game templates, like:

Bingo
Chess
Chutes and Ladders

These resources are great for fast finishers or free time. Want to take it further? Use a YouTube digital die in a Kami comment to add interactive, gamified fun to your lesson. Learning can become an adventure!

Interactive learning tools

Interactive features increase engagement by making lessons immersive and hands-on.

With Kami, you can:

Create quizzes using Kami Questions
Insert instructional videos with Add Media
Access ready-made games and templates from the Kami Library
Enhance projects and problem-based learning using Kami’s creative tools

Kami’s diverse toolset allows all students to engage at their own level and ability.

Active learning in action

Incorporating active learning strategies like hands-on tasks or real-world problem solving helps students stay focused and involved.

Examples include:

Group whiteboarding sessions
Small group collaboration stations
Real-time brainstorming with Kami’s real-time features

Students can participate anytime, anywhere, and Kami ensures that all voices, especially quieter ones—can be heard. Teachers can present content using videos, images, or text, and students can respond using tools that work best for them.

Personalizing the learning experience

Personalized learning means allowing students to progress at their own pace, based on their strengths, interests, and goals.

Kami enables this with:

Control features that adjust the digital environment to individual needs
Opportunities for students to set their own learning goals
Flexible ways to receive and give feedback

This personalized approach increases student ownership and motivation, and can lead to stronger outcomes both in school and beyond.

Connecting learning to the real world

Students are more engaged when they see how their learning applies to real life.

Kami helps teachers offer choices and adapt content through features like Split and Merge, which allows you to:

Combine or rearrange existing PDFs
Remove unnecessary pages
Mix in slides, images, or new resources

This lets you tailor materials to student interests or project topics—quickly and easily.

Scaffolding for Success

If learning feels overwhelming, students may disengage. Kami supports scaffolded learning by allowing teachers to:

Provide clear instructions with Comments
Break tasks into manageable parts
Streamline the experience using Control Features

You can also check understanding with quick activities like Exit Tickets, and find more strategies in the Effective Feedback Video.

Feedback that keeps students moving forward

Students need feedback to stay engaged and motivated.

Kami offers:

Annotation Bank for efficient commenting
Grade by Page in Google Classroom
Personalized feedback using Comment tools

Want to dive deeper? Book a free training session with a Teacher Success Champion to learn how these tools can save you time and improve student outcomes.

Support student self-reflection with templates from the Kami Library, such as:

Goal Setting
Tracking Learning Progress

Keep your students engaged with Kami

Don’t let your students fall behind or drift out of engaged participation. Keep them interested, invested, and engaged in their learning! With engagement comes memory retention, critical thinking skills, and success in all areas of life. As educators, it’s our responsibility to prioritize student engagement and create an environment that fosters curiosity, creativity, and a love of learning.

Kami helps you: