UAE schools go online: What keeps students engaged in distance learning? Tech tools and classroom ideas

Long before Zoom, I was already losing at digital chemistry games.

I didn’t grow up in the time of online learning as such, but I do recall a certain science teacher in sixth grade who march us into a room with a projector and fire up an interactive computer-learning programme where we had to solve quizzes, and compete to get answers right. Point being: I accidentally learned chemistry in sixth grade.

But that was a different time. And now, somewhere between periods of disruption and geopolitical uncertainty, many children continue to move between physical classrooms and online learning environments, sometimes with little warning.

Yet, staring at a screen for hours is rarely easy. Attention drifts, distractions multiply, and parents often find themselves trying to perform the near-impossible task of making a child care about a maths lesson while three other tabs are open nearby.

Now, educators and online learning platforms say the next phase of digital education is trying to solve exactly this problem. The focus is shifting away from passive video consumption and towards something far more difficult to achieve: Online, genuine participation.

A common thread of thought runs cross virtual schools and educational platforms: Students learn better when they are actively discussing and asking questions. Perhaps, a lot more than when they just watch the screen.

Or, as Sofiane Benna, Chief Operations Officer at Ankabut, UAE’s national research and education network, puts it: “Learning doesn’t improve when students watch more. It improves when they do more.”

The biggest mistake: Treating online learning like television

The pandemic came with several harsh lessons, perhaps a few being that schools tried to replicate traditional classrooms online without changing the experience itself. Long lectures were transferred to screens, leading to fatigue. They found it difficult to sustain concentration.

At Minerva Virtual Academy (MVA), a UK Department for Education–accredited online independent school for students aged 11–18, educators say this prompted a complete rethink of how digital classrooms should function. “The key lesson from the pandemic era was that successful online learning does not begin with technology,” the academy noted in its response to Gulf News. “It begins with clear routines, consistent communication, and manageable expectations for teachers, students, and families.”

Instead of relying heavily on recorded lessons, many online educators are now prioritising live interaction and active participation.

So, how can this happen? With a little help from real-time engagement tools, injected into the lessons, as Lobna Essam, Lead Facilitator at Peekapak Wellbeing Education, a social-emotional learning platform, explains.

It means, live polls, embedded quizzes, breakout discussions, collaborative whiteboards and scenario-based activities that require students to apply concepts immediately, rather than passively absorb information. There’s fun in doing an actual quiz online, with remarks and encouragement, so children want to do better.

It’s the equivalent of getting a gold star in class.

As Essam says, “The effective interactivity isn’t just frequent clicks or responses. It’s meaningful engagement that reinforces learning outcomes.”

That distinction, between activity and actual engagement, is becoming central to how online learning is being redesigned.

So what actually keeps students engaged?

The answer, perhaps lies in making classes feel more like conversations, rather than lectures. Shorter, more focused sessions are becoming increasingly common. Rather than expecting students to sit through extended online lectures, many educators are breaking lessons into smaller segments designed around energetic discussions.

For instance, at MVA, live sessions are intentionally designed to be shorter and more dynamic. They’re typically 20-30 minutes of high-intensity interaction, where the tendency to zone out still persists.

Moreover, the entire structure of lessons is also changing. Instead of spending entire sessions introducing concepts, some schools like MVA are using a flipped-learning approach, where students review material beforehand and use live class time for discussion, clarification, and problem-solving. This changes the quality of the class.

As MVA notes, when children arrive at a live lesson after having already engaging with the material, the quality of what happens in the session, rises dramatically. They come with questions. They come with positions to defend. They come ready to think, and not just receive.

Participation, educators say, goes far beyond showing up for class. Interactive boards, polls, collaborative tasks, discussion forums and peer-to-peer activities should be encouraged to keep students actively involved throughout lessons.

The common thread running through all of these strategies is relevance. “Students understand when learning feels relevant, not when it feels longer,” says Benna.

According to educators, students are far more likely to remain attentive when lessons connect to real-world applications, problem-solving, or personal goals rather than just covering material for the sake of completion.

AI is becoming the invisible teaching assistant

It’s time to address the artificially intelligent elephant in the room.

As AI becomes increasingly embedded in everyday life, it is also changing online learning. And, it doesn’t have to be through flashy tools, but through personalisation.

It can be a boon: It helps to identify struggling students early, personalise learning pathways and help teachers craft lessons more effectively. “We’re also exploring analytics dashboards for instructors to quickly identify disengaged learners and intervene early; for example, Kahoot, quizzes, Wayground, Padlet, Nearpod,” explains Essam.

Gamification, Essam says, remains a strong focus because it directly influences motivation and consistency. AR and VR, meanwhile, show promise for experiential learning, although she notes they work best when they genuinely deepen understanding.

For instance, at Peekapak, Essam says adaptive learning paths and instant formative assessments are becoming key priorities, alongside analytics tools that allow educators to quickly identify disengaged learners. Echoing a similar sentiment, Benna believes the real value of AI lies in helping platforms adapt to individual students, instead of forcing students to adapt to rigid systems.  “Engagement starts when learning adapts to the student, not the other way around,” he says.

At MVA, AI is being used with what the school describes as a ‘human-in-the-loop’ approach, where technology supports teachers.  “AI is not being used to automate learning or lower the bar,” the school explained. “It is being used to raise it, giving teachers better intelligence and giving students more precisely tailored challenge.”

The truth is, if you can’t measure engagement, you’re just guessing, as Benna says.

The screen fatigue problem

Yet even as online learning becomes more interactive, educators acknowledge another major challenge: screen fatigue. The physical and mental strain on the eyes, and quickly, a child begins to just glaze through. For many students, the problem is not just the amount of learning, but the amount of time spent staring at screens.  “The problem is wasted screen time,” Benna says.

Encouraging students to take on tasks such as content creation, problem-solving, peer collaboration, rather than skimming PDFs or watching passive videos shifts the quality of screen time, adds Benna.

To reduce fatigue, many online schools are redesigning lessons around shorter sessions, offline tasks, and varied pacing. This would include reflection exercises, hands-on activities, as Peekapak does, or discussion prompts that do not require constant screen focus.

MVA has also introduced what it calls ‘Step-Away’ tasks, activities deliberately designed to move students away from devices. “These are not gaps in the learning,” the school noted. “They are part of the design.”

The broader philosophy is that effective online learning should not mean students being online all day.

The myth of the universal classroom

Every child is different. So how can one approach cut across all ages? Younger learners often respond better to visually engaging activities, gamification, and shorter task cycles, educators say. Older students, meanwhile, tend to prefer debating, with more flexibility. And, they need their own autonomy.

MVA has observed similar patterns across age groups and subjects. “Younger learners respond best to structured, visually engaging, and highly guided interactions,” the school noted. “Older students engage more deeply through discussion, debate, critical analysis, and genuine intellectual autonomy.”

This means digital classrooms are increasingly moving away from one-size-fits-all approaches toward more personalised learning experiences. “One digital experience won’t work for every learner, and it shouldn’t,” Benna says.

The future of online learning may be more human

Despite the growing emphasis on AI, analytics, and immersive technology, educators repeatedly returned to the same point: technology alone does not create engagement.

Apart from structure and technology, educators also point to the human dimension of online learning, particularly the relationships between students and teachers, and the access to subject expertise that digital classrooms can unlock.

As Suzanne Lindley, Principal of MVA, says, the hybrid and online environment creates an interactive, personal learning environment, unconstrained by geography. For older learners especially, this opens access to subject specialists they might never encounter in a traditional school setting, teachers who bring deep expertise and genuine intellectual passion for their discipline.

MVA outlines a future where learning tools adapt more fluidly to individual pace and learning styles, allowing educators to tailor classroom experiences in real time.

The school also calls for more support for flipped learning , platforms that make it easier to assign pre-lesson content, track completion, and surface insights that can directly shape live teaching. As MVA notes, while the technology already exists, it is not yet 'integrated in ways that feel natural and low-friction for teachers.' They add that the biggest opportunity lies in reducing administrative workload through smarter automation, while protecting “high-value human interaction” at the centre of teaching.

Finally, teacher presence matters, as well as responsiveness, structure and interaction. “The biggest driver is relevance combined with participation,” Essam says. “When learners see clear value in what they’re doing and are actively involved, they stay engaged.”

After all, no amount of AI can compete with the human satisfaction of finally wanting to raise your hand in class.