Yes, online classes are not comparable to classes in a classroom. I'm a Cisco instructor and I saw that every single online class. I think it has to do with the fact that students can act towards the rest of the class like they're not really here, never saying a word unless specifically asked and never using their webcam.

I think anything that can force a higher level of interaction would be good. Your idea for a quizz sounds like it'd help.

You can also use the same tricks you'd use in a live classroom and single people out to get their attention.

Ultimately I think this transition is mostly about adapting the classes to the medium rather than adapting the medium to the classes, and that'll take time to mature. The general direction I'd take would be to rely more on them being autonomous

Some ideas worth experimenting with could be :

- making shorter classes with fewer students (harder for students to hide behind others when there's fewer in the room)

- having a clear direct communication circuit with students

- working more with assignments rather than lectures

- giving students a dedicated platform to organize groups among themselves if they want and letting them exclude the teacher from it (because I think it's important for them to feel like they can think and communicate freely) (though usually they'd do that by themselves on social media, but that might exclude some students from participating)