Lessons Learned from Zoom University by Alison Munzer

In January of this year, I applied to be a teaching fellow for an upper-level undergraduate education course being offered in the spring quarter. By February, I was excited to learn that I had been hired. By March… well, you know what happened in March.

For a fleeting moment, I considered rescinding my acceptance of the position. I didn’t want to deal with learning to teach online. I was determined to finish my dissertation and enter one of the most precarious job markets in my lifetime. As someone who graduated from college in 2009, I was starting to question my timing. But, I had made a commitment to the department and I was excited about the course: Race, Class, and Education Inequality in the U.S. Most importantly, I remembered how much I love teaching. I love teaching 5 year olds (I taught ~6 months of kindergarten when the first charter school I worked for nearly went bankrupt). I love teaching 6 year olds (I spent most of my elementary school career teaching 1st grade). I love teaching 7 year olds (I looped from 1st to 2nd grade with my students during my final year in the classroom). Now, as a graduate student, I love teaching students in older age ranges.

I’ve taught a wide range of courses while in graduate school. From Nordic Cinema to Community and Corporate Internships (hello, service learning!) to Composition, Rhetoric, and Language, I’ve learned that I can become deeply curious about a range of topics because one thing remains constant: I enjoy learning with and from students. While the spring quarter of 2020 was certainly something I had not signed up for, neither had my students. During Spring Break, I participated in many online workshops and webinars that started laying out the basics of (1) using Zoom and (2) teaching via Zoom. Over the last 9 months, I have taught (or am currently teaching) two undergraduate courses and two graduate courses. Here’s what I’ve learned:

• Building community in online spaces

  • Create some sort of daily check in so that you can get a sense of how people are doing and start to learn more about each other. I’ve used GoogleSheets to do this.

  • Share relevant information about yourself and suggest students do the same. I’ve used GoogleSlides to do this.

  • Create a collaborative Spotify (or any streaming platform you prefer) playlist where students can add songs and you can listen to music during breaks or before Zoom meetings start.

• Participation will inevitably look different

  • Try to mix up the ways in which students can participate throughout a session and throughout a course.

  • I try to think about participation in terms of: whole group discussion, breakout rooms/small group discussions, and the chat. I think it works well to offer different ways of responding to questions/discussions. Some students may feel more comfortable responding in the chat while others are more likely to speak up during small breakout rooms.

• Breaks are key

  • I try to build in "bio breaks" (short breaks where students can use the restroom, get a drink or snack) every ~90 minutes. In my classes, we did things like chair yoga and short guided meditations (~3 minutes). I leveraged student knowledge here -- they made suggestions that we integrated into the breaks. For example, one student led neck exercises that felt really nice during a marathon Zoom session.

  • During 4 hour classes, I think a solid 30 minute break is key. Especially since many of these meetings happen during a meal. 

• Miscellaneous

  • I've found it helpful to log into the meeting from two devices. One laptop to use for sharing my screen and another for monitoring the chat, prepping relevant course materials, a better visual of students' screens, etc. This may feel too cumbersome now, but perhaps something you'll consider in the future.

  • I highly recommend creating presentation slides for... everything... Since you don't have a whiteboard like in a traditional classroom, where you could quickly jot down instructions or other information, I think it's helpful to have that information ready to share visually so we support students with all different learning styles.

    • Bonus: if you create your presentations using GoogleSlides, you can turn on closed-captioning while you’re presenting and a live transcript will appear at the bottom of the screen. Another way to support diverse learners.

  • Time works differently on Zoom. I don't know how to explain it, I think I need to talk to an astrophysicist or something, but everything seems to take longer. One of the best pieces of advice I got back in March was to not assume that you'll be able to get through the same amount of content or activities you did during in-person courses. Since most of our courses are being adapted to online learning (rather than being designed for that platform from inception), I think it's important to be mindful that you probably won't get through everything. And to not beat yourself up over it. As you plan, consider identifying which information and activities are most important to get through. If you start running short on time, what would you be ok with cutting out?

While none of us (students, teachers, staff, etc.) signed up for this new abnormal, there are ways to make the best of it and ensure that learning continues. I have felt deeply connected to the many students I have supported over the last 9 months though I’ve never met them in person. I have seen them evolve as writers, thinkers, students, teachers, administrators, and activists. Zoom University may not be ideal, but with a commitment to cultivating our online teaching skills, it doesn’t have to be a dealbreaker for higher education.