Make or Fake Eye-Contact to Enhance Online Connection
And improve the quality of your teaching, meeting, and social interaction
This week I started teaching again. Many of my colleagues at universities around the world scrambled to turn in-person to online-only courses in a few action-packed days in March. I was lucky my courses only began this week, so I had longer to prepare.
With the luxury of time, my transition to online teaching has been interesting and generally pleasant. Setting aside truisms about middle-aged dogs and new tricks, I learned a lot. And anyway, isolation provided the impetus to take my Evolution and the Modern World course online, something I have long intended to do.
There’s just one thing…
Looking back at the videos I record for the students has been confronting. Not because I sound weird or look older than I think I am. I got over those hangups years ago doing radio and TV interviews. This screengrab from a video encapsulates my problem.
This view I recognize from conferences, as people strain to discern my name tag. In real-world interactions, it is the social cue…
