Virtual College Classrooms Can Work. Here’s How
By Stephanie S. Liu with Riche Lim
Yes, some virtual classes seem like bad YouTube videos. But after five months in online classrooms, our unsettled feelings have become more nuanced and at times optimistic. Indeed, even as the GSB is leading Stanford University back into the classroom with a few in-person classes this autumn, we hope the faculty retain a few techniques from their online sessions.
Well-run virtual classes become academic improv, with the students an important part of the show. Fifty students simultaneously type their responses in a shared chat. The professor skims the answers and spotlights the best. We build on each other’s responses. We laugh, celebrate and commiserate together. We self-regulate irrelevant and tasteless comments. Some students speak out, others type their answers. The chat box became a live Twitter feed. Why not keep using it even when we return to the classroom?
Some elements of this digital reality we will never get used to. We miss hugging our classmates. Internet lag makes conversations feel unnatural. No amount of fire emojis can replace human warmth.
But we’ve seen some virtual classes work. As two GSBers with professional experience in higher education and education technology, we used last spring’s virtual quarter as a case study. Through our interviews and surveys of students and faculty, patterns emerged, many of which continue this autumn quarter.
Here’s what we’ve found can work for teachers in a virtual class:
Embracing their show host personality and making room for surprises.
What’s the first thing you’ll do when quarantine is over?
- Eat at a real restaurant
- PAR-TAY
- Travel
- Touch my face
Glenn Kramon woke up groggy students in an early morning lecture with this poll. He runs his class like a primetime talk show host, sprinkling in personal anecdotes and pop culture references. He asks for volunteers to give and receive feedback on each other’s work.
Authority and physical stature lose some influence over video. Professors can’t move around the room or use big gestures. But they can build their online identity as a YouTube star would — through personality and content.
Professor Aruna Ranganathan overcame the limits of a 13-inch screen by adopting an upbeat attitude, keeping lectures fast-paced, and varying her tone.
Apart from personality, varying content delivery kept class interesting. The best instructors involve their students. Several mix lectures with small “breakout group” discussions, debates, and presentations, with each class session structured differently to reduce predictability. Why not increase the use of such methods when we return to the classroom?
Imagining they are producing a TV adaptation of a 1,000-page book.
“He creates an alternative, not inferior, class experience,” a student said about Keith Hennessey.
Professor Hennessey restructured his spring course, “Policy Time,” to take advantage of technology — using polling and breakout rooms to simulate boardrooms and expose minority opinions. Students say the experience rivaled that of an in-person class.
Virtual classrooms compete with emails, text messages, social media and streaming services for students’ attention. Streamlining content therefore becomes essential for student engagement.
Students appreciate professors who make class time meaningful. Many prefer uploaded lectures and abridged readings as homework, and then using live class time for discussions or guest speakers.
That said, using any instructional design style too often risks desensitizing students to its appeal. Would you want to watch TV episode after episode with the same plot structure?
Fostering community within the classroom.
“Guess who I met today?” is a common question among students at the end of a packed school day.
Many campuses are designed to encourage serendipity. Strolling Stanford’s campus is like a treasure hunt for inspiration. You run into new people, exchange ideas.
The virtual classroom must also be designed with spontaneous collisions in mind. Students need a digital common room to nurture relationships with their teachers and with each other.
The best instructors meet with students through formal Zoom office hours or after class to build deeper connections. Some have scheduled brief one-on-one meetings with students. Using small, randomized discussion groups has also fostered community.
But we must keep in mind the tradeoff between Zoom fatigue and the desire for community. On a Zoom-heavy day, some students would rather turn off their screens than make small talk over video with a classmate or faculty. So, consider old-fashioned phone calls. Or (socially distant) walks — what Professor Baba Shiv calls “Twalks.”
Simplifying the process by sensibly adapting new technologies.
“Professor, we can’t find the link,” some students said as they searched futilely. You’d think the digital classroom would eliminate the need to spend several minutes scrambling for readings and notes. But physical chaos has just been replaced by virtual clutter.
We now face the problem of too much technology. This issue forces us to rethink how we use online tools. Rather than adding more technology to the mix, teachers must be more deliberate in crafting the experience with existing tools.
Instead of focusing on what is lost in a virtual environment, let’s focus on the opportunities: creating academic experiences that merge the best of what virtual and in-person classrooms offer.
Stephanie Liu is a Stanford M.B.A. and M.A. Education student specializing in tech-enabled education. Riche Lim (Stanford M.B.A. ’20) is a co-founder of an education startup operating in Indonesia and the Philippines.
