Professor Viji Sathy on Spreading Positivity during the COVID-19 Crisis

Professor Viji Sathy of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shares tips on how she’s been staying positive and encouraging her students to do the same.

Piazza to Ask and Answer Questions as a Community

I use Piazza in my courses for students to stay in touch with one another. This is a great place for students to post questions as we transition online. If they post their questions there, then we can all, as a community, see the questions and answers together. It also keeps the emails to a minimum in terms of having to broadcast information.

Remind Tool to Share Happy Things

I use Remind to invite students to an optional back channel where I share at least one positive thing in my life every day because I want them to recognize that it is difficult for all of us, and to keep trying to think of things that are putting a smile on our face even when everything that has been normal for us has been thrown out the window. I’ve been sharing photos of my dogs, cakes that I’ve made, just trying to share one little tidbit everyday of something that has made me happy. I also find that it is helpful to remind them that we’re all people and that we are dealing with this together.

Zoom Virtual Backgrounds

I’ve been having fun with the virtual backgrounds in Zoom. I appreciate this opportunity to play a little bit with my students and to hopefully bring a little cheer to folks.

We will continue to share tidbits from instructors on how you can stay connected. If you have your own insights, email us at team@piazza.com and we’ll work to share it with the world.