After a two week break from school, it was hard to transition my learning to Zoom. Usually, when you are in a classroom you are able to sit next to your classmates and communicate with them without barriers. With Zoom, the classroom culture seems to go away. No longer do I get the chance to chat with some of my classmates before the class starts and walk with them back home after the class. On Zoom right after the class finishes everyone goes about their day as usual.
I am currently in a class that is about 100 students. Being in a physical classroom with 100 students is large enough but when all these students are being brought to Zoom, the engagement level changes. One of the options in Zoom is to choose whether you want to put your camera on or not. In this particular class, only about 10 people put on their cameras. I feel like this option, especially for me, can mean that some students are choosing their level of engagement in the class. When I am in this classroom, I am focused and alert but when I am on Zoom my motivation level to engage in the class is a zero. I often find myself thinking “Well if they can’t see or hear me then I don’t have to fully participate and I can do what I was doing before I entered the Zoom classroom.”
Zoom is great but not for large classes. What I’ve found that has worked for me is being in small classes where almost everyone has their cameras on and are engaged in the discussions that are going on in the classroom. The classes I’ve had where the professors just lectured straight-on for their allocated time was hard to connect with physically. It was hard to ask questions and participate in discussion. With this format, it seems like we only have a chance to speak when the professor asks questions.
With big classes, I found the Breakout Room feature to be great to connect with a small group of students to discuss the topic that we are learning in class. The Breakout Rooms is not always practical though when you are in a Breakout Room you don’t have access to your professor unless they join your room but how do you ask questions when your professor cannot see you.
