What I Learned from Teaching on Zoom
On March 27 at 10 PM, after a long day of classes, all of the PEAI teachers gathered for an emergency meeting. We were quickly informed by the directors that we would start teaching classes online effective immediately. The threat of the coronavirus was too strong to continue traditional classes and remaining closed for another full month was not a viable alternative. The following week, we would hold three days of workshops and start live orientations on Thursday.
I have taught in a brick-and-mortar classroom for my entire teaching career and quickly recognized what an enormous task lay ahead of me. Moving from the traditional classroom to an online platform would require a scrupulous re-examination of nearly every aspect of my teaching. How does a virtual classroom function? What should be taught? How should class time be appropriated? How does a paperless classroom work? What does assessment look like? I was inundated with questions and a dreadful sense of uncertainty. This disquiet was paired with real vigor though. The challenge of teaching in a completely new manner was stimulating and would force me to take risks and experiment.
To give context to my thoughts: I taught sixth grade classes that were approximately 10 to 12 students each. Classes met twice a week and each session lasted for two hours. After 72+ hours of teaching synchronous classes on Zoom, here are some of the lessons I’ve learned about the platform:
Chat enriches the classroom experience. Chat allows for an undercurrent of continuous conversation. While I am lecturing or the class is muted, there is still active engagement in chat—something that is not possible in the traditional classroom. The thoughts that run through students’ minds can be expressed freely and spontaneously. A student might not want to raise their hand and make a comment publicly. But in chat? Those comments flow more freely—it’s simply lower stakes. Language is more informal and jokes and offhand comments are appropriate (within reason). Chat is also inclusive of all. Conversation isn’t between individuals; it is public and everyone can participate. The “always-on” ability to verbally express yourself on Zoom has been a dimension to class that I will sorely miss.
Zoom is intimate. The Gallery View in Zoom gives a view to all participants at the same time (Speaker View is clearly inferior). When you speak, everyone’s eyes are on you unlike in the classroom where gazes wander. For some, this makes public speaking more palatable. Also, when people react simultaneously, you can see their faces light up altogether. There is real power in that. There is also something to be said for having classes from your own home. Many students were more at ease and thus opened up more.
The annotate tool is fickle. There is some magic in seeing your annotations show up on the main screen for all to view. I think it is akin to the magic of working on a Google Doc simultaneously and seeing your peers’ cursors moving and generating text. In breakout rooms, it is an excellent tool for collaboration. The freedom of the whiteboard (versus a traditional text document) also encourages creative thinking. You have to work for it though. There is a desire for students to just goof off making stamps arbitrarily and drawing without purpose. I wish it had participants’ names appear near the annotations, like in Google Docs, to increase accountability.
Homework needs re-imagining for online classes. This was the most square-peg-in-circle-hole aspect of moving from the traditional classroom to online classes. Most of the homework tasks are completed in a notebook or textbook and lessons frequently flow from that base. Some of the homework tasks could be modified to better fit the platform, but the majority remained the same. Checking homework is also awkward. I frequently resorted to asking students to hold their work up to their video camera which was less than ideal. Square peg, circle hole.
Smartphones aren’t good enough. The desktop Zoom application is significantly more powerful than the mobile versions. The main screen cannot show video and chat at the same time which was the most effective screen layout for my classes. Multitasking is clunky. When app switching, the video will stop and when switching back my students faced a myriad of different issues (e.g., audio dropping out, frozen video, Zoom app crashing). The experience of using your phone just is not conducive to learning either. Students typically use their phones to consume media, play games, or chat. To then suddenly turn that device into one centered on learning is a tough ask.
Though just one month, I took away so much from my time teaching online. I was skeptical that PEAI style classes were even feasible at the start of April, but I’m a believer now. Nothing can replace face-to-face interaction, but there is a niche that online classes do fill. I’m just scratching the surface of what is possible with the platform and look forward to continue experimenting with Zoom and exploring the online space in the future.
-Brenden Lee