Yesterday was not a great day for me. Being an extrovert and being stuck at home for days is far from ideal. Combined with the fact that my regularly-scheduled Atlanta-Spring-induced allergy symptoms reared their head yesterday, which meant that I spent most of the day sneezing and sniffling, I really needed a pick-me-up. So I made a list of all of the unexpected positive consequences of moving my class online. Without further ado, and in no particular order, here goes a list of all the good things about this situation:
- I can get up almost an hour later than usual and still make it to class on time.
- I can teach in super comfortable pants.
- If I need to sneeze in class, I can mute myself and turn off my video for a split second.
- I can teach with a cup of coffee, tea (or hot chocolate!) next to me (I’ve only done this with tea at the moment, but the possibilities are endless!)
- My apple pencil is way more reliable than a whiteboard marker. (White-board markers dry up overnight and without warning!)
- I can highlight my handwritten notes.
- I have more choices for colored writing instruments.
- My drawings/graphs are much better in Notability than on a whiteboard.
- I can switch between writing on “the board” (i.e. Notability) and showing them a graph on Desmos without having to turn our classroom projector on or off. (Our projector screen covers the whiteboard in the room that I teach in, so I can’t have them both be visible at the same time.)
- Having recorded lectures means that my students can rewatch my lectures as many times as they need.
- My students have notes from class that I wrote, as well as ones they took.
- I can rewatch my own lectures and notice stuff I wouldn’t get to see in a real-life class. I can reflect on what went well, what I can improve for the next lesson, etc. All good things!
- In watching my lectures, if I catch a mistake or a slip of the tongue, I can point it out afterward. I’m less likely to notice something like that in a real class.
- I can send my class recording to other instructors and get feedback from them. (I did this with a friend after our first class; we both watched each other’s lessons and gave feedback. It was beneficial, 10/10 would recommend.)
- I’m eating lunch at home instead of buying lunch on campus. (This is more generally because of social distancing, but also because when I teach on campus, I tend to buy my lunch on more days than I’d like.)
- Zoom Polls are fantastic! In Monday’s class, I posted a simple poll with two choices: Correct Answer and Incorrect Answer. Only one student picked Incorrect Answer, which would have been awkward for them in a f2f class, but not in an Online one because their votes are anonymous.
- I’m not restricted by classroom design when making students work in groups. I haven’t tried Zoom’s “Breakout rooms” feature yet, but before spring break, I was teaching my class in a room with immovable chairs, which means I could not put students in groups of size greater than 3. Even 3 was uncomfortable, so I mostly made them work individually or in pairs. Now I don’t have that problem anymore!
- I have seen that students who are hesitant to speak up in class even when they know the answer to a question have seemed more comfortable typing the answer in a chat. I might be reading too much into it, but this seems like a big positive.
- I can teach with no shoes on!
- We’ve been having gorgeous weather in Atlanta right now (in the upper sixties/lower seventies). Still, I’m sure I will greatly appreciate not having to get out of the house when the famous Hotlanta summer rolls around.
- Did I mention comfortable clothing?
That’s everything I can think of. Honestly, I’m happily surprised by how long this list turned out to be. Feel free to tell me in the comments if you’ve noticed other positives that I have missed!
Maryam Khaqan 