Deleuzienne here with some tips for trying to get the most out of a disappointing term! So you’re paying tuition for a term of Zoom and quarantine. Bad luck. If it’s any comfort, your professors really would have preferred to meet in person with you, too! I’ve tried to come up with some useful and non-redundant tips here. The running theme, as you’ll see, is mindset (and for those of you who are interested, that’s a big theme in my new book, Hacking Papers 101, coming soon!).
a. Consider your “mental “commute like you used to consider your physical one! In the physical world, you have time to settle into your seat and get into the mode of whatever course it is, but for digital classes, it’s too easy to not have that time. True story: I loathe commuting and am not a morning person. When I first began teaching online, I was excited to cut this expensive, and time-consuming phase out of my morning routine. I was already where I needed to be, so why not get another cup of coffee or check Twitter one more time? And this made it even harder to get ready, signed in, and awake early. I found myself signing into the classroom environment with five minutes to spare…then three…then zero…then uh, negative three minutes to spare! It got even harder to switch gears from Human into Professor Mode. There’s a lot of research on how our minds shift from one task to another: it’s why teachers usually build warm-up and cool-down tasks into lessons. For your digital classes, sign in a few minutes early, put away distractions, and try to shift your mental focus to the course topic.
b. Don’t read too much into micro-interactions. Zoom and Skype work on a lag. Audio and video are often out of sync. Everyone who’s there is embedded in their own environment, and probably wrapped up in their own issues. If in real life you might worry that the professor disliked you, or if a classmate was mocking you, let it go for now. You don’t have the time or energy, and it’s probably nothing, and everyone is miserable right now anyway.
c. Shift your mindset but honor your feelings. Acknowledge how crappy all this is. It’s totally unfair that you are paying outrageous tuition for Zoom classes, or even worse, room and board you can’t even live in, and missing out on your social life. You have every right to be pissed off, disappointed, anxious, and upset. But try to see this term as an opportunity, too: Think of how much money you’ll save not going out with your friends, and how few distractions you’ll have. Hopefully, things will be more normal next semester, so try to see social distancing as a signal to focus on school without as many social or interpersonal distractions as you would have in a normal semester.
d. Group projects are probably going to suck more than usual. They usually do, but it’s going to be even worse this semester: Some of your classmates (or even you) may be dealing with tough financial circumstances, COVID itself, different time zones, etc. If possible, work alone. If you are in a group project, document everything, especially if some people are nonresponsive (But remember, they might be dealing with terrible circumstances and it’s not about you or even them). If you can, do extra work on these projects.
e. Realize that your professors are on a learning curve, too. Teaching online is often more work than teaching in-person: The professor has to adapt all their plans to a digital environment, for one thing. Under ideal circumstances, adapting a course to a digital environment is a time-consuming endeavor. Most professors did not expect a fully-digital pivot this year, others might have preferred to use a different platform than the one their institutions picked, others might have only adapted courses they taught in the spring, and others are just not tech-savvy. While slackers and crap professors definitely exist, your professor is just as frustrated as you are.
No matter what, Unemployed Professors is here for you.