Photo courtesy of Unsplash.
The days of traditional education seem to be over. Tables and chairs have turned into an array of colorful tiles on a pixelated screen. The frustration of students, staff, and families on campus is palpable, as we barely got a lick of in-person schooling before transitioning to learning on our web application: Zoom. However, the way I see it, Zoom University is not all terrible. All it takes is a bit of reframing.
Adaptability is the name of the game. Tuesday, Sept 7. 8:25 AM. “Potential Spam, New London, CT.” This is the phone call all students received alerting us of the heightening COVID restrictions the campus would begin implementing, effective immediately. The following day we replaced our developing routines with blue hyperlinked text and a blinding white glow of a laptop. As someone preparing to leave my building for an 8:45am class, this came as truly shocking news. As surprised as I was, I can sympathize with the professors, whose lesson plans got flipped upside down in a matter of 24 hours. However, most of us showed up to our classes, bearing our degrees in Zoom Literacy, sat down, and learned.
I will not pretend that I was all smiles for our transition to Zoom learning. My once laser-focused mind has recently found itself drifting into games of solitaire more often than ever before. I found it is significantly harder to prioritize my learning when surrounded by all of my creature comforts. Learning does not feel the same when outside of the intimate classroom environment, which brings me to the idea of personal accountability. It is far more challenging to get away with checking a notification when sitting directly in front of a professor. But on Zoom, what the professor can’t see can’t hurt them. And that’s not limited to the scrolling through social media. Online classes open another can of worms: the opportunity to cheat. With Connecticut College’s Honor Code, reasonably so, the school aspires to eliminate cheating. However, things slip through the cracks, and Zoom happens to open up those cracks wider than ever before, which is where personal accountability comes into play. More often than not, it’s far easier not to play by the rules and copy and paste a question into Chegg. But what do you gain from that? Zoom challenges one’s ability to self-discipline and allows you to take responsibility for your actions and learning.
If the prospect of gaining valuable life skills doesn’t feel like enough for you to appreciate your Zoom classes, consider the spare time. It may not be much, but every minute counts to an overworked and overtired college student. With what time you save by not having to walk to class, gather all of your materials, and assemble an outfit suitable for the Met Gala, you can catch up on some Zs, finish that Netflix show you’ve been working on for the past month, or hit the books for a while longer. Whatever you choose to do, whether it be nothing or solving world hunger, it’s undeniable that remote learning makes for a bit more free time in the day, which I, for one, can appreciate.
In short, maybe all it takes to appreciate Zoom is changing your mindset. The positives that come with remote learning do not come about from Zoom itself; they come from within and what you choose to do with the negative situation at hand. It’s far easier to mope or post online about how miserable going back to the virtual education world has made you, but remember, this is temporary. Instead of focusing on all Zoom eliminates from your college experience, think of what the platform is helping you gain. A myriad of opportunities awaits beyond the “Join Meeting” button. All you need to do to open your laptop and, in turn, your mind.
