Battling Zoom Fatigue in a Virtual Classroom at Southern Oregon University
Erica Knotts and other Communication Program faculty use technology to promote student collaboration & engagement
Even the Wall Street Journal has figured it out: Zoom fatigue is real.
Fortunately for students in SOU’s Communication Program, our faculty have nimbly adopted new technology solutions that have helped to actively engage learners even in the era of social distancing. For example, instructor Erica Knotts has devised fun and interactive ways to convene with students using online collaboration platforms like Jamboard and Padlet.
Similar to Zoom’s virtual whiteboard, Jamboard allows professors to create an online display to better illustrate all of the information needed to understand the subject. An application within Google’s Workspace suite of office productivity tools, Jamboard users can add photos, sticky notes, shapes, and text to their digital whiteboard, often working with other students on a Zoom call.
“Having access to a virtual whiteboard has definitely enhanced my online learning experience,” said Lauren Quirke, a senior in a course on Conflict Management led by Knotts. “I am a visual learner, so having a visual aid to use in class to help further understand course concepts has been beneficial. It also allows everyone to develop and share new ideas that maybe other people haven’t thought of before.”
Knotts mostly uses Jamboard to guide the activities of Zoom breakout rooms, where a large group is assigned to smaller sub-groups during a video call.
“How many times have you been sent with some ‘verbal instructions’ to a breakout room with 4–5 people you don’t know?” said Knotts. “It can feel really awkward to speak up and it can be easy to forget what you are supposed to be talking about.”
The addition of a Jamboard with a prompt gives everyone the chance to actively collaborate while, hopefully, not uncomfortably staring at one’s classmates.
“I find students are more engaged, turning on their cameras and getting to know each other with less awkwardness,” Knotts said. “It also serves as a reference when we come back for larger group discussions because groups have something to share with their peers.”
Knotts was introduced to Jamboard over the summer during a professional development course at SOU. Since it is part of the Google suite, she welcomes the familiar user interface, strong mobile support for phones and tablets, and screen reader support for visually impaired users.
Other Comm faculty have also adopted new technologies to improve the socially distanced learning experience. Erik Palmer relies on the virtual whiteboard Mural in his courses on Creative Industries, Design Thinking and Visual Communication. Andrew Gay adopted the social annotation platform Hypothesis in Storytelling Foundations and Reading Black Screenwriters. Kristin Hocevar added a podcasting assignment in Digital Life. And Precious Yamaguchi is using the Inside Disaster online earthquake simulation in Communication Across Cultures.
The end of the COVID-19 crisis might be in sight, but the pandemic has driven changes in work culture that will likely endure. So Knotts and our other Comm faculty might be keeping students interested and engaged, but they are also building online communication and collaboration skills that will be important for life after college.
Story by Autumn Micketti (@mountainmusicwoman), Community Manager for the Communication Program at Southern Oregon University.
