Is it just me, or did Zoom not exist until late 2020? This video conferencing platform has risen in popularity as the need for online meetings demands a universal platform. My first experience with Zoom was in my freshman year of high school when the lockdown cut away most social ties at my school. This was something novel to me and looking back, I felt comfortable in the online environment. As a student who transitioned from a small middle school to a larger high school, I would be very hesitant to have quick conversations with new people.
I remember that I would primarily talk to one to two people every class I had, from our in-class partner talks to walking in the hallway. Halfway through my freshman year, the world was hit with this global pandemic that grew into a disaster for everyone socially and emotionally. I guess that I did not have enough time to process the sharp transition that my school took as we were in person for one week and online for the rest of that year.
The communication between my teachers and their administrators at my high school caused a lag in the instruction of online classes, but once all was settled, the Zoom links were then rolled out. Some classes used Google Meets, but across all these online classes, one thing was the same: online learning burnout. If you have ever heard of Zoom burnout, it is a term used to describe the exhaustion of focusing on online classes by staring at a screen for long hours. This could be generalized to all online learning platforms and I have noticed it trend toward a pattern.
From the beginning of a Zoom class, there is always high participation, but as the classes progress, that participation tends to reduce. I will not deny how I have fallen victim to this burnout during the pandemic and how I simply took my classes very lightly. There were only a few students who kept their cameras on, and it helped with the communication of the class with the teacher. From the student’s perspective, I had no intention of speaking up, but once I was put in the teacher’s perspective, I noticed how stressful the situation was. There was no guarantee of how active the class would participate during remote instruction, and I have noticed that it still shows up in my current classes.
From the recent snowstorm that forced the campus to switch to Zoom classes, I have never been happy to take my usual classes from the comfort of my bed. There are many positives to this such as the convenience for commuters and the recorded lectures. Not only did I notice this during that snowstorm but also throughout my first few weeks into the spring semester. There is a greater application of Zoom calls in most of my classes from discrete structures to physics, while this was not readily available in my fall semester classes. On the positive side, this resolves many issues by allowing students to attend the lectures both in person or online, depending on the circumstances.
As I reflect on this Zoom platform, it makes me realize how much it has become a recurring tool in my schedule even after we have returned to an in-person environment. I would not be surprised to continue to see Zoom throughout my college years and beyond because it happened to be a friend at the right place and time. Without the help of Zoom, I believe that we may have lost learning and most importantly staying connected with friends.
