to Zoom and what the whole thing would look like. “But I’ve been really amazed at how students have adjusted. More than anything, I think we’ve seen so much resilience. Our students have really been stepping up, and that’s made a huge difference.” Frank Rajkowski is a writer and video producer for SJU Institutional Advancement. He covered Saint John’s athletics for 19 years at the St. Cloud Times and worked as a web reporter for three years at KSTP-TV in St. Paul.
SJU/CSB senior thesis exhibition: Forging a Presence Seminar class by letting students submit photos and video of their weekend, which she compiled into a PowerPoint presentation to show on Tuesdays. “I think it’s important to find ways to have some fun right now,” she said. “This is a really stressful time for all of us, and I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be college-aged and trying to deal with all this. So if you can find ways to make the process more fun, it helps get everyone talking to each other in this new format like they would before class when we were on campus." Steve Schwarz, a visiting assistant professor of global business leadership at SJU/CSB, said figuring out how to make things run most smoothly online meant doing some experimentation. “I use Zoom, Canvas and make screen recordings in PowerPoint,” he said.
“I like to ask a lot of questions, but it is a bit awkward when you have 20-plus students in an online class. The first day no one wanted to speak up. Everyone had muted their audio/ video and students seemed reluctant to participate. The next class, I used the breakout room feature in Zoom, which moved students to smaller groups of three to four. “This worked much better, and students enjoyed reconnecting in smaller groups. When we returned to the large group, videos were on and students were much more engaged in the large group discussion. “Also, we’ve had a few pets join our class,” he added with a smile. “Coming into all this, I had no idea what to expect as far as student engagement,” Drazenovich said. “I didn’t know how students would take
The Saint John’s University and College of Saint Benedict Art Department is pleased to present Forging a Presence, a display of senior art majors’ thesis work. Over the course of last school year senior art majors were working and planning their senior thesis exhibition to take place in the Alice R. Rogers and Target Galleries on the Saint John’s campus. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the campus closure, the exhibition has moved online. Students responded creatively to these changes. We invite you to see their work. The exhibition includes a range of media, including game cards, sculpture, installation, drawings, digital images, ceramics and letterpress prints. Visit csbsju.edu/art/senior-artmajors-2020.
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