Arica Burns

A Zooming Class

Virtual learning has become the new way, and Zoom allows us to attend school from home. But even though it has its benefits, the program is not without its drawbacks.

By Arica Burns

Security

2 Participants Chat Share Screen Record Reactions

Zoom works similarly to FaceTime or Skype, except there are waiting rooms, which tend to frustrate students. It’s hard to miss when a student joins a class session—the program signals the host when they are there—but there’s always that one moment when a student is stuck in the waiting room for most of the class, despite desperately emailing the professor and texting other students to try to get in.

Despite the struggles of waiting in the waiting room, Zoom is the best tool that came out of the pandemic for students and educators alike. This pandemic forced all schools online, giving limited face-to-face options, so Zoom has made it easy to stay safe and keep learning. So do the benefits outweigh the challenges?

Good Zooming

As we all complete classes from home, a bedroom can be turned into outer space or even Athens. Use the virtual backgrounds feature to keep privacy during a class and still be present. This feature allows everyone to escape the reality of being in their homes, which is much needed after a year of social isolation. Dr. Carmella Braniger, an English professor at Millikin, teaches a class called “Classical Traditions.” Most of the readings are based in ancient Greece, so she likes to put her students in Athens using the virtual backgrounds feature.

“I just feel like it changes things up. I mean, you know, we wear different clothes to the classroom, we present differently throughout the day. And so it just captures a sense of, you know, you’re not just getting me from the corner of my living room every day, you’re getting me from some other worldly space,” Braniger says. “In Classical Traditions’ case—Greece, right? I’ve been trying to make us feel like we are in the place that we’re studying, which is something you can’t really do in a physical classroom. You can’t bring the Acropolis and put it behind you.”

Professors like Braniger are having loads of fun with this feature, using it to transfer students to another place in the world. They’re also getting conversations going in the Zoom chat while they lecture. Professors are trying to keep students socializing, to help make them feel connected despite not being in a classroom, and the chat helps the conversation flow—even when it gets off-topic.

“Sometimes the chat surprises me,” Braniger says. “And you never can tell when it’s going to explode all of a sudden, but again, I like that there is that feature there for you all to comment. And even when it gets kind of off topic, I am okay with that. Because I think, again, there needs to be that organic space in class for things to come up. And who knows what will come up out of asking?”

When it comes to virtual learning, Zoom brought the breakout rooms and the screen share function to the table. These elements make discussions and lectures so much easier. Students love the breakout rooms because there aren’t people getting cut off while trying to take part in the discussion. Each person can take a chance to chat about whatever the topic is, and it doesn’t feel like they’re being ignored.

Serron Pettis, a junior sports management major, loves the idea of breakout rooms. “I didn’t know about it at first until I had class, and we actually did it,” Pettis said. “I saw people [on the Zoom call] just leaving, and then all of a sudden it popped up on my screen. I clicked it. And I’m just with my group and we’re talking and working on stuff. It’s a nice feature, simple and easy.”

For a lot of students, the breakout rooms and screen share option are the most well-liked and generally most-used features because of how beneficial they are. While the breakout rooms make discussion easier, the screen share

function makes presenting extremely simple. “What I really love is that with the share-screen, you can choose which screen you’re sharing. So, you can be looking at your screen while sharing and still be able to see everyone else,” says Rosie Dickson, a senior elementary education major.

These are some of the major benefits to Zoom. But what about its challenges?

Bad Zooming

Zoom has some drawbacks. As much as everyone loves it, there are some things that are frustrating to deal with. For a lot of people, the sound is a big issue. The sound on Zoom is very sensitive, so it’s hard to ignore when someone has their mic on and something is happening in the background. It can be very distracting, and it can make it difficult to focus on the discussion.

“One thing I don’t like about Zoom is that it picks up everything in the background,” Dickson says. “So, when you’re on a call, if there’s someone halfway across the house ruffling a bag, you can sometimes hear it. But, I can see why it’s needed because sometimes people are quiet, and you need to be able to hear them, but I still like how sensitive it can be sometimes.”

Clearly, Zoom is a blessing and a curse. This program is the way that education can continue during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s necessary, but sometimes it’s not wanted. And being on Zoom feels different than being in class. Students have to be visually present for in-person classes, but on Zoom, cameras can be turned off.

Some professors have made it a requirement for students to turn their cameras on because the visual cues during discussions or in-class work can be so easily missed if cameras are off. But while it’s hard to know who’s paying attention and who isn’t when those cameras are off, some students just aren’t comfortable having their cameras on because of the look into their life that a camera provides.

What’s more, students have taken to pranking their professors, and it’s actually kind of startling. A video went viral on Twitter showing a student who had their friends “kidnap” them in the middle of class with their camera on. This left the professor lost, confused, and completely unsure as to how to handle it, something that strays from the norm of in-person classes.

It’s a serious incident, but it was only a prank, and the student came back not long after. But it’s scary that something like that could happen and be misunderstood so easily by the other people on the call. Some pranks are fun, but they can go sideways fast.

Whether it’s pranks or talking in the chat, Zoom helps provide

some social interaction while we’re all separated. But still, students and professors alike miss the community that’s formed at the very beginning of the semester in in-person classes. It’s hard to form a community through online learning because the focus isn’t on community—it’s on getting the information out as efficiently as possible. It’s a flexible tool, but creating a community is hard to do over Zoom, especially when students don’t know each other or the professor.

“There’s not as much of a community feeling when you’re meeting in Zoom. So, we’re not in Zoom all the time, but there’s a sense of community you get, you know, even by the second week of being in the classroom, and there’s the before and after discussion,” says Dr. Michael Hollis-George, an English professor at Millikin. “You know, even with just ten minutes— I teach back-to-back three classes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. There’s ten minutes between classes, and I tend to be in Shilling Hall. And there’s all sorts of conversations that go on that sometimes will lead into the class material. And that tends to get lost [on Zoom].”

Being in person allows students to have time before and after classes to really discuss how the day has been and create that community themselves before the professor enters the classroom. For most students, this is when they learn more about their classmates and get comfortable in preparation for discussion time. For professors, this allows them to create a tight-knit class community, especially when the students talk on their own. That’s missing on Zoom.

While the app makes it hard to create a community, the professors still work to form one. The introductions at the beginning of the semester are part of forming that community, but this year, it didn’t happen for many students. Losing that formation, that start, leaves students a bit lost when they don’t know anyone. Some students have been lucky enough to know the professor or a few others in the class, but it’s much harder on the freshmen who don’t know anyone yet. A lack of that sense of community can halt discussions and make class time very silently awkward because there’s no comfortable feeling without that community.

Zoom has also altered how we work. It’s constantly changing everything that we do because we know now that we can do most of our jobs on Zoom, meaning that we miss less time at work or in class. For example, what happens when a snow day occurs? We can still learn from home, despite the unsafe roads and weather. Even with doctor appointments or sick days, Zoom allows students to still be in class as long as they have access to WiFi.

Obviously, Zoom has its drawbacks and its advantages, but many of us have no choice but to use it now. This program has changed the way learning happens, and there is no doubt that it has opened doors for more virtual learning options in the future even when the pandemic is over.

! This meeting has been ended by host

THE SOUND OF

C H A N G E By Jeana Pierson

As I’m riding in my dad’s old white pickup truck, I hear the song “Revolution” by the Beatles playing. The Beatles are our go-to car jam. We sing along. The lyrics don’t mean much to me, a 13-year-old, but they stick in my head. Now, seven years later, the lyrics remind me of how we can learn from past revolutions to change the future today. Throughout every revolution, music follows, carrying the hopes of a better tomorrow in its lyrics. This is more than just a kick-ass playlist of songs. It’s a blueprint for how we can enact change right now.

“Revolution” by The Beatles (1968) – “Revolution,” which has three different recorded versions, was inspired by the civil rights movements in the U.S., France, and Czechoslovakia and worldwide tensions growing out of the Vietnam War. John Lennon calls for peaceful change through the lyrics.

“I Want to Break Free” by Queen (1984) – This song is all about “breaking free” from the societal standards of the ’80s, something the band Queen was known for. In the music video, the all-male band members dressed in “feminine” clothing to drive this point even further.

“Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday (1939) – “Strange Fruit” is about the brutality and racism that long endured in the American south. The song is one of protest and is still looked at as a symbol of that history today.

“Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid (1984) –This song was organized and written to raise money to aid the Ethiopian famine. Many celebrities including Phil Collins, Sting, and George Michael are featured on the track.

“Do You Hear the People Sing?” from Les Misérables (1980) – While the musical was written in 1980, Les Misérables, the book, written by Victor Hugo, was first published in 1862. The novel, and then the musical, follow the French Revolution in the late 1700s. This song embodies the entire revolution and the unrest felt by the French people. “Respect” by Aretha Franklin (1967) –Originally written by Otis Redding, this song declared women should be given the same respect as men. Amidst the civil rights movement, Franklin added her own touch to make it about female empowerment.

“Same Love” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis feat. Mary Lambert (2012) – In 2012, gay marriage was still not legal in the entire U.S. This song was written during the ongoing battle for equality in the LGBTQ+ community and is considered an anthem for gay rights.

“American Idiot” by Green Day (2004) – The “American Idiot” this song refers to may or may not be George W. Bush. This song was written as a reaction to the war in Iraq after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

“This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie (1945) –This song is a musical response to the song “God Bless America.” Going back to the feelings of the American Revolution, Guthrie writes about how America is land for all classes of Americans.

“Alright” by Kendrick Lamar (2015) –This song was written at the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement. It encapsulates the black community’s hurt and pain caused by institutional racism and police brutality. This song is still relevant as the movement continues to grow.

Join Millikin ' s Student Newspaper! Contact Us:

slambert@millikin.edu ssinks@millikin.edu

BURST

A Millikin University Student-Produced Magazine