Friday, February 11, 2022

Online doesn't work (for us) ... or does it?

I’ve seen a bunch of people whine about how online classes and workshops etc doesn't wooooork. And inevitably they are thinking of the classes we threw online in a few days in March 2020 or now because you have <5yo kids (hey remember kids? Under 5? Not vaccinated yet?) and of butt-numbing zoom marathons of online talks that were “conferences”. 


Yes *those* didn’t work. 


The online format. Some observations.


Synchronous sucks. Different time zones, connectivity, the “you’re muted” conversation. In class, trying to keep an eye on those student on the laptop, and those in class and oh god why is it resetting? This hyflex option can go take a hike. Instructor overload and poor results for students/participants. 


Asynchronous with dedicated synchronous is awesomeballs. Record your talk. Make a second take, check the captions, make the slides available. People can watch it when it fits their schedule. The synchronous part happens for an hour or two with discussion, active participation. The interactive parts. This works pretty smoothly for classes and workshops etc. The rest of your life happens around it (since it is still sharing a space with you) but you can do it. You don't feel terrible about missing some. You didn't when it was a conference in person did you?


I feel this is the future for a lot of events. I hope it is. Even though I love going to conferences and hanging out with friends old and new. 


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