{"id":87373,"date":"2021-02-20T05:06:14","date_gmt":"2021-02-20T10:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=87373"},"modified":"2021-02-19T12:58:39","modified_gmt":"2021-02-19T17:58:39","slug":"empty-chairs-at-empty-tables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/02\/empty-chairs-at-empty-tables.html","title":{"rendered":"Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This isn\u2019t a post about Les Miserables (although I could easily see myself turning my experience in class that the post is about into a parody song). Education has seen significant changes as we have adapted to the pandemic, and reflecting on the moments when things unfold very differently as a result is an important step towards evaluating what we\u2019ve learned through these times and what we need to make sure we don\u2019t forget if things ever get \u201cback to normal.\u201d Indeed, if we regularly feel the abnormality of current unfamiliar ways of doing things, we also have our attention drawn to the abnormality and\/or inefficiency of the ways of doing things we took for granted.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the story. On the day in question there had been enough snow that morning, on top of earlier snow that had been cleared into ever-growing piles on campus as elsewhere around the city, that the university delayed opening. My first class of the day met on Zoom as a result. In the past it would have been cancelled, but with current technology<\/a> the closure of campus doesn\u2019t mean the cancelling of classes. No more snow days. I\u2019m not sorry, to be honest. As much as it may be nice once in a while to take a day off and build a snowperson rather than go to work, the effort to catch up with missed content detracts from whatever we might consider positive about snow days.<\/p>\n

My second class of the day was in the early afternoon. Since I had the impression that students prefer meeting in person when possible, and having other reasons to travel to campus despite the roads still not being completely clear, I planned to hold the class in the default manner, which has two groups taking turns being in person or on Zoom. A couple of students who are commuters (the exception at my predominantly residential university) asked if it was okay to be on Zoom today, and I said of course, commending them for the wisdom of their decision.<\/p>\n

I arrived in our classroom and it was empty, but it was still early. I got things set up, including connecting to Zoom. When the time arrived for class to begin, no one was in the classroom apart from me, and all of the students were on Zoom!<\/p>\n

This felt quite natural in some ways, more natural than having half present in the classroom and half on Zoom, which I often feel introduces an inequality, even if it is one that the students take turn sharing.<\/p>\n

But there were some things about this particular room that added a comical element. One was the fact that the classroom was one which had its built-in camera aimed at the students\u2019 seats rather than the professor. I appreciate that setup, since it is at least as important that students see each other as that they see me. Indeed, one reason I like Zoom is that it puts everyone \u201cface to face\u201d at close proximity, while in a classroom those in the back are far from the professor and see the backs of other students\u2019 heads.<\/p>\n

\"\"Another comical element only became apparent later, as I discovered that this classroom has sensors built in and, in the absence of students, the sensors perceived the room to be empty and automatically turned off the lights!<\/p>\n

Although I stepped around to wave at the camera at the beginning and the end, on the left you can see the view of \u201cme\u201d that students had throughout most of the class period.<\/p>\n

I learned some important things from this experience. One is, of course, that one cannot presume to know what students want or what they may do. But another is that the way we have set up and tend to use some basic educational technology is not optimized for what we use it for, to say nothing of accessibility and inclusivity. Imagine, for instance, if classrooms by default had cameras facing students and the professor so that those joining remotely could see both? Imagine if Zoom or something like it was embedded within an LMS so that as one discussed assigned readings, they were there alongside the video feeds, rather than requiring that one go elsewhere. Imagine how it might be possible to give greater access to educational opportunities on a genuinely level playing field to synchronous and asynchronous learners, to the sighted and those with vision impairments, to the commuter and the campus resident. Campuses could earn more by extending their audiences, which for all but a few privileged institutions is crucial to our being able to offer what we do to\u00a0anyone<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I stood that day in an empty classroom and yet was face to face with all my students. I opted to share my screen often, slightly more often and for longer periods than I might have otherwise, so that students did not hear my voice accompanied by an image of an empty classroom. I think students not only learned important things that day but genuinely enjoyed the class.<\/p>\n

That, at any rate, is my \u201csnow day\u201d story. I hope my students learned as much from it as I believe I did.<\/p>\n

One other thing that the snow has reinforced to me is that my prior insistence that teaching 8 am classes interferes with my ability to maintain a regular morning workout routine is not honest. When the snow needs to be shoveled, I exercise in the morning before class. I could do that every day if I set my mind to it and made it part of the routine. I mention this because the pandemic\u2019s exceptional circumstances have exposed plenty of areas in which what we were doing as a rule could have been and should have been better.<\/p>\n

Of related interest, there\u2019s a call for papers about online learning in the arts and humanities<\/a>, as well as articles in\u00a0Inside Higher Ed<\/em> about this being the time for reinvention<\/a> and the relationship between attitude\/mindset and one\u2019s experience teaching online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This isn\u2019t a post about Les Miserables (although I could easily see myself turning my experience in class that the post is about into a parody song). Education has seen significant changes as we have adapted to the pandemic, and reflecting on the moments when things unfold very differently as a result is an important […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":87379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1930,2970,14268,6658,11483,17050,12320,13173,13175,16696],"class_list":["post-87373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-classroom","tag-education","tag-higher-education","tag-lms","tag-snow","tag-snow-days","tag-technology","tag-universities","tag-university","tag-zoom"],"yoast_head":"\nEmpty Chairs at Empty Tables<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This isn't a post about Les Miserables (although I could easily see myself turning my experience in class that the post is about into a parody song).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/02\/empty-chairs-at-empty-tables.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Empty Chairs at Empty Tables\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This isn't a post about Les Miserables (although I could easily see myself turning my experience in class that the post is about into a parody song).\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/02\/empty-chairs-at-empty-tables.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-20T10:06:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-02-19T17:58:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/719\/2021\/02\/PCA-263-empty-classroom-Zoom-2-18-2021.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"434\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/02\/empty-chairs-at-empty-tables.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/02\/empty-chairs-at-empty-tables.html\",\"name\":\"Empty Chairs at Empty Tables\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-20T10:06:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-19T17:58:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"This isn't a post about Les Miserables (although I could easily see myself turning my experience in class that the post is about into a parody song).\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/02\/empty-chairs-at-empty-tables.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/02\/empty-chairs-at-empty-tables.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/02\/empty-chairs-at-empty-tables.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Empty Chairs at Empty Tables\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Empty Chairs at Empty Tables","description":"This isn't a post about Les Miserables (although I could easily see myself turning my experience in class that the post is about into a parody song).","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/02\/empty-chairs-at-empty-tables.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Empty Chairs at Empty Tables","og_description":"This isn't a post about Les Miserables (although I could easily see myself turning my experience in class that the post is about into a parody song).","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/02\/empty-chairs-at-empty-tables.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2021-02-20T10:06:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-02-19T17:58:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":434,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/719\/2021\/02\/PCA-263-empty-classroom-Zoom-2-18-2021.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/02\/empty-chairs-at-empty-tables.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/02\/empty-chairs-at-empty-tables.html","name":"Empty Chairs at Empty Tables","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-02-20T10:06:14+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-19T17:58:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"This isn't a post about Les Miserables (although I could easily see myself turning my experience in class that the post is about into a parody song).","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/02\/empty-chairs-at-empty-tables.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/02\/empty-chairs-at-empty-tables.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/02\/empty-chairs-at-empty-tables.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}