By Tim Chartier, @timchartier

Think about your life a year ago and how many aspects of your life were entirely different than now.  For that matter, it’s possible that a large portion of 2020 has been significantly different than any other portion of your life.  In particular, much of our world has become virtual.  I teach, connect with friends, and attend meetings via looking at a screen.  

I’m teaching asynchronously and online this term.  My students are getting to know me via recordings; I get to know them via emails, Slack posts, and virtual office hours over Zoom.  No longer do I pass them on campus and stop to chat.  We don’t have time before class to simply be together and notice the blueness of the sky or hear the rhythm of raindrops on the classroom windows. 

There is much to learn in a mathematics class, from methods of integration and differentiation to techniques of proving the theoretical.  There are also lessons for life.  We learn problem-solving with mathematics. We learn to fail, stand in that unknown, and regroup and move toward understanding.  This term, many of us are also learning about online learning. 

Online learning offers unique challenges, which also offers opportunities to learn and grow in new ways.  In a face-to-face class, I begin class with either a short story or an opportunity for my students to share with a partner.  As we begin our time together in this way, I often comment, “Let’s share with each other and let go of where we were and be present here, where we are.”  

In my asynchronous class, students aren’t necessarily watching videos at the same time.  So, we use Slack as a venue for helping each other with homework problems, sharing perspectives and approaches to solutions.  I also offer opportunities to share reflections on Slack.  Rather than sharing with a partner to begin class, we share with each other via our online posts.  In particular, I’m working with artist Olivia Weaver (@_ollie_oop on Instagram) to create a series of cartoons relating to online learning.  

The cartoon below is a revisioning of a Norman Rockwell painting entitled “Lift Up Thine Eyes.”  Rather than a sidewalk filled with pedestrians looking down at the ground, our socially distant sidewalk is filled with people looking at their screens.  We’ll let the cartoon say the rest.  

For those willing to share, my students were simply asked their reflections on the cartoon.  Here are a few of their postings, shared here with permission. 

“It’s really helpful for me to go on walks around campus in between long segments of me working to help clear my mind and get outside off of tech.” 

“With online classes, we have no choice but to rely on technology all day. However,  if we continue to use it constantly when we go outside for walks or take breaks, it provides no variation in our lives and they become more monotonous.” 

“In this time of online learning, I've found it nice to eat meals on my porch just to get away from screens and get outside.” 

“I rely on my phone a lot for things like reminding me what times my classes are at, but I don't use it when I'm walking somewhere because it's good to not always be on technology and instead be appreciating how beautiful campus is.”

As we move through the term, feel free to share the cartoon if it fits your teaching and classroom.  What lessons can your class learn from each other about virtual learning in our world?  Even in a pandemic, with a large amount of virtual interaction, the natural world surrounds us and awaits us.  Refreshing rays of sun or the sound of the breeze moving through fall leaves can ground us in the here and now.  If we lift our eyes from screens to our natural world, we can let go of our virtual world and be present here, where we are, giving us a refreshing oasis within our virtual interactions.