A Letter From the Editor
By Jodi Lamborn
Happy Almost-Spring-Break, HSA Students!!!
I don’t know about you, but I’m going to write from my own experience, and I hope you get something out of it. After five completed semesters at West Chester, I’ve never quite encountered the level of stress that I encountered the week before Spring Break. I’m sure I can speak on behalf of many students when I say that Zoom University has taken a turn for “worse,” for lack of a better word. Now, that’s not to say that online classes are inherently bad or detrimental for the majority of West Chester or Honors students, but I have found that this semester, professors have gotten more of a handle on teaching the curriculum that they may have very well spent years developing to teach in-person, and thus, the curriculum has become harder- or maybe, I’ve just become lazier. I know that at times, I find myself overwhelmingly unmotivated, and doing homework on the couch can be overwhelmingly desirable, but that was true for me before. Now, for some reason or another, I find the days when online classes seemed like a breeze, and students- in some cases- were receiving better grades than ever before, are gone.
I’d like to say this not only to make myself feel better, but hopefully send love and light to those who feel similarly to me, and maybe one day we will realize we actually miss Zoom University- although, at present, the prospect feels impossible to me. Because I was overcome by sentiments of stress and dismay simultaneously, I made the decision to call my parents and confess that the mere thought of accomplishing anything less than excellent was terrifying to me, as graduation is nine months away, and I’m really unsure what I’ll do post-graduation. School is all I’ve ever known. Then, I heard the two people- who, besides myself, care most about my success- say,
Jodi, your happiness is what’s most important.”
For someone who was taught to pride themselves on their schoolwork and their ability to perform, this meant more than they could’ve imagined. Happiness is what is most important. Sure, it may hurt to get a bad grade here or there. Sure, it may be stressful trying to accomplish ten different tasks at hand, and at times, it may seem like it’s too much to handle, but if we truly allow ourselves to believe that our happiness comes above anything and everything else- above grades and above stress- then we can take a moment to light a candle, make ourselves a cup of tea, and breathe. And after having done all that, we may find that accomplishing those tasks isn’t so daunting after all. This message comes to you not twenty minutes after that phone call to my parents, and at 10:14 on a Monday night, I’m confident I’ll be okay. And I hope you will be, too.
Best of luck on midterms,
WCU Hillel 2021 Speaker Series
by Lizzie Gittleson
As the newly elected President of WCU Hillel, I am excited to share with the HSA community information about the first presenter, Micah Kaufman, in our virtual speaker series scheduled for Wednesday, March 24th, 2021 at 7:30pm.
Micah Kaufman’s story serves as an inspiration to people from every walk of life. In December of 2019, Micah Kaufman, a kidney donor, himself, was struck by a car in New Jersey while on his way to visit a recovering kidney donor in New York City. The initial diagnosis by the team at the hospital was dire with no possible chance of a meaningful recovery. Micah sustained traumatic brain injuries and remained unresponsive in a coma for over a month. Through God’s help, tremendous perseverance, medical expertise, family support, and prayer, Micah has been able to make a tremendous recovery. Micah has begun to return to his true love of chessed and hopes to inspire others along the way. In Jewish tradition, chessed means giving oneself fully with love and compassion in the form of good deeds and charity.
To join WCU Hillel on their journey of spiritual awakening through our Speaker Series, please feel free to attend any of the presentations, or contact me, Lizzie Gittleson, President WCU Hillel at EG938538@wcupa.edu. The Zoom registration link for the event is bit.ly/wcuhillelspeakermicah
Aid to South Africa Update
By Abby Boquist
Thank you to everyone who came out for Battle for the Crown, our February event for Aid to South Africa! It was a thrilling night filled with fabulous fashion, tremendous talents, and fantastic fishbowl questions. Your contributions made the night a tremendous success. Together, we raised $1,642.82, leading to a current yearly total of over $2,900! A very special shoutout to our hosts Jessie Hazell and Lope Rojas, as well as our contestants: Joe Blaney, Brian Lynch, Sean McGroary, Matthew Tindall, and our winner, Sarah Leinhauser!
Your contributions will directly impact the children and families served by our three beneficiaries. Nkosi’s Haven, H.E.L.P. Ministries, and Mosaic do fantastic work in their respective communities, supporting the lives of those affected by poverty and/or HIV/AIDS. You can read more in our Aid to South Africa newsletter and through our newly renovated website!
As always, thank you for your continued enthusiasm, generosity, and support. Stay tuned for our upcoming spring events, including a virtual 5k and raffle baskets. You won’t want to miss out!
Please, Keep Those Video Feeds On!
By Dr. David LeVasseur, Department of Communication and Media
One of the lessons I have learned over the past two semesters is that online teaching and learning is pretty tough. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. For years, I have sat in University meetings that have extolled the virtues of distance learning. In such meetings, one commonly heard the argument:
We need to meet our students where they live, and they live in a world of technology.”
COVID has forced us to test that argument and to interact with our students exclusively through technology. The results have not been pretty. Our nation’s COVID-generated experiment with online education has resulted in parents across the country clamoring for less online education and more face-to-face instruction. Data keeps accumulating to support these parents’ complaints. A McKinsey report issued in December estimated that by the end of 2020-2021 academic year students will have lost somewhere between 5 – 9 months of learning. All this is to suggest that it is difficult for teachers to teach and for students to learn when they are only connecting through a computer. However, there are some things we can do to make this difficult process a bit less difficult.
One way to improve upon online education is to be certain that everyone has their video feeds on during Zoom class sessions. Why is that so important? A concept known as social presence can help to answer that question. When someone conveys social presence in an interaction, we fully feel and perceive their presence. This concept first originated back in the 1970s in the writings of social psychologist John Short and his colleagues. Since that time, the concept of social presence has generated a substantial body of social scientific research. Importantly, this research has found that messages become more engaging as they increase in social presence. Think about that finding in the context of a live theater show. Assume that Broadway is back in business and you are lucky enough to have tickets to see Hamilton. During the first half of the show, you are seated in the very back of the theater. Before the start of the Second Act, an usher takes pity on you and moves you all the way up to
the front row. As you move from back row to front row, you feel and perceive the actors more. In your front row seat, the actors have more social presence, and as they have more social presence you find it more engaging to watch them. While you enjoyed the show from the back row, you enjoy it so much more from your front row vantage point. Research has also found that messages with audio and video elements convey more social presence than audio-only messages. Again, consider this finding within the context of seeing Hamilton on Broadway. What if during the show you had an obstructed seat from which you could only hear the actors but not see the actors? In that case, even though the show’s music would still be fantastic, you would find it less engaging in its audio-only form. The audio-only Hamilton would have less social presence, and less social presence makes interactions less engaging.
How does all this relate to a Zoom classroom? On Zoom, when we all have our video and audio feeds on, we maximize social presence; we better feel and perceive the presence of others in the classroom. That makes for a more engaging classroom experience. From the perspective of a teacher, I can tell you that there is nothing that saps one’s enthusiasm for teaching quite like speaking to a bunch of blank boxes on Zoom—it gives one the sense that they are conversing with themselves at an empty table, and who wants to do that? Moreover, research on social presence has shown again and again that as online classes increase in social presence they not only become much more engaging, but they also generate a lot more learning.
So, while online learning is difficult, we can work together to surmount those difficulties. One way we can work together to create a better online classroom is by keeping those video feeds on during a Zoom session. So, please, keep those video feeds on!
Credits:
Created by Leela Rose, Graphic Design Editor | Edited by Jodi Lamborn, Director | Leela Rose & Allison Farrell, Assistant Directors | Dr. Martin & Professor Wooten, Faculty Advisors | Created with an image by SCY - "laptop book information"