Engagement in 2020 is virtual. The Invitational is no different. If you want to make the Invitational your thing Thursday, Oct. 1, you might want to give a listen to the advice of some people who have experienced this event and got to the one. It will be the best 7 1/2 minutes you will spend this week. Just click here. (Don’t freak, the podcast was released last Spring).
We have all been the author or victim of that email that shouldn’t have been sent. You know the one, where somebody got verbally torched. Some of those emails went to a stranger, but most get sent by, and to, people who know each other through many face-to-face interactions. After everybody calms down, the parties have a meeting of the minds where misunderstandings are cleared up, hurt feelings acknowledged and relationships restored. Well, at least most of the time. It gets more complicated if the sender accidentally, or on purpose, hits reply to all.
I don’t know about you, but right now, that scenario seems like the good old days. The quick five minute conversation has been replaced by a scheduled virtual meeting that never ends in less than thirty minutes. It is immediately followed by another scheduled meeting that too often includes more people than you can see on one screen. Communication in this environment is highly structured and rarely engaging. Snarky side conversations via the chat function or text messages almost always ensue. And this is from people who generally know each other reasonably well.
Then there’s the classroom. In the Spring, faculty and students had some face-to- face interaction before everything moved on line. Everybody had access to all the ways in which we communicate: words, tone, body language, and so forth. A rapport was in place and good will reigned as everyone tried to make the best of a difficult situation. By this fall, individual students and faculty have had little to no history with each other in face-to-face settings. The opportunities to understand each other are less frequent, more structured, and accompanied by fewer nonverbal cues. And with every word documented in print or video, the prospect for misunderstandings to be magnified through broadcasts over social media has increased exponentially. Just check out Reddit, Youtube or Facebook. The examples are many. Outrage always ensues.
In short, virtual communication seems much more difficult and dangerous than its face-to-face variety. We can assume that everyone will just figure this out, but if our experience with new blended learning formats taught us anything, it’s that people’s preparation and adaptability to virtual environments is grossly overstated. You need to prepare them for the experience. If we are going to have a whole year where virtual communication is going to dominate discourse, perhaps we need to make a similar investment in virtual communication training to improve understanding and civility while reducing regret….
A potential engineering solution in the battle against COVID could become a thing.. give a listen
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-this-really-a-thing/id1428695342?i=1000490513788
I have written before about my working class background, the importance of not forgetting where you come from, and the elitist attitude among too many in higher education that the road to “a better life” always passes through a college.
If ever there was a year to celebrate Labor Day as a thank you to the American worker in recognition for what they do, rather than as an excuse to have a picnic, this would be that year. While many privileged folks like us sheltered at home in endless Zoom meetings followed by Netflix marathons, food processing employees, truck drivers and grocery store workers went to their jobs, braved the virus and made sure everyone could buy food. Housekeeping personnel made sure workplaces were disinfected. Police and firefighters kept doing their jobs. And hospital employees stood on the front lines to take care of their patients. To name just a few. Our worlds remained shockingly normal because of their courage in the face of the unknown. This work wasn’t just honorable, it was vital.
Many of those Publix, Adventist Health, and UCF housekeeping personnel send their kids to UCF for exactly the same reason my parents sent me off to College. It is my great hope that we can open new doors for them without instilling a sense of entitlement, removing that working class courage out of them, or putting one type of work ahead of another. It is my sincere hope on this Labor Day that we could get that job done.
Paul Jarley, Dean 