Battling Zoom Fatigue

Having made it halfway through the semester, I am sure that most of us are ready to either throw our laptops into the snow or personally confront the CEO of Zoom. Now that we are over seven months into Zoom University, Zoom fatigue has reached an all-time max. Unfortunately, according to National Geographic, communicating over video call “requires sustained and intense attention.”
Unlike when we are attending in-person lectures or events, we can’t use visual and body language clues to glean someone’s message and intent. Like most Gustavus students, I am sure the majority of our readers have quite a few classes this semester that are fully online over Zoom. So, while we are technically attending the same number of classes that we may have in any other normal semester, the energy and effort we need to put into them is doubled.
And yet, we are still assigned the same amount of work, and in some cases, even more. I wonder how that is supposed to work? Not to mention that this system also forces professors to put in double the amount of work. By this point in this semester, every single student that I know is near total burnout.
This is why I advocate that we as a society let go of the pipe dream that everyone will have their video on when attending a Zoom call. While I very much understand how much it helps professors and leaders to engage with their audience, in the end it only further exhausts students who are just barely holding on. While video participation should be encouraged, making it a requirement or shaming students who keep their video off doesn’t help student engagements or outcomes.
For some students, keeping their video on may actually hinder them from paying attention in class because so much of their attention is unwittingly poured into how they appear on camera or making sure that their internet can sustain video. Expecting full output from every student at all times is unreasonable even in pre-COVID times.
While I understand that there is a concern about academic honesty and participation, at this point, if a student has had their camera off every day of class since September, it is ultimately their responsibility and loss. But I know personally that there have been days that I was simply unable to turn on my camera in class and was called out specifically when all other days I had participated.
This shaming has been proven to be ineffective and only goes to create a wall between the student and the professor rather than building a bridge. With not much time left in the semester, burnout rates will only be increasing. On top of putting in 200 percent more work this semester than we normally would, there are many outside pressures and stresses also affecting students.
For the first time in our lives, many young adults have had to face the fact that they are not invincible, and constantly worrying about our own safety as well as the safety of our friends and family only makes that worse.
In reality, it does very little to help the students and times only inhibits their learning and progress. Considering that we are now fast approaching the period where all classes will once again be online, zoom fatigue is only going to worsen. I would argue that in some cases, a student will learn better and feel more comfortable to come forward and participate in class if their learning environment is not one of animosity and forced participation.
I would also encourage more use of the chat feature in Zoom. While online classes are nowhere near the same as in-person ones, there are certainly benefits to using an online platform for class. Paying attention to the chat and allowing students to participate in that way is a new way to engage with a student or participant who may not have shared verbally otherwise.
Instead of pushing for our online classes to be as close as possible to in-person classes, we need to adapt to this new form of learning and we will see better outcomes for both students and professors as well as just fostering a more inclusive environment in the classroom.