This week, I am finding myself struggling to adjust to the amount of time I am spending in front of a screen, specifically on Zoom. I have been out of university for a while, and I believe that part of this struggle is adjusting to spending more time sitting in general. My job as a lifeguard, swim teacher and aquafit instructor previously was very physical. I spent the majority of my day moving while I was at work. Now that I am sitting at a desk for 8-10ish hours a day, my body is a little grumpy with me. When it comes to Zoom, I also feel mentally exhausted. When starting this program, I did not think there would be such a difference in how I was feeling, comparing sitting in in-person classes to an online class.

This fatigue is a common complaint that I hear from many of my classmates and others as the world has shifted to Zoom in a response to COVID. I did some research to find out why I felt this way, and how I could make it better. In an article from Libby Sander and Oliver Bauman, I got some great information. We are missing a lot of non-verbal cues that would be present in person. To compensate for this, you must focus much more on the words people are saying. Since everyone can see your face in a close-up window, you feel the need to look interested and engaged, resulting in sustained eye contact. You can feel like you are performing while on camera, as there is a continuous display of your own live image, which of course is not present off line. Another factor is what environment you are Zooming in from. Is it quiet, do you have a personal workspace set up, does it look neat and tidy, do you have a comfortable chair? I decided this week to add a background, so that I did not have to worry about what my workspace looked like behind me, or if my partner has to come in unexpectedly. I chose a picture of trees that I took on a camping trip this summer, which always reminds me of a great memory while looking professional and hopefully calming to others looking at my screen.

I really appreciate that most of my professors in this program are very aware of Zoom fatigue and are striving to reduce our synchronous time to around one hour each session. I find that I am able to be engaged and interested in the subject content of the call when it is that short. One solution for myself is that I am going to start turning off my camera when my professors are using screenshare and going over a powerpoint, and saving my energy for discussions when I really do want to be engaged, and looking at my classmate’s faces.

I found another great article by Melissa Pandika, who lists all her sources at the bottom of her page. Staring at a screen for extended periods of time can give you strained, dry eyes and headaches. We often are not sitting with proper posture, causing neck and shoulder pain. The blue light from our screens also suppresses melatonin, affecting our ability to have a restful sleep. The main solution to these problems is to reduce screen time and increase movement. We cannot always reduce our screen time, as we strive to complete our classes and homework, but there are things we can do to give our eyes a break. Our professor Valerie posted a link to an excellent app called “Love My Eyes” that sets a timer to remind you to look 20 feet away, for 20 seconds, every 20 minutes. If you are able, getting up and walking around for a quick break (perhaps when your camera is off but with Bluetooth headphones) to look around and move your body. See if you can get a standing desk or move your work station to your kitchen counter for a bit. I am currently hunting through Used Victoria and other sites to find a kneeling chair, to improve my posture.

Zoom is an excellent platform without which online school would be incredibly difficult, and for that I am thankful, however I need to find the right balance for myself. I am going to do my best to implement my plans and hopefully reduce my Zoom and screen time fatigue.

 

A cool tech learning tool I learned this week was how to use Twine! It is a fantastic tool for telling interactive, non linear stories. We received a tutorial in EDCI 352 from Rich McCue, and with his attached outline it was quick and easy to learn. Rich started by showing this amazing story board that his daughter had done about Chinese Immigration to Canada for a school project. It was so intricate and detailed, yet so easy to follow. I mapped out a silly story about a salamander named Larry so that I could quickly practice adding new passages. It felt like a simple version of coding. We learned how to bold, italicize and underline text, add pictures, videos and music, change background colours and add links to other websites into our stories.

This will be such an excellent tool to use in the classroom as a way to map out concepts or present projects in a fun and interactive way! It is well suited for highschool students, as it is an easy to use platform while increasing their tech literacy. I am going to try to use this program for a project in my teaching career as a new way to interact with my peers while online. One of the challenges with this program is that it can be difficult to save and share the story. There is no way to have it automatically saving to a cloud, so if you accidentally close your browser or your internet cuts out, all your progress will be lost. Overall it is a great tool, and I look forward to utilizing it in the future.