Reenvisioning the Architecture of Schooling in an Online Era

Shayan Doroudi
 

Online Education: Teaching in a Time of Change

UT Austin

UC Irvine

Case Western Reserve University

UMass Lowell

How can we reenvision the architecture of schooling when learning takes place online?

How can we reenvision the architecture of schooling when learning takes place online?

“I really liked working on Gather, having tables, being able to walk around, and present the way we did. It allowed school to feel a little bit more normal during this distanced learning.”

“I really liked the use of Gather in this class. Although it's not like being on campus, I did think it was pretty fun to be in a virtual campus setting and sit at a table with peers in a 'classroom.'”

“It was an innovative way to have students participate and felt more like a community than zoom would have.”

“To start, even though I was unable to attend the lectures, I loved that you incorporated gather to connect us as a class. I loved watching these lectures because it was so much more interesting than watching just a zoom recording. This educational technology connected the class by making it feel more like a classroom.”

“I didn't like [Gather] at first, but as I got used to it I think I might prefer it now. The only problem was peer participation of the features, but that really isn't on the professor. I thought it would have been cool to use the proximity chat to just talk to my table but I was too shy myself.”

Digitial environments give us the opportunity to reenvision the architecture of schooling in ways difficult to do in the physical space.

Special thanks to my students for embarking on this experiment with me and to
Kumail Jaffer (Gather co-founder) for answering my many questions and listening to my feedback.