Teaching Jewish Studies Through Zoom: How Did We Do?
The “mid-semester pivot” to teaching online via Zoom that took place last March due to the coronavirus threw everyone off, students as well as faculty. While we put on brave faces for our classes, few of us faculty members had any idea how it would go! Jewish Studies courses, like all courses, were deeply affected.
I was teaching a course that I offer every year called “The Land of Israel: Ancient to Modern,” as well as a specialty upper level course called “Biblical History: 1200-200 BC.”
When we switched to Zoom lectures right after our midterm, students were uncomfortable and didn’t know what to expect, but soon they started to participate. I made rules that seemed to work—for instance, I made them keep their video on if at all possible, so that I could get a sense of whether they were engaged or not. It turned out that not only did seeing their faces help me, but it helped them as well—by a few weeks in, they were not only raising their hands like they would in person, but they were also engaging with one another’s comments. Even more interesting, now that there was no excuse not to come to class, like oversleeping, or being sick, most students were there every day, even if they didn’t speak. So class attendance actually improved!
One of my main concerns about teaching through Zoom was about tackling difficult issues—how would it be to teach about the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict without seeing body language or making real eye contact? But it worked out fine. And because I sometimes used the “chat” feature on Zoom, I could do quick surveys, by asking the class at intervals.
What was new information to them, what surprised them, and similar questions. They found it less intimidating to respond via a few words on the chat, than they would to raise their hands in a face to face class. They would also spontaneously give their tangential thoughts in the chat, which were often very interesting and which sparked productive “side conversations.”
While faculty and students aren’t happy about remote teaching for another semester, we now know that we can manage it, and even make the best of it!
–Rachel Hallote, Jewish Studies Program Coordinator