Week one is in the books here. All online (for the time being) and I'm doing all synchronous (foreign language classes and all that.) So here's how that's going.

I have two 3000 level classes back to back. A few students are in both classes (this is common with students in the major program).

Class #1 (17 students): almost all students turn on their webcams and leave them on. (One has told me he has a bad internet connection and so his cam is off, no surprise). I'm using screenshare to share visuals, and keeping track of students' reactions etc. in the little window. I can easily call on students as well because I can see them all and I see them move their heads etc... We're doing a lot of breakout rooms as well, and while students are in the break out rooms, I pop in and out. It is going really, really well. Almost no different from what I would expect in an in-person class.

Class #2 (9 students): On the first day of class, students slowly joined the zoom room, and the first few in the room kept their cameras off. Other students (including those who had been in the first class) came in, and seeing that everyone (but me) had their cameras off, started turning off their camera as well. When I sent out the link for today (I send out a reminder 15 minutes before class, with the link, that way students don't have to hunt for it) I included something like "please turn your webcams on if you can" (gently worded). So, class started, and no one had their cameras on. For the whole time.

This was the most unpleasant teaching experience I've had in a very, very long time. The subject matter in class #2 is much more difficult than in class #1, which makes it even worse. I'm teaching to a row of blank tiles and it's radio silence. And I have no idea why. Are they confused? (the class is taught completely in Japanese, so that's a possibility.) Are they checked out and doing other things? (also a possibility).

There are lots of articles about how students shouldn't be forced to have their webcams on because it highlights economic disparities etc.... So I get that. But I've seen most of their rooms already (bc Class #1)... Somehow this "blank squares" class was more exhausting than anything, and it just feels icky.

I don't know how long I'm going to be able to do class like this. I don't know what to do... other than maybe start emailing students individually and asking them why their cams are off, what their thoughts are about it etc....

I cannot speak for others. However, we just switched to Zoom for our department meetings, and many people keep cameras off, even though the meetings are half an hour, max. I keep mine off because I'm usually on the bike or the treadmill so the meeting isn't a total waste of time. But I'm listening.

But this isn't a "meeting," it's a class, in which students are expected to master some material, and I'm responsible for grading them on the basis of said mastery....

And it's not some or many with cameras off, today it was all the students.

Also, as I said, it's challenging material and in Japanese... If I'm in a classroom full of students, I can see them, gauge their reactions, respond accordingly.... But no reactions, no heads nodding or furrowed brows.... No thumbs up even...

I felt exhausted at the end of it in a way I'm normally not after teaching. Like I'm trying to use telepathy to reach them or something.

It was horrible.

Maybe I'll turn my camera off too.

No useful ideas for you (though I laughed when you said maybe you’d turn your camera off too). I’m so sorry. Certainly this is something others are dealing with - wonder how they cope?

I’m gonna start asking some of my colleagues here.

Two seminars of 15-16 students, one with a writer for Forbes in attendance .

Every webcam on, but one, and his was off due to a technology issue that he says he will fix.

Both classes went swimmingly.

I have asked the students to keep the webcams on and have not encountered any resistance. Most of the students are on campus, and if economics was a reason for not having a webcam, W&M would remedy that with an appropriate laptop.

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one with a writer for Forbes in attendance .

For the whole semester??

Re economics, the point there wasn’t equipment but rather having other people see where (how) you live. Most of my students are at home and a few are in Apts. Dorms here are not open right now.

Can't they do virtual backgrounds?

Virtual backgrounds require a certain amount of tech built into the laptop, not everyone’s laptop can handle it. And no one has said to me why they don’t want their cams on, I’m just speculating. And remember many of them are on in the first class...

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For the whole semester??

I'm letting her come and go as she pleases.

And she writing an article about you? Or about the o line experience? Or she’s not writing?

She interviewed me for an article she was working on about Covid's influence on a wide variety of higher education issues, from student perceptions of value to college budgets. We had a great conversation ... these chats usually result in maybe one or two lines in an article, which is fine.

Here's a recent example of the results of over an hour of discussion, with one quote from a small claim I tossed in:

NY Times piece

The author has a story arc in mind, and the conversations are strategically utilized to give a nice sheen of authority. I don't say that as a criticism. It's how many articles are crafted. And I think the conversations with all of the sources likely shaped the story arc in many ways that don't get attributed to this or that source. And that's fine.

The writer I let in is keenly aware of that approach to crafting an article. She brought it up. So I said something like, "well, if you want to experience it first hand, you're welcome to see the process unfold in real time." She can then draw her own conclusions.

Of course, she doesn't have to sit in on more than one or two classes to get the flavor, but I think she is also interested in the subject...

I agree that you should be gentle about asking for cameras on for all the reasons you mention. I have a couple of ideas. You said that some students take both classes and have their cameras on in the other class. Could you privately message them and ask them if they would mind turning their cameras on for the second class as well. Also, be honest with the whole class. At the beginning of your next class orally explain in English why having cameras on is helpful to you as a teacher. Explain that you understand that there are reasons beyond people’s control that they may not be able to turn on their camera and you understand, but also explain that it helps you as a teacher to be able to see some facial expressions. Just put it out there honestly and then carry on and cross your fingers. Also I would mention that you don’t care if they are eating or outside or if you get to see their pets or whatever. Make it about the fact that seeing them makes you a better teacher. You also may want to use the chat window in zoom as well as the hand raising function as a way to elicit some feedback that doesn’t rely on faces.

I’ve found that folks will keep cameras on or off based on what others are doing, but there are many people who will turn them on if they know it’s a preference. I just think an “in person” ask might work better than in an email.

Thanks for those comments and suggestions Dol! All very very helpful! And when you say them, they seem so obvious! :P It's been a long time since I've been so ... decentered by an in-class experience.

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I would mention that you don’t care if they are eating or outside or if you get to see their pets or whatever

OMG I can't believe I haven't mentioned this. It's soooo well- established (in my mind) that it was "obvious" -- but of course it's not obvious to the students, I don't have mention of that anywhere.

Ugh, huge oversight!

Ok, I feel hopeful now. (I was so discouraged after class, like "this is hopeless" ...)

Thank you Dol!