COVID-19 transformed many parts of life, but its impact on the word zoom is something students would readily understand.
Once a verb suggesting speed, zoom now is both a noun – it’s the name of a video conferencing application – and a verb, as students say they’re zooming into the class. That means they will watch video of the lecture, not running to reach a physical classroom on time.
It’s also a place – another noun – where interactions that once took place in-person now occur.
But all this word play may not be healthy for college students who want more from the experience than just a clumsy way to learn how a word like zoom can now be a noun and a verb.
“It really stinks when you don’t have a social life to go along with school,” said Kevin Meiselman, Quinnipiac University alumni and employee at the Jed Foundation (JED) that supports mental health initiatives. “I feel that for college students, the thing that pushes them through a really hard class or a class they’re not interested in, is that reward of going out with your friends on the weekends or even having a community around you. That’s just not there right now.”
The COVID-19 pandemic rolled through the United States in March during the traditional collegiate spring break period. That forced schools to order students to stay home for the second half of the spring semester, upending their education and social life.
High school and college seniors missed their proms, last class parties and commencement, other rites of passage. The pandemic also bred a sense of dread and uncertainty about the future.
For Landon Ruggeri, 18-year-old first-year business administration major at Bryant University in Rhode Island, the simple task of writing a paper became harder than it normally would be because of disruption in classes.
“I hadn’t written anything in like six months so that was hard to get used to,” said Ruggieri. “It’s been a little weird. I’ve had to go in-between online class and in-person class, so it’s been a lot of running around. Definitely been busy between that and football.”
The fall semester triggered new terms such as “Zoom carts” as colleges modified classrooms in a hybrid model to simultaneously teach in-person and online. Social distancing put an end to traditional gatherings among students, and everyone had to wear a mask, turning quads into environments not experienced in the U.S. for a century when the last pandemic swept the country.
Lauryn Schore, 18, thought about returning home after her first days on the University of Connecticut campus in Storrs.
“The beginning was terrible,” said Schore, a business major. “We had to live by ourselves and couldn’t leave the dorm. I was like ‘why did I choose to come here? This is not OK.’ But now I’ve joined a sorority, and now I’ve made a bunch more friends and gotten into the swing of things.”
Many universities gave students the option of returning to campus or remaining home to take online classes. Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, allowed only first-year students, juniors and seniors to live on-campus with nearly all classes taught online. Seven miles north in Hamden, Quinnipiac University gave students the option to take classes in-person or online. Faculty could decide whether to teach on-campus or online-only.
Ordinarily, the Quinnipiac quad is packed with students on clear fall days but in 2020, the campus stood largely quiet with just small groups of masked students walking around.
A significant percentage of students decided to go home after the first week of classes, and among those who remained at first, many left when the university shifted most classes online in November when COVID-19 infections spiked.
“I wound up going home my first day because I wasn’t feeling good,” said Ruggieri. “My roommate had to go into an isolation room for a few days and then he went home too. Classes started a few days after that so we were both home when the semester started and missed two days of class. Wasn’t the best way to kick-off college.”
COVID-19 also applied new levels of anxiety and stress on an experience that is already brimming with such conditions.
“I could tell you that the beginning was absolutely terrible for my mental health,” said Schore. “I literally became depressed because I was in my room all day.”
UConn ordered its students to self-quarantine for two weeks when they first arrived on campus. Schore said it extracted a toll on her mental health.
“It’s your first time being away from home at college. Your first time being on your own 24/7, and all you could do is go get food if the dining hall was open and stay in your room,” said Schore. “It was really bad. It’s definitely made my mind go a little crazy, but I think I’m fine now just because I’m used to it all.”
At Quinnipiac, students’ schedules are categorized as either fully remote, meaning the lessons are delivered via Zoom, or what’s called Q-Flex, a hybrid model that creates cohorts who attend in-person for one specific class per week and then online for the other.
Gina Montaquiza, 18-year-old first-year finance major from Westchester, New York, said she dislikes Zoom classes and the disconnect it creates among students whose identity is restricted to a flat, little box among a many flat, little boxes on a screen.
“It’s hard because some teachers aren’t the best with technology, and I feel like it’s hard for them to communicate with both the kids in class and the kids online,” said Montaquiza. “If you’re online one day and other kids are in class, I feel like you’re not really involved because the teacher will be looking at the kids and then you can’t even hear what the kids are saying sometimes. It’s difficult, and I don’t really like it.”
Professors likewise have made adjustments, and that hasn’t been easy for them.
Molly Yanity, a journalism professor, said she created an online-only version of her classes in case an outbreak forced students home.
“I just feel like I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop,” said Yanity. “You know, ‘how many cases are we going to have next week? Who’s going to be sick?’ That feeling just has me exhausted. I talked with my colleagues and everyone is just exponentially more tired and it’s just that kind of constant weight of ‘when is this going to happen, is it going to happen and what are we gonna have to do?’”
Yanity also said that even though her course materials haven’t changed, she misses the conversational environment of the classroom.
“In class I can walk around, talk to everyone easier, see if people are paying attention,” said Yanity. “With online, you’re kind of anchored to the zoom cart, so that’s been a big difference for me.”
The shift in learning has triggered an unseen epidemic of mental health issues. Both students and faculty said they are experiencing waves of mental distress even though they might be formally diagnosed with a specific condition or disorder.
“The first month was definitely hard. It was difficult to transition from high school to college especially with all the restrictions Quinnipiac put in place,” said Montaquiza. “It’s made things harder for me, and I definitely stress more. I’m more of a hands-on, in-person type of learner, so it’s very hard to learn online.”
Yanity agreed.
“It definitely has affected my mental health,” said Yanity. “I’m a little less patient, a little shorter, and I think that a part of that is because I have a lot of worry and concern for students who I know aren’t connecting.”
Students said that lack of a personal connection hurts, particularly at Quinnipiac where small classes lead to bonding between them and faculty. Virtual learning makes that literally impossible.
“I feel like I could have better relationships with my professors if I was in class, but I still have pretty good relationships with them anyway,” said Montaquiza. “It’s nice that they let us stay on Zoom afterwards if we have any questions, I do that a lot.”
Yanity said she sees more students after her in-person classes than before as they seek that personal relationship with faculty.
Meiselman said that as an alumni of the Hamden, Connecticut, school he understands what current students are confronting as they struggle to understand and thrive in the new environment.
“It’s easier said than done, but learning to accept this new reality is very important,” said Meiselman. “The other choice is feeling sorry for yourself and a lot of depression, try to do your best. Even though it’s really hard, accept that there will be bad times. There’s nothing wrong with that stress.”
According to a survey by TimelyMD, 85% of college students say they experience increased stress and anxiety from COVID-19. The top three causes of this increased stress are feeling uncertain about the future of their education (72%), fearing they’ll fall behind in coursework (61%) and struggles with remote learning (60%).
“JED’s goal is to protect the emotional health of kids and college students, as well as kids like me transitioning into adulthood,” said Meiselman. “A thing I tell college kids is that this is something I have to work through, too. This is not something I’m just giving advice and it’s not like I got it under control. I don’t think there’s a person in the world right now that hasn’t had to adjust.”
While students clearly have expressed their dislike for Zoom classes, some students have adjusted.
Vinny Gazzillo, a senior industrial engineering major and residential assistant (RA) at Quinnipiac, said his overall attitude towards class has been more relaxed. He added he can better manage his workload because of virtual learning.
“I used to have to prepare so much before class, because I knew this would pretty much be my only time to talk to the professor and the only time all the notes would be available,” said Gazzillo. “Even regarding leaving class, I used to have to make sure I was OK with everything and didn’t have any questions. Now that we’re on Zoom, I don’t feel I need to prepare for class at all. I don’t have to worry about the small things.”
The Department of Educational Studies and Center on Education and Training for Employment at The Ohio State University released a study in September on whether video conferencing platforms such as Zoom are properly configured for teaching and learning. The study was primarily conducted by department members Ana-Paula Correia, Chenxi Liu, and Fan Xu.
The study found that Zoom supports screen-sharing, application-sharing, and in-meeting file transfer, which provides educators with many ways to exchange and share educational materials. Zoom breakout rooms combined with remote control also supported small-group live discussions and group activities.
The authors concluded that Zoom will “mature into more comprehensive systems with the human experience at the core of their functionality.” Informal and experiential learning, they wrote, will be “essential to the reimagining of distance education.” In short, Zoom and other tools can empower students and faculty toward a more collaborative learning environment.
While education as a whole is challenged to adapt to this new way of learning, Zoom Video Communications is raking in the benefits. According to Statista, as of Q2 of Zoom’s 2021 quarterly revenue, its revenue has increased by over $600 million from Q1 of 2019.
Gazzillo said virtual learning has actually helped his mental health.
“I’ve been very good mentally during all of this, mostly because I have all the time in the world,” said Gazzillo. “I know when my classes are, and I avoid all that moving around and craziness throughout the day if we were going into class. I have all my assignment dates and resources available to me and I just get everything done on my time. It’s great.”
Gazzillo said virtual learning has given him more flexibility to address issues as a RA.
“There were plenty of times where I wanted to do more with my residents, but I just didn’t have enough time,” said Gazzillo. “I used to eat up about an hour a day for transportation, so I’ve basically freed up five hours for myself every week. This allows me to plan better programs, talk with my residents more and check in on them. Now that I have more time on my hands my performance as an RA has significantly increased.”
When the pandemic eases, Zoom is likely to remain essential to learning at college. Gazzillo is happy with that.
“I think this switch to Zoom education has made me a better person all around,” said Gazzillo.