Zoom is Exhausting: Intentionally Going Asynchronous

Background: Librarians at one intermountain west academic health center are embedded in a pre-health professions course for first-year college students. The goal of this partnership is, in part, to form positive relationships with future health professions students at their entry to higher education. During each semester, librarians meet with each section five times in total: four in-class sessions and one small group meeting with students. Previously, the in-class sessions mixed lecture, activities, and discussion; however, when the class moved to a blended format in Fall 2020, the librarians assessed whether synchronous or asynchronous learning would work best for all parties.

Description: In Fall 2020, the librarians delivered most instruction synchronously. This included a game, although most sessions were lecture-focused. While the sessions went well, teaching over Zoom is difficult with a lack of nonverbal feedback. Additionally, feedback from students indicated that long Zoom presentations were not desired. With this in mind, the librarians chose to conduct all Spring 2021 sessions asynchronously. The recorded lectures were intentionally delivered in a more approachable format, e.g. using memes and animated GIFs. Students’ assignments focused on reflecting and intellectually engaging with content over rote memorization. The librarians will still schedule a synchronous virtual meeting with each team of students to offer personalized help. In response to student feedback, the librarians do not require students to turn on their cameras.

Conclusion: Student feedback on this design has not yet been received, but will be prior to May 2021. Developing intentionally asynchronous courses for Spring 2020 has been less exhausting for the librarians, who tried to maintain a level of engagement and enthusiasm through lectures. Preserving our ability to teach is vital to the primary goal: to foster a positive relationship with the students to enable them to better grasp the library’s utility in their studies.