This semester, I am taking two classes via Zoom. When I enrolled, I wasn’t aware they were virtual. Had I known, I never would have considered them. 

It is impossible to ignore the collective trauma we experienced as adolescents living through a global pandemic. For many parts of my high school experience, I was learning with a mask on, my teachers strapped with head-mics like Brittany Spears. Most other times, I was sitting in my bedroom with my tiny reflection staring back at me as I tried to acquire algebra. Walking to my cousin’s house and waving from 600 feet away was the highlight of my weekend. Calls from my frantic grandmother, informing me that another one of our acquaintances had dropped dead, became a part of my morning routine. I am sure we all had our own colorful experiences of living through such unprecedented, dystopian times, but the one thing we all undeniably shared was the Zoom application. 

Zoom is great, for some. You can live in the same place you work. You can pay a tutor the same price you would before the pandemic, except the most you’ll see of them is their neck up. You can learn to navigate the Zoom speech dance: waiting for your peer to finish speaking, bracing for the awkward pause you take to make sure they are absolutely done and then speaking — only for someone else to chime in and speak over you. 

Zoom was necessary when we couldn’t be in school, when we needed an education but also had to slow the spread of COVID-19. Zoom is not necessary now, however, with (most of us) having been vaccinated and COVID-19 becoming akin to the flu. There is absolutely no reason that a course at any university should be online. 

Zoom may be admittedly useful in some select settings, but it is not productive for class learning. Being online for class means having access to every distraction with no consequences. You can shop, play games, watch a movie and text your friends without a professor calling you out on it — because everyone else in the class is doing the same thing. The array of vacant, frozen faces flash on the screen congruously as your professor talks to themselves. Classes should be social; there should be incentive to pay attention. You wouldn’t watch a movie with the volume on in class because it would be rude to your professor. You would be more motivated to listen to your classmates’ contributions if they were physically right next to you. The social accountability created in the classroom is vital in allowing students to remain motivated. Even in a large lecture, you can still facilitate social connections in ways that you cannot establish over Zoom. You can make eye contact with a professor, you can nudge a classmate when you’re confused on something and maybe even make a real life friend. 

At Brandeis we have the benefit of having a very low student-to-professor ratio. This means smaller classes with professors who are better equipped to give ample attention to each student. On Zoom, however, encouraging even the most basic engagement from students is extremely difficult. In almost every Zoom class I’ve been in, when the teacher asks a question, there is a long break before they have to call out names and force people to speak. It’s painful to watch. 

You don’t need to take my word for it. Countless studies have revealed the detriments of virtual learning. In October of 2020, Dr. Brenda Wiederhold, a clinical psychologist and Editor-In-Chief of “Cyberpsychology, Behaviour, and Social Networking,” met with the National Education Association to discuss the harmful effects of online classes. “Our brains are used to picking up body language and other cues, not to mention increases of dopamine, that are experienced during face-to-face communication … On a video call, something is off, and our subconscious brain is reacting to that. Communication isn’t in real time, even though we may think it is,” Wiederhold explained. A study on students at the United States Military Academy at West Point supports Wiederhold’s theory. Results found that after virtual learning, students’ grades fell by half, and many reported reduced concentration and a lack of connection to their instructors.  

A Zoom meeting may be convenient for business meetings. It may even be productive for webinars and fellowships. If you’re someone who has lost faith in the importance of “third places” — spaces separate from home and work, designed for socialization and community — Zoom allows you to condense your life to the comfort of your bedroom. But at university, where the mission is to educate young adults and provide them with the tools they need to live in a social world, it is unacceptable to allow a class to be virtual. Especially at a private university where tuition is 40k a semester. If I wanted to stare at a screen and learn something, I would have bought a certificate on Coursera.  

If a professor cannot teach a class in person, it should not be taught. If a student cannot come to class, they should take the day off. Until universities replace students with Artificial Intelligence bots, Zoom should not be considered an option for college courses, at Brandeis and beyond.