When Covid came crashing into our lives and we had to turn to online courses, obviously everything and everyone was thrown for a loop. I had taught online courses before so I tried to lean into the structure of those courses with online discussion forums to replace our in-class ones, given that I moved to an asynchronous model. At the time, we were urged to use Zoom and Teams, and while I tried to embrace Teams, I have just never warmed to it. I found it difficult to set up logical flows for the class, and it was the discussions that became my nightmare. I had so much trouble keeping track of which discussions I had responded to, where I needed to focus my attention, and more. I ended up feeling even more disconnected from my students that I had expected to in the Covid landslide because I felt my own frustration and silence in the discussion forums, and I felt it echoed by my students.

After that first half-semester finished and we went back to being partially remote in the Fall, I quickly shifted away from Teams and onto Google products as well ditching a lot of my reliance on discussions because I could not find the right means to facilitate them from a distance. I feel a greater urge to follow my gut and teach to my strengths rather than recommended tools but at the same time I’m happy to have the team here at PSU to introduce us to new technology. Teams may not have been a fit for me, but I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t try and in the process I learned more about what I need from my classroom technology.