Zooming behind: We can do better
It would be an understatement to say that the transition to remote learning in March was chaotic. Professors and students alike struggled considerably to adapt to the virtual platform while trying to maintain the level of academic rigor characteristic of Princeton. Lectures were reduced to hour-long slide presentations that often felt like listening to a flat monologue. Precepts lost a fundamental component of face-to-face interaction that led to a lot of awkward silences as people waited for social cues. Office hours became increasingly difficult to keep track of due to the constant cycle of video calls while sitting in front of the same screen for hours on end. If not for the optional pass/D/fail policy, the stress of learning — or more accurately, attempting to learn — on Zoom would have been too much.