Anna Chung

RCAs and PAAs struggle with zee engagement in a virtual semester

The online semester has drastically changed the job of being an RCA or PAA, and produced a host of new challenges. Whereas in normal years RCAs might simply see their zees in the dining hall or knock on their doors, building the community in a virtual space is not that simple. RCAs and PAAs discuss how their positions are different this year, describe the pitfalls of online engagement, and celebrate their successes.

The online semester has drastically changed the job of being an RCA or PAA, and produced a host of new challenges. Whereas in normal years RCAs might simply see their zees in the dining hall or knock on their doors, building the community in a virtual space is not that simple. RCAs and PAAs discuss how their positions are different this year, describe the pitfalls of online engagement, and celebrate their successes.

‘Dick’ Tator ’22 takes over Zoom class, locks professor in waiting room

When a revealing message was unintentionally sent to the whole class, Professor Tyra Nickle, embarrassed, left the meeting. In doing so, she inadvertently ceded her powers as host to an unassuming student. “I was just overwhelmed with power,” said Richard “Dick” Tator ’22, as he took the reins of his digital economics seminar.

Academic support programs grapple with ‘barriers to entry’ in a virtual semester

The University’s first entirely virtual semester has produced a whole new set of academic challenges.

Reflections from a first-year: Establishing friendships over Zoom

In a normal semester, students may have been able to sow the first seeds of a budding friendship by turning to a peer in an orientation hall or large lecture class to exchange a few words. Now, side conversations have become relegated to the Zoom chat, where a quick private message about an assignment might just spark the beginnings of a new connection.