This reminds me of how I had small-group conversations with students that I would never have had otherwise, and we got to talking about what worked and what didn't and I explained the reasoning behind class design more than I would have otherwise. I think we were a little more relaxed and open than we would have been if we were meeting in person. Many students said that they tuned out teachers talking to a class via zoom--they were not real and present enough, so with that in mind, I think it's interesting that we achieved an intimacy we wouldn't have in person, when we all interacted in a small group (3-4 of us). So this is a kind of literacy: reading when/how we connect at varying levels of relaxation and intimacy and when/how they enhance learning/communication and when they don't.

I think there is a kind of playfulness that emerged when I designed online lessons that asked students to move from one 15-20-minute activity to a related one, from text to image, to audio-video. I like doing this kind of thing and found that the online environment and need to keep student attentions with short tasks in varying modes enabled me to develop it in ways I wouldn't have otherwise. In a way, what I'm saying is that I saw myself and strengths I didn't know I could use in teaching better than I would have if I had remained in the classroom.