I can't help but reflect on my own struggles with remote work and how I've been understanding my needs for community with my working peers. I enjoy the benefits and flexibility of remote work. Having spent time working before the pandemic, in the office with my fellow designers, there's a sense of community learning and spitballing of ideas that is lost. I'm definitely a social learner, who works best when having conversations about the problems we are tackling. But I don't think my peers are the same, or value that in person connection as much, so the opportunities to meet in person are few and far between.
I was part of the social committee for our team before the pandemic, and took pride in it. Then I tried to keep that social spirit going at the beginning of remote work, it became exhausting, and I've had to remove myself from that space. Fostering social community online is so different, and difficult. I don't have the same skills for it, as I did for in person community building. I know it can be done, there are gamers that have lifelong friendships with individuals they've never met in person. There are communities for every niche interest you can think of out there, and people who once felt isolated because of geography can connect and form bonds.
Proximity chat multiplayer games are an interesting exploration of merging real world social dynamics and communication with online game play. Characters can interact with a shared environment and can text or talk when they are physically close to another character in the game. VR headsets can allow us to sit down together in a virtual classroom, spanning the problems of geography. But that does require individuals to be synchronously interacting. When you have a busy day of work, school, and family, how can you schedule time for those "water-cooler conversations"? I do think we can look at places where community is fostered successfully online for help in designing solutions for online education community building. While also recognizing that what works for Bee, might not work for Reed.
Additionally, I'm curious if a young adult in their first few years of higher education would have an ability to identify what their needs even are. All the more reason why it's important for community to be fostered not only by learning peers, but by the instructor and the LMS, with different options for learners to try out and see what works for them.
Yes, yes, and yes, Patrick. Thanks for the heartfelt, thoughtful share — which is what I’ve come to expect from you!
It’s interesting to learn that going virtual, for you, meant that you had to relinquish your social-committee persona. I wonder how many of us had their social identities shift, for better or for worse, amidst that great pivot we made to online during the pandemic?
In the essay above though, my social shift was a little more temporary. As of today, I am back to being half-socialite, half-introvert. But on that Christmas day, I was full introvert -- mainly due to eye surgery - and not wanting to make any small talk about it, LOL.
But we shift, right? When we go online, or when we go through life changes. And ideally, someday, the spaces and products that we inhabit will create a space for this shifting that we inevitably do.
Even now, Patrick, when some folks step online and try to look at the digital mirror of a Zoom or Google Meet (or any online experience), I imagine many of us don’t see ourselves. We see a resemblance that ... lacks. It lacks our style, our energy, or simply the tools we had in-person. At worst (which is my favorite phrase to frame any problem) ... at worst, product experiences make us feel absent.
At worst, when we step into the entrance of any virtual space, we can’t see ourselves or hear our unique voices. I’m thinking ... something between the second stanza of Bob Dylan’s 'Tomorrow Is a Long Time' and Jean Baudrillard’s “simulcra” – as in these detached projections of our actual selves. Or maybe Radiohead's 'How to Disappear Completely.' I think in songs.
But I digress.
Still, I wonder how many designers at Zoom or Google Meet or even those XR/AR/VR spaces and 2D-proximity video tools ... I wonder if anyone is centering their next design on the question of how their product can help us (or our students) step into the fullness of ourselves?
But I want to return to a point you made, Patrick: the ability of the student/user to schedule their own water cooler chat. That seems within reach in the near future. Upon arrival, we users sense anyone else's live digital presence via visible avatars that we can click on ... to visit their profile ... and to click 'meet via video' or 'meet via audio' or 'send an invite.' It seems within reach. Maybe the digital water cooler deserves its own LMS tool - or a designated space within a course home page that for which vendors could offer competing water coolers and virtual lounges (replete with more integrations than an i-frame can offer).
You also said that ideally, we give students options to “try out and see what works for them.” I love that. Even if we adults aren’t fully aware of our own needs when we arrive online, we should be able to step in through the virtual front doors, and reshape the space, and redecorate a bit - because part of feeling at home resides in the ability to redecorate?
Thanks for the long comment, Patrick. You brought out a long reply. And if you’re up for another Zoom or catching up in person this July, let me know.
We need to get you meetings with leadership at EngageXR, SoWork, and D2L. Great thought experiments Reed all on point, all visually and emotionally compelling. Thank you. looking forward to the next Tendril. Dare I say the “nexdril.”
I can't help but reflect on my own struggles with remote work and how I've been understanding my needs for community with my working peers. I enjoy the benefits and flexibility of remote work. Having spent time working before the pandemic, in the office with my fellow designers, there's a sense of community learning and spitballing of ideas that is lost. I'm definitely a social learner, who works best when having conversations about the problems we are tackling. But I don't think my peers are the same, or value that in person connection as much, so the opportunities to meet in person are few and far between.
I was part of the social committee for our team before the pandemic, and took pride in it. Then I tried to keep that social spirit going at the beginning of remote work, it became exhausting, and I've had to remove myself from that space. Fostering social community online is so different, and difficult. I don't have the same skills for it, as I did for in person community building. I know it can be done, there are gamers that have lifelong friendships with individuals they've never met in person. There are communities for every niche interest you can think of out there, and people who once felt isolated because of geography can connect and form bonds.
Proximity chat multiplayer games are an interesting exploration of merging real world social dynamics and communication with online game play. Characters can interact with a shared environment and can text or talk when they are physically close to another character in the game. VR headsets can allow us to sit down together in a virtual classroom, spanning the problems of geography. But that does require individuals to be synchronously interacting. When you have a busy day of work, school, and family, how can you schedule time for those "water-cooler conversations"? I do think we can look at places where community is fostered successfully online for help in designing solutions for online education community building. While also recognizing that what works for Bee, might not work for Reed.
Additionally, I'm curious if a young adult in their first few years of higher education would have an ability to identify what their needs even are. All the more reason why it's important for community to be fostered not only by learning peers, but by the instructor and the LMS, with different options for learners to try out and see what works for them.
Yes, yes, and yes, Patrick. Thanks for the heartfelt, thoughtful share — which is what I’ve come to expect from you!
It’s interesting to learn that going virtual, for you, meant that you had to relinquish your social-committee persona. I wonder how many of us had their social identities shift, for better or for worse, amidst that great pivot we made to online during the pandemic?
In the essay above though, my social shift was a little more temporary. As of today, I am back to being half-socialite, half-introvert. But on that Christmas day, I was full introvert -- mainly due to eye surgery - and not wanting to make any small talk about it, LOL.
But we shift, right? When we go online, or when we go through life changes. And ideally, someday, the spaces and products that we inhabit will create a space for this shifting that we inevitably do.
Even now, Patrick, when some folks step online and try to look at the digital mirror of a Zoom or Google Meet (or any online experience), I imagine many of us don’t see ourselves. We see a resemblance that ... lacks. It lacks our style, our energy, or simply the tools we had in-person. At worst (which is my favorite phrase to frame any problem) ... at worst, product experiences make us feel absent.
At worst, when we step into the entrance of any virtual space, we can’t see ourselves or hear our unique voices. I’m thinking ... something between the second stanza of Bob Dylan’s 'Tomorrow Is a Long Time' and Jean Baudrillard’s “simulcra” – as in these detached projections of our actual selves. Or maybe Radiohead's 'How to Disappear Completely.' I think in songs.
But I digress.
Still, I wonder how many designers at Zoom or Google Meet or even those XR/AR/VR spaces and 2D-proximity video tools ... I wonder if anyone is centering their next design on the question of how their product can help us (or our students) step into the fullness of ourselves?
But I want to return to a point you made, Patrick: the ability of the student/user to schedule their own water cooler chat. That seems within reach in the near future. Upon arrival, we users sense anyone else's live digital presence via visible avatars that we can click on ... to visit their profile ... and to click 'meet via video' or 'meet via audio' or 'send an invite.' It seems within reach. Maybe the digital water cooler deserves its own LMS tool - or a designated space within a course home page that for which vendors could offer competing water coolers and virtual lounges (replete with more integrations than an i-frame can offer).
You also said that ideally, we give students options to “try out and see what works for them.” I love that. Even if we adults aren’t fully aware of our own needs when we arrive online, we should be able to step in through the virtual front doors, and reshape the space, and redecorate a bit - because part of feeling at home resides in the ability to redecorate?
Thanks for the long comment, Patrick. You brought out a long reply. And if you’re up for another Zoom or catching up in person this July, let me know.
Reed
We need to get you meetings with leadership at EngageXR, SoWork, and D2L. Great thought experiments Reed all on point, all visually and emotionally compelling. Thank you. looking forward to the next Tendril. Dare I say the “nexdril.”