During these difficult times for both students and staff, The Mirror staff have asked around to find what people are doing to make participating in and teaching classes online a more rewarding and less stressful experience. 

No one was prepared for how the last part of this semester has turned out, so realizing that you are not alone in the confusion is important. Charlie Krebs, the associate professor of theatre & speech here at Lakeland, had particularly valuable information to share. 

Krebs finds that PowerPoint is a valuable resource for these classes. Krebs stated that, “One of the things I discovered I needed to do was find a way to explain things through PowerPoints since I didn’t have the option of talking in class. Most of my PowerPoints were questions that we would talk about, so I just have to change them to more bullet points that explain.” 

While PowerPoint, Skype, or Collaborate can work for many of the more traditional classes offered, there are classes that Krebs teaches that are much more hands on. One such class is Stagecraft. Krebs says that, “Stagecraft was a big challenge because you can’t build scenery online. So, I have found a number of videos which explain various aspects of theatre (which I would normally not get to) and then give them online tests based on the video. They’re doing well, too.” 

Krebs has also said that one of the things he can often find himself doing now is reaching out and making sure that his students are doing okay and coping with being in isolation and away from one another on campus. He noticed that, “They [the students] miss the human interaction as much as I do. We’ve had some nice conversations and I feel it’s opened up our relationship a little bit. Without all the face-to-face, I think it’s important that they know I’m there for them. The unexpected gravy in all this is that they’re all asking me how I’m doing, too. So, it’s really helped reinforce the connection that was so suddenly and completely changed.” 

While we physically must be isolated from one another, it is still important to keep up to date with your friends, family, and professors and remind one another that we are there (in spirit) for each other.