The typical Oakland University classroom is evolving this year to cope with health and safety guidelines. In turn, online classroom tools are expanding with traditional forums, Yuja, Google meet, WebEx and Zoom. 

Online classes have traditionally allowed a virtual classroom almost exclusively through forums — typing an initial response to an activity and responding to classmates later. 

Moodle has many features for academic conversation, but perhaps none is more divisive than the forum. Some professors find value within Moodle through forums, others think it stifles communication.

“One of the biggest problems is that it’s not real time,” Communication Professor Sam Srauy, P h.D., said. “There is something engaging that I find about that sort of ad hoc real time communication that you just don’t get when it comes to forum posts.”

Shaun Moore, Director of e-Learning and instructor in the Writing and Rhetoric department, uses forums as a tool in his class and encourages students to respond in writing, audio or video. Although most students still use the traditional written method, some “want to just freely talk.” 

“My experience in the classroom has been that when students have to write things out sometimes they get bogged down in the syntax and grammar… They’re unable to express the depth of thought they’re actually having,” said Cynthia Miree-Coppin, Interim Associate Provost and professor of management and marketing. 

Forum posts are usually found within Moodle on discussion-based assignments. With COVID-19 pushing most classes online, professors will have to rely on forums and video calls more than live discussion. 

Students will notice a new tab on their Moodle page this year, Yuja. According to OU support service manager, Dan Arnold, Yuja is video software that includes “video conferencing, lecture capturing and media management.” 

Essentially, Yuja is intended to create a classroom environment, virtually. Professors will have the capability to screen share, create groups, offer virtual hand raises, mute and unmute any member of the class and record lectures. 

Adina Schneeweis, a journalism professor, introduced Yuja into her classroom for the first time this summer. She is accustomed to online teaching — usually instructing a third of her classes online during the school year — but this year she is exclusively teaching virtually. 

“I used Yuja for the first time this summer,” Schneeweis said. “Using video technology is not new to me, just Yuja… “It also took some trial and error to record the session.”

Srauy believes that video calls and in-person allow students to speak more freely, since the conversations are not permanent.

“What you say [in class or in video chats] is temporary,” he said. “It is in that class and in our memory afterwards. Forum posts are a little more permanent. I can go back and literally copy and paste and throw it back in your face.”

Although Yuja specializes in classroom conference calls, Arnold admits that professors may end up using a variety of softwares, including forum discussion, Yuja, Google meet, Zoom and WebEx. Although all students and faculty already had been assigned Google emails ([email protected]), Oakland University’s license with the company doesn’t extend to all its functions, like lecture capturing. 

“It’s been mixed results — the reason why is that there are multiple tools in Yuja, and there’s a lot to learn when it comes to the overall program,” Arnold said. 

Google Meet and WebEx are other platforms that OU is giving instructors and students access to that may appear more familiar — Oakland University provides a gmail account to everyone, which directly connects to Google Meet. WebEx was also an available resource on Moodle before the pandemic spurred increased online classes.  

Moore describes Google Meet as the “quick and easy” meeting option. Although OU’s license with Google does not extend to lecture and meeting recording, like Yuja’s does, it offers meeting planning with Google Calendar and links to instantly join meetings via phone call or streaming. 

WebEx usage increased by roughly 10 times the usual amount before March, according to Moore. Apart from Google Meet, WebEx allows a professor to control features such as, students’ video and audio, which resembles a classroom more than a meeting. 

“The usage that we’ve gotten for our virtual conferencing software skyrocketed since March, obviously, when everything first started happening,” Moore said. “At the time, we just had WebEx and Google Meet.” 

These limited choices lead OU to introduce Yuja over the summer and Zoom this fall.

Zoom has a comparable appearance and function to Google Meet and is the OU’s most recent new license. Even so, professors are not mandated to use the newest platform or any platform at all. Individual professors have the final say over what mode or modes they choose throughout the year though. 

Even with multiple options to connect in a virtual environment, Schneeweis admits that results in the classroom can be varied. Students have some control over the effectiveness of classroom communication as well — this is dependent on “energy.”

“This can differ from semester to semester, even with the same content,” Schneeweis said. “It comes down to initiative — taking an online class requires much more organization and initiative on students’ part. So engaging with discussion is not only in the hands of the instructor and how the class is set up.”

In order to improve classroom discussions, Srauy thinks the best method is going synchronously, which is not an option for everyone.

“I taught synchronously this summer — and quite frankly, it was because I miss students,” Srauy said. “What I learned was that a significant portion of students have really terrible internet access — and that’s because the United States has terrible internet.”

For Srauy, this then becomes a “justice issue.” With differing social classes comes differing levels of privilege and access to good, reliable technology.

“The problem with my preferred way, synchronous, is that I’m essentially punishing you for being poor,” he said. “That’s problematic to do.”

In response, Srauy will be recording a synchronous lecture and share that with his three classes, in an effort to help those who might not have reliable internet.

Professors and students, alike, are coping with new classroom formats, but having five communication options available gives everyone some flexibility again after the pandemic pushing the majority of classes online. Forums on Moodle, Yuja, Google meet, WebEx and Zoom may become the new norm during the school year.