California Baptist University

T he call ends on the second Zoom class of the day. A professor closes his tabs and debates calling off his next class, exhausted and stressed about the ungraded assignments piling in Blackboard. Sound familiar? For CBU faculty, the switch to remote learning has been a game of changing rules, just like it has been for students. With the move to online classes, many professors needed to quickly reinvent the classroom syllabus to fit the format. In disciplines that center around dis cussion, such as the ones Dr. Eric Brook, professor of history and humanities, teaches, this meant that the structure of the class needed adjusting. “I gave students the option of typing their re sponses into the chat or saying them out loud,” Brook says. “The discussions went surprisingly smoothly, but thankfully I didn’t have many students in my class, and they were also great learners.” For other professors, the changing structure forced them to take extra steps to make an increasing class load work. One of these professors being Dr. Satoru Suzuki, professor of chemistry. is — tasked with teaching more than the regular number of students in different time zones and Wi-Fi connections — took the entire summer to preemptively record all of his lectures and post them to YouTube, so students could watch them and take attendance quiz on their own time, all while recovering from COVID-19 himself.

“We just do the best we can to adapt to the chal lenges,” Suzuki says. “It's been a deep learning curve for some, and I actually know a few colleagues who were unable to make the transition to digital plat forms and retired, which shows how different this year has been.” The demanding year has been difficult to handle, so measures taken to reduce burnout have become more of a necessity than ever. Dr. Thomas Schneider, associate OPS professor of English and assistant dean of Arts & Sciences, says he tries to get into nature to “just detox from all the technology.” “With three to four hours of Zoom calls every day,” Schneider says. “I definitely get Zoom fatigue. I need to completely unplug regularly ... I shut down the computer, I silence my phone and go outside with my kids to local tide pools or mountains on the week ends.” In the midst of this changing year, students have professors to thank for their determination to roll with the changes and educate. To all the faculty and staff that made this year possible, thank you for persevering. - The Angelos Team

WORDS Eunice Hahn

ILUSTRATION Hannah Siefkes

129 Faculty Stress