Last March, when it became clear that in-person classes would be indefinitely impossible, I worried that Halifax Humanities 101 and The Angus Johnston Seminar would have to go dark for a year, maybe more. I couldn’t imagine how we could translate what we did to the Zoom screen. Would our students have access to technology? Could we still manage to sustain students’ attention for two hours a stretch? Most importantly: how could we ever hope to create that sense of community at the core of our program, with our students Zooming in from their respective homes?
Most importantly: how could we ever hope to create that sense of community at the core of our program, with our students Zooming in from their respective homes?
A year later, I am humbled by the incredible resilience, patience, and thoughtfulness of our teachers, supporters, and most importantly, our students. The Halifax Public Libraries generously helped us provide technology for students who needed it. Our volunteers worked tirelessly to keep the Seminar running. And Halifax Humanities 101 is flourishing, with a group of 12 students from all across the province. We even added a third online course this year – Perspective 2020, which you can learn more about here.
It hasn’t all been easy. I miss seeing students in person, and as hard as we’ve tried, this format isn’t accessible to everyone. But my fears about community were unfounded. Not only do our classes still last two hours, they sometimes stretch beyond 3:00, with students sticking around to continue the conversation. We miss out on our break-time chats around the coffee machine, but on the other hand we get to meet children and pets and share photos and links through the Zoom chat function. It’s not the same. But this new thing is beautiful, too.