A Blueprint for an Engaging Zoom Classroom: Shortening the Distance in Distance Learning through Media Ecology and Phenomenology

The Zoom classroom continues to be an option for many schools. In terms of bridging the fields of media ecology and phenomenology on the matter of the zoom classroom, this project is the first of its kind. While much has been said about effective teaching strategies in the Zoom classroom, a study that examines Zoom’s makeup as a distinct media environment can provide a proper anchor for the adoption of the best teaching strategies. The field of media ecology serves as the proper lens through which to examine Zoom’s makeup as a biased environment that plays upon the human sensorium in specific ways. While much of instruction on Zoom features visual stimuli of various kinds, this project contends that the auditory dimension holds the key to a more engaging classroom. The distance in distance learning is shortened in and through the human voice, especially when the human voice takes on a character of dialogue and sociality that approximates the dynamics associated with Martin Buber’s I-Thou Relationship.