In March of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic sent many schools online, Professor of Communication Gerald Mast was one of the many instructors who switched to ‘Zoom University.’ After finishing the spring 2020 semester online, Mast was scheduled to go on sabbatical which he took part in last fall.
Before switching online for the rest of the 2019-20 school year, Mast had prior experience teaching online with programs such as Zoom. Aside from teaching courses for undergraduates, Mast also teaches in part with some graduate programs at the university that occur mainly online.
“I was familiar with the experience of being on zoom with students and working at trying to create good discussions and maintain connections between classes and so on,” said Mast, “It wasn’t an entirely unfamiliar experience for me to move things online and work at Zoom sessions. It’s a little bit different with undergraduates who haven’t had much experience.”
In teaching undergraduates through Zoom, Mast brought up how there are different circumstances students have to deal with when going
home. Something Mast noticed was he had a student who would go to a McDonald’s parking lot in order to have a good connection to make it to class. He had to teach the undergraduates how to use Zoom since most haven’t had to use it up to this point in their education.
At Bluffton, a faculty or staff member can request to go on a sabbatical after 10 years, and can then request for one every seven years after the initial 10. The one requesting the sabbatical has to submit a proposal to a board and communicate with their department about when would be a sufficient time to go.
Mast made his proposal based on how things are said in the Bible and how those are presented in ways that make the audience feel as though they are personally being spoken to. The initial plan was to travel to three different churches and become a part of their services and become acquainted with the different practices. The pandemic caused Mast’s plans to change, so he ended up watching online services and eventually solely focusing on the sermons taught.
“At some point along the way, I just got so exhausted by being on screens that I just couldn’t imagine spending huge amounts of time watching worship service,” said Mast, “I didn’t watch as many as I would’ve liked, and I decided to narrow the focus for my initial research to sermons.”
Bluffton University has been having primarily in-person instruction the whole 2020-21 school year. Mast had missed the initial transition back due to being on sabbatical, but said he was lucky to have been on sabbatical even with these circumstances as it was a positive experience and gave him a chance to look into things he was interested in.
Bluffton’s spring semester started last Wednesday, Jan. 20. Mast had his first class back to in-person instruction at 8AM the following day. Mast admitted to not preferring to have morning class, but was surprised at how exhilarating of an experience it was for him to be back in a classroom with other people.
“I think my favorite thing is actually just being in a room with a group of people,” said Mast, “I haven’t been able to be in a group of people that size before for a whole year.”
While he prefers in-person teaching over online, Mast said online is a good way to deliver instruction to those dealing with certain conditions. He doesn’t disregard the experience that online learning has brought to the university.
A big part of the experience at Bluffton University is the strong sense of community built by both the students and the faculty and staff. Mast described how it is hard to replicate these types of moments you experience on campus, online and over Zoom.
“In a place like Bluffton, we are invested in an immersive learning experience. Where learning is not just about information sharing in an organized and dynamic way,” said Mast, “It is about living a life together in a community with other people and providing a multiple array of experiences of relating and working together, playing together, solving problems and projects together.”
Mast noted how the departmental meetings are online and have been online for almost a year. He said the difference was expected with everything going on, but he is looking forward to when he can meet in person again with his colleagues. He said being with other faculty is something to help build and bring community to the campus, and he hopes to never take it for granted again.
“[I’m] eager to move forward hopefully at some point where we don’t have to have all these restrictions and constraints,” said Mast.
