Hey you guys! I'm working on a podcast about learning during quarantine and I need your help! I'm looking for stories — good, bad, funny, sad, whatever. Tell me your story about learning during quarantine. Have you taken classes on Zoom? In-person while masked? Online? Via email? From a book? Are you teaching yourself or learning from someone else? What have you learned?
If you're interested in participating, you can do so by using the button at the bottom of this post to send me a recording. I will edit and incorporate as many of the recordings as I can into the podcast. I need you to say:
- Your name.
- Where you are in the world.
- What you've been learning and how.
- Tell your story about learning during quarantine.
- What have you learned about learning? Or what advice do you have for others about learning? Or how was this experience different from your usual learning experience?
For example:
My name is Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and I live outside of Boston. I took an Improv Quilting Class from Irene Roderick via Zoom. I was really excited to be able to take the class because I follow her on instagram and she never teaches near me. There were three classes, each two hours. The first day of class her bird chirped the whole two hours. It was crazy! I was surprised by how little "doing" there was in class. We pretty much just talked during class and then did the work on our own outside of class hours. It wasn't what I expected, but I do feel that I learned some new tricks and I love what I made. I also feel more confident, because a lot of the techniques Irene taught us for composition, were things I was doing already. I often worry that I'm not doing things the "right way." It was great to hear that I was. Most shocking of all, she gave us her cell number to text her if we had questions. Having had a few students of my own without an understanding of boundaries, I thought this was an amazing leap of faith. Learning via Zoom has its pros and cons. I loved being able to sit in my studio with all my stuff. I could be as much of a space hog as I wanted! I liked being able to work at my own pace, instead of having to go at the same pace as the rest of the class. But a Zoom class does allow you to slack off a bit. The teacher can't really see what you're doing and push you. I think you get out of it what you put into it. This is normally a one-day class. By having it spread over a week, I got a lot more done than I could have in a one-day class. That was great! All in all, it made me willing to take more Zoom classes! They're a lot of fun!
I color coded my example so that you can see how it corresponds to each question. I really hope you'll add your voice to the podcast! (PS: If you're looking for the blog post I originally wrote about the class I used in the example above, you can find it here.)
And anticipating a few questions:
- You don't have to leave your full name. You can just say, "My name is Julie."
- You can tell stories of bad experiences, but I encourage you to be kind and leave out the name of the instructor.
- All kinds of learning are awesome. If you're teaching yourself to cook or learn Spanish or whatever. It's all good!
Hoping to hear from you!
Thanks for stopping by!
