5 Lessons Learnt
Justin Dawson, CTS
I loved when Joe Way told me the November topic was “Lessons Learnt”.
How wide open is this topic? Have I learnt that late-night column writing is not good after a glass or 3 of beer? Or maybe I learnt that trying to write a column at weekends with a 3-year-old and a near 1-year-old is just a recipe for disaster? Well, I have learnt now!
Or maybe Joe was waiting for me to reply to his email to admit – “Ok Joe, you were right, this COVID-19 thing was bigger than I imagined!”
When news reports first spoke of the pandemic, I never thought it would arrive in Europe. Heck, I didn’t think it would ever arrive in Ireland or bring the world to a standstill. However, I didn’t eat the full humble pie Joe had given me. I kept a slice or two, our editor who remained optimistic in visiting England and Ireland for his Wedding Anniversary until the very end when the tour company canceled his plans.
One thing we can agree on is nobody could have predicted this pandemic would last as long as it has. There have been so many lessons I have learnt from others both AV Professionals, staff, faculty, and family members. I decided to limit myself to the top 5 lessons learnt below in no particular order.
1. Our Career Life
Nearly this time a year ago, after my daughter Róisín was born, I remember I was on parental leave and taking a walk with my wife and newborn. We passed by the nearby primary school and both had the same epiphany.
We both hated the future thought of both parents going to work at the early hours of the morning leaving our son and daughter to a nearby creche for a full day. The creche would take them to school at the designated time, then collect after school and bring them to after school activities for me to finish work, commute home, see my son or daughter for a few hours before bedtime.
Was the two-hour commute each way to work and the lack of seeing my children grow up the work-life I wanted? Is it the career life any of us want?
We should add the term: “The New Norm” to the Oxford Dictionary at the end of the Year. Let’s study this for a moment. What is “The New Norm”?
Is it when a vaccine is finally found? Do we return to the way things were? The overcrowded trains, the 2-hour commute each way, and the lack of family time with loved ones? Or do we learn to take our time where we pulled up the handbrake and slowed everything down during the heavy lockdowns, school closures? Is being around your family and friends in your close circle was something we all needed more of?
COVID-19 has taught us that a majority of our jobs can be done remotely in this technological world if the company allows but it’s finding the right blend and for HR departments and Managers to embrace that every person has a different work life balance. TRUST your employee to make the deliverables of their work in their own time.
2. Knowing when to stop working
I’ve heard some AV friends tell me they have always worked from home so being forced into working from distance was nothing new to them.
They immediately had tips for knowing when to stop working throughout the day. However I think in a family environment and during the lockdown with schools, creches, and childcare closed we all learnt that there was a strong pattern merging in working long, irregular hours to complete tasks with lack of space in households, lack of devices, lack of desks, lack of webcams, and lack of headsets.
We have all seen the photos of employees using ironing boards to prop up their webcams on desks. Some work at the kitchen table beside the dirty bowls and plates that their children have left behind after breakfast. They have been ushered to sit in front of the TV and watch cartoons while Mommy or Daddy got some work done (Note: thankfully this wasn’t my situation!)
Luckily for me, I had a room in my house I could escape to for my remote work environment. However, throughout the day I would see myself walk out the door, see my children, and still be thinking about work. I had to forcefully teach myself to leave my mobile phone on my desk and once I stepped away from the PC and walked out that home office door that I was out of work. Even if it was for those 5 minutes to make a cup of tea or lunch break.
Every role and expectations are different however this was the best piece of advice I was given. Once I stepped out of the office room at home, I was out of work until I returned. That being said be conscious of the hours you put into your job while working remotely.
3. Delivery of Content in the Virtual World
We have all heard the expression “Death by Powerpoint”. Now, more than ever, Lecturers who may have only ever taught at the front of the room behind a lectern must learn how to teach at distance and make it fun, interactive, and engaging.
I have heard some faculty complain about Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) software and I would have to agree that some platforms do not offer enough solutions to make distance learning interactive and engaging.
It’s not 1969. It’s not the Open University, students don’t just watch their lectures on TV. We’ve moved on so much technologically in the past 50 years. Embrace the changes!
I admire video conferencing platforms and VLEs who are taking the time to listen to the end-users and regularly provide upgraded solutions to what is being requested. More and more you can see cloud-based video conferencing services break the mold of regular VLEs offering not just polls, surveys, and Q&A but online classroom environments where the layout is designed as a classroom and not the “Brady Bunch grid”
As AV professionals we have to be focused on listening to our faculty and staff. Be alert to the solutions available and be willing to pitch different ideas to make their delivery of online learning more enjoyable to the students.
4. Time is precious, use it wisely
Zoom Meeting, Zoom Meeting, Zoom Meeting. Take a 5-minute break then repeat.
No, this should not be the “New Norm”.
One of my biggest AV gripes is when it is a virtual call, make sure attendees treat it like a virtual call! Turn on your webcam! Mute your microphones when you don’t want to be heard!
I never thought I would say that too many virtual meetings result in fatigue. Schedule your meetings realistically. Not every meeting needs to be a virtual meeting.
It’s still ok to pick up the phone and talk without the need for a webcam and microphone. Emails are also acceptable but please be conscious of using the “Reply All” feature when the topic of conversation has changed or you need to ask an individual something separate from a group discussion. Basic logic right? (Sigh!)
5. Our Mental Health
Probably is the most important lesson learnt from this pandemic. Look after your mental health. AV Professional, Faculty, Staff, and students we all have been thrown a crazy unpredictable year.
“Relationship” was a word someone used in a call with me today and I just wrote it down in big letters on my notepad to form a part of this article.
Maybe we have seen too much of our family during lockdown and we have cabin fever and long to be back at our office desk away from our kids. Or maybe it is the opposite where we are forbidden to commute a long distance to see a family member or friend in another county or state.
One other faculty member described how his wife worked as a front line worker and him as a lecturer. He was very anxious that his wife may have had to quarantine at short notice away from himself and his two young children and how he would juggle being at work and minding them at home safely.
For new Undergraduate students this has been a ridiculously tough transition from secondary school education to an online virtual university with virtual societies and clubs and here are all your lesson plans and assignments to complete, virtually. They haven’t had the relationships or Fresher weeks, they haven’t had the ability of real-life third-level education.
We all have difficult moments and stories to share from this pandemic and it is important we reach out and tell people when we are feeling anxious, worried, or just need a moment away from work and studies.
My church recently sent me a mug a packet of biscuits and a message “Share a moment with a friend, your task is to pick up the phone and take a virtual coffee break with someone you haven’t spoken to in a while”.
Whether you are religious or not, the message was vitally important during this period.
Embrace our AV Happy Hours hashtag even if your drinking tea, email a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while, take that walk you have been promising to do all week. Get involved in AVFitness on Twitter. Support one another during these difficult times and we will come out stronger together.
Meet the Author
Justin Dawson CTS® is an Award Winning AV Professional employed in Higher Education in Ireland. He produces the All Things TechIE podcast available at www.AllThingsTech.IE . You can contact Justin on LinkedIn, Twitter and his official website.