The Covid pandemic is well behind us, life is returning to its normal course. But has the virus had any lasting effects on the university, and if so, what kind of effects? What, if anything, has improved, and what things will never return to the way they were? In a series of articles, UKrant looks into how the pandemic affected education, student association life, and our social behaviour, among others.

‘Pling’ The Google Meet notification goes off on Julian Koellermeier’s laptop. He smiles at his computer’s camera, a pair of noise-cancelling headphones perched on his head. His eyes dart from screen to screen as he clicks his mouse a few times. ‘Can everyone hear me okay?’ he asks. 

The assistant professor of applied mathematics is calling from his office at the University of Ghent, where he works a few days a week. The rest of the time, he works at the UG. Without the existence of video calls, his double position would be a lot harder to maintain, he says. ‘I’m in Ghent today, but I already attended two UG meetings.’

While a meeting used to always be in person, it’s now standard to ask whether it’s online instead. It’s made work at the university a lot more efficient, flexible, and accessible, staff say. 

‘The other day, I wondered what would happen if video calling stopped existing. My life would be so different’, says Liza Herzog. She’s a professor of political philosophy, and online meetings are a matter of course for her. ‘I’m a dean as well as a researcher, so when I’m abroad, I can still join important meetings in Groningen.’

In other words, she is a fan. ‘I spend less money on travel and it’s flexible and efficient.’ If one of her PhDs has a problem, for example, she can easily talk to them about finding a solution. ‘Even if I’m not physically in Groningen, we can figure out what they need right then and there.’ 

New partnerships

People video calling each other was unthinkable in the academic community before the pandemic, say Koellermeier. ‘We mainly discussed our research in person or via email.’ 

But that practice changed drastically in 2020. People had to quickly learn to operate programs like Google Meet or Zoom to be able to continue their work. It often meant bad connections, partners or children walking by in the background, and calls with fifty people all at once.  

Koellermeier also needed some time to figure everything out. ‘Some of my partners are located in China and they don’t have access to Google’, he says. As such, he couldn’t just send them a Meet invite. ‘But when it does work, it works really well.’

Covid forced us to get creative

For him, it opened doors to academic partnerships with foreign countries, which are easier to maintain through video calling. ‘At the university, especially in the educational field, we’re so used to always doing the same thing. Covid forced us to get creative.’

Koellermeier is certainly creative in the way he uses video calling. He often gets together with a close-knit group of colleagues to digitally work together. ‘We get together in an online call to focus on our work’, he says. They start with a quick catch-up to check in with each other: how are they doing and what are they working on?

After that, it’s time to get serious. They work without interruption for ninety minutes, with their cameras on and the sound off. ‘We work on important things that aren’t particularly urgent, like grant applications or papers’, he says. ‘Because there’s technically a meeting on my calendar, I don’t plan any other activities. It’s really effective.’ 

Public meetings

UG’s management also discovered the potential of video calling. During the pandemic, the university council started live-streaming its public meetings, since the public wasn’t allowed to attend.

But even now, the meetings can be watched online. People are happy with this, says registrar Roos Feringa. There’s a lot of interest at the UG to quickly join the meeting, especially from people who usually work at Zernike. ‘We’ve seen that people interested in a specific topic being discussed will turn on the live-stream in the background to listen.’

It’s also a great solution for larger groups. ‘A student group wanted to join a while back’, says Feringa. ‘But there were so many of them that there wasn’t room, so I asked them to join online. It was perfect.’

Switching

However, the video calls also have drawbacks. Herzog: ‘It means I’m always available.’ During the pandemic, she would sometimes spend entire days in video calls. ‘I was staring at the screen the whole day and it made my eyes hurt.’ 

These days, Herzorg avoids doing video calls all day, and she tries to carve out specific research time. ‘But sometimes, I do take a call when I should be doing research.’

I don’t have complex discussions over Google Meet

‘It’s hard to say no to an online meeting’, agrees Koellermeier. After all, distance is no longer an issue. Even when he’s abroad for a conference, he still takes meetings occasionally. ‘I’d be talking to a colleague in my hotel room early in the morning, before the conference started.’

He has now taken counter-measures. There are no meetings for him on Fridays, so he can focus on time-consuming tasks. ‘It’s really difficult to make the switch from meeting to research and back again’, says Koellermeier. ‘It takes up so much time.’  

Not every meeting can be held online. ‘I don’t have complex discussions over Google Meet, nor do I try to resolve conflicts online’, says Herzog. ‘I wouldn’t have done that over the phone before, so why not do it in person now?’

Connection issues

That’s understandable, says associate professor of psychology Namkje Koudenburg. She studies how the use of various communication methods, including video calling, impacts interpersonal relationships. 

One very important factor in a conversation between two people, she explains, is conversational flow. When this flow is disrupted, for instance because of a bad connection, people enjoy the conversation with the other person much less, she concluded from an experiment she ran.

‘We realised the conversation wasn’t going very well. People who had a bad connection didn’t click well, had more trouble relating to each other, and actually thought they disagreed more often.’

Waiting your turn

Koudenburg thinks this has to do with the way we communicate in real life. Think of the way you wait to take your turn in a conversation. ‘In real life, you have input to help you find the right moment to jump in’, she says. People sense a difference in the other person’s tone, for instance, or they make eye contact.

In real life, you have input to jump in at the right time

But these mechanisms can be lacking in an online conversation, which can make it more uncomfortable. ‘People expect the other person to nod or make a sound of acknowledgement, but these are often lacking.’ It can make people feel like they’re not on the same wavelength.

This makes online communication flawed as well as less enjoyable. ‘Brainstorming, for example, is something I prefer to do in person’, says Koudenburg. ‘The energy is different in real life, which improves the synergy.’

Easier

Herzog agrees. ‘I have a hard time being creative through Google Meet’, she confirms. ‘I don’t know if it has to do with the way people move, but doing it in person has a lot of added value.’

Overall, however, they’re all happy with the option of video calls. ‘It’s easier to organise or do things that we normally couldn’t because there’s no funding for it’, says Herzog. 

One example is a book launch, one of which she’s organised herself. ‘There are no travel costs, and you don’t have to rent a location’, she says. ‘Plus, online book launches can be really fun.’

The university council is also still working on improving their live-streaming capabilities. Feringa: ‘We’re working on live subtitles. Meetings in Dutch will then be translated into English in real time.’

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