mirror of https://github.com/zulip/zulip.git
96 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
96 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
## Making the best of a tough year
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[University of California San Diego
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(UCSD)](https://ucsd.edu/about/index.html) is recognized as one of the
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top universities worldwide. The UCSD math department offers
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prestigious graduate and undergraduate programs, with course topics
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ranging from foundational material to cutting-edge research.
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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, UCSD instruction moved online early
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in 2020. As instructors scrambled to figure out online education,
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Kiran Kedlaya, Professor of Mathematics at UCSD, gave himself a bigger
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challenge: “Seeing the unique opportunity, I decided to open my
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classes up to the world,” Kiran says.
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## Communication is key
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Kiran knew that an effective chat platform would be key for
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communicating with students. He had prior experience with Slack,
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Discord and Zulip. “I chose Zulip for several reasons, especially the
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threaded model (which I find sorely lacking in other chat apps), and
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the TeX integration.”
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From Spring 2020 through Spring 2021, the [Zulip
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Standard](/for/education/#feature-pricing) plan was free for all educators,
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as we did our part to help make the transition to online education a
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little easier. Having set up Zulip Cloud for his three graduate-level
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courses, Kiran felt confident in the communication platform, and was
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ready to make his classes open to all.
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## Teaching students across six continents
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Students worldwide jumped on the opportunity to take a course with
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Kiran. “Of the 350 students in my classes, no more than 15% were local
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to UCSD,” Kiran says. A Zulip poll showed participants from as far as
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the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Oceania.
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“Zulip became a central hub for asynchronous Q&A and posting Zoom
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links for lectures, whiteboard PDFs, and announcements,” Kiran says.
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With students logging in at all hours of the day, Zulip’s topic model
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was key to making sure everyone could find the materials they needed
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and participate in the discussions. “Zulip’s topics, and the ability
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to change the topic of someone else's message, has made it much easier
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for me to keep things coherent,” says Kiran.
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## Zulip has what you need
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Beyond topics, Zulip’s rich functionality smoothed out made many
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aspects of remote communication. Here is what Kiran has to say about
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the benefits of just a few of Zulip’s features:
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- **Discussing math**: “The
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[**TeX**](/help/format-your-message-using-markdown#latex)
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made it super easy to discuss material from the course using
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proper mathematical notation, and was one of the reasons I chose
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Zulip in the first place.”
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- **Quick pulse-checks**: “[**Emoji
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reactions**](/help/emoji-reactions) were a nice way
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to collect RSVPs for office hours or acknowledge typo corrections
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for my lecture notes.”
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- **Hiding answers**:
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“[**Spoilers**](/help/format-your-message-using-markdown#spoilers)
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are a great way to answer questions about homework without depriving
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students of a chance to keep thinking about the problem on their
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own.”
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- **Scheduling**: “With [**global
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times**](/help/format-your-message-using-markdown#global-times),
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I could announce office hours or outside lectures without having to
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worry about confusion for students in different time zones.”
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## Education beyond coursework
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What happens once classes return to campus? “I intend to continue to
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use Zulip as the main communication platform for my in-person classes
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this coming year,” Kiran says.
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Zulip is also helping Kiran organize events for students, and create
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communities for education and research. “I used Zulip as the
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communication hub for a 200-person undergraduate conference that was
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held virtually for the first time,” Kiran says. “I’ve also started a
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Zulip for the number theory research group at UCSD, where graduate
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students and postdocs can connect to discuss reading courses, social
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events, conferences of interest, etc.”
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---
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Learn more about [Zulip for Education](/for/education), and how
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Zulip is being used at the [Technical University of Munich](/case-studies/tum).
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You can also check out our guides on using Zulip for [conferences](/for/events)
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and [research](/for/research)!
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