Assistant Professor Taleed El-Sabawi recently hosted the first of what she hopes will be several online social gatherings for first-year students learning from home during the 2020 Spring Trimester.
How do you encourage students to get to know their professor and each other in the midst of a pandemic?
In a “virtual happy hour,” of course, where COVID-19 means BYOB.
Nearly two dozen students in Assistant Professor Taleed El-Sabawi’s spring course on property joined her via WebEx for an April 13 casual discussion about the law, public health, and life in general – pets, significant others, weird neighbors… you name it.
El-Sabawi said she pursued the idea for an online happy hour because when meeting virtually with students they had lamented their social isolation. El-Sabawi, whose background includes a Ph.D. in public health, had already been sharing virtual events in a general announcement board for the class but wanted to do more.
The Elon Law students were joined online by Assistant Professor Jennifer Carroll of Elon University’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Carroll and El-Sabawi were recently selected for a prestigious national program in which the duo will research the effect of drug-induced homicide laws, sometimes known as “death by distribution.”
“I had a blast and the students looked to be having fun, too,” El-Sabawi said. “One told me that she considers herself an introvert so she didn’t think that the stay-at-home order would affect her as much, but after our happy hour, she realized how much she missed talking to her classmates. It was really nice seeing the students smile and joke in a relaxed environment.”
Sean Jeffcoat ’11 L’21 was among El-Sabawi’s students attending happy hour.
“I wanted my professor to match my name to a face and see that her efforts aren’t going unnoticed as far as trying to make things as ‘normal’ as they can be,” Jeffcoat said. “It was great seeing other classmates and being able to express some of the same struggles everyone is having. It took some of the stress I had down.”
Elon Law transitioned its 2020 Spring Trimester courses into online learning following state and local regulations in late March aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19. Visit Elon University’s coronavirus website for additional information on operational changes and ways the community is staying connected from afar.
El-Sabawi plans on hosting more happy hours this spring.