Last Tuesday’s hang out with Dr. Barnes began with an interesting icebreaker question about stereotypical habits participants had had as freshmen. Responses included things like frequent use of Google Maps to find their way on campus and drinking an excessive amount of coffee. Afterwards, we separated into breakout rooms to play games. Participants had the option of Scribble or Among Us. Dr. Barnes played Among Us for the first time and turned out to be quite the natural. He was an imposter on his very first round and won, despite killing people in public at the cafeteria! He was also very good at guessing who the imposters were in other rounds. Participants had a lot of fun playing with him during these memorable rounds of Among Us.
After the games, we had our Q&A session, where we learned a lot about Dr. Barnes and had a great time chatting about various topics such as life during the pandemic, school, mental health, and even art. We talked about the challenges that both faculty and students face in online school. Faculty members have to manage an increased workload and a greater volume of emails. They miss seeing their students’ faces and being able to chat with them in person. Dr. Barnes shared that he relies a lot on body language to determine how his students are responding to his lectures. This means that in online courses it’s more difficult to tell whether students understand the lecture content. He mentioned that it was hard to keep up with questions that students ask during classes as well, because professors now have to scroll through a large amount of messages in Zoom chats.
We discussed the dilemmas that students have in online courses too. To compensate for the challenges of online school, assignments and midterms are given less weight. At first, this seems great, but it means that students are given assignments and midterms more frequently. So, Dr. Barnes recommended taking a maximum of 4 courses in a term. He recognized that it’s tempting to take many classes to finish your degree faster, but reminded us that it’s important to give yourself time to relax and have fun. He also suggested creating online study groups and even gave an example on how to do this: try making a post in your classes’ Canvas discussion boards asking for study partners! He guaranteed that there will be people who are interested.
Our following conversation topic was the effect of social isolation on mental health. With the new restrictions in place, it’s easy to feel lonely. Here are some tips that Dr. Barnes gave on how to combat this:
- Go for walks with a friend. Social distancing doesn’t mean you have to stay inside alone all day. Walking is a great way to meet with a friend safely and is good for your mental health too. It’s also a nice break from the stress of school.
- Have a coffee with your friends online! Dr. Barnes enjoys meeting his friends on Zoom with a cup of homemade coffee. Who says you can’t experience all the joys of a cafe at home?
- Check in with yourself weekly! He recommended taking time at the end of the week to perform a self-assessment and mental health check. Don’t let the stress sneak up on you out of nowhere! If you discover that you’re feeling a little rough, then you can try to lessen your workload or treat yourself.
Next, we asked Dr. Barnes about his academic and professional history. We learned that he had originally planned to go into medicine during his undergraduate years, but changed his mind, decided to give psychology a try, and came to love it. He used his own experiences to give us advice for the future, such as choosing grad school, picking a supervisor for lab research, and building a career in academia.
For a while, we then discussed our favourite psychology courses and topics. Several students had previously been in Dr. Barnes Psychology 304: Brain and Behaviour class. These students shared that their favourite section of that course was the Sleep and Dreaming unit. Dr. Barnes revealed that this was also one of his favourite topics to teach in the course.
Towards the end of the event, Dr. Barnes spoke about his work as an artist. He showed us one of his amazing paintings which was inspired by Spirited Away, the well-loved 2001 animated film produced by Studio Ghibli. We learned that he often finds inspiration from the work of Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli’s founder.
The event was a fun and enjoyable experience. It was a great opportunity for attendees to learn more about Dr. Barnes and his work at UBC, as well as socialize with fellow psychology students. We left with useful advice for school, the future, and managing our mental health. Thanks to everyone who came! We look forward to seeing you at future events.