I recently ran across a quote from the writer and thinker Bell Hooks talking about the possibilities a classroom environment offers students: "The academy is not paradise. But learning is a place where paradise can be created." In her book "Teaching to Transgress" she continues: "The classroom, with all its limitations, remains a location of possibility."

There has been a lot written about what impact the loss of a deliberate space for learning might mean for students. I teach at the college level and had my courses switched online. While there have been some wonderful moments with student...