I’ve spent the past two plus years teaching synchronous online classes twice a week to undergraduate students in Myanmar (Burma). As a visiting faculty member, I have seen to-date, high levels of student engagement in their learning within this online classroom environment. However, in the Spring 2024 semester, I will admit it became more challenging to hold students to course expectations and requirements as strictly as one would like, while recognizing how their everyday experiences were evolving, physically and emotionally, with the inception of conscription laws for the military and the limitations on their electricity supply. These barriers impacted, at times, their access to their learning, but not their enthusiasm and drive to learn. The students have revealed their resilience and their determination to learn, so that they can one day apply the skills and knowledge they gained from their studies to be future change-makers. As the semester ended, I found myself reflecting on this more recent experience and reconsidering the practices of online learning. I thought about how I continually adapted my teaching to support their learning in a changing political landscape. What follows is what I learned, which is applicable to teaching online or in person
