And so it starts again

Today marks the start of another school year for me.  I mentioned before that my classes are all online, so I have no in-person lectures.  But there are some 5,000 students who are on campus to attend in-person classes.  I guess those are courses that require face to face interactions and such.  Maybe lab work and so on.

Happily, so far there's only one case of a UOttawa student tested positive, and an unrelated case of a staff.  Considering the number of people on and around campus, things aren't out of control, it seems.

It's interesting how different profs engage this online teaching thing so very differently.  UOttawa has a whole menu of different online platforms that profs can use, and so far I have two that use Adobe Connect, one using Zoom, and another using Microsoft Teams.  And a fourth using our virtual campus portal.  All over the place.  So that's a bit of a learning curve for yours truly, since you all know how much I embrace this online stuff.  Haha.  I just need to remember how everything works!  Tall order for someone who can't even remember people's real names :)

In addition to different platforms, some of my classes are synchronous, while some are asynchronous.  It will be interesting to see how well students keep things straight.  I can imagine how easy it is to miss deadlines and stuff.  I try to diarize everything, but I am basically running out of colours to mark each thing!  Makes things interesting, though.

I'm not complaining.  It's a new experience for everyone, and I think the learning curve is steep for most, and steeper for some (like me) than for others.  But it's good to be doing something different.  I will miss the interaction, even if it's just body language etc., of fellow students.  And of course this online format reduces the possibility of me reporting via the blog "interesting" conversations I might pick up in an actual classroom.

One of my courses is The Cold War.  Here the prof does something interesting, but also tedious.  He wants us to each create a virtual greeting card by answering some questions.  I won't bore you with the details, but basically they have to do with how we see the Cold War, what we know about it, and our own lived experience related to it (assuming some were alive before the Cold War officially ended).  On that last note, I wrote that I don't think it has ended at all, but that's another story.

What's interesting about this exercise is that it allows me to see where the other folks are coming from.  Quite an interesting mix of experiences and expectations.  And on an aside question about what one's favourite drink is, NO ONE said coffee, Diet Coke, or Johnny Walker Blue.  WTF!

In another course, Political Philosophy, I read the syllabus and said to myself, wow, so little reading!  Well, spoke too soon, didn't I?  It turns out that while a reading may be 10 pages from one of the books, the damn thing is actually printed in font size 4 or something.  My eyes are going to really love it, haha!  Anyone with a spare magnifying glass?

Let's see how well I cope with this online stuff.

Well, onward we go.  Let's see what this brave new world brings!