This is a "beginning" post as in I have a thought and I have to start writing about it to fully understand it. Hence the (Rough Draft 1) in the title.
FIRST: I LOVE MY JOB! I love what I do, I love my colleagues, I LOVE MY STUDENTS! I'm also human. I am exhausted. Not surprised are you? After all, we are 18 months in a global pandemic, going from huge shut down to "business back to masked normal." Oh good grief. My life, our lives, have gone through huge upheavals. What is getting to me right now, is the feeling that we educators, those of us in academia too, are expecting ourselves and being expected to keep on the grindstone. It feels like a disconnect from being offered resources to moving our courses online to now, which I call "masked normal." There is no talk about how this change is making a huge impact on our emotional and mental lives. Granted our culture doesn't want to talk about emotions and we glorify working and the "grind." However we are flesh and blood beings so we need to address those needs as well. It would be nice to be honored, not with a "thanks" at beginning of the semester public address, also with acknowledgement that we need time to adjust. So, I shall continue to explore this idea, get better terms and writing, and share. For now, please share with me.
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Here at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana we have a wonder Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) who help faculty become better teachers. I have used their resources many times throughout the years.
This morning I got a wonderful email with this article: Teaching while Masked. This leads to good information and excellent practices on teaching while wearing a mask. Love the advice! Granted an old theater major like myself can project my voice even through a mask. Still, I loved knowing that my techniques worked and that new one could be used. Enjoy the read. Last year I worked with an online expert to get my beloved class K200 Microcomputer Applications in Kinesiology fully online. Yes it has a website but we at Indiana University also use Canvas for managing our courses. Now I like for my students to see everything about my class up front. That way they can plan and work ahead. The designer I worked with said NO! That it might confuse the students, especially if I changed things, and to not open the Canvas sections until the absolute start date.
Today I got an email saying hey, open the class up early. I can see how in the past if the Canvas site wasn't ready, then of course you don't open it up. However, within a day or two, my Canvas sites will be ready to ROCK! So I will open them up ASAP. I will also encourage my students to check them out before the class starts to we can start fresh. Here's to the New COVID Normal Number Four (or is it 137 - can't remember). I'm looking forward to having everything ready for my students and myself. I have been making videos for my course - K200 - for several years. I use primarily screen capture because when you teach a tech course you must have a way to show what to click. Hence, screen capture.
This summer, thanks to help from other instructional designers, I started using Camtasia. I do like it very much. The Camtasia publishing company, TechSmith, now likes to send me emails. Today's email: 7 Videos That Help You Build Effective Online Courses. I do like this article. It is general, giving broad strokes on what types of videos to make. I must admit I was pleased that I was making or had made some of these videos already. Phew! There were also several videos I don't make. I don't know if I am ready to make project feedback videos; time to reconsider. Also this semester I got my first video from a student for an introductory discussion post. Made my day. As I update, or rather redo, my class videos* I ran across this tutorial on making Webcam Introductions. The instructor begins with a confession: Creating a Webcam video is hard. I nearly wept in agreement. So now I shall share with everyone: How to Create a Webcam Introduction Video. Thanks Camtasia! Now back to work.
*When you teach people how to use technology, you have to constantly update. |
Margaret Lion
Welcome to my Weebly blog. Used for SPH K200 class demonstration, instructional and professional musings, and cheering on the Hoosiers. Archives
December 2021
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