Kudos to you, Terry. Every instructor should prepare so thoroughly. I have taken continuing education courses where I have felt that the person instructing was "winging it" and not adhering to any particular agenda. This can be very frustrating to a paying student.
Also - I miss Google classroom 🥹 my new school is using the Teams version. Maybe it’s as good (??) but I like to feel comfortable with the systems. It can make such a difference for the student experience.
Space, and how you use it: definitely! The last course I did at the City Lit was a Jane Austen one taken by a very academic tutor, who arranged the room in rows. What a great way of deterring any discussion. She yielded to public pressure eventually and allowed us to arrange the room in a circle. Much more conducive to the exchange of ideas. The room I'll be teaching in has the table and chairs arranged such that it looks like a board meeting. I've done a course there myself as a student, and the arrangement works very well, plus there's the option of getting people to huddle in corners for some of the breakout sessions.
I'm not very familiar with Teams, but from what I've seen the functionality is very similar to Google Classroom. I daresay you've thought of this already, or the school has, but couldn't the school set you up with a login now in order to give you time to practise?
Thanks Terry, yeah I’ve got my own OneDrive so can get used to some of it there. Can’t get on the organisation’s one yet. Rules and things. :)
Couldn’t agree more about space! I was lucky in HK to have a classroom with desks on wheels (half wheels) so we could easily change the room even several times per lesson.
I've loved reading about your process in preparing for a course, Terry - particularly this one, because I am one of your students!
I absolutely, totally, comprehensively and tautologically *haven't* just written my own checklist of everything you've mentioned on which to cross off the things I feel you have (or haven't) covered on the day..... 😇😉🤔
In all seriousness, it's great to see what's involved in things like this. Thank you so much!
Thanks. I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested, so it's nice to know that at least one person is! I'm not sure if my approach is typical, but it works for me.
Kudos to you, Terry. Every instructor should prepare so thoroughly. I have taken continuing education courses where I have felt that the person instructing was "winging it" and not adhering to any particular agenda. This can be very frustrating to a paying student.
Thanks very much, Jim. I've had the same experience. I think it's very disrespectful to students, and unprofessional.
Useful to read, Terry.
I'm also a big fan of Google Lens to scan text. It does a really good job.
Thanks, Nathan. Yes, definitely.
Space is so important!!
Also - I miss Google classroom 🥹 my new school is using the Teams version. Maybe it’s as good (??) but I like to feel comfortable with the systems. It can make such a difference for the student experience.
Nice reflection, Terry!
Space, and how you use it: definitely! The last course I did at the City Lit was a Jane Austen one taken by a very academic tutor, who arranged the room in rows. What a great way of deterring any discussion. She yielded to public pressure eventually and allowed us to arrange the room in a circle. Much more conducive to the exchange of ideas. The room I'll be teaching in has the table and chairs arranged such that it looks like a board meeting. I've done a course there myself as a student, and the arrangement works very well, plus there's the option of getting people to huddle in corners for some of the breakout sessions.
I'm not very familiar with Teams, but from what I've seen the functionality is very similar to Google Classroom. I daresay you've thought of this already, or the school has, but couldn't the school set you up with a login now in order to give you time to practise?
Thanks for kind words, Kathleen.
Thanks Terry, yeah I’ve got my own OneDrive so can get used to some of it there. Can’t get on the organisation’s one yet. Rules and things. :)
Couldn’t agree more about space! I was lucky in HK to have a classroom with desks on wheels (half wheels) so we could easily change the room even several times per lesson.
Let’s build a dream school, shall we?
I'm sure you'll pick up Teams very quickly. As for dream school, I have a draft Post about that! It was something I'd have loved to have done
I’m a ‘prepper’ like yourself and was absolutely interested in your process, thanks Terry. And thanks also for the chuckles - “f2f” amongst others 😂
😀 Thanks, Victoria. I'm glad I'm not the only one!
I've loved reading about your process in preparing for a course, Terry - particularly this one, because I am one of your students!
I absolutely, totally, comprehensively and tautologically *haven't* just written my own checklist of everything you've mentioned on which to cross off the things I feel you have (or haven't) covered on the day..... 😇😉🤔
In all seriousness, it's great to see what's involved in things like this. Thank you so much!
Thanks. I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested, so it's nice to know that at least one person is! I'm not sure if my approach is typical, but it works for me.
It’s a great approach. Preparation is half the battle - and that goes for most things!
defo!