This fall is going to be exciting, but it will be a lot of work getting there. I spent a day in the studio at Saint Paul University recording lectures for my upcoming new course THO3164: Jesus the Christ and the Language of Christian Hope. I am really pumped because this course lets me do a deep dive into material that in the past was only a small part of courses I’ve taught. We had workers outside while we were recording and I know they could hear my projecting voice because at one point they started singing “He’s got the whole world in his hands.” We had to pause a few times. But we did manage five lectures, only 25 to go!
I also took some BrightSpace training with Algonquin this week. I was worried it would be a waste of time (although getting paid to do training is always welcome). I was pleasantly surprised because the training has improved a lot since I did it with Ottawa University. Lots of stuff that I learned the hard way was covered, but I also learned a few new tricks that will make putting together courses a bit easier. One of the advantages Algonquin has is that they seem to have thought through what components they wanted to include in BrightSpace a bit better than Ottawa University. This is likely because they have the benefit of institutions using the software for almost two years already.
I’m still waiting on my course materials and directives for the NET1001: Computer Technology Basics course and labs I’ll be teaching at Algonquin. I have the shells in BrightSpace, but no content. Big difference between college and university is that in college you work with developed curriculum but at the university you start with a clean slate and build from scratch. Both are work, but a different kind of work. My real joy will be when I stand in the classroom and start my first lecture with almost 90 students! It is going to be awesome.
The screenshot is from the overview page for my new online course with Saint Paul University. Doesn’t it look pretty?
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