This is a guide to setting up audio and video for hybrid courses, especially seminars. This based on some research I did this summer: I asked friends who have genuine expertise in the area, and with my partner Carrie Rentschler and our friend and colleague Darin Barney, we ran some audio experiments with Darin on …
Continue reading “A Simple Guide to Hybrid Classes for Teachers”
A recent Facebook post by John Sloop asked why academic writing isn’t better–more creative, more varied, more polished. This has been on my mind lately, as I spent a month in March with the copyedits to Diminished Faculties. On one hand, the book is very intentionally academic. With A Political Phenomenology of Impairment as a …
This is written by an academic for academics, but maybe it’s useful for others. Tl;dr, here they are: Only have work email on your work computer and keep it in one place in your home. If you have other devices, keep it off them. Order your off hours. Have Zoom free workdays. Sometime in the …
Continue reading “Three Defence Strategies for Living at Work”
I just got a query from a student reporter, who asked, “did McGill provide professors with enough Zoom training this summer?” I can only imagine what students are seeing! The institution provided a lot of training. So much so that by mid summer I was “webinar-ed out.” Specifically, credit must go to Teaching & Learning …
Continue reading “Here’s why online teaching is sort of like chaos right now”
This is the fourth in my series of posts on how to record your lectures. Tl;dr: a little focused practice up front will help a lot: spend some time experimenting with positioning the microphone, and how you address it. Record a bunch of short takes saying the same 1-2 sentences and then listen and see …
The #1 question I am getting from people is a variation of “what do I need to buy to record my lectures?” This is actually mostly the wrong question, but it is a question people have, so let’s answer it. The first thing you probably need is a moving blanket or thick quilt, as explained …
Continue reading “Recording Your Lectures 3: Gear! Gear! Gear!”
A colleague just wrote to ask where I’m at with my intro course. My friends are posting (or writing) about the technologies they are trying out, etc. Here is where I am at as of today. I have too many readings in most places and not enough in a few. Podcast lectures drop on Thursday. …
Continue reading “Where I’m at with the lecture course (oh, and the book is in!)”
