Thank You–And a Word About the Future

two cqts

Thanks to all of you. Like you, I wish we could have had a course without the wrenching change from classroom to website brought on by the novel coronavirus pandemic. I was just getting to know you when that happened and, I suspect, you were just getting to know me.

We couldn’t continue the path we were on, so I changed it. This was hard on you but was better than the alternative, which would have been harder on you still.

As I am reading paper #3 and getting ready to receive your portfolios, I am impressed by what I am getting from you. Some of you haven’t submitted yet, but I am looking forward to reading what you have written, too—there are no penalties for being late, though I do have to submit grades in eleven days.

This summer, I am offering two classes that are designed for online studies instead of being tossed into a situation that weren’t expected. I don’t really like teaching online, but I have done it for years and, when given the chance to adequately prepare, can do it. One of my two Summer 1 classes, Technical Writing, is already full, but the other, Introduction to Literature: Drama, still had some spaces. I am hoping a few of you might sign up. After all, we know each other at least a little bit and can get off to a running start—important in a short, summer term. Follow the link to the OpenLab page and see if the course might interest you.

One of the things I have heard from students is that you have hated having to be online this semester. I don’t blame you. And I hope this doesn’t last too long. That said, I know that many students (and not just at City Tech) are bailing on the fall semester, not wanting to repeat what has happened since we have been online this spring. And I don’t blame you.

But the online classes this fall are going to be better than they have been this spring. Many of your professors have never taught online before so were learning as much as you were. Their classes, this fall, are going to be much improved—and you are going to be much more agile in negotiating online courses yourselves. I am only going to be teaching Freshman this fall, so won’t be offering any classes any of you will be taking—but I am worried that, if you take the fall off, you might not come back.

Whatever you do, good luck to you!

8 thoughts on “Thank You–And a Word About the Future”

  1. Thank you, professor, for not drowning us in work as many other professors did their classes. It was a pleasure participating in your class, and especially to listen to other students’ ideas in class.

    In my opinion, we had enough work to keep us on track, and this class really complimented my other classes, considering that this is my first semester submitting so many lab reports and papers in my anatomy and microbiology classes.

    1. Thanks for recognizing that. I was worried about what students would be able to handle so pulled back a bit while still making sure you all would do enough to deserve credit for the course.

  2. Thank you so much for keeping us engaged. This course was extremely organized and well taught even though majority of it was online. The work and readings were very much inclusive and not at all overwhelming.

    While trying to balance the rest of my classes, this course did not place a burden academically. Instead, I would say that this class helped me tremendously to express myself.

    1. It looks that way right now. Of course, I don’t know what may be decided, but I suspect we will start off online and may migrate back to the classrooms as the semester progresses and the pandemic eases.

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