⚙️ Work
Jessica put together a new Recordings in Learning Environments web page as part of the Provost’s website, with info about recording in learning environments. It includes samples of what to put in the course syllabus to let students know ahead of time, and has links to policy documents and consent forms.
USask has a handy resource on developing contingency plans for potential in-person course interruptions due to COVID.
Our new Adaptable Course Design module is available, and should be useful for instructors to plan for contingencies.
We held the orientation session for the Hypothesis F2021 pilot project. Lots of interested instructors hoping to use it, but EZProxy and Leganto links are giving Hypothesis trouble. Hopefully, we get that resolved soon.
Prepping for the F2021 semester…
Lucie Edwardson, in CBC News: ‘Completely unacceptable’: U of C students grapple with sudden switch in course delivery:
“The day before yesterday, I found out that most of my classes had switched to an online format. That was 14 days after I got to Calgary and spent a lot of money — just to sit inside my dorm room and learn through a screen all day, which essentially I could have done back home,” she said.
Jason Herring, in the Calgary Herald: U of C students frustrated after classes suddenly switch online
“I already bought my parking pass. I already went back-to-school shopping. I spent all this money, and when I found out it was online, I cried all day about it.
The timing of this shift back to remote courses really sucks for most students. It’d have been much better if the decision was made a month ago. Thanks to the strong leadership of our provincial government, who had mandated that classes would be primarily on campus for F2021, and had also planned to stop COVID testing and isolation, and now we have a 4th wave spiking up and causing this bullshit for our students. I’m beyond frustrated with our provincial government.
🤔 PhD
I started recruiting participants for the course design study project. Progress!
📚 Reading
Nikole D. Patson, in Faculty Focus: Collaborative Note-taking as an Alternative to Recording Online Sessions
What Erica and James told me was that, for them, being recorded increased their feelings of isolation and inadequacy.
Erica and James revealed the potential harm recording class sessions could have. Importantly, this potential harm was not outweighed by any benefit: Students indicated that they rarely, if ever, watched the recorded sessions.
Data on our YuJa video platform show that videos do get watched - a LOT - but I want to learn more about the effects of recording on interactions within a class…
🧺 Other
I bought a cadence sensor for my bike. I’ve always sucked at pacing. I kind of have 2 speeds on the bike - top gear and bottom gear. I seem to try to grind in a gear that’s too high, keeping a cadence of around 60 rpm. Which means I’m working harder than I should be, and am not being as efficient as I can be. I need to downshift a bit and increase cadence to ~90 rpm. As I was describing what the cadence sensor does, Janice said “so… can you get one of those for the rest of your life, too?” Yeah. Apparently it’s a thing I do.
I fit in 2 rides this week. Riding with the cadence sensor is interesting. I seem to be either able to lower my heart rate or increase my cadence. I need to get in better shape to do both…
