It\u2019s the first week of the Study Period, which means the first Zoom session with a new class. It\u2019s not only about giving students\u2019 brains an outline of the subject, and providing a practical walkthrough of the online site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatever I say or do in that first session will help them to work out whether they can trust me, whether I can support their learning, whether I have unreasonable expectations, whether I will help them see perspectives they did not consider, will share freely or even whether I will be boring and ramble. (SPOILER ALERT: All of the above).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am doing three different sessions for three different courses this Study Period. Today was the intro for students just starting in the degree who probably had not been in my class before. Tomorrow it is with a lovely and engaged bunch, the majority who just completed a course with me last study period. They will know most of my party tricks and greatest hits already (like \u201c I will give you lots of instructions about the things I DON\u2019T care about, so that where you make the choices is the thinky work that we all care about\u201d). I still need to explain the basics for students who have not completed my courses before\u2026 but what do we do, all pretend it is fresh? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I gear up for introductory sessions with new students in a new Study Period, usually two scenes from films keep haunting me. Because I am nothing like them\u2026 really\u2026.although it is really tempting to tell students that they will have to pay for their degrees in SWEAT! ..<\/p>\n\n\n\n