I am a professor and a human being.

I am a professor and a human being.

I am not my email address, I am not D2L, and I am not my cell phone. I am not instant messaging.

I am not hardware or software, and I am not a machine, always “on” and ready to reply. I will not let the devices of today dictate my behavior.

I am a human being.

I make time for students and work. I give thoughtful consideration to a student’s concern in a timely manner which means, when the time is right. I give thoughtful consideration to the work that crosses my desk.

I give thoughtful consideration to ideas. Ideas, questions, and rational thinking are worth my time. I make time for ideas. I read and think about them. I write and think about them. I revise and think about them. I discuss and think about them.

Make it a hybrid

I just switched one of my spring classes from a regular lecture course to a hybrid that will meet every other week in the classroom and online. Why? In the futile hopes that hybrid will attract more students, because history courses are interchangeable from a certain point of view. 

Another semester ends

Another semester has ended and the perennial woes circulate among professors and instructors. "Why can't students follow (simple) directions?" "Why are they asking for extra credit on the last day of class?" "Who was that student (re: student who managed to miss all classes since the first week until the last but still showed up on the last day to turn in work or take the final)?"

I keep a few ideas in mind to keep things in perspective and to avoid unnecessary angst:

1. Students earn grades; professors do not "give" grades.

2. Students have what they need to do as well as they can from the first day because the syllabus and assignment instructions were complete and thorough.

3. Not all students can do as well as they think they can, at least, perhaps, not at this point in their lives.

4. I cannot control what administrators may do, but I am a conscientious grader. A pravda vítězí (And truth prevails).

All three of my classes are full now.

As of today, all three of my spring semester classes are full.
History 353 is the seminar that is going to Budapest during spring break.
History 354 is History of the Holocaust (which filled a long time ago).
History 391 is History of the Crusades.

Ever wonder about enrollment?

I sometimes do, especially when administrators want to cancel a class that doesn't have enough students enrolled two weeks before the semester starts. One week before the semester started, my History 351 technically didn't have enough students enrolled, but look at it now: 3 short of the maximum. (History 490 is capped at 15.)

First Week Reflections

Two things stick out for me this week: 1.) the variety of questions and skill sets students bring to a class; and 2.) the amount of time it takes to take care of the administrative side of courses.

The variety of questions and skill sets led me to decide to offer an "extra help" session to those who need or really want some extra help with what I tend to think of as the "technical" parts to studying history, writing history, and participating in class. There were questions (or just questioning looks) about how to find scholarly articles and how to cite sources properly using the Chicago style. There were also questions about D2L. Even though D2L truly is a supplement to these courses, I would like students to feel comfortable enough at least to click around D2L to see not only the announcement/news and materials and links I'm putting up there, but also what other students are writing on the discussion boards. There were also questions about how to write an history essay or paper. My first step in responding to this particular need was to make available a paper a former student of mine wrote; we'll see what other steps become necessary. Finally, students seemed confident about knowing what plagiarism is and how to avoid it, but this may be just the most vocal students in class--those who are actually unsure may be a bit shy about asking about plagiarism, so I also included plagiarism as a possible topic for the "extra help" session.

Every semester I am amazed and a little frustrated by how much time is needed to take care of the administrative tasks: making enough photocopies, setting up attendance records and gradebooks (Excel), figuring out if students have added or dropped, and emailing newly added students. I estimate I spent about 2 hours per class just this week on administrative tasks, and I bet that's a low estimate. Administrative tasks always take up less time in weeks subsequent to the add/drop deadline.