Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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gkbill
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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by gkbill »

Flex wrote:
31 Mar 2020, 9:19pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
31 Mar 2020, 9:10pm
Lotta people trying Zoom as we've been pushed to the distance education model. I'll be taking a webinar on it this spring, as it's entirely possible that this fall will also be online, in whole or in part. I'm more than cool with the idea for discussions—something interactive—but lectures leaves me cold. Mainly, I think because of how passive students are. If they're just going to sit there, It gets boring and if I'm yapping at a webcam, awkward.
you can set artificial backgrounds tho, so you could make each lecture look like you're doing it in front of the subject matter in question. the future is now!
Hello,

I've played with these. They're fun but they might get old quick. Still, it would be cool to lecture with a backdrop of the crowd from CBGB's while you lecture about the Ramones. Do you have any suggestions for getting videos to run as backgrounds?

Zoom is good as you can see the students and ask them questions - especially if you see one or two minds wandering. Word will pass quickly to at least appear attentive.

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Dr. Medulla »

gkbill wrote:
31 Mar 2020, 10:18pm
Flex wrote:
31 Mar 2020, 9:19pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
31 Mar 2020, 9:10pm
Lotta people trying Zoom as we've been pushed to the distance education model. I'll be taking a webinar on it this spring, as it's entirely possible that this fall will also be online, in whole or in part. I'm more than cool with the idea for discussions—something interactive—but lectures leaves me cold. Mainly, I think because of how passive students are. If they're just going to sit there, It gets boring and if I'm yapping at a webcam, awkward.
you can set artificial backgrounds tho, so you could make each lecture look like you're doing it in front of the subject matter in question. the future is now!
Hello,

I've played with these. They're fun but they might get old quick. Still, it would be cool to lecture with a backdrop of the crowd from CBGB's while you lecture about the Ramones. Do you have any suggestions for getting videos to run as backgrounds?
I almost always have a slideshow to go along with what I'm yammering about, so that's all good for a shifting background (or, better, over my shoulder like a newscaster). Videos, tho, are used sparingly because they'd be distracting—that is, I'd be competing with the video. As is, studies have shown suggested that Powerpoint lessens the impact of a lecture because people's attention is drawn to the slide rather than what's being said. It's especially worse if there's text on the slide.
Zoom is good as you can see the students and ask them questions - especially if you see one or two minds wandering. Word will pass quickly to at least appear attentive.
I've never done that. If a person is uninterested and doesn't care about what's going on, that's on them. That feels a bit too teacher-as-parent for me. Tho I have been heading on that direction in terms of being more demanding about attendance.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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I think you should provide the zoom links and we can all invade (er, I mean audit) your class!
Got a Rake? Sure!

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

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JennyB wrote:
01 Apr 2020, 9:47am
I think you should provide the zoom links and we can all invade (er, I mean audit) your class!
Nobody needs to experience me in academic dork mode if they aren't looking for credit towards their degree.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by JennyB »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
01 Apr 2020, 10:38am
JennyB wrote:
01 Apr 2020, 9:47am
I think you should provide the zoom links and we can all invade (er, I mean audit) your class!
Nobody needs to experience me in academic dork mode if they aren't looking for credit towards their degree.
You sit on a throne of lies!
Got a Rake? Sure!

IMCT: Inane Middle-Class Twats - Dr. M

" *sigh* it's right when they throw the penis pump out the window." -Hoy

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Dr. Medulla »

JennyB wrote:
01 Apr 2020, 10:39am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
01 Apr 2020, 10:38am
JennyB wrote:
01 Apr 2020, 9:47am
I think you should provide the zoom links and we can all invade (er, I mean audit) your class!
Nobody needs to experience me in academic dork mode if they aren't looking for credit towards their degree.
You sit on a throne of lies!
That would be the content of my lectures.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

gkbill
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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by gkbill »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
01 Apr 2020, 10:38am
JennyB wrote:
01 Apr 2020, 9:47am
I think you should provide the zoom links and we can all invade (er, I mean audit) your class!
Nobody needs to experience me in academic dork mode if they aren't looking for credit towards their degree.
Hello,

Or haven't paid their tuition bill!

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Dr. Medulla »

gkbill wrote:
01 Apr 2020, 12:06pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
01 Apr 2020, 10:38am
JennyB wrote:
01 Apr 2020, 9:47am
I think you should provide the zoom links and we can all invade (er, I mean audit) your class!
Nobody needs to experience me in academic dork mode if they aren't looking for credit towards their degree.
Hello,

Or haven't paid their tuition bill!
Sorry, kid, make the bank transfer or go listen to that fuckwit talk about Woodstock and Altamont.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

gkbill
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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by gkbill »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
01 Apr 2020, 6:20am
gkbill wrote:
31 Mar 2020, 10:18pm
Flex wrote:
31 Mar 2020, 9:19pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
31 Mar 2020, 9:10pm
Lotta people trying Zoom as we've been pushed to the distance education model. I'll be taking a webinar on it this spring, as it's entirely possible that this fall will also be online, in whole or in part. I'm more than cool with the idea for discussions—something interactive—but lectures leaves me cold. Mainly, I think because of how passive students are. If they're just going to sit there, It gets boring and if I'm yapping at a webcam, awkward.
you can set artificial backgrounds tho, so you could make each lecture look like you're doing it in front of the subject matter in question. the future is now!
Hello,

I've played with these. They're fun but they might get old quick. Still, it would be cool to lecture with a backdrop of the crowd from CBGB's while you lecture about the Ramones. Do you have any suggestions for getting videos to run as backgrounds?
I almost always have a slideshow to go along with what I'm yammering about, so that's all good for a shifting background (or, better, over my shoulder like a newscaster). Videos, tho, are used sparingly because they'd be distracting—that is, I'd be competing with the video. As is, studies have shown suggested that Powerpoint lessens the impact of a lecture because people's attention is drawn to the slide rather than what's being said. It's especially worse if there's text on the slide.
Zoom is good as you can see the students and ask them questions - especially if you see one or two minds wandering. Word will pass quickly to at least appear attentive.
I've never done that. If a person is uninterested and doesn't care about what's going on, that's on them. That feels a bit too teacher-as-parent for me. Tho I have been heading on that direction in terms of being more demanding about attendance.
Hello,

I went back and forth with the attendance/interest issue when I went to undergrad from grad students. With undergrads, if you don't want to be there and/or don't have an interest, fine - don't show up. Take the penalty for attendance, have a good day! If you do show up, stay engaged. Everything in my classes is optional. Don't study for a test - fine! Get the grade you deserve and don't whine about it. Don't feel like going to class?
Fine - don't go. You won't get credit for that class (and you probably won't do well on an exam as discussion content really helps understanding). My review powerpoints are usually around 80-90 slides. I don't ask questions about every slide - perhaps 33-66%. If you don't feel like studying a topic, you can gamble I don't ask any questions about that topic. "‘You've got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?’

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Dr. Medulla »

gkbill wrote:
01 Apr 2020, 1:49pm
I went back and forth with the attendance/interest issue when I went to undergrad from grad students. With undergrads, if you don't want to be there and/or don't have an interest, fine - don't show up. Take the penalty for attendance, have a good day! If you do show up, stay engaged. Everything in my classes is optional. Don't study for a test - fine! Get the grade you deserve and don't whine about it. Don't feel like going to class?
Fine - don't go. You won't get credit for that class (and you probably won't do well on an exam as discussion content really helps understanding).
That has been my attitude—very libertarian, we're all adults here. But I've begun rethinking that after talking with colleagues. We've all noticed a significant decline in attendance in the last few years. Whether it's generational character or feeding the social media habit, way too many are treating lectures as optional. And given how much they pay in tuition now, I don't feel right that they're going deep in the hole and not emerging with a proper education. So if they need someone to kick their butt, I'm willing to change and do that. A bit, anyway. I don't like it, but I don't like the alternative either.
My review powerpoints are usually around 80-90 slides. I don't ask questions about every slide - perhaps 33-66%. If you don't feel like studying a topic, you can gamble I don't ask any questions about that topic. "‘You've got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?’
I'm a humanities nerd so I'm not about facts and that stuff. :shifty: I've only offered two mid-terms and both were in strange situations not of my choosing. I'm all about the take-home final, plus some in-term writing, maybe discussion. And I always tell them the one essay question on the first day: What's the theme of this course. Go to town on that, munchkins. Then they get a choice of a second essay question that's still interpretive, but more constrained. It does mean, tho, that if you don't come to lectures, you don't have the material to answer either question.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Inder
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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Inder »

Don't think I thanked gkbill for his input here — v useful!

Holding one-on-ones on Zoom to go over essay drafts and exam prep — I will be uninstalling/scrubbing my computer of the app immediately when this is all over, but a broadly positive experience!

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Inder wrote:
08 Apr 2020, 2:44pm
Don't think I thanked gkbill for his input here — v useful!

Holding one-on-ones on Zoom to go over essay drafts and exam prep — I will be uninstalling/scrubbing my computer of the app immediately when this is all over, but a broadly positive experience!
I'm going to signing up for a webinar on that stuff because I expect fall courses to be distance taught. A combination of continued pandemic fears and economic anxiety that makes it more feasible for students to stay with their parents rather than incur additional living expenses is going to pressure schools to keep up the video format.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by revbob »

I haven't read enough about Zoom from a security standpoint. I think the main thing is to not post open invitations in social media etc and always consider what you say/show, who gets invited.

Now do either of your learning institutions have apps like Microsoft Teams or Webex? I think they are more mature tools that allow for better collaboration among groups of people. What do the school's IT departments suggest?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnet.c ... -chat-app/

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Dr. Medulla »

revbob wrote:
08 Apr 2020, 4:34pm
I haven't read enough about Zoom from a security standpoint. I think the main thing is to not post open invitations in social media etc and always consider what you say/show, who gets invited.

Now do either of your learning institutions have apps like Microsoft Teams or Webex? I think they are more mature tools that allow for better collaboration among groups of people. What do the school's IT departments suggest?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnet.c ... -chat-app/
As far as I know, we're exclusively Zoom for classroom use, but I think admin people use Teams.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by revbob »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
08 Apr 2020, 6:03pm
revbob wrote:
08 Apr 2020, 4:34pm
I haven't read enough about Zoom from a security standpoint. I think the main thing is to not post open invitations in social media etc and always consider what you say/show, who gets invited.

Now do either of your learning institutions have apps like Microsoft Teams or Webex? I think they are more mature tools that allow for better collaboration among groups of people. What do the school's IT departments suggest?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnet.c ... -chat-app/
As far as I know, we're exclusively Zoom for classroom use, but I think admin people use Teams.
Cant attest to the content but usually a good source

https://www.techrepublic.com/resource-l ... d=12782647

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