The Great Conversion
Some of you may have heard that universities are moving “online.” That phrase means many things for many people.
For me, I believe in face-to-face. My students paid for face-to-face, and I am going to try to give the best possible under the circumstances.
As a gamer, I can’t imagine a video chat providing the quality that would make me happy. I also fear the synchronous nature of the chat would exclude too many. Computers and bandwidth are a premium in many homes at the moment.
Ergo, I settled on reproducing lectures on video. Reproduction sounds simple enough. I’ve already done the research. I’ve already created the PowerPoints. What could be hard about reading for a camera?
Here is one lecture for a typical day. There are 5 segments. They are less than an hour. It took me about 8 hours to produce. There are mistakes just as there would be in a typical class. Forgive them.
The lecture, “The Jesus Revolution”, is now on Youtube. It has 5 segments. Supposedly you can watch lectures of big names, from big universities. I offer you mine. I am not a big name. I am not at big university.
I do believe, however, that I have something more to offer. I’ve spent 25 years teaching in our community. I have fielded and anticipated questions for your typical American college student.
My lectures are designed for them. As my mentor and intellectual father, Amos E. Simpson, taught me about writing, I try to speak to my grandmother, an intelligent person who simply does not know about the topic. The process starts with a foundation and builds an argument.
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