Sunday, August 29, 2021

Stopping on a dime...

“Experiences never end. They’re just semi-colons
where the story takes a break…”
- Anonymous

The request came unexpectedly. The spring semester was barely over, and I was thinking about what I might do during the summer. I listened politely but wasn’t sure I wanted to take it on.

The topic at hand was a five-week accelerated Anatomy and Physiology course that would cover sixteen-weeks of material. It would be taught virtually and was the healthcare track, prepping students for nursing or other health related careers. It is one of the toughest courses we teach.

“It’s only five weeks,” said my department chair. “I thought it might be a good fit and it’s not like the material is brand new.”

Yes, but it would be five weeks of irregular sleep and interfere with my social life. Wait, I don’t have a social life!

On the other hand, I have more frequently said yes to the partially or completely unknown, often providing me with meaningful life experiences.

Quick aside…
When the college went virtual in the middle of the semester in 2020, it wasn’t a model I was keen about. A people person, I love the classroom and the interaction with students. Virtual? I wasn’t so sure. As it turns out, however, by the second semester from my computer to theirs, I found it quite enjoyable.

Back to the five-weeker…
Trying to understand what this class entailed, I contacted several colleagues. I was looking for some insight and to see if any of them had a syllabus I could review. I was surprised by the feedback:

“No, I haven’t taught this course and never would!” and “The college shouldn’t offer this class in that time frame!” and“You couldn’t pay me to teach that material in five-weeks!”

One brief ray of hope was a senior faculty member who said the five-week summer class was one of his favorites. He did have a course outline somewhere but was leaving on holiday the following day – sorry.

While it was true, I had taught this course several times but never in this timeframe. It was a dilemma.

I called a retired colleague who had mentored me through the first semester I returned to the classroom. She invited me to her home, listened to my pros, cons and angst. Her input like the others, was that she would not teach this course. BUT she did have a lot of material, along with some video lectures that she would give me. The decision was up to me.

Time to choose…
Due diligence complete. It was time for the decision. I have a time-tested two-step process for this - little prayer and consultation with the boss. Molly reminded me that when my hands are idle, I am not the happiest of campers and that I have a habit of doing whatever it takes to get projects done. With some positive meditation and an attaboy from my girlfriend, I agreed to teach the class.

Now the work…
To put this in perspective, teaching a full semester’s material in five weeks means the following:
  1. Four hours and twenty minutes of contact time, four days a week (Mon-Thurs).
  2. New physiology systems taught almost every class rather than one per week (e.g., endocrine, heart, digestion, etc.).
  3. Frequent, manually graded homework assignments.
  4. Labs and quizzes due daily rather than weekly.
  5. Weekly rather than monthly unit exams.
  6. Fridays through Sundays spent constructing exams and grading homework/labs.

An upside, the class was virtual. Meaning the commute was from the kitchen to the office in the next room. In addition, the quizzes and exams were automated, meaning, once constructed, they were administrated and graded via a computerized learning system. An elegant online lab program provided students the ability to image anatomy in three dimensions. Thus, students could zoom in and out, rotate 360 degrees, and dissect whatever anatomical structure we were studying (e.g., heart, kidney, lungs, etc.).

Then there were the students themselves. The course began with twenty-four of them. My introductory comments came with the admonition that this material was going to be very challenging. For the next five weeks they would need to eat, drink, and sleep anatomy and physiology.

I think it is human nature for people to overestimate their capacity to get things done. Some of the students thought the course would be easier because of the short time frame. Others were pretty sure they wouldn't really need to put as much effort into the material as I suggested.

By the beginning of week two, six students had dropped the course, and by late in the third week, another five slipped into the ether. I was left with twelve disciples, all of whom finished the course exhausted, but relieved that they (and their instructor) had survived the gauntlet.

It’s always the end of a thing, isn’t it? From the class introduction it was game on. Five weeks later to the day, it was full stop! To use a theatre expression, we ‘struck the set’ at the final examination and went our separate ways as though we had never met. I always feel a little melancholy when the ‘play,’ the hard work, and the intimacy of the game, ends. But that’s just the way it is every semester.

The good news is that there will be another day where I will follow the familiar two-step process: a little prayer and consultation with the boss!

ted

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