Almost as soon as I released yesterday’s post on things I’m planning to do in order to survive this pandemic we find ourselves in, things got made real at my university: classes have been cancelled entirely until March 30th.
This presents some real challenges. For one, it looks like we’re going to lose two full weeks of classes. That’s a lot of classes. That’s a lot of interesting topics and conversations gone. Poofed out of existence by a totally reasonable response to an absolutely bananapants situation.
And so here I am contemplating the types of changes I’ll need to make so the class still…functions. What assignments can I drop? What assignments can I move to “do it on your own”? What things must stay so students meet the intended learning outcomes?
One thing that I’ve been thinking a great deal about is the fact that the United States is gloriously unprepared for events like this. Universities are doing the best they can, but it’s interesting how inefficient we are across the board. Universities should have well-developed and easy-to-design online platforms. Some do. Some don’t. Governments should have well-designed contingency plans. Some do. Some don’t. People should understand the importance of social distancing and other things that help keep other people from dying. Some do. Some don’t.
The modern philosophy of America: Some do. Some don’t.
But, hey, at least I’ve had a little of productivity in my life:
- I submitted a proposal for an MLA 2021 panel. This proposal looks the work of Tobias S. Buckell and Nalo Hopkinson from a frontier thesis perspective. We’ll see if I get anywhere.
- I scanned all of my Star Wars books into Libib so I can stop worrying about whether I have a certain book.
That’s the key. Stay busy. Busy busy busy.
And keep dreaming, I guess.
Anywhoodles.
