March 31, 2020

The Great Conversion

By Glenn

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.

I’ll have more lectures posted for my students on Youtube for Early American History, Early World Civilization and 20th Century Europe. Hopefully, I’ll get faster, but I’ll do my best to give my students their money’s worth. Feel free to join us for this opportunity journey.

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