Smile You Are On Candid Camera
You had to be there…as the commercial says…it was priceless. Allow me to explain...
Today’s class was a bit unusual. Most of my students were away on program related field trips and the few remaining students…except one brave soul named Mike…choose to attend today’s Rec 130 class online.
This was a first for me…teaching a class without a room full of students physically present. The session was recorded so away students could later use Centra’s PLAYBACK function to attend the class at a future time...with Contact North's technology it is no longer necessary to cancel classes to accommodate conflicting program schedules.
Just as I was hitting full stride in my riveting lecture, Gabe a college maintenance worker, quietly wandered into the back of our classroom to perform a minor task…Gabe looked more than a bit confused as he noticed me talking into a microphone while referring to a PowerPoint presentation on a large screen…Gabe looked at me…then he looked at Mike, the one lonely student in the room…then he looked back at me…then back at Mike…Gabe was unaware my class was simultaneously being delivered to a number of online students…one can only imagine the obvious questions going through Gabe’s mind…why is he using a microphone to speak to only one student?...why didn’t he just cancel the class?...how much are we paying this guy anyway?
During the break, Mike politely informed me that he would not be returning for the second half of today’s class, instead he would go online like everyone else for the remaining part of today's class.
Left alone, I resumed my class now in a completely empty room and talking to apparently no one...but all the while trusting my online students were paying rapt attention to every word…thankfully; Gabe did not drop by again…it may have been too much for him…in fact, I just learned that Gabe is considering taking early retirement…coincidence?
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