Author Archives: J. Bret Maney

A Preamble to Tomorrow’s Class Session

Hi Everyone,

One of you made an important point in an email to me that “we need to be aware that the goals we set up in February changed.” In a similar vein, Matt Gold said on Twitter this evening that we “need to … recalibrate academic expectations,” and that we can’t “continu[e] on as if nothing has changed but delivery methods.”

Let’s devote the first twenty minutes of  class tomorrow to discussing what impact the pandemic is having on us and how we should address it in our course and groups and projects. Naturally, our work plans are going to have to be updated to reflect this new reality in both ways we can predict and can’t yet foresee. The health and well-being of our class community needs to be a priority, and now is a good time to remember that while the products we produce in this class are important, the process — and above all the learning process — is what matters most.

I will convene a video-conference meeting of the entire class at 6:30 pm. We’ll meet for 20 minutes or half an hour at most and then break into our smaller team meetings for the rest of the session. Tomorrow, before class, I’ll post a link to a Zoom meeting via the Commons group. If we have trouble with that platform, we can switch to Google Hangouts.

I’m going to ask Micki to join each of your team meetings for a bit so you can consult with her. I will also join in with each group, but only so long as I’m not intruding on the important work you’re doing.

Stay well,

Bret