January 29, 2021

WFH: DAY 17. 8.00 am:

8.15 am: I took my walk — en route to the chemists — along the Promenade, heading towards Constitution Hill. Since 7.00 am, I’d been exchanging occasional tweets with one of the School’s recent alumni. They were suffering a bout of morning Aber-sickness (for, not of). Presently, they’re far afield and developing into a well-loved school teacher. I shared with them a panorama of the sea and land (which probably rubbed salt into their wounds). The sea-spray hung in the air like a benign miasma.

9.15 am: I shuffled through my inbox and began preparations for the morning’s teaching: two consecutive lectures for the Art/Sound module, and a rerouted Exhibition tutorial. I kept before me a list of preparatory technical instructions (lest I forgot). I’m adopting a belt and braces and elasticated waistband approach with respect to recording these online events. Teams has become a little unreliable of late:

10.00 am: ‘And we were off!’:

Until we all have a basic, serviceable internet connection, that assures the smooth operation sound and video, then online teaching will remain a poor substitute for the ‘real’. Lecturing at a screen feels like delivering a radio broadcast. In a lecture theatre, while the students may be just as quiet as they’re on line, and partially hidden in the darkness, they’re still tangibly present in the same space as I occupy. That makes a world of difference. (More than I’d ever have imagined.) 12.15 pm: A re-routed tutorial.

1.30 pm: I uploaded the morning’s audiovisual content to Blackboard, arranged MA tutorials for next week, and dealt with emails. 2.30 pm: Back to REF-ing PowerPoints for the afternoon. This evening and tomorrow will be dedicated to mixing. (I insist.) Mid-afternoon, having begun writing commentary of the slides, I ransacked by online diaries for useable images that could be deployed in the PowerPoint.

7.30 pm: I heard again last weekend’s mixes, and prepared my ears for a day on the project tomorrow.

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