As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m a creature of habit. This means I like patterns, more specifically, patterns that repeat. I suspect this is one of the reasons teaching suits me. As I also noted earlier, COVID has wrecked those patterns. We’re now in the chaos of creating new patterns. I thought for some time about how to organize my online classes this semester, so they won’t be chaotic. However, there’s still some chaos adjusting to the newness of all of this. The traditional “return to school” doesn’t really feel like a return, even though it is one.
That’s what this post is about: chaos. While I’ve planned the course, know what I’m doing, and I’m fully prepared to teach online, there may be hiccups. What do I mean? Blackboard may not work. Internet access might fail. Things may occasionally go wrong. With all of the posting, zooming, and other stuff I’m doing, I may forget to post something or leave a date off.
And that’s okay. As the title of this post notes, shit is going to happen. We can and will deal with any problems as they occur. I revamped my webpage in the spring as a means of handling any massive tech outages at CSU-Pueblo. The university migrated Blackboard to the cloud over the summer to limit potential Blackboard problems. And you can do a few things, so that you’re prepared for the chaos life provides.
- Save my email address: jason.saphara@csupueblo.edu If you need to contact me, but you’re having trouble with Blackboard access, you will still have my email address (or save it in your email address book).
- Save these urls to a file (or as favorites on your browser): https://jsaphara.com/ and https://jsaphara.com/jcsupueblo/ If there are massive outages at the university, I’ll post information here. Don’t worry; there’s a slim chance that this will happen, but save these addresses in case you can’t access Blackboard—you’ll see any information I post about outages.
- Relax!!! If you have problems, contact me. Part of my job is helping you, and it’s one of the few things in life I take seriously.
- Read and re-read all instructions; this is a crucial part of an online class.
