A quick survey
Warren Elsmore, Giza (detail). Part of the artist in LEGO bricks’ Brick Wonders touring exhibition, which I’ve only just discovered - it looks super! For details of his work in general, see https://warrenelsmore.com/
Image here from: https://warrenelsmore.com/brickwonders
We have just about got over the traditional exhaustion, excitement, and rabbit-in-the-headlights feeling which the start of a new term always brings (those of you who are or have been in education will know exactly what we mean!). So our thoughts now turn to what you all might like for next term, and we hope that you’ll consider helping us to work that out.
First, what time of day would best suit you for future courses? Historically, WEA evening courses have proven to be less popular than daytime ones, and so a regular timetabling pattern for Robert’s courses became established. But of course we are all in very different circumstances just now, and when you’d prefer courses to be scheduled may have also changed. It’s unlikely that we’ll be able to exactly match what each of you would like with each course in which you are specifically interested, alas. But if we’ve got some idea of your ideal scheduling we will most certainly try to meet as many of your preferences as is humanly possible.
NB I’m not yet sure how much ‘wiggle room’ we might have with WEA courses, but we’ll certainly ask for different timetable slots if it transpires that they would be better for you. We do, however, have complete carte blanche with freelance courses - we can schedule courses for whenever you are interested, as long as Robert’s not already teaching in that slot. And, depending on how strapped for cash we remain, I may even allow him some additional time for meals and sleep between courses. Possibly.
Secondly, we’ve been flirting with the idea of offering a short course commencing in what would normally be the Easter break. Traditionally, school holidays have been sacrosanct, to allow for childcare provision for children/grandchildren. But might an early spring course appeal during These Unprecedented Times? He’s eager to dust off The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World before long, and we wondered whether a 7-week course, running from early April might be of interest to you.
Finally, I know that many of you are uncomfortable with various aspects of the technology required to join Robert’s classes. Many of you have told me that you found my first Taming the Beast post helpful - which was really super to hear. Thank you so much for letting me know! (In case you’ve not seen it, it covered navigating the WEA website to book courses online and is here, should you be interested.) A few people have recently told me that they’ve had trouble accessing WEA courses via Canvas. Might a beginners’ guide on that be useful? I know that Zoom is still intimidating to many of Robert’s alumni from previous In Real Life courses. Might a Zoom for Beginners post help?
I’ve also been flirting with the notion of running a virtual coffee morning - i.e. a drop-in session in which people can catch up with each other (beyond the necessarily-limited 10 minutes’ break in current online courses). This might also be a useful ‘toe in the water’ for those of you who find the prospect of Zoom too daunting to try for a formal session, and we’d be on hand to help with basic tech concerns if needed. Might this be of interest?
I’ve set up a quick survey form (below). If you could take a few minutes to let us know your thoughts on any (or all) of these things, we’d be most grateful.
Many thanks!