Back to work.

In one of my favorite movies, Tom Hanks as Joe Fox writes to Meg Ryan’s character and says that he wishes he could send him bouquets of sharpened pencils to celebrate the beginning of fall in New York. The beginning of a new fall term, even though I teach year-round, always has that effect on me. I can practically smell the pencil shavings even though I haven’t used an actual pencil in what feels like a decade. I was speaking to a friend recently who said that fall was special because it held a kind of promise of things to look forward to. After a hot summer of too much work, forest fires, and Coronavirus fears, I could certainly do with some promise.

That feeling of a return to optimism has given me a little bit more push to do some things that have been piling up. I took a two-week holiday with family in Nova Scotia and spent my days on a river, or seeing people I hadn’t seen in person since well before the pandemic. I worked hard to complete this website, which I’m proud to say is pretty well there. I also started with a new group of students at school and a new masters course with UBC that is shaping up to be really exciting. I’d say fall and it’s promises are starting to come through.

So, what’s happening on the learning design front? I’ve got a new course in development with Rosedale Academy that helps students develop their Independent Growth Plan and portfolio. It’s following a different format than is usual with Rosedale and resembles a series of micro-learning lessons each dealing with specific careers fields for students to explore. I always learn at least as much as the students do as I develop these courses so I’m excited to see what comes of it. I’m also looking at trying to re-design some of my own course modules with VFS now that we are back on campus and learning in-person. There are some materials I’d like to try flipping, and some instructional approaches that I can now bring back after spending so much time online. I also think there’s room to reconsider how the units are laid out in the Creative Arts Fundamentals courses now that the redevelopment is finished on English for Arts Fundamentals.

I’m looking forward to some new challenges this term as I contemplate a return to Nova Scotia. Being away for so long was difficult and while I love what I do here in Vancouver, it might be time to reconsider some living arrangements as much as new curriculum and learning designs. Maybe part of fall’s allure is the idea that things are transforming. I’ve always been a huge fan of change, and I can kind of feel change on the air in the fall.