So Many Things!

I'm part of a...course, I guess you'd say...this summer aimed at supporting professors in shaping their online teaching practices. Sort of a workshop, since I'm not really getting credit for it, but it's valuable nonetheless, and I've really enjoyed getting to know my colleagues in the course.

Unfortunately, I'm a little behind on my work for this course. Even though we aren't really being "graded," we have deadlines built in to help keep us all together, working as a group. This post was supposed to be completed by this time last night, and...well...here I am, typing away.

Ugh.

I have a bunch of excuses--and in my mind, they are valid!--but really, that's all they are. Excuses.

I had a busy week last week with other professional concerns: participating in an Android app development workshop (which made me busier than anticipated, but it was a fantastic learning opportunity), and preparing for two online courses I'm teaching myself (which begin very soon), and preparing for three presentations for a workshop I'm helping to present to a cohort of teachers today and tomorrow. All good things. All good things. But there are so many things...

This is a really good reminder for me about how my students in online courses have "so many things" in their lives as well. And while I won't exactly lower my expectations for their work, it was--I think--an important thing for me to keep before my eyes for my students' work this summer.

We are all busy people. While I hope that the graduate students I'll be teaching this summer will put their academic work near the top of the pile, I'm also trying to be mindful of the fact that they have other commitments (professional or otherwise) even during the summer months.