Thursday, September 17, 2020
Just venting about yakshaving
In the last two months I've been dealing almost full-time with courseware. The idiotic school closures, necessary to "protect" students against Mythical Horrible Orange Witch Powder, have forced an increased use of all online facilities.
When we first designed this stuff 20 years ago, and again when we adapted it for online use in 2015, courseware was just an 'accessory', not a vital part of teaching. Most instructors didn't bother to use it. Now it's vital, which means I've got more work to do without more pay.
Pay isn't the problem. I'm working for Natural Law Duty anyway. I don't need the money, I need the work.
The problem is the YAK-SHAVING. Every single issue requires penetrating layers and layers of access and red tape and permissions. After I get through all the layers, the actual problem usually turns out to be a missing bracket, or a misnumbered page, or just student misunderstanding.
So the process is 90% yak and 10% solution.
In the last two months I've been dealing almost full-time with courseware. The idiotic school closures, necessary to "protect" students against Mythical Horrible Orange Witch Powder, have forced an increased use of all online facilities.
When we first designed this stuff 20 years ago, and again when we adapted it for online use in 2015, courseware was just an 'accessory', not a vital part of teaching. Most instructors didn't bother to use it. Now it's vital, which means I've got more work to do without more pay.
Pay isn't the problem. I'm working for Natural Law Duty anyway. I don't need the money, I need the work.
The problem is the YAK-SHAVING. Every single issue requires penetrating layers and layers of access and red tape and permissions. After I get through all the layers, the actual problem usually turns out to be a missing bracket, or a misnumbered page, or just student misunderstanding.
So the process is 90% yak and 10% solution.Labels: Bemusement
¶ 2:47 PM
