Thread by @mikamckinnon

It was my first day teaching at SFU:

Get to campus early!
Resolve some tech woes!

...my classroom is in a no-access under-construction building?

Ahhh I can’t escape this building!
Ahhh I can’t enter this building!

Bwahaha, I found my totally different classroom! Victory!!!

Wait, the projector doesn’t work.
Wait, IT can’t get the projector to work.
Wait, we have no whiteboard pens.
Wait, we have no wifi signal.
Wait, we have no cell signal.

Uh.
Uh...
We’re doing class without visuals! It’s fine. EVERYTHING IS FINE.

IT brought me a new projector?!

Lecture went great! No one died! None of my students were injured! EVERYTHING IS FINE.

Let’s try lab.

...the prof computer is just a disconnected monitor & keyboard...?
We’ll wire the projector to a student computer!

...the projector doesn’t power on?
IT brought a projector remote!
IT can’t get the projector to display.

Whiteboard pens? AND internet?!
Yesssss, we got this.

Shockingly, we made it through all planned material and I think we even accomplished our learning goals.

Sure, Day 1 goals were modest:
What is Geophysics?
Why should you care?
How to think like a a Geophysicist

But that’s key framing for the rest of the course!

Also:
SFU is like the Dragon Con hobbit trails but an entire multi-level university campus perched on a mountain top with occasional one-way locking doors.

Navigating makes me want to bust out grid paper and miniatures to map my way, possibly with a d20 for Spot checks.