MAKING COURSE ARRANGEMENTS

MAKING COURSE ARRANGEMENTS

The three of us expended a great deal of time and energy today making course arrangements.

Working through the Registrar, Barb made arrangements to teach 55 students in her morning lecture sessions, and break them into two sections for afternoon lab sessions in the “projection room.” However, the Registrar laid out a strange (to us) scheduling plan for Barb’s course: the class would meet 4 hours each morning during the first two weeks on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays (but not Wednesdays); in the third week, it would meet 2 hours on Monday and return for a 3-hour exam on Friday. Fortunately, Barb has freedom to rearrange this schedule (which she plans to do!), as long as she meets for 45 hours. Problem resolved!

Darlene’s situation was more difficult to resolve. When I met with the Registrar this morning, I represented all three of us. But when I reported to Darlene, she was quite distraught. For two of the three weeks in the January interterm, the Nursing students were scheduled to take another course (Biophysics) in the mornings. Darlene was being granted for her course only 2 hours 40 minutes in the afternoons (and full days the third week). In her (expert) judgment, it was not possible to do the course justice in that format. So she went and met with the Registrar personally and presented her case. She argued that the students could not do two courses simultaneously. Following a phone call to the Interim Director of the School of Health Sciences, HAU agreed to cancel the Biophysics course. So Darlene got a clear slate, to schedule her lectures to the full group of 35 students in the early morning, to be followed by two lab sections in the later morning and early afternoon. One more problem resolved!

My situation was both less and more complicated. I had agreed, and came prepared to teach, two courses: NT Theology, and Wesleyan Theology. However, during this past week, I had occasion to meet and greet a half dozen of my former students. They had already taken these two courses from me, and asked what I had to offer them. On another front, when I met with the Registrar this morning, I confirmed my suspicion that the same students would be enrolled in both of the courses I was assigned to teach, thereby taking two courses in three weeks, which would represent a violation of academic standards and compromise both courses. I proposed and offered instead—even though it would be more work for me—that I teach one of these two courses to the “new” cohort in the MA in Theological Studies program, and that I teach as my second course, one of the two needed by the “old” students in the program. The Registrar (rightly) referred me to the Provost for approval of this proposal. However, it required three trips to his office during the course of the day, before I got in to see him. He welcomed my offer, but referred me to the Rector! So I am meeting with Bishop Elie tomorrow (Saturday): I expect he will agree with my proposal…which means that I will be hard at work again, as last year, preparing a course I have never taught in my life previously, and for which I came totally unprepared! Problem still pending!

These situations require a lot of grace. Fortunately, at the end of the day, we are all in a pretty good mood. Tonight (Friday), per custom, we are going out to eat with all of the missionaries at HAU. Tim & Pat Kirkpatrick and Fred & Valerie Trexler arrived late Wednesday, and so there are 12 of us here now. (Fred and Valerie are both teaching courses, and Tim and Fred are working on the Voice of Hope Radio station.)