Starting a new course is always a stressful experience - and this one even more so. Ole Victor and Alexandra came by to set up the video camera, and I'd downloaded and tested SnapzPro for recording screenshots.
The students were to arrive in three groups, which were coordinated to arrive when the US students were free. Bryan had a group which finished at 9.15 am, so the first group came along at 4.00 pm CET (9.00 am CST). I was in world at 3.35 pm, and met up with the early-birds at about 3.45. When people turned up, everything worked fine. Ingrid Linnas came along from Estonia, and had a couple of problems with the first computer she tried. However, I did a workshop at her university in March, so I was able to direct her to the technician she needed to solve her problem! Ingrid's going to cause me a few administrative problems too, since the on-line application procedure hasn't worked for her. The other participants were Swedes and I asked my check questions (e.g. what's the name of the unit at Kalmar you work in, what's your post-code, etc). I quickly gave the first group a tour of the facilities, made sure they knew what they had to do before next time … and matched them up with Americans.
Then we had a break until the next group turned up at 4.45 pm our time (9.45 CST). I had a couple of technical jobs to do: change the video tape in the camera, and save the SnapzPro file. The first one went fine … but the last proved to be a major problem. The conversion to a QuickTime movie was a really big job, and it wasn't anywhere near finished by the time the next group turned up. The save process slowed my computer down considerably, so I got as far as the introduction to the island, and then I had to restart my computer and come back … Fortunately, Bryan was around and he took over, matching Europeans to Americans. By the time I got back, the interaction was fully underway, so I flitted from pair to pair, making sure that everyone knew what they were going to do.
The third group were scheduled to come at 5.15, but the students weren't following the schedule … and most of them had already turned up! There was only Birgithe from Molde who turned up, and she studied the pilot course in the autumn, so she didn't need a tour of the island. Her buddies were both the people who'd had technical problems, so I matched Birgithe up with a US counterpart and made an arrangement for us to do this again on Wednesday, 13th.
My overall impression was that things went well. Students now seem to know what they're doing, and to have gained a familiarity with the basic tools and functions. I've mailed them all and turned Bryan's technical tips into a video podcast which was published on Friday. Today I'm theoretically free, so I'll update the Course Blog, fill up the web site, and make a Course Launch podcast tomorrow when I get back to the office.
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