Behind the scenes

Classes start Tuesday and I (and my colleagues) are amped. We are looking forward to the new school year; we're ready to do what we do! We've been working long hours to prepare syllabi, answering quesitons about our classes and enrollment, attending meetings in DL, Fergus and on campus, working on committees to improve what we do and what the campus does to make students feel welcome and successful, and preparing for the first week of classes.

The week begins with a bang: Monday is New Student Orientation. Faculty will meet new students and help get them acquainted with the campus and our services. Tuesday is not only the first day of campus classes, but we also have orientation for students enrolled in our new accelerated courses.

My own to do list:

finalize 4 completely different syllabi and copy them Monday
make sure my two online course sites on D2L are ready to go Tuesday morning (this includes a lot of proofreadings, tweaking of settings, and other mundane details)
get the first day materials ready (create, copy)
try to find time to do a little grocery shopping and to clean my house! I won't have time once classes start :)

I believe my students are:
getting back-to-school supplies (for themselves and for their own kids)
spending time with family and friends
finalizing course registrations and schedules
working as many shifts as they can before classes start
some are moving
etc.