Our students get all their electronic reading assignments via an intranet configuration called Cyberbook (the contents of which also download to their laptops for off-line use when they’re at home). The same information is also linked via an Outlook calendar. Classes start Monday, and all the students are in their “Glad to be here. I need to make a good first impression, and I’m gonna finish this thing at the top of the class” mode. For the most part, you can multiply that times 580 students, and there’s a lot of anxiety in the building this week from overachievers.

I’ve taken on the responsibility for scheduling and maintaining the Cyberbook and Team One (our Office) Web Tool. We use Dreamweaver MX to do much of this, and I requested the software be installed on my machine last week as soon as I learned we had it (limited licensing, so it isn’t on all machines). It was installed yesterdayafternoon. The same day I learned six Cyberbook critical files for our course hadn’t been updated for this year yet.

Students were clamoring for access to their reading assignments (and rightly so). They could get them from the Outlook link, but the Cyberbook was displaying last year’s pages–not a good first impression. I managed to get two of the files updated yesterday afternoon. That was also the first time I’d really seen the tool, so I didn’t know much about how it worked. Driving home, the image in my head cleared, and I knew what needed to be done.

This morning, I came in and started on the reading list file. That took me all day, but when I managed to get the readings typed in for the first week and a half, I truncated the file and submitted it for upload before resuming work on the rest of the course. (At least something was there when the General asked about it at the staff meeting today–whew! I didn’t get the full story, but I knew my boss was happy for that.)

Long, busy day, and the class academic monitor kept stopping by my desk for a progress update. In reality, this was a good thing, because, if we can train the students to work through her, and she works with me, I’ll not have to answer the same question six hundred times and can actually fix the problem (dynamic links in lesson plans are kicking my butt at the moment).

The luxurious days of savoring time for professional reading in the office are over. This will be a busy couple of months. Our class runs from Monday until mid-November. Then we have two more classes from March to the end of November. I’m thinking about sitting in on a research seminar, but may pass on that this year. The students are here from now until next June. There are three departments, at least two are teaching at any given time. During the “lull” period, we’re revamping course material, participating in professional development (either locally or elsewhere), or something similar.