Picture of a planet

Photo by Daniel Olah on Unsplash

Usually when there are communication issues, I blame Mercury. My assumption that Mercury was retrograde this week is not totally unfounded. If you consider times when communication has been hindered or confused, you’ll likely find that Mercury was in retrograde. As the planet that represents communication and thinking patterns, that’s not surprising.

So what was going on this week with all the tech issues? BlueJeans acting up, cyber attacks on large companies (the one my partner works for)… Not Mercury.

I see this as a good reminder that as we move into the new term, and use of the Internet and all online technology increases with the ‘back to school/work’ rush, we need to be prepared. It’s too easy to become reliant on technology in a way that makes us forget there were once other ways of communicating and interacting. For sure those ways are limited due to the ongoing pandemic, but it’s important we don’t lose sight of making sure that we’re ready for when things, inevitably, go pear-shaped. It’s no different from making sure you can function without Power Point in your class when the computer goes down or the power goes out. We need to have a ‘plan B.’

Knowing that technology will let us down, allows us to take a breath and not get phased, when the best laid plans go awry. Terri did a great job this week of navigating her session on Blackboard Learn, when BlueJeans decided it didn’t want to ‘play.’ She demonstrated the calm and professionalism we need to maintain, even as we want to throw the computer out of the window.

Thinking of this has made me consider how to incorporate the ‘oh crap’ factor into whatever I’m teaching – not just in terms of my own planning for the inevitable, but in terms of helping colleagues in their own work. For sure content and strategies are key, but so are multi-modal approaches and back-up plans. In demonstrating our own ability to go with the flow, even as it feels like being a salmon swimming upstream, we show students how they too can remain calm.

And,as not much feels calm in the world right now, isn’t that a wonderful gift we can give each other?