Dear students,
Welcome to this year’s class of the “Uncertain 2 Degrees “! Due to Sars-Cov-2, the course will be held in digital form this year. As our course is usually a course with strong teacher-student interaction, we had to adapt some aspects, but we will also try (with your help) to preserve and redesign as much of it as possible. Below you will find information about the plan of the course, the tools you will need to use and the deliverables we expect from you.
Plan of the course:
Our course is divided into two parts this year. Part I are lecture videos. We will provide you with about 20 minutes long videos every week. You can download and watch these videos at any time during the week. However, we expect you to watch these videos at some point during the week. Make notes if you have questions or want to discuss aspects. There is a possibility for discussion during our interactive slots, part II.
The interactive slots take place online every Thursday between 10:15 and 11 am. You all have to participate in the interactive slots. We want to use this format to allow questions and discussions. On three occasions (Sessions 5, 7 and 8) you will participate in online role-playing. For more information on the role-plays, see Role-Playing in 2020.
There will be a feedback session at the end of the course and an online meeting where you can discuss your essay questions in smaller groups. We will keep you informed about these plans.
For more information about the content of the course, see Course Structure 2020, Session Plan 2020 and Learning Outcomes.
Tools:
The most important tool for you is this blog. All information is provided to you through this blog (links for lecture videos, homework, etc.), and you need to add content to this blog to pass the class. Before the lecture starts, we will send you an email with the password for the password-protected content and ask you to send us your email addresses and your user names so that we can set up accounts for you. The blog consists of three main parts: under Course Materials you will find all the materials you need for this course, under Course Information you will find guidelines and help if necessary (e.g. under How to…), and last but not least, under Uncertainty you can add and read blog entries. Please familiarize yourself with the blog.
The second tool we use is Lecture2go. You do not have to actively use this platform of the University of Hamburg, but we will upload lecture videos there every week. With the link and password you get from the blog, you have to download and watch these videos.
The third tool is Zoom. We use Zoom for our interactive slots every Thursday from 10:15 to 11 am. You are obliged to participate in these slots via Zoom. A password-protected link will be provided via the blog. Again, please make yourself familiar with this tool. We will set the rules (e.g. rules for requests to speak) for organising our meetings via Zoom during the first slot.
What we expect from you:
- Not miss more than two interactive slots.
- You have to be the main speaker or the moderator during a role-play at least once (for more information on role-playing go to Role-playing in 2020).
- You have to write at least one blog entry (300-600 words) and comment at least one blog post of one of your fellow students or lecturers.
- You have to write an essay at the end of the course. The total grade is your grade of the essay
For more information, please read Rules and Procedures 2020.
A few last words: We know that this is a new and very unfortunate situation. Sitting alone in front of the computer is not slightly as much fun as being out there with your friends to learn, discuss and challenge yourself. It is also not as much fun to give a lecture in front of the screen, as it is to give a lecture to students. We are all in this together. So be careful with yourself and with us. Some things will not work as planned, others will take longer than we are used to. There will be a certain frustration. Please, keep your motivation up anyway. However, this situation also offers many opportunities to learn new things, and we are lucky to have an online semester at all. Let’s make the best of it!
We’ll see you on Thursday, April 23 for the first interactive slot. We will publish the password-protected link in the blog later this week. Please make sure that you are all signed up for the blog by Wednesday 22 April at the latest. If you have any problems with registration or other questions, concerns or ideas, please contact Maike Scheffold (maike.scheffold@uni-hamburg.de).