Podcast?

I had a really good class today. I think I may even like doing this. Is it possible I actually missed being up in front of a class? That would be so odd for me. And yet, today I had a great class. Same first week, production planning, here's who is who on the production organizational chart as for the last how many years and yet today - awesome.

Production Planning is a big class this year, 29 people. I picked up like a dozen from over in MAM/MEIM land. The new demographic makes for some different questions than I am used to, and the academic grad students are something to see too. Very different from conservatory drama students.

One weird part today was I noticed I was being recorded. I've had people ask for permission before, or had it be part of a reasonable accommodation request, but I've never actually seen someone do it. This guy was using an iPod with a mic, front row, hard to miss. He took digital photos of the board at the end of class too.

When I first found out about podcasting I briefly thought it might be neat to post my lectures. After a little bit the idea floated away, but today I was reminded. He said he would give me the audio files if I wanted them. I don't know. I mean, I like my lectures often, and there are people that aren't here that I would like to be able to hear then occasionally - being that there's no "take your parents to work day." But really I don't know.

Today for instance I talked about several code violations that are systemic and normal for our industry, and also commented on something that another company had done that depending on the dollar value may have been a felony. All good contextual examples - I get routinely high marks for my contextual examples - but maybe not the best thing to have on the internet.

I also think I depend a little on the ephemeral nature of lecturing. If I get something wrong, I'll just get it right next time. Setting things in stone feels so - permanent. And, I wonder a little if CMU has a policy. They may not want me putting my classes online seeing as how its now more than $40k to attend school here.

Maybe I'll just ask for the pictures and the files and then decide later.

The picture thing is a real good idea by the way. If you haven't done it you might want to. I started photographing the board last year in Technical Direction when I had lectured about something that had come up from a current production. If the topic was good, and I had no notes to work from I often photographed the board to use to reconstruct lecture notes for coming semesters. It works pretty well.

Of course, this person might decide my lectures are in fact boring. Maybe the best indicator of if I should podcast will be if he continues to record. Guess we'll see.