 This
is a “TxDLA Distant Moment” of my own that
I would like to share with everyone. It brings both a laugh and
a tear inside me, as I’m sure it will to others. At TxDLA
2000, we were walking out of the wonderful restaurant on the
Riverwalk in San Antonio that our President, Deborah Harrison
had selected. Don Foshee and I had been talking about TxDLA 2001
and how it would be fun to have some kind of silly or goofy thread
of events running throughout the conference. Sandy Frieden, our
President-elect, overheard us talking about different ideas.
Since she was in charge of next year’s conference,
she warmed up to the idea and placed us in charge of FUN!,
to put it in Sandy language.
As most everyone knows, Don was stricken
with illness that disallowed him to work on this task with
me. I have to say…the
memories I have of Don inspired me to come up with the Distant
Moment Awards and I’ve been in on committee meetings
attempting to come up with other fun ideas ever since. For
that matter, even things on the fly have been inflicted on
the conference attendees, like calling in the National Guard
to the 2001 conference to hush the crowd up, accompanied by
an incredible performance by Sandy, our president at that time!
Therefore, the Distant Moment Awards
are back again at TxDLA 2004 on Galveston Island! Do you
have a new or even old embarrassing moment, or calamity of
errors that you would like to go public with? Remember Muscle
Man, Spanky and Darla, and Payne in the Butt? I’ve
attached one quick example for you to read.
If you want to share a laugh with everyone,
please send your entry for a Distant Moment Award to me (jopling@unt.edu)
no later than March 25th. Keep them brief enough for a quick,
one-minute reading at 300 words max. Listen for the Distant
Moment Awards to be announced at the conference. The conference
is always an incredibly productive event for professionals
in distance learning, with fun included.
Jenny
Jopling
Distant Moment Awards Chair
|
Foot Warmer
When we decided to push nursing into
the distant arena, we had to do a check of all their computers
and upgrade any that needed it. This had me going from
computer to computer on our Dallas campus to check for good
systems and the right versions of software and browsers.
I went into a faculty office and there wasn't a visible computer. I asked
where it was and she swore she didn't have one - never did. I had an
inventory sheet saying it should be there but couldn't see it. Then I
noticed in the corner of her office under a stack of papers, a computer monitor. I
pointed to it and said there's the monitor. Is there a tan metal box
(I was afraid to say CPU) anywhere? She just shook her head and said
no. I looked a little harder and sitting on the floor under her desk
right where her feet would go was the CPU - and it was ON! I asked her
about it. I pointed to it and asked - "what's that". She
looked and said
"Oh that's my foot warmer. It gets so cold in here, I put my feet
on that and they stay warm." She had the cpu on it's side with the
power supply up and kept it on all the time so it was generating a nice patch
of heat for her feet.
Yes - that's a true story and I even have witnesses to it. The remarkable
thing, this professor has two courses on line in Blackboard now and loves her
computer - even if her feet are a lot colder now.
Jean Mankoff
Senior Instructional Coordinator
Texas Woman's University |
