Both conferences I attended were in Edmonton, Alberta and I was able to make research presentations at both. At the first conference I spoke on the Brooker Limit and the pedagogical role of classroom demonstrations as part of the methodological way that we encourage higher level thinking (integration) in our students but if Integrated Thinking is our Charybdis than Edu-tainment is our Scylla and we need caution (c'mon cut me some slack if you don't get classical allusions look them up).
I spoke a separate time on the unique danger of methanol in lecture demonstrations and showed that my research indicated that more than any other chemical (excluding acids) methanol is implicated in demonstrations where students get hurt.
The organizers of the first conference were very nice and by way of appreciation for my presentations they gave me ... wait for it ... A BEAKER MUG!
But this, boys and girls is not just any old beaker mug. It is not like those cheap $ 20 mugs that I have been giving away. No indeed. This puppy is a heavy walled magnificent thing (it even has a beak!) that I will cherish for years. If only I drank coffee, perhaps I should start just so I could amaze my fellow professors with the mug.
The second conference was at the Shaw Convention Center on the banks of the the North Saskatchewan River in downtown Edmonton. The convention center was very nice (that is it behind me) but it is in a part of town that is very run down and I was very pleased to find this parking lot down by the river. Until I found the lot I had to use on-street parking and the conference center is in a bit of a seedy part of town and the only spots I could find were somewhat disconcertingly in front of"XXX Adult Peep Show" parlours. In fact, one day I was convinced that my rental car had been stolen until I remembered that it was in front of the Strip Club NOT the Peep Show.
The second conference was 10x bigger than the first conference and we had about 15 sessions going in parallel (which made for a lot of running around). I presented in the Chemical Education session on the increasing Home Schooled demographic in first year chemistry and discussed the unique challenges faced by students from Home Schooled environments and how the typical design of first year chemistry courses is especially intimidating for them. To provide some context I used examples from our experience with LabEx. I got a very positive response to this presentation and had a number of very encouraging conversations in the corridors after my seminar.
After the conferences I managed to get to the Rocky Mountains on a day trip that involved driving over 1000 km in one day but it was worth it. Here I am in Jasper trying to decide if we should drive on to British Columbia and make it over the Great Divide or head down the Icelands Parkway connecting Jasper to Banff.
All in all, the conferences were great and I am glad that I spent the time getting the research done and the presentations ready. I have 90 days remaining now before classes start again and I have to make some important time and family management decisions now. Do I make one last hard push to get some new research done? Do I rest now for the return to teaching? Rest sounds good but I would like to have a solid new research project started before I have to get on the ABU-hamster-wheel-of-destiny again.
I was seriously touched by the thoughtful students that put this card together for me last fall. It has been on my desk all through my sabbatical as a reminder that the Lord called me to ABU for reasons that did not particularly mean becoming famous for research. My student evaluations may not reflect it but teaching has got to be my number one priority and I guess I need to start making some adjustments in my thinking. In the words of the sage Grafiki "It is time!"
