Sara Hjelm asked me to translate the Dutch post that I wrote this morning, and maybe this is a good idea.

This morning I started working at 6. I wanted to record the audio for 2 movies for an online course that’s due on Tuesday to replace my lectures. At 7 am I had finished two times two minutes. Yesterday I worked the whole day on compiling learning paths and now I am halfway through.

This made me realize that I’m making the mistake that my boss at Leiden University warned me for. I’m trying to deliver the same quality as I look for in my regular teaching. This is impossible in such a short time. For the two lectures that I was supposed to give this week at my university college, I already had spent multiple hours just to update them. And I still have a lot of other classes to replace and many other tasks still on the pile…

Dear colleagues, do your best but be reasonable. We are in for a marathon, not a sprint. Nobody will benefit if we crash. This will be something I will keep rereading myself I guess…

The same can be said for your students and pupils. These are also very strange times for them too. Some of them will also lose people, they are probably afraid and they miss their relatives, friends and even you. Don’t overstress them, please!

Take care, everybody!

(and if you want a bit of hope, check this video)