Conference Poster Style. . .

 

Wednesday this week, we had the in-person day of our annual internal "Spring Talks" teaching and learning conference. During the event, instructors at all levels, from graduate students to tenured professors, have the opportunity to present papers, talks, round table discussions, and posters on their particular teaching approaches and methods.  This year's was well-attended, interesting, enthusiastic. and even vibrant you might say.  

Yours truly presented a poster on Multimodal Student Supports for Hybrid General Education Courses. The subject matter dealt specifically with my use of brief explainer animations, audio podcast segments, and most recently fairly high production value talking-head videos to support students' collaborative problem-solving activities, around which all of my courses are designed regardless of specific subject matter.  Judging by the number of passers-by who hung around asking questions and engaging with me, there was a fair amount of interest in the topic.  It is not always so.

Anyway, it was a chilly day, so my attire was more November or early December than May.  Think Bertie Wooster, Bingo Little, Tuppy Glossop mooning about Totleigh Towers, or James Herriot attending to farmers' sheep and cattle along the Yorkshire dales.  But as I quipped many years ago now to a student who asked why I dressed thusly, "Well, if what I have to say does not interest you, at least I'm fun to look at for a few minutes."

All items shown have been in the rotation for quite a few years with the exception of the J. Press sweater vest, which was a birthday gift last year from my wonderful sister, who lives just minutes from the Washington, D.C. location. That particular store is just off Connecticut Avenue a few blocks south of Dupont Circle, and it's well worth a visit if for no other reasons than the staff actually know their stock.  

The all-cotton OCBD pictured above is a light green Land's End number that I've had for 20+ years. A relic from a time when the company did not yet sell "no iron" dress shirts treated with formaldehyde and other chemicals.  Extremely soft at this point, but with no visible fraying anywhere yet. I felt it worked nicely with the far busier Fair Isle motif of the sweater.  

As always, I stuck out like a sore thumb among the throngs of male (or male identifying) attendees and presenters. Oh sure, there were a few with sports jackets and a couple wearing rumbled suits without neckties. Sadly, it is not just academics who seem oblivious to the once common practice of putting one's best foot forward.  But I suppose in an era where many churches seem happy to welcome parishioners in their pajamas, what can you expect?  

Our own neighborhood Episcopal church around the corner and just up the road from us (five minutes from the house) is one such congregation. I feel like a fish out of water there (for a number of reasons besides matters of attire).  It's a far cry from  the Christ Church Cathedral, Saint Gabriel's, and All Saints' of my younger years in Saint Louis and outside of Philadelphia.  But that's a topic for another time.

-- Heinz-Ulrich