Christmas is filled with family fun, celebration of a lot of activities and the birth of Jesus Christ.
As a child growing up in a predominantly Catholic country, we look forward to celebrate the 9-days before Christmas. Christmas day, December 25th is a special day, all dressed up. After church we go to almost all relatives' and friends’ houses but specially our Godparents to receive their blessings and gifts. Christmas is truly for the kids.
Having happily worked at the Schulich School of Business for a Very Long Time, I do miss my Faculty of Administrative Studies (formerly)/Schulich School of Business Family, especially at this time of the year, where we all sit together to our annual holiday lunch, hosted by the Dean, to give thanks and celebrate our blessings and the School and personal/individual accomplishment.

To All My Family at Schulich, Wishing You All the Very Best, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!
Stay well and Safe.

I miss interacting with students in a real classroom. Maybe we should open classrooms for faculty Zoom classes and use their cardboard cut-outs the way some sports leagues do to create fake fans. Without the commutes it's a great time for cranking out publications. Waiting for enough snow to use my season pass at Hardwood Hills.

What's helped me stay strong during the pandemic is the students. As difficult as it is for the instructor, it's likely 3x as difficult for the students who are paying a large sum of $$ and have high expectations of both learning and successful placement after school. My commitment to them has driven me to adapt, create engaging experiences and work develop the same relationships with the students that I would have in person.

When we all had to start working/learning remotely from home, our life became a little hectic: we were, continuous worries about the safety of our loved ones, trying to not lose sight of self-care and mental wellness, managing conflicting personal. Many funny things I had to do in front of the Zoom camera: fix Lego pieces, help a kid to change into a Disney princess dress, etc. I enjoyed having my 5-year-old twins around, they were the cutest work buddies, and one day I noticed the change in my kids' vocabulary and their tone. They love pretend-play, they take on various roles and it is amazing to watch them play. One day, I overheard a very (fake) polite conversation between my twins, who were using a very advanced for their age language: "When you struggle, ensure you ask for help, we are here to support you", "you can do it, for instance, you can reach out for assistance", "in order to assist better, we would like to understand the full story, for instance how this all started". It turned out they played pretend work, where one was a boss and another twin was a client. Apparently, their mommy talks like this on her video calls. Regardless of how busy and hectic the work from home can be, it is full of amazing little moments of joy. We just need to look for them harder.

Regular exercise (Pilates & Yoga) and frequent walks outdoors have been instrumental to my physical and mental well-being during COVID. It's been a great way to detach and refocus- particularly when I've made some kind of Zoom blunder (like sharing too much information with the 'share screen' function during a meeting!).

Fortunately, I have great colleagues that I can call upon at any time for help (quite often with technology- the bane of my existence!), or just to talk through a work-related issue. They have been a tremendous source of strength throughout these months and their support has been greatly appreciated.

I've stayed in contact with highly supportive friends and family via Zoom, and reconnected with old friends around the world to share stories of how we are each dealing with this new reality in our respective countries. Knowing that others are experiencing many of same concerns, fears and anxieties has done a world of good for my own mental health.

My son thinks it is hilarious that I am explaining to others on how to use zoom technology. The sharing of information and team work with fellow instructors have risen to new levels.

Working from home alone and lonely, I discovered BTS, also known as the Bangtan Boys, a seven-member South Korean boy band. The septet—composed of Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook - are so inspiring, delivering hope and honest, heartfelt messages to their fans: ARMY, as they are called. Their "Class of 2020 Commencement Speech" was so special and touching. I LUV their music and energic dance moves. Even if they sing in Korean, music is a universal language, and their message comes across loud and clear. In my darkest and most difficult moments they have helped me feel better and made me dance until I was happy again.

BAKING.. baking bread, baking brownies, baking cookies, baking squares.. Feeling proud that my pandemic pantry was ready before the stores were sold out of flour and yeast.

Realizing that computer gaming can be an important safe, social activity, but taking the credit of being a cool mom for increasing the play time limits anyway.

Teaching an experiential creativity-oriented business class has been a real challenge at a distance.
I am so encouraged by how resourceful our Schulich students have been when given limited parameters to work with (whatever was in their house or apartment). Food robots, using Lego for modelling, creating optic Ai prototypes all communicating their ideas.

https://kellyparke.screenlight.tv/shares/Ve1EW7UPvCawaP5KkhKpY4yRlYVuHim4?_=1607106921475

It was Saturday, May 2, 2020 and we had two Zoom classes scheduled. The first class was scheduled to start at 8:30 am and the students were from our partner networks around the world (China, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel & USA). I accessed my email via my mobile account around 7 am and found multiple messages from students indicating they couldn't access Canvas which had the Zoom meeting links. I received an urgent email from the Professor indicating that he couldn't access Canvas or Zoom to start his class. I immediately contacted UIT but did not receive a response. The professor did the same with no response. We started troubleshooting and I tried to access Zoom from my phone and it worked. The professor accessed Zoom through his personal account and was able to conduct the class successfully. I was hoping and praying that the system would be resolved for the start of the afternoon class. Unfortunately, no luck there as the system was still down. We managed to make it through the afternoon class using an external Zoom account as the Professor was connecting from Chicago - luckily this class was also completed successfully. We finally found out late that afternoon that York encountered a Cyberattack the evening of Friday, May 1st which resulted in all systems being down. From that day on, I decided if I can get through May 2nd on Zoom, I can get through all other Zoom sessions. Zoom classes have been smooth sailing since then :)!

My wife and I have been diligently abiding by advice to avoid socializing, running only essential errands, etc. To keep busy (really, for my wife to keep busy and sane), I have been "teaching" my wife inventory management, applying best practices to stockpiling produce and dry goods. We now efficiently go grocery shopping, once a week, doing a "milk run" to four different stores (basically, T&T, Sobeys, and No Frills) to stock up on goodies. 🙂

I was in the midst of a meeting and the chair of the meeting, only a few sentences earlier, had indicated that this was an important and serious conversation. Having unintentionally left my mute button on, everyone could hear the toilet flush, as my 1 year old, who was in the predictable phase of finding a flushing toilet particularly fascinating, came out of the bathroom. Looking up at the screen with a look of pride, having successfully flushed the toilet, there she was in plain view dressed only in her diaper holding some toilet paper. It was hard to take anything serious from that point on. Should any of us?

I was in the midst of a meeting and the chair of the meeting, only a few sentences earlier, had indicated that this was an important and serious conversation. Having unintentionally left my mute button on, everyone could hear the toilet flush, as my 1 year old, who was in the predictable phase of finding a flushing toilet particularly fascinating, came out of the bathroom. Looking up at the screen with a look of pride, having successfully flushed the toilet, there she was in plain view dressed only in her diaper holding some toilet paper. It was hard to take anything serious from that point on. Should any of us?

There is one instance that stands out to me during this pandemic, although there have been even more instances I have left my mic on mute while talking in a meeting. Luckily for me this story is not a zoom call, and not suffering the same fate. When the world turned upside down, I was one day away from taking a vacation to California. It was tough to realize I would not get to visit the warm beaches soak in the sun and instead go on a grocery store tour across the GTA just to get package of toilet paper. Not the kind of travel I had anticipated. Knowing the trip was cancelled and the likelihood of travelling there anytime soon was out of the question, I tried to make the most of it and bring California to me by cranking the heat in my house, changing my outfit so that of vacation mode and adjusting my zoom background to one of the many spots I was set to visit. It certainly made my last class of the semester more tropical. Unfortunately I could not keep that festive approach to all future zoom meetings, not because I didn’t like my new work attire, but I could not afford to keep heating the house to those temperatures.

I do not have much to report, except that I very much miss wearing my heels and fancy outfits. 😊 And I have been buying (safely online) even more footwear since it has become my only entertainment… I will not say how many pairs because it is embarrassing. ☹

I have kept myself busy by learning a new skill - painting. It's a great way to spend some spare time to paint a art piece, and use it to decorate your home. I often share my paintings with our team members via Zoom. I look forward to bring my paintings to them and show them in person. I hope everyone could find something to keep them entertained during this difficult time. Have a great holiday reason, everyone!

I started noticing that “Harry” was indeed a very good student at the very beginning of the session. Asking the right questions connecting the dots and reflecting on ideas. I was so proud of him and a bit worried that nobody else is commenting on his ideas.
I decided to give him extra contribution points at the end of the session.
.
.
.

Only to realize that “Harry” was not even my student and the other students had a feeling he wasn’t either. 😤
It was the right time to add “authentic” registration feature to my classes!

When taping some lectures at the beginning of the online era, I involved my family, with my wife behind the camera and my older son doing the video editing, for which I "paid" him in extra video game time. Naturally, my younger son also wanted to help, so I asked him to scroll down the text of the lecture on the iPad for me to read (in the absence of a teleprompter). He always forgot to move it along so I needed to make gestures or stop the recording and start again. In the end, I had to give him him extra video game to stop doing his work. Not sure that was a good life lesson...

I did not shut the door tightly to the room where I teach and the dog, Scooch, wandered in one day put his paws up on the desk and looked into the camera. The students thought it was great and demanded a "Scooch" break in the next class. I obliged and Scooch repaid me by licking himself while on full display to the class. Scooch gets an "F"

When you check your email while on break except you forgot you were screensharing your browser.......

"Um, excuse me, we can see that...."

Please also take a look at this link to a 35 second video made by some 4th year students https://kapwi.ng/c/6UyhI6vQ It is very cute, it shows the other side of the coin and would set a lighthearted tone, if you want I can email you the movie file. I also am being sent a video from a different student tomorrow that apparently is rather touching. Please email me if you would like to see it.

Everyone tells me how though their semester has been, working flat out on days, nights and weekends. Through all of this, I have gained a new appreciation for how important the support is that others provide in such times. During this time, my family made sure to take me out for walks to keep me healthy, or made some tea and fed me black chocolate to keep me going. I also experienced very strong support from my colleagues at work - the OMIS area and, particularly, my area coordinator - being patient with me and filling in the gaps I left behind. Through all of this, my appreciation of and thankfulness for my family and friends both at home and at work has deepened once more.

I never thought I'd say that I enjoy attending meetings, but our weekly team meetings have helped bring a sense of normalcy during these times.

In May 2020, I was teaching a business law course from my home office to MAcc students located around the world. Suddenly, I lost internet connectivity and my heart skipped a few beats as I scrambled to reconnect with my class. Luckily, I had the cell-phone number of a student located in Toronto. I called her to let her know what had happened and she immediately conveyed my message to the other students. Within minutes, my internet connectivity was restored and, much to my surprise and relief, all of my students were still logged-in to our Zoom class! My students understood the situation completely and we continued our discussions, as if the interruption had never occurred.

I had the great pleasure of teaching two BBA courses online this Fall and we had a few more internet interruptions along the way; but things were far less stressful, as I knew that my students would understand the situation and that I could reconnect with them within minutes.

It is always a little sad when an enjoyable course comes to an end, but I am so thankful to be teaching in this pandemic as it has reminded me how resilient, thoughtful and engaging our students really are, and that we can still connect with them remotely in meaningful and authentic ways. I look forward to more of that, as our journey continues in the New Year!

Typically and traditionally Minerva organizes for Bill Graham and me a first meeting session with all of the freshman IMBA students entering school in September each year. This year – year one of classroom attendance by way of Zoom, Minerva invited the first of our freshman groups into the Zoom meeting room and introduced them to Bill and me. The first session proceeded quite well I thought untll the group had departed the meeting room and we awaited group two. Bill said to me – well that went quite well – but no one saw you! You more than likely left your video conferencing in the off” mode. I had of course quite unintentionally – simply replied to Bill and Minerva – “ Oh well – must have been having a ‘senior moment ‘😊” We carried on! Warmest regards