The airborne professor in a dangerous time

The UPEI board of governors and president are not acting fast enough to keep ahead of the growing crisis in education, and all their strategic plans appear to have fallen like houses of cards due to new uncertainties.

It is imperative that the university cut the extra fees and tuition for online courses in fall 2020 and introduce an experimental teaching period in which professors are encouraged to experiment much more than normal until we figure out quality solutions. For almost the last 10 years I have been trying to figure out a way to use the online Moodle system to extend the reach of my teaching in the philosophy program, and some of it has worked and other parts flop.

To inspire the president of UPEI to act bolder and faster, and for my colleagues to jump in to the adventure of online university education, I have half-composed and half-borrowed a military analogy for the new hazards of teaching to instruct the governors of the university better in these dangerous times.

I am an airborne professor! I jump by parachute into the world of online education. I volunteered to do it, knowing full well the hazards of remote learning and the extra work involved. I am a spearhead professor, I blaze the way to new experiments in education. I jump behind, before and above the ignorance of humanity. I know that some day I may have to teach without support for days on end. Therefore, I keep my mind and body always fit to do my part in any educational mission. I am self-reliant and unafraid. I teach hard and aim to excel in online learning rather than use it to dodge and defeat educational growth.

I have pride in being an airborne professor! I will never let down online education and the trust that students put into their professors as they figure out what to do. I do not shirk from the dullest teaching duties and my wit and equipment for overcoming ignorance will always be combat ready. I will show respect and watch my behaviour online. I will teach fearless speech and relentless listening, and the courage to see when you are truly wrong to all. I will never surrender while I still have the means to educate, though I may be outnumbered or sabotaged by political enemies of the revolution in higher education.

I belong to a proud team of educators, and I volunteer to teach where others may not want to go or serve.

Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere ... I can adapt to the challenges of online learning. An airborne professor is not merely a teacher who arrives by parachute to educate after the death of the old classroom, but an elite doctor dealing with crisis-shocked students and the university expects the teacher to march farther and faster, to educate against all odds, and to be more self-reliant than any other teacher.

I shall never fail my students by shirking any duty. Surrender is not in my DNA. I shall display a high degree of initiative and will teach on to complete my mission, though I be the last professor standing. I shall prove my ability as a professor by overcoming ignorance in myself and my students, not by quarrelling with my comrade professors. I shall always realize that ignorance is overcome by professors teaching as a team, that the airborne professor fights first and blazes a path into the new world of online learning. By my actions and deeds alone, I speak for my teaching ability and the future of higher education.

My own father was in the Canadian air force, so I was always destined to be airborne in some way, too. Thanks to the Airborne Creed of the Association of the United States Army for rhetorical support and logistics, see ausa.org/ airborne-creed if you need to understand the roots of my mission. Cut university tuition fees for online courses now!

Professor Tony Couture teaches in the philosophy department at the University of Prince Edward Island.