Monday was my first day of teaching at Charles U. My class was moved from some far-out location that other faculty members told me was less than ideal to a penthouse in a renovated mansion quite close to the center of the city. The whole building will become university space next year, but so far there is only my group…Civil Sector Studies…and one other in the space. It has a few problems, such as being a 3rd floor, walk-up. Also, it is a loft design with total open space above the walls of the offices and the single large classroom. Only one class can be taught at a time, and every sound is heard by everyone on the floor. If only I could understand Czech, I could learn all about the topics being taught while I am working at my desk. The space is fresh and has all new furniture. I have a skylight over my desk. All the faculty seem pleased with the new situation, except for the problem of no ceilings.
My class today went well. There are 12 "regular" students with whom I will meet once a week for the semester. Then there are six more who are "distance" students. They are part-time students who can come to the weekly classes, if they choose, but they don't have to. They are all employed, many of them outside of Prague in other parts of the Czech Republic. They meet on Saturdays. I only have to teach one seminar for them...on April 1. The other Saturdays they have lectures by other professors, on other topics.
The grading seems complex. Because I had heard that it was essentially pass/fail, I worked up a point system. I offered a total 150 points for things like attendance (1) a reaction paper based on an assigned reading (up to 60 at 10 each), a report on an assigned interview with a nonprofit leader (20) etc. My syllabus said they needed to accumulate 100 points to pass the course.
Then Monday, I learned that the students get a different number of credits for the course, depending on how well they do in it. So they don't get a certain number of credits with an A, B, or C grade; they get 1, 2, or 3 credits, depending on how well they do. My department chair said 3 credits would be only for WONDERFUL work. They need to accumulate 120 credits for their master’s degree. Okay. Revision-time. What I finally handed out says 90 points = 1 credit, 110 points = 2 credits, and 130 points = 3 credits. Before the next class, I'll talk to another professor just to confirm that I understand this correctly. If not...I'll revise. Oh, and the distance students only get 1 credit.
I continue with my Czech language class. The vocabulary is hard for me to remember because there are no cognates and it does not have Latin roots. But I’m slowly getting a bit better at the pronunciation at least, which is also hard.
After Czech class on Tuesday, I walked to Obecni Dum (Municipal House) and went to the Prague Symphony concert at the Smetana Hall. Beautiful...both the place and music. I’ll include a photo. I heard symphonies by Mozart and Stravinsky, and a Schumann concerto.
I almost went to the wrong concert. When I went in there were two box offices. I picked one and bought my ticket, only to discover it was for a concert in a secondary hall. I complained until they gave me back my 1000 czk ($40), and then bought what I wanted for 600 czk ($24).
I had a delightful walk home after the concert and met a couple of lost Brits, whom I was able to help. I felt like a Prague-pro.
Today, I had lunch with a couple of young professionals from an organization based in the UK. Among other services offered, the group acts as coach and advocate for NGOs, to help them build capacity in managerial areas such as financial management and accounting. We talked about how they might include in their offerings a communications component and perhaps also a component on measurement of results of “soft” activities, such as networking and public relations. I enjoyed thinking about ways to apply some of the strategies and techniques that I know to the situations that these NGOs face, particularly the skepticism that they meet from funders concerning the basic missions of the nonprofits. Unlike in the US, where nonprofits have benefited from a high level of trust because of the good work that is their mission, here there apparently is an ingrained mistrust of any organization that claims to have goals that focus neither on governing nor on profit-seeking. It would be a challenge to design a useable communications/measurement module for the seminars these folks provide.
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