College Plans - RPLOG
Participants
Date
13/1/2018
Log
"Good morning," Narwen calls cheerfully. The skunk beast, still wearing those hideously colourful shorts, is waiting at the head of a small conference table. A few pads of paper and pens are arranged in the centre, along with cups, a dogbowl, and a pot of Zephyr's infamous coffee. The table is surrounded by chairs in various sizes but Narwen isn't using one, preferring to stand on all fours. "Come on in, don't be shy. Please take a seat, or, y'know." He gestures around the table with a forepaw. "Thanks for coming. Just to make sure we're all in the right place: this is a kick-off meeting to discuss setting up college-level classes. I don't expect us to figure everything out today, and I certainly don't expect to have a research university up and running tomorrow, but maybe we can work out the first steps to bootstrap something. Oh! And before I forget, is there someone who can take notes? I would, but, y'know," he adds, waving his paw.
"I know some of you already," the skunk continues, "but there're some new faces -- and even for folks who've chatted a dozen times in the lobby, we might now know the relevant bits of each others' backgrounds. So let's go round the table and introduce ourselves -- I'll start. So, hi. I'm Narwen, I've done a PhD in physics and taught some classes, but never put together a whole course from scratch. I'm also kind of rusty, since for obvious reasons I haven't taught since P-day and have mostly been doing applied nanite stuff instead of real physics. So that's me. Who's next?"
"Flora. uh... Flora Castillo, even though I don't really use my full name a lot anymore. I've, uh... Got a bachelor in physics... Probably not the best to teach as a result, but unless we find a whole faculty full of doctors somewhere, I figured I can at least chime in, help with some entry-level courses... Or things on quantum-mechanics. I did specialize a bit, even if P-day stopped my plans to get a Masters degree," comes the voice of a particularly small she-cat, mumbling every now and then. She seems a little flighty, and while her outfit isn't the most modest ever, at least she's covered up properly.
The unusually human looking guy in the room, with a lightly patched up lab coat sits at the table, brown hair, haze eyes, and appearing to be about in his mid thirties, sits down with a warm smile, glancing over the rest of the people at the meeting and says, "Hi, I'm Randel... uh, just Randel." and looks a bit awkward sayings, "Family names have kind of lost meaning to me after P-day". Then the man works on brightening up and says, "Was a college student trying to work on a degree before things change, and got much of my education from Zephyr. I specialized in feral behavior research and was a 'so-called' xeno psychologist, as it is listed in the profession. As a requirement, medical knowledge was needed as well, so I technically a doctor, even though it is through Zephyr and in field experience." He then looks down and goes through the worn backpack he brought and mutters, "Shoot, I could take notes, but I think I left stuff for that back at the office." He looks up grumbles, "Great... wonderful example, not bringing pen and paper to an education meeting. Paper is just so..."
A cute and friendly looking lamia girl raises her petite hand to introduce herself. "Hi, I'm just U-uvi. U-uhm, I was born after P-day, so I may not have any official qualifications, but my parents were researchers at RSX, and I used to work there too. I think I'm a scientist of some sorts too, I know a lot about nanites and electronics, some biology too. Anyway, nice to meet y'all~!" She smiles and winks to everyone, before she adds, "O-oh, I can take n-notes!" She grabs some sheets and starts to look for a pencil in her bag. She quickly finds it and neatly places it on a table.
Narwen gives an encouraging nod to Flora. "Okay, pleasure to meet you, Flora, Randel, Uvi. Thanks very much for stepping up. Don't worry if you don't tick all the traditional boxes -- we aren't exactly swimming in full professors, and if we don't at least pass on the knowledge we have then, well, we're a couple of feral attacks away from losing it. So, Let's maybe start by thinking about what we're trying to accomplish, on the timescale of a few years. I've got my own thoughts about that, and about what's realistic, but I'd like to hear yours -- don't want to bias you right off."
"I mean... That's what I figured. A bachelors mightn't be... Much, but it's more than most people know about physics. I'd be happy to provide what I have. Even if my memory's a bit spotty due to, uhm... My past," the she-cat offers, looking away for a moment. "I'd say... Teach what we can? Breadth first, with depth wherever possible? Hopefully we can find someone who knows about the various subjects to get a decent spread..."
"Build... Build from there..."
Randel sighs and sits back up when Uvi covers the note taking job and gives a quiet "thanks". He shrugs off the slight embarrassment and moves his eyes back up to the meeting at hand, and maybe wandering a bit over a few nice figures. He adds in, "Some of what Zephyr has could help with getting people familiar with certain subject matters, but it doesn't have anywhere near the capacity that is required for a school, let alone for a sizable college... Plus the costs aren't that great." He thinks for a moment and gets an idea, "I've been doing pretty well teaching from the books that were salvaged and digitized. Been learning a bit of various things while helping with the current push on education. Though, my worry is student focus. With those... impulses, it can make teaching troubleshoot. I don't suppose we have a way to handle that, right?"
Uvi listens carefully to other people, occasionally writing some words on paper or playing with her hair. When it's her turn to speak, she scratches back of her head and mumbles, "Uuhm, I don't know? I'm not really sure how the system had been working before nanites hit, so.. Maybe we should focus on things which would help restore the world, or build a new one? Like, teaching people how to build machines, repair electronics.. or how nanites work.. Hmm..." She puts a finger on her chin and looks up, getting lost in her thoughts. After a while, she loudly exclaims, looking ant Randel, "Focus~! Right! Uhm, I.. I don't know if it's the right place to say this, but... How about we ask Prommies? They had some succes with teaching people how to.. control themselves." She blushes a little as she says this, and shifts her coils, embarrassed.
Narwen listens. He taps a claw absently against the floor until his ears begin twitching at the noise, then chuffs and stops abruptly. "Yeah, points well taken. Randel, Uvi, I think you're absolutely right about the practical issues -- there're gonna be plenty of those! -- and we'll come back to those in a sec. But I want to maybe follow up on something that Uvi touched on there. There's the whole range of subjects from before P-Day -- physics, math, chemistry, engineering, life sciences, not to mention social sciences, arts, medicine, and on and on. We'll have to be focused; no way we can do everything. But there're a bunch of new areas that've come up since. Should we be teaching, I dunno, nanite interfacing? Xenobiology? And if so, how do we decide what to teach, and who's competent to teach it?"
"I mean... If you wanted to teach classes on working with the nanites for crafting-purposes, you could see about booking someone from, say, the crafter's guild, maybe? Start with workshops, and if they prove popular... Make it a full course? Same with other 'new' courses... Try things out, see how many people are interested? Physics and chemistry used to be parts of other studies in the past, too."
"As for keeping, uhm... Instincts in check. You could install a nanomagic server... There's the one nanomagic that keeps the instincts down, I believe."
Randel stifles a knowing smerk when Uvi reacts to her own recommendation, then blinks and reigns in his composure again. He nods in agreement to Flora, and says, "Yeah, a server like that would help a lot for people that have yet learned to control themselves. Just wondering if that was covered, since it is pretty expensive." He thinks for a moment and suggestions, "Well, we already have some pretty capable students, and the purpose of education is to get them a standard of knowledge and experience to operate in the real world. Might be able to have some of them that are passionate in certain fields to be teacher in those fields. I mean, some of them were pretty fast learners. As for the nanite and mutant studies, I guess I could help with that and try to train more teachers in the field."
Uvi grabs herself a coffee while others speak. She stares for a while at the surface of the black liquid, as if considering if she should really drink it. Anyway, she soon takes a sip, but before she can express what she thinks about the drink, it's her turn to speak again. She says, "I have a workshop where someone could teach about crafting, so.. I actually even live there, but uhm, I dunno if you could install a server there... But I think xenobiology or even xenopsychology are good subects to teach, right!" She starts nodding quickly and proceeds to take some notes.
"I like the workshop idea, especially for the practical stuff," Narwen says. "We might take advantage of yours, Uvi, at least to start with. At some point we should get proper facilities, but -- one thing at a time. The more foundational stuff should maybe get rolled into a class? Thanks Randel." He chuffs to himself at Flora's nanomagic suggestion. "That'd work, but, geez, I can see the complaints rolling in already if we mess with students' heat cycles. Maybe if it were optional, like just for certain classes... dunno. Plus, those things cost a bomb. Uvi, you mentioned the Prometheans; d'you know of anyone there who'd be able to teach a class on, uh, how to not get distracted during class?"
"Yeah. That. That's what I meant," the small feline offers with a smile on her lips, a flick of the tail. "I could ask around New Dawn... I don't visit often, though with the roads starting to look like -something- again, I should be able to make the commute more readily," Flora offers with a smile. "I'm... Probably not the best person to teach -that- particular course," the felime mumbles softly as she looks down at the table for a moment.
Randel,out of habit, slightly raises a hand to note he has something and says, "I've had to deal with horny students, and was quickly apparent something was needed. I'd try to requisition some kind of lust suppressor, with the spin that it would help with Zephyr's bottom line in the future, or ask a favor from someone that has the right nanomagic and sit in the class while teaching. I really should get that nanomagic myself, but I lean more towards Prommie thinking, and would rather not have people use it as a very expensive crutch. Having such a room marked would be good, so people don't freak out, but I'm sure many would like appreciate the fact that they can think clearly, for once. Odds are it would be used for sexual etiquette training and... ugh, as much as I hate to use the word, for helping 'more feral' students that have a harder time controlling themselves." He pauses and thinks for a moment before adding, "Hmm, I can teach both the nanite and mutant studies stuff, and the sexual self restraint lessons, but I'm just one person. Might be able to do both for awhile until there are too many students. All the more reason to find more people for the latter."
Uvi takes another sip of coffee and murmurs to herself, "Jeez, so good.." She also adresses Narwen's question, "Aahm, I'm.. I'm okay with that, I think.. Uhm.. I'm on rather good terms with Prommies, I.. I could talk with some people.. right." Once again, she starts to quickly nod as she finishes speaking.
Narwen grins at Flora. "Don't worry; I suspect keeping the teachers from getting distracted is gonna be just as hard. In fact, hm, maybe that class should be mandatory for the faculty," he muses. "Especially the ones who think they don't need it." He reaches for the coffee pot after Uvi finishes with it but utterly fails to get a grip. It wobbles alarmingly but, thankfully, doesn't quite tip over. He gives it a look then pulls his paw back. "But please do ask, both of you, and let us know what you find. Any more thoughts on that? Seems like it's going to be an ongoing issue. Randel, since you've got experience teaching under those conditions, d'you wanna say a bit more about what worked and what didn't?"
Randel nods softly in agreement to the suggestion of mandatory classes on managing lust. When asked about the field he specializes in, nanite induced behavior, he brightness up noticably, and goes right into rattling off what he has in mind. "Oh wow, where do I start?..." he says honestly, but picks a topic right away, "It is pretty situational, depending on their current form and personal habits. Some people just assume that, for example, that all huskies are sluts, and don't realize that they can be level headed as well, even while in heat. I wait a bit before starting class, just to see who is having issues with focusing. Too me, it seems pretty obvious, but many in class don't pick up on it, at least not on a conscious. Sub-consciously, they clearly know what is going on, which can cause others to be distracted. Depending on the class size, and how comfortable..." He trails off and looks at the others in the group and says a bit sheepishly, "You know what, I'll just write a manual about it. We've got other topics to go over as well. Keeping nanite impulses in check is just one complication in this day in age."
