SWU Individual Class Lectures!
Hi all!
First and foremost, I'd like to say a great, big WELL DONE!!! to Vela for her alt Chef Kienerah Morren's first successful installment of her cooking lecture series that took place last night! :D
The inaugural occasion of this event marks the first in potentially many more of such classes, not only for Kienerah, but also those of us IC faculty who might like to follow in these newly pioneering footsteps! Although this isn't an entirely new concept for Stormwind University, it's certainly one that we haven't made extensive use of in a long time now! (For example, Elvæ used to do a monthly series on the in-depth history of all five Dragonflights, completely focusing on one Dragonflight per lecture!)
In light of recent asks that we've received from some of our newest members in particular, I feel like it's important to stress that while we don't make IC classes like Elvæ's or Kienerah's a mandatory and regularly scheduled on-screen practice, there's no reason why you can't do so independently if you have the time and inspiration to!
For the benefit of those who might like to give this concept a go themselves, or might be just contemplating it for now, here's some guidelines to follow in regard to running your character's very own class lecture series:
- Ideally, such classes would be more of a series composition than a single session, which would differentiate it from the present iteration of our Colloquium Series community event.
- Your classes, while created and composed by your character individually, would still receive the backing and support of your Stormwind University colleagues if needed! (This, while granted as a member of SWU, would be your responsibility to arrange with your fellow colleagues!)
- Team Teaching (a.k.a. collaboration) with other professors, or even experts from outside of the University whom your character knows and trusts, is another possibility.
- Due to past experience with trial members setting expectations they were unable to meet, we would insist that the instruction of such class lecture series be restricted to Assistant Professor ranked members and above.
- Just like Colloquium, the subject matter of your character's class lecture should be relative to their IC area of expertise and the material be practical in nature. (Practical ICly is acceptable of course, but material that's also practical IRL, like Kienerah's cooking classes, all the better!) Hands-on and/or Field Experience classes also a plus!
- The presentation of headcanon theories, lore and information are certainly acceptable, but there must be some academic merit behind them in a way that makes sense! (Not "because I said so" or the reliance on and usage of meta information that a character couldn't possibly possess.)
- There is no time requirement or limit on sessions (at present) for your class lectures! So long as there is a free slot on our guild calendar, you may request from an Officer to use it. Caveat: We ask that you don't schedule class lecture sessions that overlap SWU guild/community events!
- As per usual, please be sure to consult a member of the Officer Team in regard to your idea for a class lecture series. A proposition and proof of some level of pre-planning would help this along! **This would also be an excellent opportunity to use your character's Faculty Portfolio!**
- Re-schedules will be on a "Two Strikes, You're Out" basis. We understand that things happen sometimes, RL, emergencies, etc., in which case a class lecture may need to be postponed! After two consecutive postponements (without advance notice), the class will be cancelled indefinitely until further notice.
- Again, completely optional, but this could also present a great opportunity for our members to either:
- Bring a non-SWU alt to the lecture as a student,
- Bring a Student character RP Alt into the guild, and/or,
- Attend on a SWU Main or Alt as a student via an alternate TRP profile.
That's all I have for now. As a final caveat, please continue to bear in mind that just as with all of our other community hosted events, as a class lecturer you will be representing the Stormwind University name and reputation and thereby held to our standard of excellence for which we're known! :)
To express further interest in hosting a class lecture series of your own, please either post here or feel free to reach any of the Officer Team members either in-game or via the SWU Discord!
I'm definitely looking forward to what others might come up with in the near future!
GO GRYPHONS!!!
~ Amara ~
