Yes, yes, yes, I know this is all rather self-aggrandizing - but honestly a lot of time and energy gets put into preparing a lecture and presentation, so it is always with a sad sigh that I issue one of them with a redundancy notice. This particular one I let go of with especial reluctance, because the teaching Restoration comedy is frankly just about as much fun as you can get in a classroom. Anyway, here it is - doubtless no real loss to the world in the great scheme of things... Restoration Theatre on Prezi It is, of course, absurd to point to any one moment I time, or any single event, and to suggest that the modern world began there. Society, history and culture are far more complex than that. However, something of significance certainly did happen in 1660, and the echoes of that something can certainly be argued, convincingly, to still be heard today. To recap. In 1642 parliament and King Charles I divided, and civil war broke out. In such times, the frivolity ...
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A colleague of mine has been suggesting that he might open all of his lectures with a slide showing this picture: This seems like a good idea. After all, it cannot be doubted that a mobile phone ringing in the middle of a lecture or a seminary is a distraction. It is worth having a subtle reminder to students about acceptable behaviour during a class. This did make me wonder though - there is a whole language of signs which could be used here, and perhaps subliminally flashed up on the screen during the lecture in the kind of way which works so well for Darren Brown. For example, since it is equally distracting to have students on Facebook or tweeting your latest terrible joke during class, you could have: And since there is always a good chance that I am having a bad hair day, I would personally like to have: Of course nobody likes it when a student arrives to a post-lunchtime lecture with one of those awful polestyrene trays full...