Course Logistics and Instructor Background

Session Agenda Overview:
- Review and explanation of course expectations.
- Discussion regarding course assessment methods.
- Interactive group discussion period.
Classroom Setup and Student Interaction:
- Seating consists of round tables where students face each other directly.
- The round table setup is intended to facilitate peer interaction and help students become familiar with one another.
Timing and Schedule:
- The class operates in a two-hour time block, though active class discussion does not fill the entire two hours.
- Formal instruction and group discussion do not begin immediately at 10:30.
- The period from 10:30 to 10:40 acts as a ten-minute buffer for students to arrive, settle in, socialize, and ask private or individual questions before class begins.
- Class officially starts around 10:40.
Production Exercise Allocation:
- At the end of the class block, fifty or twenty minutes are reserved for students to work on the week two production exercise.
- This dedicated working routine begins on the very first day of class.

Instructional Assistant Role:
- Jason serves as the instructional assistant and conducts introductions for his five other class sessions.
McMaster University Education:
- Earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in History with a minor in Philosophy at McMaster University.
- Completed a one-year Master of Arts (MA) in the Department of History at McMaster University.
- A one-year MA is strongly recommended for students considering further graduate education, particularly prior to long-term doctoral programs.
University of Toronto and Postdoctoral Fellowships:
- Pursued an advanced degree at the University of Toronto, which took eight years to complete.
- Served as a postdoctoral fellow across distinct academic faculties and institutions:
- Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta.
- Arts faculty at the University of Waterloo.
- Was actively teaching at the University of Waterloo at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.