Because I’m paranoid about technical problems, I’ve been trying to call all my students in my distance-learning course as I can, and I’m discovering something—I’m learning some stuff about the course that’s entirely unrelated to technical problems, as students read the syllabus and ask me questions they may not have if they only had e-mail contact. That’s obvious in retrospect, of course, but I’m glad I was paranoid in this way.
And, of course, I’m making all sorts of beginner mistakes.