I probably couldn’t do the advanced class anymore, but if I had the software and a big screen, I could teach the basics of desktop publishing with Adobe InDesign. Used to teach that as part of my job. I’m most proud of the first 20 minutes or so, when I encapsulate the history printing from Gutenberg through to Aldus PageMaker. People used to end up actually knowing stuff about Aldus Manutius and the Venitian printing scene of the 1490s.
I could talk for a while on any of a number of entertainment franchises. Not sure which would be most likely to be entertaining for three-quarters of an hour. Just to not pick something others have mentioned, how about ‘The Robot-Foundation Universe of Isaac Asimov’?
This is the historical subject I know the most about without research, of course much too vast to fit into 45 minutes, but a basic run down should be possible.
Or:
The basic workings of/with a computer.
I used to teach basic computer courses about 15 years ago, and the basics haven’t changed since then, so I think I could still pull it off.
I could talk about many topics in family and emergency medicine. Shock, trauma, ultrasound, reading X rays, fractures, stitching, abdominal pain, et cetera.
I could also talk about weightlifting, sports medicine, nutrition, basic cooking, advanced cooking, mythology, modern history or politics, Mexico, old school Atari, basic or intermediate science or math, 80s and 90s pop culture, dogs or books.
snoe, from your post early in this thread, you’re into some cool stuff that I’m a little familiar with but would enjoy learning more about! (I actually once lived with a Mexican forest frontier family with partly Afro roots — Tabasco state, originally).
To the OP: Not counting anything I teach or have taught, I’d maybe go with “Geography of the New York Metroplolitan Area,” or else “How the Apollo Astronauts Reached the Moon,” or perhaps “Comparing John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s Approaches to Composition.”
There are also plenty of language (linguistics, etymologies…) lectures I could probably pull off — regurgitating some Steven Pinker or John McWhorter — but, though this isn’t my professional speciality, it would likely overlap a little with something I have taught, so let’s not count this.
I could do 45 minutes on Cinematography standing on my head. I can also do 2 hours on it. That’s without the set of video clips I normally use.
Also, I could probably do 45 minutes on a few other topics, but the “facts” might need a bit of fact-checking. Dad worked for the N.R.C. back in the day. I could do 45 minutes on real opposed to mistaken fears regarding radiation exposure and how to manage a day to day existence and not be trapped by bad science in this regard.
Also, a comparison/ contrast between the Old Testament and New Testament God. 45 minutes would fly by.
That’s actually a fascinating pitch idea. But instead of 45 minutes, you have to basically created a TED Talk on the spot. You cannot write it out or memorize it. You submit 3 topics in advance, and randomly, 4 audience members are chosen.
They walk up one at a time as chosen, are told which topic the judges have picked from the card they filled out, and BANG the clock starts. They have to make a cogent presentation on the fly.
My topic is probably: Foraging and why it’s good to look back at the way people used to live
But depending on the audience, I could also do:
[ul]
[li]How to generate original ideas[/li][li]How organisational structures are vital to the growth of medium-sized businesses[/li][li]How to run a project[/li][/ul]
Gathering around, Kids, we’re going to learned about designing and online course in blackboard or moodle. Not creating or updating one (we’d need a lot more time than that) but we can at least got over how to conceptualize a course and the activity choices at your disposal.
