How will the books affect classes
by rrusczyk, Jun 17, 2006, 3:21 PM
In a few months, for the first time we will offer a subject class (Intro Counting & Probability) that has an accompanying textbook. It will be very interesting to see how the class develops. Because the students in the class will have a textbook sitting right in front of them with much of the material that is currently in the class, it's not yet clear exactly what the function of the class will be. For example, do we spend half the class going through the planned materials, then half the class tackling extra problems from the book that the students choose? Do we only go through the planned material (which largely mimics the text of the book)? Do we assume students will read the book before classes and just go through challenging problems?
It's not really clear to me what student behavior will be like. I suspect some will read the book as assigned before class, and some will not, and these two groups will be miles apart in preparation for each class. It may even make sense to split the two groups if technically feasible (and if it is possible for instructors to manage both groups).
It's partially these concerns that have us holding off on listing the Intro Geometry course for next year. As it is, the Intro Geometry book is quite long, and deviates quite a bit from the course - I'll have to rebuild the course based on the book. Moreover, it's very difficult to do geometry on the fly in the classroom because of the diagrams. We hope in the next 6-12 months to significantly upgrade the classroom (more on that later), and perhaps then we might have screen sharing, or at least a whiteboard, which would make doing problems of students' choosing easier. But right now, it would be hard to let the students choose the problems in a geometry class (but not impossible - we might be able to get the classroom to handle Metapost, which would be way cool).
So, I think we'll hold off on listing the geometry class until (a) we're sure when the geometry book will be released and (b) experience with the Intro Counting class can serve as a guide to how the class will function.
Regardless, I'm very excited about the impact the books will have on the classes. While I think they will be more challenging to teach, I think the students will learn much more.
It's not really clear to me what student behavior will be like. I suspect some will read the book as assigned before class, and some will not, and these two groups will be miles apart in preparation for each class. It may even make sense to split the two groups if technically feasible (and if it is possible for instructors to manage both groups).
It's partially these concerns that have us holding off on listing the Intro Geometry course for next year. As it is, the Intro Geometry book is quite long, and deviates quite a bit from the course - I'll have to rebuild the course based on the book. Moreover, it's very difficult to do geometry on the fly in the classroom because of the diagrams. We hope in the next 6-12 months to significantly upgrade the classroom (more on that later), and perhaps then we might have screen sharing, or at least a whiteboard, which would make doing problems of students' choosing easier. But right now, it would be hard to let the students choose the problems in a geometry class (but not impossible - we might be able to get the classroom to handle Metapost, which would be way cool).
So, I think we'll hold off on listing the geometry class until (a) we're sure when the geometry book will be released and (b) experience with the Intro Counting class can serve as a guide to how the class will function.
Regardless, I'm very excited about the impact the books will have on the classes. While I think they will be more challenging to teach, I think the students will learn much more.
February 2012
January 2012