Call for elevator pitches: Timetable spring 2021
I'd be grateful if you could post your elevator statements in answer to the following question, as anonymous comments to this post:
"How would you organize the teaching of computer science courses at RU in order to maximize the learning experience for students, assuming that we will have restrictions like the one-metre rule in the spring semester 2020?"
It'd be good to have your statements by Friday, 13 November, at 10 AM. (Note the change of date from an earlier version of this call.)
Thanks!!
Given the fact that people are people I, sadly, think that we could expect a fourth wave in January/February after infections that occur during the holidays.
ReplyDeleteDuring the current 12 week semester I had the experience of teaching a large course (Calculus & Statistics ~ 150 students) with Maria, and a small course (Cryptography and Number Theory ~ 15 students). I would say the large course actually went better because the material is such that it is easy to have them continuously answer small questions/quizzes about the topics throughout the semester. In the smaller course, the topics are much harder mathematically and it was very difficult not being able to be in a room with them and get a feeling for where they were getting stuck and helping them out there. We relied on old-school mathematical homeworks where they calculate or prove things, as well as making them implement cryptographic algorithms. So I'm sure that the students had plenty of opportunity to engage with the material and most of them will come away with a basic understanding of the topics. But the depth of their knowledge will be much less than previous years.
In my case, I'm teaching a small course in the spring semester. Even though I would like to meet the students, I don't really think that it is an option we can take for granted - sure if we somehow manage to get to 0 cases for several days in a row (which is a non-zero probability) then of course we should resume in-person teaching. But I will be assuming not to see the students at all and try to further adapt my teaching to that reality. Everything beyond that will be a bonus.