Another Aphorism
Sep. 18th, 2014 07:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccastareyesI don't have to adopt every new idea that comes down to me. I can focus on developing a solid course this time, and try something new next time I teach. I should write the ideas down in my teaching journal**, since I know I had one, but I forgot.
(Well, besides that the general education physics course could use a better theme than 'broad overview of a physics sequence', even with my attempts to make it all about energy.)
In other news, the astronomy group practically begged me to teach Astro 101 (the gen ed course on the solar system) for winter and spring terms. And were willing to give me 102 (the stars and galaxies course) as well until someone pointed out that because I was a lecturer, there was no way I could do that without teaching a third new course. And that asking me to do three preps* was out of line. The main problem is that most of the astronomers are teaching the few upperclass courses for the minor, or other upperclassmen courses, and the one planetary scientist is on sabbatical. (They have an exoplanets guy, but he has too much else he has to do in winter term.)
One thing that happened yesterday that make things click for me: we met the Dean, and, among other things, he went on about how he's trying to get the students to study 25-35 hours a week. Which, yes, is recommended for college courses (2 times as much out of class as in class). And he did the math for us: a high schooler spends 25-35 hours a week in class (5-7 1-hour classes every weekday), and hopefully 5-10 hours a week doing homework or studying (say 1-2 hours a night), which comes out to 30 to 45 hours. A college student only spends 12-15 hours in class (more if they are like me and ended up taking two labs in one semester... don't do this), so to get the same amount of practice, they need 15 to 33 hours of out of class homework and study.
(Also, it occurs to me that I spend 17 hours directly interacting with students (12 in the classroom, and 5 as office hours), but I definitely have a full time job teaching because the magic pixies don't write my lectures, find the demo equipment***, grade papers (graders are not magic pixies; they need instruction and a rubric), and figure out how to measure that students learned a thing.
It's a bit different, since you specialize more in college. My first-semester schedule was math, physics, composition, and honors seminar (another English course), while as a high-schooler, I'd have also had social studies, Spanish, and another course (and I wouldn't have taken two English courses in one year). But I hope that helps students take things seriously.
I also know they are 18-20, and will screw up, because I did. See, above story about taking two labs at once. (I really hope that wasn't the semester I took 17 credit hours. I was full of good ideas.)
(And I feel bad that students who have a full-time job already are trying to do two full-time things at once; something is going to give for them. Probably sleep.
* As you all probably realize, it matters not only how many courses I teach, but which ones: it's easier to teach three sections of Physics 141 than one of Astro 101, one of Astro 102, and one of Physics 141. (Which, incidentally, because of arcane rules that count math-heavy courses as worth a bit more than their credit hours for faculty to teach them, is NOT a full load.) And it will be easier if I'm teaching Physics 141 or Physics 104 next quarter, because I don't have to adapt everything from scratch. (Though, if Cal Poly is like most schools, there will be fewer sections of 141, because it's the first in a three-course sequence, and most students do that fall-winter-spring.)
Basically, it boils down to a lecturer like me gets 3 lecture courses (at least two of which have to be math-intensive), or 2 lectures and 2 labs. (Labs also count more than their credit hours, because, unlike students, instructors have a lot of lab prep and grading to do, while it's assumed students will spend most of their time on the course in lab.)
** Not an online journal. It also holds research notes, since I'm going to forget everything by the time I can actually do research again.
*** Okay, there is someone in charge of the demo room, who gets out useful things each week for physics demos.
(Well, besides that the general education physics course could use a better theme than 'broad overview of a physics sequence', even with my attempts to make it all about energy.)
In other news, the astronomy group practically begged me to teach Astro 101 (the gen ed course on the solar system) for winter and spring terms. And were willing to give me 102 (the stars and galaxies course) as well until someone pointed out that because I was a lecturer, there was no way I could do that without teaching a third new course. And that asking me to do three preps* was out of line. The main problem is that most of the astronomers are teaching the few upperclass courses for the minor, or other upperclassmen courses, and the one planetary scientist is on sabbatical. (They have an exoplanets guy, but he has too much else he has to do in winter term.)
One thing that happened yesterday that make things click for me: we met the Dean, and, among other things, he went on about how he's trying to get the students to study 25-35 hours a week. Which, yes, is recommended for college courses (2 times as much out of class as in class). And he did the math for us: a high schooler spends 25-35 hours a week in class (5-7 1-hour classes every weekday), and hopefully 5-10 hours a week doing homework or studying (say 1-2 hours a night), which comes out to 30 to 45 hours. A college student only spends 12-15 hours in class (more if they are like me and ended up taking two labs in one semester... don't do this), so to get the same amount of practice, they need 15 to 33 hours of out of class homework and study.
(Also, it occurs to me that I spend 17 hours directly interacting with students (12 in the classroom, and 5 as office hours), but I definitely have a full time job teaching because the magic pixies don't write my lectures, find the demo equipment***, grade papers (graders are not magic pixies; they need instruction and a rubric), and figure out how to measure that students learned a thing.
It's a bit different, since you specialize more in college. My first-semester schedule was math, physics, composition, and honors seminar (another English course), while as a high-schooler, I'd have also had social studies, Spanish, and another course (and I wouldn't have taken two English courses in one year). But I hope that helps students take things seriously.
I also know they are 18-20, and will screw up, because I did. See, above story about taking two labs at once. (I really hope that wasn't the semester I took 17 credit hours. I was full of good ideas.)
(And I feel bad that students who have a full-time job already are trying to do two full-time things at once; something is going to give for them. Probably sleep.
* As you all probably realize, it matters not only how many courses I teach, but which ones: it's easier to teach three sections of Physics 141 than one of Astro 101, one of Astro 102, and one of Physics 141. (Which, incidentally, because of arcane rules that count math-heavy courses as worth a bit more than their credit hours for faculty to teach them, is NOT a full load.) And it will be easier if I'm teaching Physics 141 or Physics 104 next quarter, because I don't have to adapt everything from scratch. (Though, if Cal Poly is like most schools, there will be fewer sections of 141, because it's the first in a three-course sequence, and most students do that fall-winter-spring.)
Basically, it boils down to a lecturer like me gets 3 lecture courses (at least two of which have to be math-intensive), or 2 lectures and 2 labs. (Labs also count more than their credit hours, because, unlike students, instructors have a lot of lab prep and grading to do, while it's assumed students will spend most of their time on the course in lab.)
** Not an online journal. It also holds research notes, since I'm going to forget everything by the time I can actually do research again.
*** Okay, there is someone in charge of the demo room, who gets out useful things each week for physics demos.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-19 05:30 am (UTC)Good luck with your students!
no subject
Date: 2014-09-19 12:33 pm (UTC)I know I worked like that (or more) as a grad student; undergrad is fuzzy. Granted, I learned in high school to at least start papers early. I was still finishing things the night before.