tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31085516.post2169655738059926458..comments2024-03-27T03:13:12.133-04:00Comments on Change of Basis: Recent developmentsDocTurtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15154912977859107986noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31085516.post-3867992220712975462011-02-22T00:38:20.582-05:002011-02-22T00:38:20.582-05:00Why can't they cancel the Humanities classes -...Why can't they cancel the Humanities classes - they are pretty tedious anyway. They present very little content on math and what they have is so generic that anyone could teach it so why not let the some departments with less real demand for their classes teach those lectures?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05693246275310562971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31085516.post-31501909395057136942011-02-18T09:14:53.087-05:002011-02-18T09:14:53.087-05:00PS - that last comment was from Meredith! Hadn...PS - that last comment was from Meredith! Hadn't realized I was signed in as the other user of this computer. :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31085516.post-23986146068986996522011-02-18T09:13:47.843-05:002011-02-18T09:13:47.843-05:00For any new gen-ed-level course we propose, the ca...For any new gen-ed-level course we propose, the cap has to be *at least* 40 students. We're getting pushed to make our Calc caps higher (right now they're at 25; we routinely raise them to 30 after the initial go-round of registration, but that usually covers all the students). When we argue the merits of student-centered instruction, we get exactly 0 sympathy from all the departments (psych, econ, bio, chem, and others) that typically teach 80 in their intro sections. And, yes, this is a small liberal arts college. Right now our strategy is to figure out how to make some of our intro-level classes doable at larger class sizes so we'll be able to keep a decent retinue of electives at the sophomore-and-higher level, and hopefully even keep Calc from getting too big.Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14968501081363139292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31085516.post-23780117014807430382011-02-18T08:44:17.003-05:002011-02-18T08:44:17.003-05:00@Jean Marie: what's small for you is huge for ...@Jean Marie: what's small for you is huge for us...more power to you! I wish schools the size of TAMU could pull off small courses at the 100- and 200-level, aside, I'm sure, from recitation sections and honors classes. It would make a huge difference.DocTurtlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15154912977859107986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31085516.post-43024060396489821482011-02-18T08:27:17.640-05:002011-02-18T08:27:17.640-05:00I truly, truly, truly hate teaching huge mathemati...I truly, truly, truly hate teaching huge mathematics sections ... I'm enjoying having Linear with only 36 student right now.<br /><br />I wish you well at keeping class sizes down. It is a much more human environment for both teacher and students.Jean Mariehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15235914912771745222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31085516.post-7786390142996604172011-02-18T08:14:27.064-05:002011-02-18T08:14:27.064-05:00The budget makes me sick if I think about it too l...The budget makes me sick if I think about it too long.. : (.Celestehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05840806463608255546noreply@blogger.com