- #1
physics girl phd
- 931
- 3
My computer stopped letting me reply to the original thread. https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=225592"
It could just be me. I saved my reply in a text file, waited for a day, a week, then two. So I guess I'll start a new thread with my saved reply.
Here's my findings thus far: I am showing no gains in student attitude or improvement in thinking "expert-like" (from last terms pre-& -post survey using the "CLASS: Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey)... but neither am I seeing declines. Declines are, in fact what usually happens. There may be errors about post-surveying right as students are preparing for a final. I think students are sometimes just tired of it all at the end of a term. So in my case, no progress is better than "negative progress."
Here's more about my time-involvement and computer requirements:
It generally takes me about as much time (or possibly even less) to prepare the worksheets as it did for me to prepare a "powerpoint" lecture suitable for Smartboarding. And it's more fun for me too, since I get to play with the simulation and concentrate on "application" not "terminology" or "rote standard examples."
My preclass quizzes also don't take too long to prep up (our university subscribes to "Blackboard" software and hardware services that grade them as the students submit them)... but often I put in lots of feedback that students can view after the preclass work is due for all students. I kinda use that as a lecture substitute, and I give the same feedback "explanation" for both wrong and right answers so all students can see it. This takes time because I want to make sure my feedback is clear verbally (because I can't attach diagrams to it, the biggest problem, in my opinion, with Blackboard's testing tool).
So yeah -- it's like teaching a course for the first time again. But then once it's done. it's done. I can't wait til next term when all my activities are there, and I just revise them as suitable! (never happy... perfectionist at heart).
Of course I have been generally lucky with a very good online site that covers many of the topics and is easy for me to design activities for. Sometimes, though, I've found it more appropriate to do a minilab (like the electromagnets), or to program my own simulation (through a 2-D physics emulator called "Phun"). The site I use doesn't have really great "rotational motion" sims yet. These can take longer if an activity uses materials I haven't used before, or less if it is a simple activity based on "grocery-store/hardware-store" supplies.
I do only have ~1 computer per group of 3-4 students (and had students the first day get into groups making sure at least one person had a laptop they could bring)... the department has more than enough to supplement with their set of 20. I sheck computers out to students at the beginning of class in exchange for student ID's or drivers licenses. In a lecture hall, they can sit in a set of 3 with the computer in the center, or even in 2x2's with the computer in the lower row. Of course not ideal. But more ideal than texting with their phones or sleeping. And I haven't lost a department laptop yet.
I just submitted for a wee internal grant from the University of Tennessee system. Fingers crossed... just because it would give me money for conference attendance, increased funding for my undergrad, and also assure me with a small bit of job security in these troubled economic times.
PG
It could just be me. I saved my reply in a text file, waited for a day, a week, then two. So I guess I'll start a new thread with my saved reply.
Here's my findings thus far: I am showing no gains in student attitude or improvement in thinking "expert-like" (from last terms pre-& -post survey using the "CLASS: Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey)... but neither am I seeing declines. Declines are, in fact what usually happens. There may be errors about post-surveying right as students are preparing for a final. I think students are sometimes just tired of it all at the end of a term. So in my case, no progress is better than "negative progress."
Here's more about my time-involvement and computer requirements:
It generally takes me about as much time (or possibly even less) to prepare the worksheets as it did for me to prepare a "powerpoint" lecture suitable for Smartboarding. And it's more fun for me too, since I get to play with the simulation and concentrate on "application" not "terminology" or "rote standard examples."
My preclass quizzes also don't take too long to prep up (our university subscribes to "Blackboard" software and hardware services that grade them as the students submit them)... but often I put in lots of feedback that students can view after the preclass work is due for all students. I kinda use that as a lecture substitute, and I give the same feedback "explanation" for both wrong and right answers so all students can see it. This takes time because I want to make sure my feedback is clear verbally (because I can't attach diagrams to it, the biggest problem, in my opinion, with Blackboard's testing tool).
So yeah -- it's like teaching a course for the first time again. But then once it's done. it's done. I can't wait til next term when all my activities are there, and I just revise them as suitable! (never happy... perfectionist at heart).
Of course I have been generally lucky with a very good online site that covers many of the topics and is easy for me to design activities for. Sometimes, though, I've found it more appropriate to do a minilab (like the electromagnets), or to program my own simulation (through a 2-D physics emulator called "Phun"). The site I use doesn't have really great "rotational motion" sims yet. These can take longer if an activity uses materials I haven't used before, or less if it is a simple activity based on "grocery-store/hardware-store" supplies.
I do only have ~1 computer per group of 3-4 students (and had students the first day get into groups making sure at least one person had a laptop they could bring)... the department has more than enough to supplement with their set of 20. I sheck computers out to students at the beginning of class in exchange for student ID's or drivers licenses. In a lecture hall, they can sit in a set of 3 with the computer in the center, or even in 2x2's with the computer in the lower row. Of course not ideal. But more ideal than texting with their phones or sleeping. And I haven't lost a department laptop yet.
I just submitted for a wee internal grant from the University of Tennessee system. Fingers crossed... just because it would give me money for conference attendance, increased funding for my undergrad, and also assure me with a small bit of job security in these troubled economic times.
PG
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