Ch6 lec 1

(4/6/2020, bes)

Greetings!

Great job getting through the WA exam. I know that this experience was not perfect for everyone...one of you could not even see the "buttons" to select an answer (weird, but it is a computer)...but overall, i feel that it was acceptable/successful. I made a small mistake in the coding...when i added the last "essay" questions to the exam...the WA system by default assigned 1 pt to each response...so...you had the option to get 3 bonus points by responding! Yes, it was listed as optional, but i guess that is another name for extra-credit? So, the exam was out of 100 pts, you had an opportunity to earn 103 pts...you can see your score, which is equal to the %; one of you got a 103%.

About those 3 additional questions:

So when asked "How is online Gen Chem going?" you responded:

Response 1

going really well, it is awesome...to difficult, stressful, harder to learn on my own...to terrible, awful.

My reply: Taking an online course is not for everyone. After 20 years of teaching, i hope that what we do in the classroom/in-person, supplemental instruction/tutoring, and the facilities we can provide for labs is better than what we are currently doing...otherwise we need to rethink all of education! Again, online courses are not for everyone and hence the people who replied positively to the question (going really well, it is awesome) would be the folks who would sign up for an online course, BUT NOT ALL OF YOU WERE GIVEN THIS OPTION...it was just dropped in your lap.

Additionally, if you were going to sign up for an online course, you would probably already know that you have quality internet and a relatively new computer/laptop. Having this dropped on you as a non-elective mode of learning, you were not given the opportunity to acquire all of the tools needed to fully utilize an online course experience. Take home: don't be too hard on yourself, these are truly unique times (i never expected this would happen).

Response 2

"it would be nice to have some video/Zoom sessions

My reply: As noted above, since this online mode of delivery was not your choice, it is most likely the case that not everyone has quality internet /computer needed to stream video...now i could be wrong, but from talking with my colleagues who are using Zoom, there are new and interesting unforeseen "problems" that are not only associated with quality internet, but other issues related to the fact that nearly all elementary, middle, highschool, and college courses are now being taught online, not to mention that many professionals are working from home.

Some of my colleagues are teaching class in the same way they did prior to spring break...a the normal 8 am lecture meets at 8 am...but nothing is NORMAL now...hence, they are having to record and upload videos to accommodate future viewing. This results in an additional resource/location of content to keep organized. I personally think that i could do a good job putting together a collection of videos to discuss key Gen Chem topics, but not in the time frame that we are on. Take home: after Easter Break, i may setup a Zoom office hours (11 am M-Th)...stay tuned. by the way, MC did get a license for all of us to use Zoom, but we may be shifting over to Microsoft Meetings...???...