Thread by @robertghrist

a quick thread on what the @penn mathematics department is doing starting this fall to improve the student experience in calculus courses...
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of course, this is motivated by the pandemic and the need for online instruction; however, this is not a hackjob emergency plan. these reforms are more structural and sustainable, and have been in the works for some time.
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summary, first; details, following:
-> all lectures via short asynchronous vids
-> all "in class" time is active learning
-> no more midterms; weekly quizzes
-> no more $200 textbook/mymathlab
-> all homeworks online via canvas
-> no more 8am recitations
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LECTURES: all calc lectures at penn will be via videos. the curriculum has been modernized & tailored to ourr students. they are short (5-15 mins) and can be viewed when it fits students' schedules. some of these are vids i have made; others are producing cool stuff.
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SECTIONS: all sections of a particular course will have the same vids, the same schedule, and the same assessments. students don't have to fight to get "the best prof" with the highest [rhymes with "biased"] reviews. everyone gets equal treatment.
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CLASSTIME: there are 3 hours of "in-class" time per week, doing active learning & problem solving:
1 hour (in groups of 60) with your professor
1 hour (in subgroups of 20) with your TA
1 hour (everyone) review session with some professor
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SCHEDULING: the reduced in-class time respects the time that students are putting into watching vids on their own. since (let's face it) most math profs aren't inspiring lecturers, this focuses in-class time on what we are best at: helping students directly with debugging.
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RECITATIONS: by juggling the schedules, we can fit in the time with a TA in recitation within the normal class lecture time. this means no 8am recitations anymore. not a big deal pedagogically, but students (and TAs) will appreciate this.
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MIDTERMS: goodbye! weekly quizzes on fridays will help students stay current with the material. once per month, students can skip a quiz or take the "makeup" and replace the low score in the past month. this is intended to reduce student anxiety around midterms week.
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TEXTBOOK: no more giving $200 to <REDACTED> for a lousy, outdated, heavy, text (or the lousy, outdated, $180 e-text). the modular, indexed videos will comprise a "V-text". plus, some experimental e-texts and html-based texts are being worked on by penn profs.
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HOMEWORKS: no mymathlab (expensive; does not match what we teach; lowest-common-denom, etc.). we are building problem-banks on canvas and will implement a system there, with problems autograded. this is a work-in-progress.
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in short, we'll be providing our students a fairer & more uniform course experience, with more flexibility in their scheduling, lower high-stakes stressexams, a huge $$$ savings, and a well-structured environment that makes it harder to slip through the cracks.
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like any big project, this is a team effort. s/o to profs. deturck, gressman, and rimmer, who with me are taking the lead on preparations for this fall. many others (such as the amazing @aacooper) will be the key to successful execution this fall & beyond.
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if you are interested in resources for using any of the materials we are creating, i'm happy to share.
stay tuned for another thread on that...
thank you!
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