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msargent
Posts: 519
Posted 20:49 Oct 23, 2018 |

Hello Class,

As you know, I've been asking questions from random students during lecture. The idea was to keep students paying attention (as opposed to doing other things with their laptops). I can't make students put away their laptops, for I want to encourage looking at code on your own machine.

However, I just realized that it could be pretty humiliating to be asked a question in a class this size and not know the answer. That's not what I want. I just want people to pay attention. I'm not sure what else to do, in a class this size.

I do want to keep the lectures interesting, but I also have to go through a lot of back-end boring stuff because those are the best practices. This is the best I can do.

What are your thoughts? Are the questions a good thing (feel free to disagree with me on this; I'd like your honest opinion)? I'll stop doing it if there are a lot of people who are traumatized by it.

Also, suggestions about getting more students involved in the lecture would be helpful.

Last edited by msargent at 21:01 Oct 23, 2018.
mcasti88
Posts: 14
Posted 20:53 Oct 23, 2018 |

I think the questions is a pretty good idea and helps students really know what's going on and if they don't know it's an opportunity to ask if you can clarify 

moganes5
Posts: 5
Posted 21:00 Oct 23, 2018 |

I also think the questions are a good way of making sure that students pay attention. It helps everyone because we do not always remember all the concepts and it’s a good reminder. 

gchan10
Posts: 27
Posted 21:09 Oct 23, 2018 |

I feel like the questions are what help the new concepts sink in for me. It gets me engaged a bit more, as opposed to just listening to the lecture.

wevanw
Posts: 25
Posted 21:44 Oct 23, 2018 |

The lecture is the most interesting i ever have. I did more focus in class.

I've been tried to answer questions to get points, altho its kinda frustrating not getting any yet. Because I don't know the answers of most of the questions(or not good enough to get credit).

 

rbcarter
Posts: 5
Posted 01:52 Oct 24, 2018 |

I agree that the questions are a good thing as well. It definitely encourages me to stay more engaged in class.

hngo23
Posts: 9
Posted 01:53 Oct 24, 2018 |

The questions are intimidating when asked because we're worried that we don't know the answers or that the answers aren't quite right. However, the questions do test our understanding of the materials we learn in CS so far, so I think it's good practice in general.

An alternative thing we can do is to take quizzes (extra credit?) in class, which test our understanding/knowledge while still remaining anonymous.

 

On a side note, can we use Zoom or somehow screen share while you do live coding in class? Majority of the times we can't see the code that you're typing because the font-size is too small.

Last edited by hngo23 at 01:54 Oct 24, 2018.
Raymond
Posts: 3
Posted 13:17 Oct 24, 2018 |

I think the random questions are fine at helping us stay focused and alert, and since the person picked is totally random, I think it's fair too.

Another way to get everyone more involved but less openly, could be having multiple spontaneous quizzes on csns throughout the lecture where we only have 60 seconds to answer, with each correct answer worth like 10 nerd points or something.