Standards Committee *********************************************** Topic : Logistics of 100-level courses (supervision, coordination) AY : 2007-2008 Meeting : First Date : Sep 10, 2008 Time : 2:30-4:00pm Place : Large Conf Room GITC 441x. *********************************************** 1. Only two (Andrew Sohn and the chair of the committee) of the three members of the committee (V. Oria is on sabbatical) were present plus Ted Nicholson. There was a conflict with the Freshman Convocation. M. Kwestel sent an email on Tuesday with some issues related to supervision and coordination of CS 1xx courses but could not attend; his email is attached at the end of this document. 2. Given that Andrew and Ted are also teaching CS 1xx courses we went on with the meeting and the following is a summary of the discussion and the issues raised. 3. The following can serve as a recoomendation to the Department and those who schedule TAs for 100-level courses. Comments 1-5 are directed primarily to the Department (you and George), Comment 6 to the undergraduate committee and the Department. Comment 1: It is of utmost importance that domestic students or provenly proficient in English foreign students are assigned to teach/LAB supervise 100-level courses. If sufficient funding is available it might also make sense to utilize domestic MS students. Recommendation 1: Use domestic students for 100-level classes before other options are explored. Comment 2: It is important that TAs are assigned promptly for 100-level courses and be coordinated. It would help if a TA assigned to such a course retains such an assignment for 3 or 4 consecutive semesters and knows that in advance. If the TA knows the duration of such as assignment in advance, then the TA might spend more time preparing for the course. Desirably such a TA assignment should be finalized a week before the beginning of a semester. The same should also be true with the course coordinator. Recommendation 2: Assign TAs to 100-level courses in 2- or 4-semester appointments; the only way out is for the TA to become an RA or leave. Comment 3: Similarly to Comment 1, it makes sense that a person who is assigned to teach a 100-level courses does so on the understanding that that person will be teaching that course for 3 or 4 consecutive semesters. If there is a long-term commitment by the Dept that person might be willing to be more interested in investing more of his teaching time on that course. Recommendation 3: Assign faculty to 100-level courses on the understanding and guarantee that they will be teaching it for at least 2 years if they so wish. Or give incentives: For example, if a faculty teaches a 100-level course one semester, then in the following semester he can teach his 600- or 700-level course of his choice without enrollment restictions. Comment 4: It seems TA activities are uncoordinated. Ted mentioned that TAs in a Java class (CS 113?) did not know whether Labs were to be in C++ or Java. If a previous year coordinator ceases to teach a course it might be a good idea for him to offer some advice to the new TAs as a group until a new coordinator is assigned. Otherwise those who assign TAs to 100-level courses (George?) should tell the TAs to follow strictly the course LAB manuals if such exist. It is imperative that each 100-level course has a (written or electronic) set of instructions for instructors and/or coordinators and also a manual for TAs that is regularly maintained. This would make the transition period easier. Some courses have, but the TA are not alerted to that when they are assigned their duties. Recommendation 4: Assign a default coordinator George or the Associate Chair of Undergrad studies to tell TAs what to do and alert them on existing manuals for courses etc. Comment 5: There has always been talk of course supervision/coordination and compensation in the form of release time for persons performing such activities. The Department, in light of this continuing coordination problems, might have to rethink, this issue. Recommendation 5: Chairperson and the Department might have to think about it. There has always been talk about it but no actions have been taken. Comment 6: One possible way to resolve this supervision/coordination problem is to introduce a new teaching method for multi-section undergraduate courses. For example, a large section of 90-100 students (3 or 4 "existing" sections) are taught by the coordinator for 2 1/2-3 hours where material is introduced to students. This is followed by separate recitation sections (2-3 of them) of 2 hours that perhaps take place at a Lab and are taught by the personnel (instructors and TAs) who would otherwise teach the sections if they were not offered at the same time. For example one can utilize an Adjunct or Special Lecturer or other Faculty Member to teach these 3 sections (6 hours) and he can get a 2 section credit. Benefits 1. The coordinator get a 2-section credit for 3 hours/week instructional work. 2. Students benefit by a "star teacher" coordinator and uniform weekly progress. 3. Simplifies coordination. 4. Less capable teachers who would otherwise teach a section are assigned to recitations. Personnel requirements might get reduced. 5. Simplifies exam/quiz scheduling. Obligations/Problems 1. Coordinator teaches 3 instead of 6 hours but has to coordinate more. 2. Students will not get many scheduling choices. 3. Dean/Provost might have to sign off this arrangement. Recommendation 6: The Undergrad. curr. committee might have to consider such an option. Alex. Gerbessiotis PS 1: Morty Kwestel's Email (edited to fix wide lines.) From mkwestel@verizon.net Tue Sep 9 09:07:08 2008 From: "morty kwestel" mkwestel@verizon.net hi Alex the basic courses are:cs110, cs111, cs113, cs114, cs115, cs116 each course has 2 lectures and one lab per week. the credit value is 3 points for the lecture and 0 points for the lab. these are all common courses in so far as they are to proceed at the same pace, cover the same material, have the same midterms (2 of them) and the same final. the labs are supposed to be identical also. to give you an idea, we have the following situation this semester: for cs110 there are 3 lecture sections (2 faculty) and 6 lab sections (3 TA's). for cs113 there are 3 lecture sessions (3 faculty) and 6 lab sections (3 TA's). starting with spring 2008 there has been no course coordinator (no money for it). the course coordinator needs to meet with the TA's prior to the first week of classes to review the first day of lab procedures. this includes the downloading, installation, and setting the PATH environment variable of the JDK setup from Sun. the editor and compiler must also be downloaded and installed on the lab computers. thereafter the course coordinator has the responsibility to meet with the TA's (and possibly faculty) each week. the lab assignments and the homeworks must be setup based on the pace of the course.the material covered must be uniform across all sections. there should be a common website maintained for all sections of the course where everything is posted. office hours and office space for the TA's must be established and must be varied. arrangements for tutoring must be made. 2 midterms and 1 final need to be created. proctoring and grading arrangements need to be made. practice problems need to be created and distributed prior to each of the exams. the selection process for the TA's must make sure that the TA is reasonably fluent English. this is a common complaint when they are not. the lab allows a one to one relationship between the student and the instructor. the scheduling of the lab courses in relationship to the lectures needs to be addressed also. morty