Feedback on the Course schedule

[firasm]

Hello @AhmedElMouchi and @sarin08,

I have posted a draft version of the course schedule.

Would appreciate any comments or feedback you have on the plan!

Thanks,

Firas

[sarin08]

Hi @firasm and @AhmedElMouchi ,

In regards to the course schedule, my feedback / suggestions are as follows:

1. It is great to see how you have divided the readings for every week. For better assistance you might also want to divide week readings into every day readings so that we can break the bigger chunk of information into smaller ones. For e.g., week 1 has three lectures on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You would want to define the reading materials for each day. Of course this has to align with learning objectives. Does this make sense?

2. I see there are 11 homework and equal number of quizzes. Since we plan to having a final exam, do you think is it necessary to have 11 quizzes? I am fully aware that quizzes aim to checking students learning but personally I would reduce their frequency, perhaps by half (5/6)? I mean instead of having quiz every weeks, we can do quizzes bi-weekly. The bigger piece is to comprehend students understanding and I believe if they do homework properly, it will cover this part to a large extent. Also this being the first year course, students might get overwhelmed when they hear about many quizzes. We would want to remember that a majority of students usually take 5-6 courses in a term and we really do not want to overload them with work as the rest of the courses will also have assignments and quizzes. In addition, with all COVID-19 around, we can ease things if possible. Just an idea though.

3. I am not sure if this can be done or not but it would be really nice if you could upload files before the first lecture stating, what students will learn by the end of every two weeks and what are key points that will help them to excel this course? I mean every topics in the course are important but there are always few topics that are more important than others; you would really want to highlight this piece so that students can understand the significance of course in a more better and pragmatic manner.

4. We can talk about engagement activities in detail in our one-to-one meeting.

Please let me know your thoughts.

[firasm]

Thanks @sarin08 - great notes.

1. We only have 1 meeting a week scheduled for Phys 111. I will break it down a bit more in the "course topics" and the recommended order the students should be reading it

2. There are 10 HWs and tests. Normally I would try a 2-week schedule and have bi-weekly test covering two chapters. I thought with COVID-19 and everything being online, students would appreciate more structure. I'll think about this a bit more, and consider options.

3. Yes Good idea - I'll be starting to record weekly videos and some guided videos reminding students what to do each week, and also including this in text for those that can't watch videos.

4. Sure, sounds good - maybe bring some ideas to our next meeting and we can discuss?

Firas

[sarin08]

Thank you @firasm .

Sure I will share with you my ideas related to the engagement part.

[firasm]

Course Schedule is now updated and mostly finalized. Importantly, only 5 tests (bi-weekly)