Timeline for Using slides in math classroom
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 7, 2011 at 11:44 | comment | added | Mariano Suárez-Álvarez | For the obsessive recompilers: one must take the 2 minutes it takes to learn how to use mylatex.sty, which reduces compilation time by 105%, specially when using lots of packages and/fonts. | |
| Nov 7, 2011 at 8:52 | comment | added | Andrew Stacey | Just ask! Half way through the lecture then stop, hand out a questionnaire, and say "I'd really appreciate it if you could all take a couple of minutes to fill this in. Although you all fill in the student evaluations at the end of the semester, that doesn't help a lot with this semester." Give them a candy bar while they do it. Go out of the room while they do it. Have them get into small groups to discuss what they do and don't like. Get someone else in to ask them the questions. Ultimately, if you show that you care and that you will take on board what they say, they'll say it. | |
| Nov 6, 2011 at 19:46 | comment | added | Thierry Zell | @Andrew: references? Because I am really curious about what techniques really work on the silent majority... | |
| Nov 6, 2011 at 18:43 | comment | added | Andrew Stacey | You can find out what the "silent majority" thinks. As Feynmen was once told: you just ask them. It's amazing how many ideas and techniques there are for getting information out of students. The problem is that no-one ever tells us about them! | |
| Nov 6, 2011 at 15:40 | comment | added | Ryan Reich | @Andrew: Of course, any communications with students are filtered through the "boldness" mask, and you always hear from the discontents. I don't know what the silent majority thinks, and I can't really find out, though the other day in office hours, I had one guy who said he was surprised to see us "still" using blackboards in college. I asked what he expected, perhaps slide presentations? | |
| Nov 6, 2011 at 8:25 | comment | added | Andrew Stacey | I think I like your points in the order that you gave them. The first two are extremely important and ones that I should have thought to list as the major change from my notes from last year is that I'm going through taking out all unnecessary verbiage. From your description at the end, I'd say that you were now giving a board talk supplemented by slides. I'm surprised to hear that UCLA students are so conservative! I'd've thought they'd be more open to someone trying new ways of teaching them. | |
| Nov 6, 2011 at 1:51 | comment | added | Thierry Zell | Very nicely detailed answer! I like the slide summary of the solution, since it goes back to that cardinal principle of teaching: tell them what you're going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you just told them. On another note: Beamer is an incredibly flexible tool when it comes to handouts, and you can easily include slides that are handout-only if you need to convey extra information (e.g. a few frames from an animation.) Also, compiling in draft mode can really speed up those slides preparations! | |
| Nov 6, 2011 at 0:02 | history | answered | Ryan Reich | CC BY-SA 3.0 |