Subj : Re: Good examples of programming course lecture notes
To   : comp.programming,comp.lang.java.programmer
From : clemenr
Date : Wed Sep 21 2005 11:51 am

Chris Uppal wrote:
> clemenr@wmin.ac.uk wrote:
>
> > Well, research in education shows that a certain amount of note-taking
> > is an important part of learning.
>
> I don't dispute that.  What I /am/ saying is that it isn't possible (at least
> it isn't possible for me, and apparently not for Patricia either) to
> listen/think at the same time as writing.
>
> Say you give a 40-minute lecture; how long (in aggregate) would you expect your
> students to be writing ?  Bearing in mind that writing speeds vary.  5 minutes
> ?  15 minutes ?  40 minutes ?  The difference between 40 minutes and the
> aggregate time is how long your lecture /really/ is.

In the past, the lectures at my university are two hours long, with a
ten minute break. That's 110 minutes. I don't really agree that people
work in modes which are either 100% note-taking or 100% listening, but
will adopt this for the sake of the argument. The lecture will only be
about 30%, if that, new information. Much of the rest of the time will
be spent on further explanations and interaction with the students. 20
minutes solid writing time should be possible without missing important
information.

When I aws an undergraduate I had lectures which were frantic writing
all the way through. They were Biology lectures, not Computer Science
ones.

> (Just a thought -- not a serious suggestion.  It would be interesting to try an
> approach where you gave out notes that had key words and phrases missing, but
> were otherwise comprehensive.  The students would fill-in-the-blanks as you
> went along, and the tutorials would provide an oppurtunity to discuss and
> correct errors.)

Actually I will be doing this in another module. It wasn't actually my
idea. I inherited some notes from a colleague, and for the first time
(at least) that I teach it, I'm not trying to change much.

> > Notes taken by students will be reviewed during
> > practical classes, and feedback given.
>
> It sounds (please don't take this as an insult) as if your students are in the
> "don't [yet realise that they] want to learn" category.  Fresh out of school
> and still expecting to be "forced" to work.  That would certainly make a
> difference to how you present material, and how you organise the whole teaching
> process.
>
> Unfortunately, to the detrmiment of those who do want to learn.

Well, I will have different students this year than in my past
experience (long story). But in the past, the point you make is true.
It is a very very hard task trying to adapt lecturing styles to account
for the full range of attitudes and learning skill sets present in the
audience. Personally I believe I make a reasonable job of it, though
the really able students will have to follow up my "additional reading"
pointers and "challenging" problems to really stretch themselveds.

> > There is also the major real-world problem that if notes are too
> > complete, then certain types of students will decide that they don't
> > need to attend lectures. Non-attendance at lectures has become a very
> > very major problem in the UK.
>
> So let 'em fail...
>
> (Yes, I know the current UK university system makes that approach, um,
> infeasible).

No it doesn't. I can't talk openly about these sorts of things in
public but the rumours about students never being allowed to fail no
matter how poorly they do are just rumours. I have only once had an
academic in the UK tell me that they weren't allowed to fail students
who deserved to fail. And I'm not saying which uni but it wasn't one
that I have worked for.

Cheers,

Ross-c

.