first week

whoa, what a week. So much happened and so fast

• the enthusiasm in the lecture room seems very good with students working hard on the clicker questions
• first problem-sets went off with only a few technical webCT problems
• the podcasts worked great, thanks to ISU's IT team
• the TAs did a great job with the recitations and labs

Though I did feel for most of the week that I was running fast just to keep up :)

First day of class

Tomorrow is the first day of class. I need to practice the lecture, but I think everything is set. I am excited an nervous (always happens, not matter how many times I have done this :)

podcasts!

OK, it looks like I am all set to make podcasts of each lecture

• the echo360 software receives a feed from my room microphone
• it takes periodic screenshots of my powerpoint slideshow
• then uploads the mp3 file to itunesU
• students registered in the course can then access the file either directly from itunes or via a link on the calendar of webCT
• students can fast-forward through the lecture to key parts
  

Let's see how well it works! Should help students who must miss a lecture, or want to review before exams. Let's hope it does not reduce attendance :(

finished the pre-labs!

I've finished the pre-labs for the upcoming semester. For the first time, there will be a separate due time for each lab section, so that the assignment closes as the lab-period for each student starts. This hopefully will clear up any ambiguity and confusion about the pre-labs and will hopefully help the students with a firm/fixed deadline and also help the TA monitor the accountability.

Looking forward to tommorrow, when I lean about podcasting the lectures to iTunesU