I didn't get the quiz completed yesterday. Although I had done most of the work (on paper) over the weekend, I just didn't have time Sunday night to finish it. Yesterday, I had the "privelege" of sitting in a courtroom for three hours because I am being sued in small claims by someone that I should be suing. They never showed up.
What do I do? Do I keep on working on this class? Do I drop it? My life was terribly out-of-control last week. I belong to two Toastmasters clubs. On Wednesday, I teach basic math and computer skills to a group at my church. (Because our church area ["ward" to those who know how the LDS church works] encompasses the poorest parts of Atlanta, many of our members are low-income and low-educated. A group of educated people in the ward have been assigned to help stop the cycle of poverty that these otherwise wonderful people have experienced.) On Thursday, my son was in town for a few hours. The advantage of living near the world's busiest airport -- you get unexpected visits from friends and family when they have layovers.
Anyone out there have feelings about this? Is this class more work than YOU expected? I am also bogged down by the nomenclature -- I have always thought in terms of "unions" and "and" and "or", not phis and psis. Plus, the use of pi as a variable really threw me the first week. Pi is 3.14159..., not some random variable.
My rant for the day.
I feel your pain. This is the second time I've tried a MOOC - I didn't complete the first one. They certainly can take more time than you might expect.
ReplyDeleteI'm struggling with managing a young family, a challenging (and busy) job, as well as a rapidly growing photography side business. Finding time for this is not easy.
But, for myself, I feel it's important to push on. In order to grow in my job, I need to relearn some math I've forgotten, as well as needing to learn some math I never had. This class is inspiring me to do both.
Of course, that's very much my perspective... where this all lands for you or anyone else will be totally different.
I also am experiencing the unexpected time demands of this course, and I'm retired. So, I don't think you're unusual in that regard, Diane.
ReplyDeleteLike Max, this is the 2nd MOOC I've attempted. Also like him, I didn't finish the first one. I sill learned a lot from the first one, even though family obligations and long-established travel plans interfered with my completion. Thing is, though, I did about 3/4 of that course before dropping out. I think it's much harder, especially in a course like Dr. Devlin's, to continue on when you've missed the early foundations of a course. So, I can fully appreciate the decision you might make to discontinue. It's those sorts of issues, most likely, that result in the high drop-out rates in MOOCs. When you're an adult student, life interferes in a way it never did when you were single, in college, and your life centered around your classes, rather than being a Venn diagram (or some sort of Rube Goldberg contraption, in many cases) of all sorts of conflicting demands.
As to the nomenclature, I think that's just a small piece of what's going on in the course. It's easy enough to change to P & Q, which I see in a lot of places in the discussions and on the web. So, that's just jargon, I think. A bit more experience with it, and it feel less foreign.
Regardless of what you decide, I have to tell you I've sure appreciated this blog. If you do decide you're going to have to focus on other things, is there a way to pass it off to someone else who might be willing to run it? If not, so be it, and thanks a lot for having set it up!!
I just looked at the daily timetable... just one lecture/week from here on out. Have to admit that I'm a bit relieved by that.
ReplyDeleteDiane, if it helps ease your burden, I created a forum on my website we can use. Not having to start categories for us might free up just enough time to allow you to continue.
The forum is here:
http://maxwendtphotography.com/imt2013/
Feel free to join me there. If you think this seems like a good idea, perhaps you could create a new topic pointing people over there.
I'm fine with staying here, too. I just thought I'd offer to take this responsibility from you if it helps.
Thanks, Max. Very gracious of you. I'm looking forward to seeing some of your photographic work, as well as sharing thoughts about IMT. If Diane wants to stay here, that's fine, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Francis. My website is sadly out of date... need to get that revamped with more current work. One of these days...
ReplyDeleteWhat a tough week! I think you would have a hard time keeping up with this class without anything unusual, given your commitments. I'm really struggling with it--it's a lot harder than I expected. When kids graduate from high school now (and he designed this class for graduating high school kids who planned to major in math) they know a whole lot more math than we did back in 1968. My son who graduated from high school 3 years ago was doing things I had never heard of after completing a math minor in college. I am in a situation right now without so many outside demands, or I wouldn't be making it at all.
ReplyDeleteI don't know where, but Dr. Devlin said that his grading policy is designed with adult students in mind, who can't always meet the demands of the class. He said that if you miss turning in an assignment you can still complete the class with a high enough grade for the certificate. He said you can also just watch the lectures, but I wouldn't be able to get anything out of the lectures without doing the assignments. I watch the lectures very slowly, taking detailed notes, then study the book and read all of the comments on this website, and still have trouble understanding and making mistakes. I have also really appreciated this group.
If this helps you decide: (from the Grading and Statements of Accomplishment section)
ReplyDelete"Award of the two kinds of certificate is based on your total (weighted) score for all the submitted work. Thus, high scores on some submitted work can compensate for low scores on others, including work not submitted (which the system records with a 0). This means that it is possible to achieve a Statement of Accomplishment without actually completing the course, and to earn a Distinction even though you got a low score on some problem sets or on some exam questions. As a general rule, however, you should complete all assigned work, to maximize your opportunity to meet those 80% and 20% thresholds. This compensatory policy reflects the fact that many MOOC students have daily schedules that occasionally cause them to miss some submission deadlines."
Nancy here using daughter's gmail account: feeling overwhelmed is an understatement at times for me. I knew before the class started my schedule was demanding enough without adding a math course while finishing another I started in July. I truly have a hole in my head which starts to ache when the brain power required to tackle a problem (and all this jargon and notation) becomes necessary. It's just that I wanted to try and to expose myself as much as possible to something I think has great carryover into the rest of life, plus I want to get used to the whole world of MOOCs although I am not tech saavy and don't possess all the know-how of software skills, another overwhelm! The aha moments make up for the lacks though. I can't cover everything in depth and my last problem set I didn't have enough time to really do as well as I wanted, but I am enjoying the learning I can get out of it and from all the people who contribute. Hope you stay on if you can eek out enough time in tidbits.
ReplyDeleteHi Diane, it sounds likes you had a difficult week. Things come up and will likely continue to do so. You do seem to enjoy the subject and material, based on your blog entries. My thoughts: If you are taking the course for personal enrichment, then do what you can, learn as much as you can, and enjoy the ride. I'm loving the brain workout, but know that I won't complete every problem set. If you are hoping to earn a statement of accomplishment, it's still possible even after missing a problem set, like Margie said.
ReplyDeleteI have decided to get the most I can from this course without regard to getting a certificate. I am downloading all the lectures, tutorials, assignments and problems as they are posted and then taking whatever time I need to get through them. I completely missed the Problem 2 deadline and am just now finishing assignment 4. I finally started to practice saying phi and psi without trying to convert them to A & B to avoid further confusion adapting the lectures. I believe it will be useful to learn to think through and articulate problems, math or otherwise, logically and without all the mechanics of formula. Anyway, for me not having to worry about deadlines will take the stress off, and I hope maybe some of you may be able to approach it that way too. If it is really necessary to have the certificate, I can always get it the second time around :o)
ReplyDeleteTom, Lori, Nancy, Margie et al., Max set up a new forum for us so that Diane would have less work, and perhaps more of an opportunity to complete the course. The forum is here:
ReplyDeletehttp://maxwendtphotography.com/imt2013/
It's nice, simple system. I hope all of you, including Diane, will post over there.