followup meeting about weekly quizzes

we shared your ideas:
weekly quiz--paper, please
two rooms, please
consistency, please
the implosion of blackboard was 'chaotic', 'a circus', 'a disaster'
66% said that the 'method of admin of that quiz interfered with ability to perform'
50% blackboard success rate

we thanked them many times for making a decision that was tough for them: curbing blackboard-based weekly quizzes for the remainder of the semester.

met with weekly quiz givers

some faculty want to re-instate blackboard for weekly quizzes asap: next tues. class officers and faculty negotiated a win-win. faculty are able to conserve substantial pre- and post- quiz (wo)manpower by going digital, and we’ll have the use paper and a back button, avoiding arbitrary constraints.

if you feel inclined, please thank a basic science instructor for the concession.

met with deans

as you know, the deans invited us to provide the agenda:
1.thank you
2.can you help us understand the ‘why’ behind multi-course testing (midterm, final)?
3.how can students and instructors maximize the take-away from lecture?
4.scheduling CPR certification, power crisis in nagle

here’s what i took from it…
1.people like being thanked
2.curriculum design is very far beyond my experience. deans and faculty gave reasons for the frequency of combined quizzes, based on some findings in education research (as examples, they gave articles that i emailed to everybody). i have confidence in their interest in us and in their experience in education. rather than focus on un-doing the multi-course testing, i recommend we look for ways to make it more comfortable. suggestions?
3.nyucd invests heavily in teacher education. i hope we will see improvement in the quality of presentations from a few of our lecturers. additionally, if you have innovative suggestions for format (perhaps something that worked well at your undergrad school), they are interested in hearing about it.
4.next year the CPR scheduler will be respectful of exam schedule. as for nagle power, the reply was kinda harsh, albeit practical: get another battery.

12 minute meeting

some have said 'greatest 12min of my life' but i don't think we should be too hasty...

we voted:
a. for an in-house solution to providing transcription service (managed by sahel). subscribe for a fee, transcribe to get paid.
b. general sentiment toward multi-course-same-day exams: half ‘indifferent’, almost half ‘negative’, a handful ‘positive’

other highlights:
get yourself mentored
let's follow the lead of ryan harris and others and show some caring and sharing