The break between fall and winter quarter this year was two weeks, which provided just enough time to relax a bit and then do a reasonable amount of course prep.
The break between winter and spring quarter, however, was only one week—and I didn’t have my grades done until Monday of break week. That means I’ve had basically no down time, because I’m teaching a brand new class next quarter that’s also a distance learning class—meaning that the material has to be much more organized than I might be able to get away with in a lecture format.
As a result, I’ve been cross as a bear for the past few days, as I struggled to get my mind around how to present the enormous topic of CSCW and Groupware in a mere ten weeks of instructional time. Blech.
On the plus side, there were a couple of people who had graciously put their syllabi for similar classes up on the web—most notably David McDonald at UW, and Joe Konstan and Loren Terveen at Minnesota. I drew on their work, as well as my own knowledge of the field, to come up with my syllabus. I know I’m taking on an awful lot of topics, but it’s really intended as an overview rather than an in-depth assessment of any one aspect of CSCW.
I’ll be filling in more details (particularly readings and lab assignments) over the next week, but at least the basic structure and the first week’s materials are available in time for the students to start work on them tomorrow.
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That's why I always hated the quarter system at RIT -- there was never enough time to get depth in a really interesting topic. Of course, it's nice that you *get* interesting topics at all.
Most of the faculty hate the quarter system, too. But every time it's come up for review, the students have voted overwhelmingly in favor of it. :P
I remember a vote happening while I was a student. I was shocked at how one-sided it seemed to be. Then again, I suppose if you put "go to class and do work" vs. "sleep all day and get an 'A' anyway" up for a vote, you know which way that wind would blow. Doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.
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