I woke up this morning to the realization that it's already the end of the third week of the semester. I've noticed that I feel more behind on my grading this semester, and I'm not entirely sure why. My classes are actually smaller on average than in previous semesters, but for some reason the turnaround time seems to be a day or two more. I'm not 100% certain what's eating up my time.
The MATH 127 course this semester feels a lot better than the previous couple semesters. I think abandoning the lecture slides I created has given me a little more space and freedom during class time, which has altered the dynamic a bit. I can't really tell yet whether that's leading to a significant different in the outcomes. The quiz scores are still about where they were before. The Course Assistant is doing well with trying to connect with students and is a positive presence in the classroom. But with all the changes, I'm still waiting to see what will happen in the dreaded Chapter 5 that has consistently dragged down students in other semesters.
The MATH 301 course is going pretty normally. We lost a couple students in the first week, but we're now holding on at 7 students, which is still large compared to the more common 4 or 5 that we've had in the past. I haven't taken a careful look at our math pipeline, but I think this is a sign of good things to come in the next few years. The combination of efforts from the School of Education to recruit more students (especially math students from stronger high schools), we may capture more than a proportional growth in our program with the general population growth of the campus. Maybe I'll find some time to analyze that in the next few weeks.
CS 135 is going okay. I think the pace I've laid out for students is a little bit fast for them, but I'm giving them a lot of hand-holds along the way. So far, everyone seems interested an engaged, even if they feel a little overwhelmed at times. My perspective is a little skewed as it was last time around because some of the students already have some programming experience while others have none. And so I'm trying to do things in a way that's balancing throwing out enough ideas to keep the experienced students engaged while not doing so much that the students that are newer are feeling buried. But at least there are only projects and no exams, which can help me tailor things to the different levels of the students.
ART 240 is a fun class. I accidentally botched up one week's assignments by having several assignments being listed as due a week earlier than they were supposed to be, which caused some frustration and confusion for the students (overloading them with assignments), so I used last week mostly as a chance for them to work on assignments. Next week, we're going to pick up with OpenSCAD and get back to me showing them new things. I think a lot of them feel ready for it, too. But I think for the next time I teach the course, I'm going to need to provide them with some more examples of design drawings because a lot of them still aren't quite getting it.
The data science search committee is reviewing applications now. There's another week before they're due, and we've got only a couple dozen applicants to consider. I can't say too much right now because we're in the middle of the search, but I can say that there are some very intriguing possibilities in the mix and I'm looking forward to seeing how this all plays out. I also had a quick conversation in the hallway with the President about the data science program and some connections he's hoping to make with math and some casino folks, and so there's another stack of things that may be coming down the pike there.
The actual prototype of our test tube rack has been manufactured and we'll be receiving it on campus sometime in the next week. This is going to be one of the high points of a project that's now about two years in the making. Our final patent is still not filed yet, so I can't include images or anything just yet. But we're going to be taking this and working with some marketing students to come up with a plan for how to push this product out on the world. We're supposed to file by May 20, at which point we should be in the clear for all of the intellectual property stuff.
Over the last week, I've started to take a bunch of electronics stuff home from campus to begin playing around with it. There are a number of faculty that have grown in their interest in things like Arduinos and other little computing-type projects, and so I'm trying to propose a NASA grant to give us some time and equipment to try to push that to the next level. This is really convenient for me because I've been toying around with this for a while now on my own, and so it fits in well with my independent interests. I had to reclaim the Arduino I used for the 8x8 LED display that I built. So right now, my dining table has a function generator, oscilloscope, Lego robotics sensors, my collection of breadboards and LEDs, and then the TV has a Raspberry Pi attached to it. I've already figured out how to wire up the Lego touch sensor (it's just a button), read and drive the Lego motor, and so I just need to figure out the light and sound sensors before I've got those parts worked out. (After some reading, I've decided that the distance finding sensor with the Lego kit can be replaced by a much cheaper and simpler device, so I'm not even going to bother with it.) My hope is that the experience I'm gaining here will give me something to work with when we bring in the other sensors. At some level, these probes should really just be about reading digital or analog currents, and so I'm hoping this practice will pay off.
The support for the Science Center continues to roll in. Tonight, the bassist of a cover band (that also happens to be an NSC employee) is going to play at a local bar in Henderson and will donate his share of the earnings to the Center. I have no idea how much money that actually amounts to and I have no idea how that amount is determined. Are they getting a cut of the sales that evening plus some sort of base fee? Is it just a flat fee? (There's no cover charge, so I know it's not that.) But regardless of how much it is, the support is appreciated and so I'm going to be there. I also had a hallway conversation with someone else who said that they would be willing to donate again if there's another reason to donate. So there's definitely legs under this and I hope that our execution in the next 6 months goes well. I'll be trying to check in with Dave whenever he's back in town again to see if there are any updates.
But I do need to start thinking about the summer trip. We're supposedly going to have some compost bins down there and so I've been asked to try to move in the direction of soil science and hydroponics. I'm going to have to send my contact at DRI an email to inquire about the curriculum from the Green Boxes in the next couple weeks. They also built a basketball court, so I might need to bring a second pair of shoes (because I'm not sure I want to try to play basketball in my the hiking shoes that I normally bring down.
Other things: Still moving closer to remodeling. I'm mostly waiting on the contractor as he's finishing up a couple other projects. But he's been pretty good with the communication and so I hope things go smoothly. I was offered a pair of cats, but had to turn them down because of the impending construction. It's too many moving pieces at once (for both me and the cats). I played on the piano for about 20 minutes over the last two weeks, so I really can't claim to have put in any serious time on that. At the end of the month, the church is going to consider whether to lease a building. At this point, I'm somewhat optimistic that it's the right move, but we'll first have to let time work a few things out for us.
This meme is how I feel when I see Facebook friends post false quotations, false statistics, false accusations, uncharitable interpretations of statements, and just generally abuse (ie, take stuff out of context) the Scriptures in order to justify their political beliefs. I'm okay with disagreeing about theology and politics. I'm okay with letting theology guide political views. But if the reputations of Christians is that they can't have those conversations truthfully and honestly, why should anyone bother to listen to them about anything? I think these are some of the most damaging self-inflicted wounds of American Christianity right now. Sadly, the ones that are the most guilty of this seem to be the most proud of what they're doing. (Hence, the meme.)
