Sitting in on the CS Class

1. It's not like it's any more of a waste of time than watching all three flavors of Law & Order. Plus I chose an undergraduate class, so I can follow what's happening in real time.


2. I emailed the professor to make sure it was OK that I was sitting in. Demographically, I stand out; any professor making even a minimal effort to learn who was in the class would realize pretty quickly that the thirtysomething-year-old woman was not on the class list.


3. [Demographic aside: There are about 50-60 students in the class. At least 90% male. In contrast: the gen-ed math class I teach is about 30% male this semester; math for elementary-ed is less than 10% male.]


4. It looks like three of my former calculus students are in the class!


5. It's very hilarious:

   Professor:

   [Main idea, main idea, big picture. Definition, example.]

   
   

   Ted Kaczynski/Mountain Man:

   [Jargon, jargon. Technical jargon. Exceptional case. Jargon, jargon]?

   
   

   Professor:

   Yes, in that case. However, [main idea, main idea, big picture].

   
   

   Laptop Guy (looks up from playing solitaire) :

   Do you mean [jargon, jargon, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit]?

   
   

   Professor:

   I've never really thought about it that way before. I guess you... No, that doesn't work.



6. The students are so patient! And forgiving! (Maybe mine would be, but I just fear the worst?) The professor spent the first 5 minutes of class trying to get the laptop to project! And no one minded! (They were happy to give suggestions on how to make it work). And what he projected was the exact same material from the course webpage. He made up the lecture as he went along, using the webpage as an outline, but winging it on the examples! And the students thought that it was OK!


7. The students don't take notes! These are my people! I can not relate to students who spend the entire class transcribing every glyph that is written on the board.