Monday, October 03, 2005

How big is big?

Finally time to finish this up... sorry it took so long. The only way to get this is actually add stuff up, and I've been busy.

Last time, I talked about the awful article in the Collegiate Times humping the administration over how great the Math Emporium was. At the end, we had the claim that, really, the Emporium didn't target lower level courses because the Math department didn't care about them. Really, it was just about class size, and that's all. You just naturally put the biggest classes online and leave the rest in the classroom.

Let's check a few things here.

Let's check out the timetable to see how large classes are, and look at whether they're online or really meet. I'm leaving out courses with less than a couple of hundred enrollment, so we'll just look at large enrollment sections. I'll also leave out the Honors sections--those won't go online. Honors for 1114 meet in the classroom now, even though everyone else has to take it online. I'm also leaving out enrollment in three special classroom sections of 1015--yes, you heard right: there are classroom sections of 1015. I don't know what kind of a note from God it requires to get into one of these, but they exist.

I'll start the list in order by course number:

1015: 1178 (online)
1016: 789 (online)
1114: 1461 (online)
1205: 1124 (classroom)
1206: 705 (classroom)
1224: 733 (classroom)
1525: 844 (online)
1526: 272 (classroom?)
1535: 348 (classroom)
2224: 856 (classroom)
2015: 427 (classroom)
2214: 651 (classroom)

1526 follows 1525, so I guess it'll be online soon, but at the moment it seems to meet in a classroom.

Hmm... now obviously, none of the 2000 level courses have been put online, so there does tend to be a trend toward lower level courses being put online. But we're assured it's based on enrollment, so let's sort these by enrollment levels. Then we'll just have to draw the dividing line to find out which courses are "big enough" to put at the Emporium:

1114: 1461 (online)
1015: 1178 (online)
1205: 1124 (classroom)
2224: 856 (classroom)
1525: 844 (online)
1016: 789 (online)
1224: 733 (classroom)
1206: 705 (classroom)
2214: 651 (classroom)
2015: 427 (classroom)
1535: 348 (classroom)
1526: 272 (classroom?)

Oops, that doesn't really work. 1205 and 2224 both have higher enrollments than 1525, and they decided to put 1525 online this semester. And everything's bigger than 1526, which is probably next in line.

Maybe we could try a different system... I know, how about this:
For Math Majors:
1114: 1461 (online)
1205: 1124 (classroom)
1206: 705 (classroom)
1224: 733 (classroom)
2214: 651 (classroom)
2224: 856 (classroom)

For Everybody Else:
1015: 1178 (online)
1016: 789 (online)
1525: 844 (online)
1526: 272 (classroom?)
1535: 348 (classroom)
2015: 427 (classroom)
Oooh, now that makes a neater dividing line. If we look at courses math majors take, these courses get offered in the classroom (with the exception of 1114). Of course, if you're in the honors program, you take 1114 in the classroom too. I guess they must really hate the honors students to force them into that awful, passive classroom environment, where they lost and tuned out after 10 minutes.

Everybody else in a big course has to take it at the Emporium, except 2015 and 1535. (Which are pretty small for "big".)

So I guess the next course to go online would have to be 1205, the first course math majors take, since it seems to have been unfairly passed up this time. Wanna make a bet on whether it's 1205 or one of the last courses for non-majors that goes online next?

Isn't it strange how this much better method of teaching is chivalrously denied to the department's own majors, and restricted only for those poor souls who are from some other field? You'd think they'd be jealously restricting it to courses for their own students, since it's clearly so much better.