tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post7531460257082027745..comments2024-03-10T05:26:42.148-04:00Comments on My Biased Coin: Midterm BluesMichael Mitzenmacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06738274256402616703noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-14647328171890326522010-07-19T04:03:40.156-04:002010-07-19T04:03:40.156-04:00It was housing night!It was housing night!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-90575735201211288892009-04-13T12:29:00.000-04:002009-04-13T12:29:00.000-04:00I'm a newcomer to your blog and have enjoyed it th...I'm a newcomer to your blog and have enjoyed it thus far. When I was a student, many years ago, I struggled with various subjects, similar to the ones you teach now. <BR/>For example, here is some commentary of mine on <A HREF="http://gregbo.livejournal.com/161330.html" REL="nofollow">why engineering is hard</A>. If you have a chance, take a look, read some of the responses, and let me know what you think.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-73251534548701624762009-03-31T17:03:00.000-04:002009-03-31T17:03:00.000-04:00At 31 [four years ago], I started my master's degr...At 31 [four years ago], I started my master's degree. I was well into the career phase. It's interesting to me, from a purely professional point of view, how many kids think that just getting to the end is the accomplishment. <BR/><BR/>I don't buy the, "The day of XYZ arguments," because by the time that you get to exam day, you should have read, reviewed, and understood the material thoroughly. The exam should be a practical exercise, not so much a challenge.Davidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-64627177047389948422009-03-31T16:29:00.000-04:002009-03-31T16:29:00.000-04:00A lot of students do read your blog.Anyways, sched...A lot of students do read your blog.<BR/><BR/>Anyways, scheduling was probably part of it. The midterm this year was on Housing Day - you probably noticed that campus was in total chaos - and there were several other midterms that day too.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-46610835146345969722009-03-23T07:58:00.000-04:002009-03-23T07:58:00.000-04:00I think many of the comments have possibly valid p...I think many of the comments have possibly valid points: externalities (the economy! hadn't thought of that) may be playing a role, class size -- either because it's leading to different class dynamics, or because it means less prepared students -- certainly seems to be related in some way. Too bad this isn't a conveniently repeatable experiment. <BR/><BR/>It's not true that most students get A grades in Harvard CS courses, from my understanding... I can't speak for other courses. :)Michael Mitzenmacherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02161161032642563814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-14299139607103937572009-03-23T07:16:00.000-04:002009-03-23T07:16:00.000-04:00Irrespective of the midterm scores, most students ...Irrespective of the midterm scores, most students in Harvard get mostly A grades in their courses (according to many claims) - unlike say Princeton :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-81018201660398625042009-03-21T16:33:00.000-04:002009-03-21T16:33:00.000-04:00Remember a lot of students making be taking your c...Remember a lot of students making be taking your class to satisfy the secondary concentration requirement, which we did not have before - hence, more students are in the class that are not CS majors (and may be less prepared).Matt Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04255792550910131960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-28193231532460201932009-03-21T08:41:00.000-04:002009-03-21T08:41:00.000-04:00Peer judgment is a huge factor in large classes. D...Peer judgment is a huge factor in large classes. Did you see a drop in questions during the classes?<BR/><BR/>Often one student will serve as the canary in the coalmine by asking the question that everyone wants to ask but are too afraid to. (i.e. you said something horribly confusing and everyone clamours for some clarity). <BR/><BR/>This works fine in small classes as the canary chirps up, but large classes tend to suffocate canaries. (If there are 3 canaries, they may all standoff waiting for each other, as they don't want to be perceived as the dolt in the class.)<BR/><BR/>It sounds so trivial, but the "interested student" in a small class quickly becomes perceived as the "suck up shmuck" in the large classes. Finally, large classes become more structured just to maintain some level of organization, and asking a question in the middle breaks that structure much more than in a small, more fluid classroom.<BR/><BR/>I would very carefully consider large class effects. More data!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-10918255240430355602009-03-20T11:23:00.000-04:002009-03-20T11:23:00.000-04:00I observed that whenever I teach smaller classes, ...I observed that whenever I teach smaller classes, the average grades are higher. So, my hypothesis is that class size plays a significant role. <BR/><BR/>But why? I believe that larger classes interact with the quality of learning: in small classes, a comparatively higher fraction of students can ask questions and participate. As the class size grows, students do not have the same level of access to the professor. Furthermore, big set of peers discourages students from asking questions being "afraid" of peer judgment. <BR/><BR/>There is a reason that, in K12 education, classes are not bigger than 30-35 students. Learning abilities do not change suddenly when someone graduates from high school.<BR/><BR/>This is a link that I found after some quick Google search: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/ClassSize/myths.htmlPanos Ipeirotishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15283752183704062501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-65511006955594538552009-03-20T11:06:00.000-04:002009-03-20T11:06:00.000-04:00Hmm, interesting...it could be entirely coincident...Hmm, interesting...it could be entirely coincidental (perhaps we should ask Persi Diaconis?), but my husband and I have noticed the same thing this year in our classes (in a different state from yours, and in different disciplines, and in different types of institutions; one of us teaches finance in an MBA program at a flagship public university and the other teaches economics at a very good liberal arts college) Both of us have taught our respective courses many times before, and something seems "off" this year.<BR/><BR/>Economic worries are weighing heavily on many of our students' families--perhaps this could be a factor making it hard to concentrate.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-69599630869378214392009-03-20T10:32:00.000-04:002009-03-20T10:32:00.000-04:004) Random chance. Seems unlikely.How unlikely is i...<I>4) Random chance. Seems unlikely.</I><BR/>How unlikely is it, exactly?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-31159087058713049362009-03-20T09:33:00.000-04:002009-03-20T09:33:00.000-04:00New difficult questions might hurt results on olde...New difficult questions might hurt results on older questions just because of the time management issue.<BR/><BR/>But I think it's class size.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com