Student "edition" found at {csi dot journalspace dot com}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

One anecdote that I seem to have passed over in my discussion of the finals is that in my Mathematical Methods One class, since the last week of classes (which is actually the thirteenth week) I had given the students the promise that if this one student who is consistently late (sometimes arriving even after more than thirty minutes have elapsed – even during announced and regularly scheduled quizzes) was in the classroom by the time I got there, the whole class would get a bonus.

This, I hoped, would put the pressure on the student to arrive early for the benefit of his classmates. When the last day of regular classes rolled by and he was not able to be equal to the challenge, I even extended it to the day of finals, which was also at 8am.

Alas, it was not meant to be.

I’m thinking if starting next term I should give the students an up-to-date and transparent computation of their grades after every major requirement (such as a paper or an exam). Then there would be no more adjustment afterwards, but what they see (and how they perform) is what (grade) they get.

I will have to think about how to make the system foolproof, and to prevent the students from bargaining or getting high grades on last minute obviously copied submissions.

Actually, the purpose of assignments anyway is supposed to be for practice on the application of the concepts involved.

Now, on to some “behind the scenes” trivia I could not reveal on the journal that I let my students read: the announcement of a public holiday at the last minute of National Heroes’ Day played havoc on our finals and course card distribution schedules, that had to all be moved up one day.

The thing was, even though the information was thoroughly disseminated to the teachers, only those students whose exams and deadlines were affected got wind of the change.

Deiv wasn’t one of the latter, so on the original set date for the giving of final grades he was at the faculty room. Fortunately I was a bit ahead, so I was able to give him his Introduction to Electricity and Magnetism lecture grade immediately (a 2.5) and only had to tell him to wait until after lunch for his lab grade.

Of course he wanted to see his checked exam paper, but I emphasized the policy that he could not bring it home.

Once more, I have to cut this short today. Session 741 has to be brought home here. Class dismissed.