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.

I will interrupt my discussion of finals week to talk about something somewhat related.

My lab classes usually only meet once a week, and because of this a lot of students tend to take it for granted: coming in late, going to class unprepared for the activity of the day, not submitting the requirements on time (I don't know if that's related though, because there are students who do that even in my lecture subjects. It could just be more pronounced in classes that don't have daily requirements).

That's why some of my former co-teachers (a lot of whom have already left the profession for greener - as in dollar bill - pastures) have more or less perfected a system for getting the students to take the subject more seriously.

This includes having the regular quiz at the start of the class, not only to reward those who show up in class on time (as well as defining the limit of who is merely present and who is late) but also to induce the students to read the procedure before going to class and avoid last minute readers - like most men with new gadgets and an aversion to the instruction manual.

Then there is the ten percent per day deduction for late submission of requirements, because after all, why wait until the end of the term to submit something that otherwise can receive more points when it's typed out while still fresh in their mind before the deadline? There is even a warning against submitting mediocre work early, because even with a sixty percent bonus when submitted the day after the experiment, what is sixty percent added to twenty out of a hundred? It's still a failing thirty two points.

Another aspect I'm planning to implement is group demeanor, where I give deductions to teams of students that I see are not all working together to finish the experiment faster, with double points for the resourceful rotating leader.

I will think up more possible incentives during the summer.

Session 1079 passed after the deadline, and got no points for the submission. Class dismissed.