Last year CHEM 101 was proposed to the Academic Senate -- and enthusiastically approved -- in order to address some problems we believe we saw with respect to first year chemistry and biochemistry students. Many of us saw those who picked this major but had no idea what kinds of directions or career opportunities that might arise. Others knew nothing about the different kinds of chemistry, how to study effectively or where to go for advising. Add on top of that the sense that CHEM/BCHM majors, who make up less than 10% of the general chemistry audience, were lost to us until their third year, it seemed obvious to the whole department that this course was desirable. In fact, many sophomores, juniors and seniors still express disappointment and envy that CHEM 101 was not around when they were freshmen. My colleagues leap at the chance to come visit on Mondays and, by the time we're through, you'll have met roughly 75% of the permanent faculty. Even the pointy-headed administrators thought this class was a great idea and some even urged other departments to follow suit.
That said, I'm puzzled and somewhat disheartened that these sentiments seem unshared by you, the actual students in the class. This feeling crystallized for me after witnessing what appeared to be complete apathy to both the mini-lecture and the panel this evening. I don't know if this quarter's activities seem pointless or uninteresting to you, or that you're just shut down for other reasons. Not one student had a question/comment of any kind for the panel and I have to interpret that as (a) there being zero interest in the topic of advising (b) you know everything already, (c) this format doesn't work for you or (d) I'm not doing a good job somewhere.
If this were the only occasion it wouldn't be a issue. On top of this lies the rather tepid response rate to the blog questions -- only 18 persons contributed this time (meaning that 56% of the course could not be bothered with a five-minute entry). I've pretty much given up on Twitter although I think there could be something really cool in there if a class gave it half a try, instead of decrying it as a pointless technology from the get-go. These attempts, like last week's trivia game, are designed to help you get a sense of ownership over your own education. It doesn't feel like that is working either and, again, I'm willing to accept much of the fault.
So I'm at a loss and my enthusiasm for the course has taken a considerable hit. I wish this was my only thing to focus on but unfortunately, like you, I have other time commitments -- besides, I don't get any credit for 101 and am just doing this on top of my normal fall schedule. Nevertheless, I am committed to keep plugging along and trying my best.
One of my colleagues has commented to me that entering freshmen often bring a type of "slave mentality" with them from high school; that is, all work performed and classes attended are simply in order to satisfy an external body that has required it. For 101, I have purposely kept the work expectation low -- very low for me, in fact -- with the hopes that students would just attend, interact with and perhaps befriend one another, maybe learn something interesting and offbeat, maybe learn something that would ultimately help them later on down the road, all in a casual low-stress environment. Again, I'm at a loss if anything right now is working.
I'm not necessarily soliciting any input from you [this has failed miserably already] but thought I should nonetheless comment on where we are halfway through from my perspective.
