On Thu, Jan 25, 2001 at 02:55:02PM -0000, Óskar Guðlaugsson wrote:

> The problem is, Eysteinn, that this list is already in a serious
> crisis of identity; how many students write on it?

> Finally, about this list: our course has developed in the way that a
> very limited amount of people write on this list or to us privately;
> yet over 150 are subscribed, and perhaps some additional are using our
> homepage without being subscribed. I lament that students should not
> want to discuss more, or send us their solutions and questions more;
> mostly because as it is, we don't have a clue if anybody's actually
> using our course at all (!).
>
> So if you're using our course, and have *anything* to ask/share/say,
> don't be afraid to post here, or at least send to us. Just so that we
> know you're still there :)

I'm surprised we don't have more on list traffic. But it seems with most
lists, people respond more than they originate topics, and so you get
a kind of self perpetuating cycle. Probably, if people were posting
their solutions to the list (rather than by direct mail to the instructors),
others would comment on things a bit, and still others would start feeling
"oh yeah, I need to do the next lesson soon" and get to it a bit faster.
But on the other hand, some would be horribly inhibited about displaying
their mistakes in public, or overwhelmed by seeing others who seem to be
having much less trouble with the material.

I'm curious how many are actually sending solutions, and why they are not.
In my case (if I weren't your proofreader/guinea pig for early lesson
drafts) I suspect I'd "not want to be a bother", and tend to check my
work against published solutions rather than sending it ... even though
that's not a great idea, since this sort of exercise rarely has only one
right answer.

--
Arlie

(Arlie Stephens arlie@...)