Fuzzy Logic

This semester I’m taking ME 274: Basic Mechanics II.  What stands out most for me so far in the one day of lecture is the amount of technology that has been, for the most part, correctly used by our professor.  Our professor has set up a very interesting way to use a common Wordpress blog that is effective in helping students learn the material.  Students are allowed to register accounts, post comments, questions, and even new blog posts.  Accounts aren’t visibly linked to a student’s career account so there is no ’shame’ in asking a question if you chose a non-identifying username.  After every lecture, posts are made with the titles and basic information about the next homework problems.  Students are then given the opportunity to discuss the problem, potential solutions, and their troubles in solving the problem.The nice thing about this format is that it allows an open, internet-based discussion without any real effort on the part of anyone.  It’s a perfectly legitimate form of communication and, since it’s set up by the professors, things that go on are watched over and they don’t get out of control.  It’s honestly a great system.  The benefits of the system are even greater for those who fully participate in the blog.  First of all, a small (~2%) of our grade is determined by our participation in that blog.  Secondly, teaching over the internet (especially through the medium of text) is, in my opinion, much tougher than teaching in ‘real life.’  By writing steps out, students are learning how to express decently complex thoughts and steps in a text form.  This becomes even more difficult when dealing with systems in which directions mean a lot.  It’s been very interesting watching posters change the tone of their posts as they realize how difficult it is for others to understand their rambling ideas.

Another interesting thing about this blog is that it contains many static pages.  One of these has quicktime videos of sample problems.  The interesting thing about these videos is that they contain a professor solving the problem verbally as well as writing down the steps of the problem.  I believe this is done using a tablet PC and a built in microphone but, whatever the method, it’s great.  The problems solved aren’t homework problems but simply problems that are similar enough to help students along.  I really wish other classes would use this method to help students learn.  Obviously there are some classes that wouldn’t benefit from it.  Freshman weedout classes are there for a reason–any person who is willing to put in a small amount of time on this can get a lot out of it, but many would be tempted to leech.  It would also probably be less than ideal for a lab class, where discussions really need to happen between group members anyway.  But for a higher-level class that deals with many tricky concepts and only assigns a few crucial problems a week, it’s a great idea.

My only grudge with this system is that they use a flash-based PDF viewer on their pages instead of providing PDF links.  While this is probably a great idea for some, it aggravates me because I’m forced to load a third party site flash application (which I don’t like doing) as well as deal with the problems inherent in those.  My personal problem with that is that the system won’t allow me to scroll–I must click and drag on the page, which is just aggravating.  The other main problem is that the site they use, Scribd.com, requires you to make an account to be able to download the PDFs themselves.  A lot of times I just want to save the PDF files for personal use and I hate having to sign up for every single stupid site.  Oh well.

Overall, this is a great implementation and I would love to see it used in more of my classes.  It makes it much easier to actually learn what you’re doing instead of just working through a problem and assuming it’s correct (because there are no solutions to be found).  Knowing if you got the problem right or wrong is a monumental thing, in my opinion, and this is a great way to figure it out.