Lectures (Class Meetings)

I am using the term “lecture” to refer to the synchronous, scheduled class meetings. Even when the class is “in-person” these aren’t always lectures (we might do group discussions or design activities). Conversely, there might be a “lecture” where I ask you to watch a pre-recorded video.

What: synchronous class meetings
Why (Learning Goal): provide interaction and community around the class topics and present materials interactively
When: 11am-12:15pm, Wednesday and Friday, Madison time (as officially scheduled)
How: Blackboard Collaborate Ultra (BBCU) - enter via Canvas
Assessment: see the policy on attendance. We will track who is there, and try to assess how much people participate Late Policy: if you miss it, you’ve missed the experience - we will provide materials so you can at least get some of it.

This class has synchronous class meetings as scheduled by the University. Twice a week, in the official University scheduled time slot (which is an odd one - see CS765 in the time of Covid (Why is this class online?) (Why the odd timing?) if you are curious). These class meetings are required. You will be penalized if you do not attend and participate.

Disclosure: the synchronous aspects of this class are the big experiment for the online version. Please bear with me as I learn to do it effectively.

Some Rationale

The class meetings are the way we can interact with each other. This interaction is important: it is what makes this a “class” not a “bunch of resources on the internet”. Interacting around the topic is important (especially for Visualization), and learning works better when we do it as a community. If you wanted to try to learn the material on your own with the resources, go ahead.

Ironically, lectures (the typical use of class time), are not very interactive. An instructor giving a monologue has only a little bit of interaction: the instructor “reads” the audience to adjust their presentation, the audience might be engaged a bit contributing and commenting, the audience can ask questions, and there is some between-student communication (chatter, joint attention). Synchronous video presentation of lectures (everyone watches together) have some of this interaction. And, arguably, asynchronous (pre-recorded) videos have different interaction (since the student is in control and can pause or rewind).

This suggests “flipping” the classroom: material is provided for asynchronous consumption (e.g., pre-recorded lectures) and using the limited class time for more interactive activities. Lectures sortof work asynchronously; interaction does not. I have been experimenting with “flipping” the classroom is 765 for the past few years. The CS765 in the time of Covid (Why is this class online?) discusses this. The online setting is accelerating the experiment.

Unfortunately, doing interactive exercises online is tricky as it depends on technology and assignment design. I am going to try to re-create what we do in class. For some things it is easy, and may even be an improvement (splitting the class into small groups for discussion). For some things, we’ll have to experiment. For example, you will need to be able to draw on paper (as we did in the old class), but now you’ll have to scan it quickly (see Requirements (Things you Need for Class)). Please bear with me as we figure out how to do this.

One side effect of the focus on interaction: if you miss class, you’ve missed the interaction. Watching a video of my monologue, or doing some of the exercises by yourself doesn’t recreate the interaction. Therefore, while we will try to make the materials available afterwards, you won’t get full credit for participating.

Mechanics

We will do the synchronous class meetings in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra (BBCU). Please take time to familiarize yourself with the tool ahead of time. We will try to make extensive use of the interaction features.

During “whole class” sessions (where I am lecturing), please keep your camera and microphone off unless you are speaking. If you want to speak, post to chat (someone will alert me). It is best to post the questions in the chat. I may not be able to follow the chat while speaker, but the TA (or another assistant) will alert me.

For interactive things, we will use other web tools simultaneously. Expect to see the use of Google docs, Google slides, Canvas, and other things.

I will try to record the “lecture parts” - the breakout groups are not recorded.

I will post any slides or materials after class. They will be posted to a folder on Canvas. The slides are not meant to stand on their own - they are designed as a “prop” for the lecture. The slides may have limited value beyond the lecture.