Waiting List - Final Message

On Friday, September 6, we closed the CS765-24 class. If you are not enrolled, you will not be. I apologize to those of you who wanted to take the class - there was more demand than capacity.

What can you do if you want to learn about Visualization?

  • You cannot attend class. Please don’t come. See below. Showing up is only one of the parts of class. You also cannot access internal course materials on Canvas (fair use means just for students in class).
  • You can look at the course web (or last year’s). This can give ideas that you can do on your own. The reading list is particularly good.
  • I am trying to create resources that work for people outside of class, but it is a slow process. See Visualization Snacks.
  • I will teach the class again in the future (probably next fall).

No attendance without enrolmment

One question I was asked (by email and in class): I cannot allow un-enrolled students to attend.

Officially this is not allowed (there is a formal audit process). The university wants to serve the “paying customers” - if we give away the product…

But more practically, it is unfair. It is unfair to the other students who want to take the class but can’t.

It is also unfair to the students in the class: the participatory nature of the class means that having “non-students” in the class can break the dynamic. “Why did that person not have to do the work?” Also, more people means that the class is bigger, and bigger is worse.

It is also less valuable: the lectures are only one component of the whole class, and designed to work with everything else (the readings, the assignments, the discussions). The class is not a spectator sport.

Sometimes, the “volunteers” are the ones who are most interested, most engaged, and most likely to show up (since they are doing it because they want to). But for fairness, I must ask that you do not come to class if you are not enrolled. You are free to look at the class website.

I do expect to teach this class again next fall.