Follow-up impressions

Now that class has been going on for 2 weeks here are my revised impressions. I still love the room layout. The seats are quite comfortable, though the desks are small. What's new about that on a college campus though? One would think that some company out there could make a desk for college-aged adults that could at least fit a notebook - especially at Harvard of all places.

Shopping for classes is indeed an administrative nightmare. The third week of classes is rapidly approaching and my sections are still not finalized. To complicate matter further, the first sessions were supposed to begin on Monday, the 11th. But, that day passed without sections, so they were rescheduled for next Monday - yes, President's Day. I am sure the students are just as happy about meeting during a school holiday as I am. Isn't shopping wonderful? Whatever happened to designing a catalog with a class of 300 students divided into 20 sections with 15 student each? You could even break it down a bit further by having 16 sections with a cap of 18 students and still get 288 to register, which is more or less this year's class. Even with 20 sections with an 18 student cap some sections may have only 7 or 8 students. All the better for the instructor and the student. 7:1 is much more manageable than 18:1. Why? I ask again WHY?

I must give credit to Josh Sanes and Jeff Lichtman. They are giving excellent lectures. Albeit the material is being covered a bit fast for what many students can keep pace, but hey this is college and we are at Harvard. Hold tight we are in for a fast paced ride. But, to be fair, I think the lectures are great and the material quite fair. Even the reading assignments are manageable. Although to be honest I haven't been keeping up with the reading in the book. I had two years worth of graduate courses covering this material and have been to countless lectures and seminars diving into many more of the particulars covered. I hope I understand what is being covered in a basic neurobiology course catered to students with little scientific background. I'll find out what the students think of my understanding of neurobiology during my first section on Monday.

I love being on the other side of the coin!! I hate laptops....no laptops are fine-its the finger pounding rapidly on keys that drives me crazy! Much of what is being said is written verbatim on the pdf handout. Rest those fingers and open your minds! Oh and turning off cell phones would be a polite thing to do.