spring 2010 has begun

Well. I survived the first week of spring 2010 term. It was a good week too. I reconnected with a few classmates from fall 2009, and I made the acquaintance of a few new faces. I sat through the reading of syllabi and learned of professors’ pet peeves. I have purchased $200 of textbooks—one of which used was $100. Better be a lot of learning in that one. I have purchased a small fortune in art supplies and an enormous portfolio, a size up from 20x30.

This semester, I have an 8:30 class Monday through Thursday. So, in many ways, going to campus will be like going to the office, except that in one of those classes I won’t be allowed to drink anything. Which is just as well since I’d like to limit my caffeine consumption so that I can ramp it up again when all-nighters become necessary.

On Mondays and Wednesdays I start my day with a three-hour drawing class. Yowza. Three hours of ANYTHING is long, but three hours of an activity I avoid could be, well, interesting. Way back last semester, I decided that I was going to dig really deep and find a good attitude for drawing, especially as I suffered through my color class. It’s not a stretch to say that I am excited about learning how to draw. My boys draw fearlessly, and I envy them that ability. Then, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have Interior Design Studio 2, which consists of a fifty-minute lecture followed by a two hour lab.

Finally, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Psych 1001 meets in Willey 175. This is one of those mondo lecture halls. In fact, during the first lecture, I learned that Willey 175 is an amphitheater, seating over 700 students (1,100 students are taking this class; approximately 300 are online). Again, yowza. Never in my previous academic experience have I taken a class with this many people. At St. Catherine’s, a large class was thirty students, and we all made noises about how huge that was. I find the whole scene rather entertaining and was amused to see a mostly full lecture hall on Friday. At 1:25. We’ll see how that pans out as the semester progresses.

So, with a class that large and with the lecture hall’s tremendous acoustics that made the turning of syllabus pages sound like a powerful waterfall, tests have to be administered in some other way. Here is where the brave new world of computers comes into play. Tests are set over two days, each student signs up for a fifty-minute time slot in a computer lab. Part of my orientation involves setting up an account in the computer lab for which I will receive fifteen points. Every Wednesday, before the lecture, I have a discussion section where I receive points just for showing up. We have written assignments each week, as well as individual and group activities. Yes, activities rather than papers or projects/presentations. Plus, we can earn extra credit points (yes, it’s a very points-driven class, carrot-stick analogy is apropos here) for participating in research studies or for interview TAs about their research areas.

Another reason I find Psych 1001 so fascinating is this fact: the University of Minnesota is the last large university to have faculty teaching this class, as opposed to professional lecturers or grad students. Ten professors will lecture, each on their research area. Further, Psych 1001 has a course coordinator, whose role is to project manage the professors, students, and TAs, as well as to troubleshoot technology (yes, there is a technology TA) and counsel students. It’s quite an operation.

The semester has started at a relaxed pace. I am trying to push myself so I don’t fall behind, though it’s hard to get motivated without the pressure of deadlines. I hate working in this mode, but I fear I thrive under enormous stress. So far, I have a lot of reading, which is a change from last semester when it was an endless stream of projects and assignments. I will also be taking tests and quizzes, within a timeframe, online. Brave new learning, indeed.