I can't remember a single lecture I heard in college. But I do remember doing things and can see now what I gained by having done them. True, lectures may sometimes have inspirational or entertainment value, but rarely in my opinion, and I'm not up to playing Billy Graham or Jerry Seinfeld two matinee's per week. I'd rather focus on the science. Furthermore, if the goal is active knowledge, then passive listening to lectures is not the way to go (so says others, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science. So...

...there won't be regular lectures. Instead, I'll spend that time (and more) trying to build environments where you can learn by doing and providing guidance specific to your needs. To that end, lecture material will be put on the web as notes as often as I can manage it (if you see me giving a lecture, you may be sure that I ran out of time and had to take the easy way out). I ask you to go over the notes (and reading and guided tours) in advance of the class for which they were prepared, then to let me know what areas you need more help on. In that way, I can arrange class so that it focuses on the areas that are most helpful to you. Study questions are embedded into the notes so that you don't go completely into passive mode. Here's an example of notes.

Yes, it is easier to understand what you read if I feed it to you beforehand, but then you're stuck knowing only what I fed. What happens when the spoon is gone? In general, I will not discuss material in class unless you ask me to (but then I will be delighted to do so).

In order to tailor the class to your needs, I need continuous feedback from you, hence the questionnaires that accompany each day's notes. The purpose of these questionnaires is to identify the problem areas -- the study questions that stump you, the concepts that remain fuzzy. They are not graded (at least not directly, but see Course at a Glance: Feedback). Questionnaires are also a means you can use to tell me particular concerns you are having with any aspect of the course. There will always be a general question at the end soliciting your comments that don't fit elsewhere. Doing questionnaires may have some therepeutic value, but so that they have value to me (and my preparations for class), I ask you to send them in by 7 am on the day of class (earlier will not be refused!).

To summarize, don't sit back and expect me to teach you anything in class. Very little I can teach is worth learning. Anything of long lasting value you have to learn yourself through your own motivation. If there's nothing you need help with, fine, we will have very short classes. You pay the bills.

What should I do if I can't read the notes before class?
Well, such things happen on occasion. I will focus on questions from people who have read them, so you should expect to feel lost if you come to class. Maybe you'll still gain something, I don't know.

That's OK. But if you find that you often don't have time to read the notes before class, you might ask yourself if you have time to take this course.