Reminders from 1-21-2016 TA meeting, for week of 1-25-2016 (Surveys and Lab Intro)
Hello, Phys 131 TAs!
Here is the email that we promised you, recapping our Thursday discussion and including links to useful information. Our first 'official' TA training time will be this coming week--timing to be announced. Prof. Buehrle has sent an ELMS notice (announcement) to students to remind them to bring their computers, to have a flash/thumb drive for our labs, and to read the lab documents and pre-readings ahead of time. He has also reminded them that we are in room 3312 until further notice.
This week you need to attend your own recitations and labs and come to the TA training. You might also consider reading a bit about this course (papers attached for your edification). If you have not yet had a meeting with Prof. B. or with me, then you need to meet with us early next week (week of Jan. 25th)--before you first meet with your students.
This week in recitation:
0) Take attendance. You can normally do this in ELMS (that is how I do it, by entering their participation score in ELMS--which you can always adjust later if their behavior is poor)--but right now you do not have ELMS access and they may not have this fixed before your first section. So, for this week you can take attendance by checking off their names on a roster printout (you can get that from UMEG or from the roster Prof. B. emailed on Thursday) on paper or in a spreadsheet, or by having the students write their name on a sheet of paper (a sign-in). Whatever works for you, just be sure you know who is there for each recitation and each lab.
1) Surveys
Students will be asked to fill out three surveys: (TWO on paper/scantrons and ONE online)
* the MEGS (paper) survey using the scantron;
* the MAX (paper) survey using the scantron; and
* the pre-lab NEXUS/Physics survey ( http://tinyurl.com/Sp2016-NEXUS-Pre ) (Ugly link -- in case the nice link isn't working -- https://umdsurvey.umd.edu/SE/?SID=SV_9SQSMn0PG6w5KPX ).
Students will be completing the MEGS and MAX on-paper surveys during recitation. These surveys, together, will take a little over one hour. Either Mark or Deborah will be present to introduce the surveys to your students and to answer any questions your students may have. Completed surveys should be placed in the "Completed MEGS" and "Completed MAX" boxes, in the front of the room, on the "TA" desk. Please make sure that you also re-collect the MEGS and MAX question booklets, as these will be used for the next section's students, too. (And students should NOT write on the question booklets! Unless Mark and Deb say otherwise....) As with all Scantron surveys, students should use a #2 pencil (there are extra pencils on the "TA" desk--re-collect these, too, if distributed). Do the MEGS first, then the MAX. Check with Deb and Mark--but I am pretty sure you can just collect the MEGS and scantron when they finish it, student-by-student, and immediately hand them a MAX and new scantron to start the new survey.
If students finish the MEGS and MAX and are waiting for the rest of the class to complete the surveys, they can be sure to:
These should keep them busy until their peers are finished with the paper survey.
Outline for lab time: ("Lab 0")
(Between recitation and lab, there is a ten-minute break. Students should use this time to get up and move around, use the facilities, get water/coffee, etc.)
(There is no login info for the computers. If a computer is 'logged out,' simply turn it off and reboot the computer. It will automatically login.)
2) Welcome to class, Discuss Scientific Community Lab format
Once students have completed the surveys, please introduce them to the Scientific Community Lab format (which they should be familiar with from the pre-reading: Intro to the Scientific Community Lab). Please emphasize that this lab format is designed to be reflective of professional scientific practices--designing experiments, working in groups, learning to communicate with peers, presentation and critical evaluation of ideas, etc. You don't need to read it to them word-for-word, but cover the major points (lab report written entirely in class and due at end of lab, all students must have copies of data/word files before leaving the lab room (flashdrives!!), review roles and discuss role rotation (if using this), briefly discuss grading, grade renormalization (all lab grades are renormalized at the end of the semester, so the "easy" or "hard" grading of any individual TA has no over-all effect on student rank within the class), and attendance policies -- on the last page of the Intro to SCL document) and ask them if they have any additional questions. This should take you no more than half an hour.
3) Download ImageJ (w/ "Manual Tracking" and "MultiTracker" plug-ins.) -- Last task
Explain to students that one of the modern tools that we will use is an image/video analysis software called ImageJ. They will learn more about this in the pre-reading to a future lab (Lab 1, Part 2). ImageJ software is used in lots of biomedical research labs--some of your students may already be familiar with it/have heard of it. (Go ahead and ask them!) This software will be used for over half of the labs and for occasional homeworks, so it is good for them to have access on their laptop/home computer. (If they don't have their laptop with them, they can take notes on the download instructions and download the program later.) These (and an alternative set of) download instructions are also available at: ImageJ Download Instructions for Students (which they can link to from the course webpage, on the Recitation/Labs tab).
Software can be downloaded from: http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/download.html
Students will need to choose the correct version to match their laptop. PC users need to choose the correct version to match their version of Java. They can find this by accessing the Control Panel, System Properties (System and Security), System, System type. For most newer laptops, 64-bit is the correct choice.
Once this has been downloaded (SAVE, don't OPEN) and installed (default installation recommended), two plug-ins must also be downloaded. These plug-in files (linked below), should be SAVED (not opened) to the Stacks folder in the Plugins folder in the ImageJ folder that has been created during installation on their hard drive. For MAC users, it is imperative that they not open/run ImageJ until these files have been saved to the appropriate location, and that these files have been SAVED, not opened. (MACs are a bit pickier, here, than PCs). If any of your students are having way too much trouble accomplishing this, please send them to my Course Center hour (time TBD) in room 0208, and I will fix it for them. Of course, once some of your students have figured it out on their machine, they can help their struggling peers who have the same machine type.
Plugins: Manual Tracking: http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/plugins/track/track.html
MultiTracker: http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/plugins/multitracker.html
If students finish downloading quickly/are not downloading, please encourage them to help their neighbors OR to read over the 'Mechanics/Grading' section of the course website. I find most students are NOT fully aware of how the course grade will be determined, especially with regard to HW grades. They are also welcome to leave the lab when their download/installation is complete. Of course, this is the ONLY "Lab" where they will get to leave early, so please tell them to expect recitations and labs to take the full scheduled time in all future weeks.
Useful Links/Other Information:
Course center hours to begin week of 2/01. Full TAs do two hours per week, half TAs do 1 hour per week. The course center is room 0208 in the basement of the Toll Physics building. The tentative schedule is here: Course Center Schedule, Spring 2016 . We will be adding you into this schedule at our TA training meeting this week.
**In the event that you can't make your hour(s): First, try to swap hours with another TA or one of the profs. If that is not possible, place a note on the door to 0208 (in the basement of the Physics building) explaining the date and time period that the course center will be closed.
LA/TA pairings: we are working on this and will report it to you shortly. Tentative info here: Spring 2016 Phys131 LA Teaching Assignments (with section numbers listed beside the recitations--in case you can't remember which section you teach when).
TA Guidelines:
Physics 131-132 TA and LA Information
(Helpful hints for you on what recitation, lecture, etc. should be like for you as a TA. Also, info about contacting your students, uploading/downloading grades, and other goodies. Check it out!)
Scientific Community Lab student guide: Intro to the Scientific Community Lab
(This will be the pre-reading for the coming lab--students should arrive to the lab already familiar with this document. You can always ask them to read/review it while they wait for their classmates to arrive/return from the break/finish surveys.)
Course Website: Prof. B. sent you a zip file with the course pages, until your ELMS access comes through. ON ELMS/CANVAS, but an old version is archived at
http://www.physics.umd.edu/courses/Phys131/fall2015/index.html
(for grading policies, HWs, lab and recitation documents and pre-readings)
WebAssign: https://www.webassign.net/login.html?message=ended
(for grading on-line homework)
ELMS/Canvas: https://myelms.umd.edu/login
(to communicate with your students, enter lab and homework grades, etc.)
**An announcement was sent through ELMS/CANVAS reminding your students to do the pre-reading, bring their laptops, and acquire a flashdrive (a 4 GB drive is definitely large enough).
UMEG: https://was-3.umd.edu/commonlogin/login?goto=https://www.sis.umd.edu/umeg/
(for rosters, email reflector)
One final note, for grading (labs, quizzes, exams, written HW, etc.), research shows that it is best to grade in ANY color other than Red. We suggest you try to find some other ink colors (green, purple, orange, light blue, et al.) to work with. You might need 2 pens to cover all of the grading you will do in the first semester.
That should be everything for now. Please send me or Prof. B. an email if you have questions, need clarification, or have thought of something I have missed!
Good luck!
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