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lihtoxLast semester I used a lab manual for my astronomy class, but half of the time I ended up rewriting the labs to make them relevant for our equipment, or to get rid of what I thought were stupid steps. So this semester I didn't require them to buy a lab manual; instead, they have to visit the class website every week and print out the week's lab. I promised them that, if the lab isn't up by Sunday, that means they don't have to print it out, and I have to supply the copies.
The Sunday deadline is actually pretty brilliant in retrospect, because I'm writing my own labs now, and writing labs is time-consuming. It's annoying to write down all the little niggling steps they have to do to make the lab work, trying to anticipate the difficulties they might have. (Yes, I'll be there if they have questions, but if they don't know they're having problems I won't necessarily catch said problems quickly enough.) If I waited until the day before lab to write out the lab instructions (i.e. Monday), then I'd have that to do on top of class preparation, writing the homework questions, and so forth. This way, the lab part gets separated off into its own artificial due date.
Now this week's lab is done, I can go to bed, and then wake up and start on the lectures. :)
The Sunday deadline is actually pretty brilliant in retrospect, because I'm writing my own labs now, and writing labs is time-consuming. It's annoying to write down all the little niggling steps they have to do to make the lab work, trying to anticipate the difficulties they might have. (Yes, I'll be there if they have questions, but if they don't know they're having problems I won't necessarily catch said problems quickly enough.) If I waited until the day before lab to write out the lab instructions (i.e. Monday), then I'd have that to do on top of class preparation, writing the homework questions, and so forth. This way, the lab part gets separated off into its own artificial due date.
Now this week's lab is done, I can go to bed, and then wake up and start on the lectures. :)
