This repository contains the course materials from Math 157: Intro to Mathematical Software.

Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license.

Compiled by Kiran Kedlaya. Last modified April 2, 2018.

Things to explain to TAs at the first meeting:

• Demonstrate features of the course project.

• Indicate the location of the chat room (or Piazza).

• Create the duty roster ahead of time (with virtual office hours and solution keys) and explain its use at the TA meeting.

Preparation of overall course materials:

• Clarify at the outset what communication is and is not allowed by email. In particular, routine questions about upcoming homework should generally be restricted to office hours or virtual office hours. (However, questions about technical issues with the homework are fair game, although don't promise individual answers.)

• If each unit will be running MWF, have the corresponding problem set due the following Monday or Tuesday. And try to schedule sections and office hours with this in mind.

• Tip from William Stein: create a "menu bar" file with links to various useful items:

  • lectures folder

  • assignments folder

  • chat room (and/or Piazza)

  • announcements

Preparation of lectures and assignments:

• It is safer to not do any file preparation in a folder to be pushed out, as sometimes "zombie versions" of files will persist.

• Before pushing any handout, use the "edit handout" button and:

  • remove all cell output;

  • remove any extra files;

  • make sure the kernel is set correctly (to the first one to be used);

  • for assignments, check that the due date is correctly set (this creates an extra file in the project).

• Specifically for lectures:

  • Maybe push out both (beforehand) the "clean" lecture and (afterwards) the "annotated" version from the live class.

• Specifically for assignments:

  • Write the problem sets first, then construct lectures around them.

  • Ask students to self-report (possibly with some small grading incentive):

    • sources and collaborators (as we were doing);

    • the time spent on the assignment.

  • Since the later problem sets are naturally harder, maybe for balance they should also be shorter. (Or maybe just have fewer of them.)

  • Students appreciate having the next homework available as soon as the previous one is collected.

During lectures:

• For redundancy, always bring two laptops to class, and their chargers.

• For the first two weeks, it may be helpful to have a TA present during lecture to help with course administration functions (e.g., adding students who join the course late).

• The text on the projector can always be larger. Also, use global account settings to choose a sensible color scheme for the editor (e.g., Monokai).

Other:

• Archive the chat room periodically.