FAQ
This page collects together some questions that come up on a regular basis. You need to read it at the start of the semester, and it's not a bad idea to re-read it once we're 3 or 4 weeks into the semester and you've established a rhythm for the class.
Logistical Questions
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My preference is for you to call me by my first name: Andy. My feeling is that in college you're learning how to work in the world of adults, and often (but not always) in that world you'll address people by their first name even if they are a few years older than you.
Disclaimer: many professors do NOT want you to address them by their first name. In general, if you're not sure how to address your professor, you can use ``Professor " without creating any offense.
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If you've taken Math 305, you have the appropriate background for this class. We will start the semester reviewing key concepts from 305 that play a starring role in the development of Galois theory.
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Yes.
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I'm very happy to meet outside of office hours, but sometimes it takes a little work to coordinate a time that is amenable to both of our schedules. Contact me via email and let me know the dates and times that work well for your schedule. You optimize your chances of getting to chat with me outside office hours if you contact me two or three days before the day you want to meet.
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Unless you hear from me otherwise: no. Sometimes I'll try to hold office hours on a holiday, but this depends on many factors; if I am able to hold an office hour on such a day, you'll hear from me by email.
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Unless I say otherwise, my schedule is dictated by how Wellesley chooses to operate on a given day. So if it's a Tuesday in the real world, but Wellesley is operating on a Monday schedule, I'll have my Monday office hour.
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Get in touch with one of your classmates to get a copy of the notes. After you've reviewed the notes and read through the relevant section of the book, feel free to ask me questions about anything that doesn't make sense. If you don't know anyone in the class that you can get notes from, reach out to me and I can help coordinate an exchange.
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Quite intense. Really intense. As an advanced mathematics class, it is unabashedly explored from the most rigorous and abstract perspective possible. The fact that students are in charge of presenting this material means that it requires a serious investment of time and effort from all participants.
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It's hard to say precisely, since not all lessons have an equal amount of content to cover, and not all people present at the same pace. As a rough guideline, I think that the majority of presentations can be delivered to a high standard in about 35 minutes (plus or minus 5 minutes). In general I won't penalize people for having their lectures run too long, but we might have a follow-up conversation about how to fit future lectures into a shorter timeframe.
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The nature of the class means that it is difficult to know precisely what we will cover on any given day. As a guide for what could possibly be covered in a given class, our policy will be that we will not complete more than 2 "new" presentations on a given day. This means on a given day a presenter from last class can finish her lecture, and at most two new students will be giving presentations.
Questions about homework
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No.
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Working collaboratively on a problem set has huge pedagogical benefits for everyone involved; you're highly encouraged to do this. Issues of academic integrity come into play only when one student is siphoning off answers from other students without meaningfully engaging in the process.
If there is true collaboration between students on a problem, there's little risk of cheating. If, instead, one student asks another student how to solve a certain problem, there is the potential for a violation of academic integrity. To avoid this, follow this simple guideline. If you're a student asking another student how to solve a problem, have a discussion with that student so that you learn how the problem works. Take notes if you like. Once you feel you understand what's happening, take a 20 minute break and then return to the problem without the use of your notes. If you can complete the problem from start to finish on your own, then you truly understand the problem and can write up your solution formally. If you find that you have to reference your notes from the discussion with your helper, carry through to the end and make yourself comfortable with the problem. Take another 20 minute break and return to the problem, again without notes. If you can complete the problem without referring to your notes, formally write it up and submit it. Otherwise, repeat the process above until you can work the problem entirely on your own.
The process above is intended for those students who genuinely do not know how to approach a problem and are guided from start to finish by a helper (peer, tutor, or professor). Of course if you worked on a problem and got almost everything right, but found a small computational error with the help of a friend, you don't have to go through the whole process again. For situations between these two extremes, err on the side of caution when it comes to exercising your ability to complete problems independently after coaching from someone else.
Questions about tests
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Absolutely not. I consider this a serious breach of academic integrity. If I find out that a student has viewed copies of old tests, or has otherwise solicited information about tests from former students, I will bring up a formal honor code case.
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No. See the above.
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Short answer: not until you're told you can talk about it.
Long answer: The easiest way to make sure everyone is on a level playing field is for students to wait to talk about the quiz/test until they've heard from me that everyone has taken the quiz/test. If you must talk about the quiz/test with someone before you've been told everyone has taken an exam, only speak about the quiz/test with people that you know have taken the quiz/test already. Do not speak about the quiz/test in the company of others who have no taken the quiz/test. It's obvious that you shouldn't divulge specific information (like particular questions), but you also shouldn't give qualitative information (you felt the quiz/test was ``easy" or ``hard" or ``fair", etc.) or even logistical information (the test was 12 pages long, or printed on white copy paper, or stapled in the top left corner). In short: don't say anything about a quiz/test to a person who has not taken the quiz/test until after you've been told by the professor that it's ok.
It would impossible for me to administer exams and quizzes in this way at an institution that didn't have a robust honor code. It is a privilege --- for you and for me --- that we're at a school where integrity counts. It is your responsibility to ensure that you live up to this standard so that everyone gets the chance to take quizzes and exams under the same conditions, and therefore so that these instruments can reflect each individuals understanding of the course material.
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No. Experience has shown me that practice tests are not effective in getting students to prepare for exams, and they typically do more to hurt than facilitate student learning. Students are better served reviewing the relevant notes, creating their own study sheet, determining their strengths and weaknesses, and then allotting study time accordingly.
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Possibly. Please let me know as soon as you can so I can determine if an accommodation is warranted.
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See above.