Broad Curriculum Lecturers

Jim_No.6

I'm looking into doing a broad curriculum subject next year, and I'm trying to decide between

1.) BCPSY - Critical Thinking with Dr. Stuart Smith
or
2.) BCHIST - The 'Rise' of the West and the Origins of the Modern World with Dr. Deana Heath

Does anyone have any experience with either of these courses, or with either of the lecturers? I really don't want to sign up for something that'll be badly taught, or poorly thought out...


{pm me if you're going to talk/whine/bitch about the lecturers(!)}

Boston

Explain what you're talking about please james. I didn't know we could do this.

Crash

I was thinking of either

1)BCFILM - Working with Film: History, Context and Detail
or
2)BCPSY - Critical Thinking with Dr. Stuart Smith

The critical thinking one sounds really, really interesting.

www.tcd.ie/broad_curriculum

^^ just for you Louville.

cuckoo

There's postings about the critical thinking course somewhere over on the boards in tcdsu.org.

How do most people's courses work out for the credit? Do you get to drop other courses, or do you do the broad curriculum in addition to them? In physics JS there's still the full course load, the BC mark counts for a third of the marks given for lab work, but i think you still have to do all the labs.

Actually, does anyone think there is a real benefit in doing the BC if you're doing a science/tech course and already have a heavy lecture load?

I'm also a little wary of any of the ones that require essay writing, i haven't written anything like an essay since leaving cert English. But, some of them do look interesting, and could be a nice break from equations (and they're finished before Trinity Term, which is my stress zone).

Crash

Well for CS i get to drop 2ba6 - computers in society so it makes little difference. Luckily enough i have had to write critical essays this year which would make it a slight bit better - also it means i'm not stuck programming 24/7 and can have a bit of a life outside CS

http://su.netsoc.tcd.ie/modules.php?op=modload&name=XForum&file=viewthread&tid=1141

^^ osd any comments on the course?

ApeXaviour

cuckoo wrote:

How do most people's courses work out for the credit? Do you get to drop other courses, or do you do the broad curriculum in addition to them? In physics JS there's still the full course load, the BC mark counts for a third of the marks given for lab work, but i think you still have to do all the labs.

You do. JS physics are generally advised not to do broad curriculum as the majority just end up taking the full results from their labs as opposed to forfeiting a third of it to their BC results (EP's generally average a 1st in their practical labs in JS, a credit to the way the dept have beaten labs into us cos they do mark hard).

cuckoo wrote:

Actually, does anyone think there is a real benefit in doing the BC if you're doing a science/tech course and already have a heavy lecture load?

In physics certainly not. Not entirely sure about chemistry. I know botany, zoology etc can (and usually do) do it as part of their group III courses, so it's actually nothing extra for them (they may even have to do it?). That's the thing about JS natural sci, there are the mandatory group I courses, then there's group II and group III pick&mix courses. I know very little about the latter ones as physics only have the mandatory group I courses.

Nietzschean

well we get to substitute it for a group 2 course, which effectively means its a half course.......
so 5% of degree if taken..

cuckoo

ApeXaviour wrote:

You do. JS physics are generally advised not to do broad curriculum as the majority just end up taking the full results from their labs as opposed to forfeiting a third of it to their BC results (EP's generally average a 1st in their practical labs in JS, a credit to the way the dept have beaten labs into us cos they do mark hard).

Right, if i make it into next year no broad curriculum for me then, dropping a third of the labs probably wouldn't have benefited my physics education, but it would have freed up a lot of time.

Labs beated into us? I thought all those bruises i used to have were from bumping into lab benches and stools. Physics are hard core on labs compared to chemistry in my experience, especially the one on one assessments, but they do ensure we know the stuff, and they really pay attention. One year in labs i had two partners who used to vanish off after the first half hour, leaving me to do them by myself. At the end of the year the supervisor finishes up my assessment, and turns to me to say 'the rest of your group weren't much use, were they? i'll be taking that into account when marking them'.

Jim_No.6

Us JS engineers get to drop Management afaik - so it's like, the best thing ever!

Still, I'd love some details... {heads over to tcdsu.org}

John

I did the literature one, it was really interesting (most of the time, the odd book we did was pants) but the essays were big, 4000 words. However they were marked very easily. One of the girls in my class did critical thinking and I think she enjoyed it. Another did art history and seemed to really like it. The other guy in my class did the global warming one and because it was BioII SF lectures all over again he did really well in it. And I know a load of people who did the film one and loved it but yet again I think there was a lot more work involved then expected.

I think they're well worth doing though, for one thing it means (for science) that you have got 6 units of your year finished by the end of Hilary term. Plus it is really nice to do lectures that are way different to what you normally do.

Jim_No.6

Jim_No.6 wrote:

Us JS engineers get to drop Management afaik - so it's like, the best thing ever!

Still, I'd love some details... {heads over to tcdsu.org}

Tony won't be liking that...anyways, while you do not get to do management (one less exam would have been nice), you do learn some practical things during the year. That plus we have Management II in 4th year...

But I'm not trying to encourage or discourage, make your decision and enjoy it! The choice don't have to be in until September (if I remember correctly from last year), though I'm probably wrong on that.

Hmmm just realised I'll be in the same year as Jimbob come 4th year...

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

surely there should be a ratemylecturers.ie ?!

Jim_No.6

Nah, they have to be in by early next month. Also, management is the devil.
Hmm... I guess I'll just put it down, and see what happens..!

Myth wrote:

Hmmm just realised I'll be in the same year as Jimbob come 4th year...

I can't tell if that's a good thing, or a bad one... But Liouvulle and Lighthouse Cat will be there too

aodh_rua

Jim_No.6 wrote:

Nah, they have to be in by early next month. Also, management is the devil.
Hmm... I guess I'll just put it down, and see what happens..!

Surely not 3E3?

Boston

Myth wrote:

Tony won't be liking that...anyways, while you do not get to do management (one less exam would have been nice), you do learn some practical things during the year. That plus we have Management II in 4th year...

But I'm not trying to encourage or discourage, make your decision and enjoy it! The choice don't have to be in until September (if I remember correctly from last year), though I'm probably wrong on that.

Hmmm just realised I'll be in the same year as Jimbob come 4th year...

What is management like? James thinks it's evil, but reading up on it, it seems to teach you some pratical stuff which i was never create at, such as technical writing. Is crtical thinking of more use james? We shall talk about this tomorrow.

Myth, ha you doing elec? Cause if not you'll be a loner.

aodh_rua

The 3E3 course has a good deal on technical writing, presentations and general communications. This can be really useful preparation for writing your final year project up in fourth year.

The other part of the course is focussed on topics which are useful as part of your professional training such as law and ethics, IT and an introduction to globalisation. You can see the notes for this part of the 3E3 course here.

LiouVille

LiouVille wrote:

What is management like? James thinks it's evil, but reading up on it, it seems to teach you some pratical stuff which i was never create at, such as technical writing. Is crtical thinking of more use james? We shall talk about this tomorrow.

Myth, ha you doing elec? Cause if not you'll be a loner.

Ha, I'm in Civil.

Scruff101

Don't do critical thinking unless you want your head wrecked...but if you DO...well then go right ahead....don't say I didn't warn you!!!!!

Jim_No.6

Heh, what do you mean by "head wrecked"? 'cos if you mean a bit of paradigm shift accompanied with some solid mind****, then I'm all up for it...

Myth wrote:

Ha, I'm in Civil.

No no, it's us laughing at you.

/me repeats mantra ad nauseum

Boston

Critical thinking looks like it could be what I'm looking for Jimbo, are you not worried about skiping management only to have to do it in forth? I looked at management and say "a this is the subject where they tells us how to write up our final year project, and how to be a manager", fairly important given the nature of engineering.

the prospect of opening up my mind is tempting though. How will this slot into our time table.

Jim_No.6

Jim_No.6 wrote:

Heh, what do you mean by "head wrecked"? 'cos if you mean a bit of paradigm shift accompanied with some solid mind****, then I'm all up for it...

No no, it's us laughing at you.

/me repeats mantra ad nauseum

I got it the first time!

Jim_No.6

Have you even heard my mantra? If so, you're probably stalking me


Actually Joe, I'm leaning towards the History course at the moment, and tbh don't care all that much that I'm going to miss anything - do you think I'm in college to become employable? Also, I'll write my final report any damn way I feel like(!) Sure, if I can't figure it out, I'll just read some scientific papers, and base it on those.

Also, I'd say it'll fit into our timetables, given that the system has been set up so that it can. May have nasty enough times though (as in, ones where many courses don't have lectures - eg. early or late).

Boston

If it wasn't a subject that spans two years I'd agree. Tbh I don't know how useful it will be. Critical thinking seems like it will be usefull though.

Jim_No.6

education > learnings tbh.




Oh, and check out the course description for the two management classes; they seem very dissimilar. I've emailed the lecturer for the 4th year class this year asking him about it.

Boston

Fair enough, but why then do you desire to do this through your degreee, why not just go to the lecture anyway, as you said it will probably be slotted for a time we don't have anything. Or is this a case of two birds with one stone.

cuckoo

I think a lot of the broad curric stuff is timetabled 1-2pm and after 6pm.

That's another disadvantage as far as i'm concerned, with the average science timetables i've had that one hour off for lunch in a full day is important, and i'm grumpy if not properly fed, but i suppose it's the only time that they can be timetabled.

Scruff101

I did the Critical Thinking course and all lectures were at lunch time and a few in the evening!

Jim_No.6

I still haven't much of a clue what the course is like

C'mon Scruffy! Throw me a bone here!

D'associashun

I did Critical Thinking as a broad curriculum subject this year, but left after Christmas, the main reason being that the lectures were on at 6 on Mondays on Wednesdays, leaving me with 4 and 5 hour waits after my other lectures finished those days which is not a good thing as I'm a lazy fecker. In fairness I did think it was quite an interesting course, after a few weeks the class is divided into groups of 4 or 5 which then work together for the rest of the year. One project we had to do was to "develop a science of driver behaviour". On the course website there was a discussion forum where Stuart Smith would post topics and the class could start up discussions online based on these. Each group also had a special discussion board set up for it to discuss projects and these discussion boards were monitored by Stuart Smith himself to see if people were making contributions. Usually a short essay (1 A4 page approx) would have to be submitted every week.
Here are some questions that were posted for students to respond to on the discussion board:

Can you think of an instance when your reliance on the probabilistic
nature of the world might have thrown you into a tailspin.
e.g. when I was first in the US, despite being fully aware of the fact
that they drive on the opposite side of the road than we do in Oz, I
crossed a street and nearly was wiped out by a car coming from an
unexpected (for me) direction. The statistical regularity built into the
world of cars, driving and pedestrians back home in Oz meant that I had
particular probabilistic contingencies wired into my brain that very
nearly were maladaptive.
Can anyone contribute their own experiences of when probability might
have been improtant to them?


When we evaluate an argument, we can assess the grounds of each claim
that make up the argument. One of the things we need to think about in
assessing claims is whether they are based on personal knowledge.
What kinds of things might influence our personal knowledge of events?
How much weight might you give to personal knowledge versus common
knowledge or expert opnion.

Debates on the discussion board tended to focus on current affairs issues like Bush's re-election and the quality of life in Ireland.

Crash

Sorry to drag up an old topic - but does anyone have any idea when you find out if you got the one you wanted?

Jim_No.6

Crash: Well, they haven't decided yet - so not for a while!



D'associashun: Could I ask how you "but left after Christmas" - were you doing it as an extra class, or did it replace another?