KalahariLog

Teaching at UB. I am teaching a 3-rd year course on Algorithms here. As we arrived after the semester had started, the first week's lectures were cancelled. For the first class, about 15 students showed up. There were over 30 for the second class. Officially, there should be about 40, so hopefully most of them will be there next time. We are using the same textbook ("Introduction to Algorithms" by Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, and Stein) as we use in Arizona. Here they have the paperback version here and it costs 360 pula, or the equivalent of about $60. Students get a book allowance of about 1000 pula and take at least 5 courses. That means that most students don't have the textbook. I brought about a dozen copies with me -- hopefully, I can distribute some when I collect them from the US embassy.

The students seem no different that those in the US -- it is difficult to get them to interact and after two classes I haven't received one question. However, they do respond when I ask questions, so that's fine. I'll pass out a questionnaire next time, to find out whether they can understand me and my illegible handwriting. I am also curious as to how much and what they know coming into this class. The system here is more like that in the UK than that in the US: professors typically lecture twice a week and "demonstrators" lead problem-solving sessions. The final comprehensive exam is typically worth 50% of the grade. There is a "continuous assessment" requirement, typically fulfilled by 2 in-class tests. In addition to that, I am planning to have a few homework assignments and as I don't have a "demonstrator" yet, I will be doing all the lectures, grading, etc.