From:   GORDON::COCKCROFT    "Jeremy Karl Cockcroft (Tel. 0171-631-6800)" 17-NOV-1999 18:54:53.78
To:     SMTP%"danka@elvod.co.yu"
CC:     COCKCROFT
Subj:   RE: PD Course, Timetable

Dear Sinisa,
    The timetable doesn't follow normal terms so that the first "term" goes
from now until late winter. I appreciate that you might like to work
on the course material at a faster pace, but all our Web-based courses start
relatively slowly so that students who haven't recently studied can get 
back into the habit of regular study. Also some students such as PhD students
at other universities need to settle down into their PhD work before they
can start a course to train them in powder diffraction.
    A bit later on, I can send out a general email to see if the students
would like an extra release of course material before the Xmas/New Year break
or if they want the first release in the New Year to start 1 week earlier.
    Our experience of teaching symmetry to protein crystallographers shows
that we do need to allow students extra time to take the concepts in. Hence
the two weeks allocated for Symmetry III in the timetable. If we find
that after Symmetry II, students are finding that part hard, then we might
also swop releases 10 and 11 around so as to give a break from the subject.
    Thanks for the comments. This is the first year that this course has run
and so we will be sending out an electronic questionaire for feedback so as
to make improvements. (On our protein crystallography course we ask students
how many hours the easiest "lectures" take and how many hours the hardest
"lectures" take so that we can better load balance for the delivery of
the course material. I expect the same will be required here, though it is
difficult to predict in advance.
    I hope this answers your comments,
                   Jeremy Karl Cockcroft

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