MW - Fall 2001 Schedule

Fall 2001 Schedule
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Fall 2001 Schedule

Biola Fall Faculty Conference (on campus) August 15-17
Biola Registration August 20-22
Biola First Day of Classes: August 23

USC First Day of Classes: August 27

This semester, I taught 9 units at Biola, and took 6 units at USC. Here's my weekly schedule:

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

10:30 - 11:20
   Biola CSCI 105

1:30 - 2:20pm
   Biola CSCI 104
6:00 - 8:00pm
   Biola CSCI 104
9:30 - 10:20
   Biola FYS
2:00 - 3:20pm
   USC CS 580

3:30 - 4:50pm
   USC CS 570
10:30 - 11:20
   Biola CSCI 105

1:30 - 2:20pm
   Biola CSCI 104
3:00 - 5:40pm
   Biola BUSN 453
9:30 - 10:20
   Biola FYS
2:00 - 3:20pm
   USC CS 580

3:30 - 4:50pm
   USC CS 570
10:30 - 11:20
   Biola CSCI 105

Biola CSCI 105 -- Introduction to Computer Science. 3 units. This is the fourth time I've taught this class. We used "C++ Coach: Essentials for Introductory Programming" by Jeff Salvage (ISBN: 0201702894). I had 25 students.

Biola CSCI 104 -- Nature of Computing. 2 units. I believe it's the fourth time I've taught this class, too. I had two sections: One with 24 people, and one with 23. There's actually only 23 computer in that classroom, but so far I've gotten lucky, and at least one person has been absent every day. We used "Exploring the Digital Domain: An Introduction to Computing with Multimedia and Networking" by Kenneth Abernethy and J. Thomas Allen Furman ISBN: 0-534-95516-9 ($66.95)

Biola FYS -- First Year Seminar. They used to call this University Life class. It's a 1-unit class for brand new freshman about how to do well in college, learning to live with roommates, getting used to college life, etc. It's actually a lot of fun to teach. I had all the Computer Science, Math, and Physics majors. The class only met the first half of the semester. I had 26 students.

Biola BUSN 453 -- Marketing Technologies. This is a 3-unit class, but I only teach one of the units. Les Harman is the main teacher, from the business department. There were 10 students. Les spends the first 5 weeks teaching them about principles of online marketing, then I teach them 4 weeks of how to make web pages using Front Page and Image Composer, then Grace Lozano from the Art department teaches them 4 weeks of Graphic Design principles.

USC CS 570 -- Theory of Algorithms. by Ashish Goel. This was a hard class, but I learned a lot. Mostly a bunch of math and theory. Ashish is really bright, and it was fun learning from someone so smart. Usually, after class, I would hang out with Gabe Sibley, a friend I met in that class. Class got out at 5:00pm, and I didn't want to drive back to La Mirada until traffic had gone down some, so Gabe and I would frequently go eat on campus somewhere. We made extensive use of "Introduction to Algorithms", 2nd Edition, by Thomas Cormen, Charles Leiserson, Ronald Rivest, and Clifford Stein (ISBN 0-07-013151-1).

USC CS 580 -- Graphics, by Mathieu Desbrun. This class was hard, too, but in a different way. The entire grade was based on two big projects: 60% of the grade was based on a 6-part homework assignment (make a renderer, with shading, texturing, and anti-aliasing). The other 40% I'm still working on -- a final project. My partner Edwin Cheung and I are doing ray-tracing of quaternion fractals. I bought the classic "Computer Graphics" (by Foley and vanDam, ISBN 0-201-12110-7) textbook for about $70, then discovered I already had it on my shelf at home from my undergrad days at Biola! All those years of carrying around my old textbooks, and the one chance I had to make use of one, I didn't notice that the textbook was the same edition. (So I kept one at home, and one at Biola, so I wouldn't have to lug it back and forth).

Driving to USC -- Dan Yim and I would carpool in his car on Tuesdays, for the first 10 weeks or so. We left home around 1:00pm, got there between 1:40 and 1:55, then I would go to my classes, and he would wait around or have meetings with advisors. Then he attended a Philosophy class (The Philosophy of Color) until 6:20pm, and we would drive back on the 110 to 105 because it had a carpool lane the whole way.

The other days, I would drive myself. I never did buy the $340 parking pass. At first, I would just spend $6 per day to park on campus, but about half way through the semester, it seemed like it was constantly full, so I would find a spot on the street, and pay $1.00 in quarters for four hours. Or just park up on 30th street for free, and walk about half a mile.

In summary, this semester has been pretty busy for me, but not too bad. I had an easy time teaching class because I've taught everything several times before. I will probably never have as easy of a semester as I had Spring of 2001, however. I was just working half-time at Biola, and not going to school or working anywhere else.

The End:

Biola Finals week: December 10-13 (12th last for me)
USC Finals week: same, my only final Dec 11, 4:30

Created and maintained by Matthew Weathers. Last updated Apr 20, 2006.