Math 100 at UBC has been the first class in Differential Calculus for Science and Engineering students for many years. There used to be other flavours (Math 102 for Biological Sciences and Math 104 for Economics and Commerce). This year, all three flavours were rolled up into one class, Math 100, with 4500 total students. There is a team organizing this monster class:
I am a cog in this machine, described as either a minion or a lieutenant. I give two hour lectures twice in a row (same material) on Thursdays to 600 total students. I am giving the material with the economics flavoured application examples. Here is the larger of the two rooms I teach in:
This is definitely the largest room I have ever taught in. Teaching four hours straight is a bit difficult, but otherwise it is an easy assignment. There is an administrative team to handle all the student issues with section changes and any accommodations. This would be a huge job to do for 600 students and I am not efficient at it, so this new policy is a real winner. The course material has changed quite a bit since last year. We will fit in differential equations and partial derivatives somehow to the class. We will see how that goes, but so far so good.
