Thinking about our teaching

Abstract

During a recent semester, our department faculty had several discussions concerning our disappointment with our students' quality of work. Obviously, we agreed, this cohort of students was not working hard enough. Those of us teaching senior-level courses somewhat politely suggested that the rest of us teaching introductory courses just weren't making those courses challenging enough. Come to think of it, this type of discussion seems to occur every semester --- some time between midterm and exams.