And so it begins

COSMOS got off the ground today. We got to know the students a bit, and saw them interact in class. I think we have a good and fun group. With time, we'll see how sharp they are, but first impressions are good.

Christine led the morning session with various introductory exercises that I think worked quite well. In the afternoon, Paul gave his overview on computers and computation. The students got their accounts and cameras, set up their blogs, and are ready to go. We wasted no time in getting them thinking about media computing and, more generally, computer science.

I get to go tomorrow afternoon, though I still have work to do. It is so hard to plan some of the academic aspects of COSMOS because designing a class and lab depends so much on the students' skills and backgrounds, most of which we only really learn after they get here and have a chance to see them perform in class.

The big plus for me this year is that I have a great cluster assistant, Krista. We have spent the last two weeks meeting numerous hours every day to plan and work on our thread. I really appreciate her commitment (and we've barely begun!). This is the first time I am working with someone so closely on the design of a course, and I am enjoying the collaboration very much.

In fact, the entire cluster staff this year is outstanding. All the cluster assistants - Krista, Liz, Ming, Tiffany, and Wenjing - are all highly intelligent, highly skilled, fun people to work with. We also have a great Teacher Fellow, Shirley, who will do an excellent job on the "Science Communication" portion of the curriculum. And having both Christine and Paul back as co-instructors is a real joy. I really could not have asked for a better team.

Well, I need to run off and work on tomorrow's lesson: What is Computer Science? Hopefully I can report a positive result after class.