The Syllabus Poll - Results

The results (from last week's poll) are in. It looks like the majority of you like to have not only the online PDF of the course syllabus, but also a hardcopy. OK, that's good to know. The last time I ran this poll, the results looked a bit different. Only 7% wanted online only, 6% liked hardcopy only, 80% preferred both (and there were 6% who were psychic--yeah, right). There are interesting trends: decreasing preference for paper and an increasing trend towards preferring soft copies online.

There is also a caveat: out of the approximately 600 students in my classes this term, less than 100 votes were cast. A possibility is that those who were strongly motivated to vote were the only ones who did so. That is, this sample is not representative. *sigh* Any stats majors out there care to do an analysis?

Still, maybe I can use these numbers to show that some students do want to get a piece of paper handed out in the first class. And maybe they can find some funds. (How 'bout if I put the exams online? That would save a ton of paper.)

Why aren't you studying?

2 comments:

Robin Lea said...
on

could there be a bias because students likely to be reading your blog are more internet/computer savvy, therefore preferring an online format? Just a thought. I prefer hardcopy everything EXCEPT syllabus. I always lose my hardcopy syllabus anyways!

Karsten A. Loepelmann said...
on

@Robin: Good point. Still, I would hope that if there are students who desperately *need* a hardcopy (financial difficulties? hatred of trees?) would vote in the poll. But I think that paper is slowly, gradually, on the way out. I know I'm trying to go paperless. Except when it comes to handing in final grades.

But that's another post...

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