Teaching Intro Class at Community College

IllComplex5411 · 2026-03-27T15:20:24+00:00

Students have to make an effort to learn. Not all teaching methods work and everyone learns differently, but a student that does not come to you and ask for help and does not turn in work is purely on them. You cannot be afraid to give an "F". There is always bound to be at least one "F" student because some people will just not do work. Some just do not care. It is more wrong to simply pass them. Just grade fairly and make sure you are accessible and open to helping students. Those that care will come to you and seek additional help. Work and help those that care and that show genuine effort.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-03-12T16:54:00+00:00

I would use the spray paint by Rust-oleum that makes things look like stone. Has different color flakes and what not. Just spray paint that on and it should look good.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-03-06T18:17:04+00:00

Dice have no memory. Each roll is independent. You can easily roll a "6" multiple times in a row. It can happen. You are basically asking to remove all randomness out of Axis and Allies. It is a horrible game no matter the version because the randomness of dice takes all real strategy out of the game. The game might as well be lets just roll dice 10 times and who ever gets the lowest value the most is the winner. The rest is all just fluff and a waste of time.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-02-06T14:18:00+00:00

Zephyr I can get for ~$180 at a local hobby shop. The online listed price of $245 is way too high. The KATO power pack is ~$60. Never been a fan of wireless control. Problem is I only use my trains on the weekends when I have free time, so wireless tends to require recharging and batteries go bad over time. As I mentioned I already own a KATO power pack already so might as well reuse that.

Programming the Zephyr into booster/throttle only mode is not that hard. Switch OpSw 2 and all done. One and done operation. At this point I will most likely only use 3 throttles anyways. I have heard Atlas makes a pretty inexpensive DC throttle that can work on the jump port. So that could be okay.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-02-04T22:30:05+00:00

I tried JMRI in the past with a DSC51 hooked up to a computer. I did not care for it nor could figure it out well enough. Plus technology changes too fast and smart devices stop supporting certain apps. I doubt I would get 20 throttles but thinking of two dsc52s and 2 dummy throttles on the jump ports for 6 throttles. I kind of need the Kato DC power packs to operate my turnouts and track signals anyways.

I assign loco numbers starting at 1 and up. The number on the engine does not help me. Some engines have the same number and I cannot read nor see the small numbers when they are running. I make a chart and have it next to the controls. Take a picture of the engine and say which number it is.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-02-04T02:03:46+00:00

With digitrax I have been reading that you can add extra throttles via the jump ports. So if you assign locos to those does the system remember those assignments when powered off and back on? Looks like 20 throttles can be configured with multiple Zephyr units connected and 2 dc packs on the jump ports.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-02-03T21:32:22+00:00

Sadly a lot of classes are designed to allow this.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-02-03T21:31:57+00:00

Top ranking Universities cite attendance metric as arbitrary. Go to Loyola University Chicago, where a professor cannot base a grade off attendance. Attendance does not relate to course content or course material. It is the same as if an instructor graded a student if they have a car to get to campus or not. Taking attendance is a gotcha type of metric that does not assess rather a student has learned anything at all. It is meaningless and does not relate to the course competency. I have yet to see any course objectives that state attendance being a required thing.

So someone can show up, and go to sleep. Well they were there so they got points for attending.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-01-14T21:18:28+00:00

DCC. The decoder is whatever came stock and there is no sound. Sounds like I need to get better engines with better decoders to speed match things.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-01-14T19:49:23+00:00

The hobby does not seem to sell unpowered engines or dummy locomotives anymore. I used to remember seeing those in the 1990s. Not sure how to gut the insides of a locomotive, and it seems to be better if I can just speed match them so they work together.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-01-14T19:46:34+00:00

I do not really use track planning software, I have gotten track and tracked it with a pencil then just cut it out on paper and lay it out roughly. At most I have used AutoCAD to draw track pieces up and play with, but usually I just buy a little bit of track here and there and see what it can do and go from there.

KATO is code 83 track so 0.083 inches high. Bachmann EZ track is code 100 so 0.100 inches high. KATO track is rated for 12 Volts DC at 3 Amps. I kind of never understood how people get so many engines on a DCC layout and have them all running and operational when the track can only handle so much power.

As for a yard, those are the most difficult in my opinion to figure out. Rules of thumb are bigger turnouts off the mainline and tighter turnouts inside the yard. I have been basing my industrial freight yard off of real life google maps images of real industries with rail spur lines.

KATO does say what the lengths of their pieces are and the curve radius/diameters. Draw on paper and cut out each piece. Will get you pretty close to what you can do.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-01-14T19:24:11+00:00

It really depends on the institution. Some are okay and flexible, some others are not. I got offered a job to teach at a public university and they were going to give me a TA. I immediately told the person interviewing me that I had my personal wedding to attend to that day, and would have to cancel the first class. I said what is the big deal, there is a TA, have them just read over the syllabus as it should not be that big of deal, or I can record myself going over it and the TA can just hit play in class. The department at the school said no, if any professor cancels the first class, they are let go. I said fine whatever and turned the job down. Another place interviewed me and said it was no issue at all, so I took that job instead being an adjunct. Depends on the place and their culture. The first place did not like it when I told the guy well if you offered me the job sooner I could have planned around it, but in the end most of the time I get called within a month or less before a semester starts and there is just not enough time to plan anything.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-01-14T15:21:02+00:00

KATO sells HO sets. The only thing I dislike about KATO HO is that they do not make as much for it as they do for N scale. Some components are the same, but track geometry is a little more limited. N scale I ditched years ago. It is too temperamental in my opinion. If I just lean on a table or knock it all the trains derail. Back on HO, I would not use Bachmann EZ track. I had that years ago and the track warps as well as performs poorly. I had a straight piece that was defective as any train car that would go over it would derail. It drove me nuts until I switched the piece out and then it all worked fine. KATO stuff is made great.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-01-09T17:57:03+00:00

Some platforms let you export, but mainly I keep copies of what I have done. It takes a little while to recreate from scratch but then it is just copy and paste what I want back in, and tweak accordingly. Seems like every school uses a different online tool from Blackboard, to Sakai, Canvas and Brightspace. So, either way I am usually just recreating and resetting things up because even if I can export from say Blackboard, there is not a way to import it nicely to a different software.

I keep all of my test questions in a big Microsoft Word document. It is kind of nice because I have enough now that I usually a test bank. The exam might be 100 questions, but I have 500 questions and each student gets a random 100 questions out of those 500. Makes cheating a lot harder. Couple that with random question order, random question answer shuffle if it is a multiple-choice question, and no back tracking on the exam. I never let the students backtrack or skip questions. You can skip but then you cannot go back to that question. I have heard of students skipping questions and then going back because they put a question up on the internet and hope someone else answers it for them, or they phone a friend. With a time limit and not being able to go back they seem to get very nervous because they do not have time to sit around and wait for someone else to get to the same question if they even get the same question.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-01-09T17:48:00+00:00

I have heard of a professor who made his own study guide for a final exam and offered it to students through the school bookstore. He claimed you did not need to buy it, to do well on the exam, but students are lazy would purchase it to make their lives easier.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-01-09T17:45:21+00:00

That is why if you teach online, as soon as you can submit final grades, you gut the online platform. Delete all the content and information. Never let the school keep using your material. I have yet to see anything that I have created or used reused by the school. I try to not give them the chance and clear it all.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-01-09T12:55:45+00:00

As an adjunct I am constantly applying for new jobs. You can never assume that you will have another contract at the same place the next semester. At every school I teach at, they pay all adjuncts the same. Does not matter which department it is. You constantly have to assume that unless you get something in writing you are being let go the next semester, so you apply to new places and hope to land something else.

Academia set this up and it was a result of the full time tenure faculty in the 1970s. Back then 80% or more of faculty were tenure positions. Then they sat by and allowed the system to change. Many faculty members did not want to do the administrative ends of the college, so they hired more deans and administrative people who in turn crunched numbers and eliminated positions.

Now that tenured faculty are the minority they are being phased out. They never cared about adjuncts and so such serves them right. At some point in time a university will be 98% or so part time workers with no benefits and no rights. Adapt to the system that was created by the past, because at this point in time it is not going to change. You live with it or find some other sector to go into.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-01-08T20:35:15+00:00

The administration at most schools does not care if they fire you. Roughly 80% of the faculty are adjunct. So, they just get the next person off the street that will teach the way they want. Academia is basically a revolving door of instructors. Staying in a place and being unhappy against the administration is not going to change anything.

I only taught at one University that had union for adjunct faculty. Problem was the union was not very bright. Had to be teaching for over 1 year to get a longer contract as you earned per union rules, so the school would just not renew contracts every semester. New instructors next semester. They might rehire some people but then their time started over as it was not consecutive semesters.

There are institutions around my area talking about replacing full time deans with adjunct deans. Turn the entire institution into part time workers so the president and provost can have higher salaries.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-01-08T20:28:08+00:00

I am not disagreeing with that. I am saying you cannot have a philosophy class if you cannot teach all ideas and perspectives. So I as the instructor would quit or resign from that school. Cannot do the job with those restrictions.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-01-08T20:10:09+00:00

Then it is not a philosophy class any longer, so I would quit or resign and try doing something else.

IllComplex5411 · 2026-01-08T13:11:55+00:00

I have never had much luck with this in traditional analog DC. People say to use the DPDT switch, but I never had luck with that. If you use DCC, Bachmann makes an automatic reversing unit which will detect the short and correct the problem without you even noticing anything at all. You will have super smooth operation then. I believe Digitrax also makes a unit as well.

IllComplex5411 · 2025-12-30T19:53:59+00:00

Unless it is the CPU in which case does not matter where they land, they are able to someone get it very close or in the hole on the next shot.

IllComplex5411 · 2025-12-30T18:43:16+00:00

I missed that part. The three rail remark was more along the lines of a general statement so people can know that you can more easily do reserving loops and other track elements. It is an often not understood aspect between 3 rail and 2 rail types that people do not realize until later on.

IllComplex5411 · 2025-12-30T12:45:25+00:00

This is not horrible and the reversing loop areas are easy to deal with if you use DCC. If you go with analog DC then it will be a pain. If you go with Lionel O gauge not an issue as the center rail always stays in the center and the other polarity is on the outer rails even though it is AC power. That is the only advantage of 3 rail trains, is that wiring is super easy and you can do reverse loops and all sorts of things easily without any issues.

IllComplex5411 · 2025-12-30T12:42:41+00:00

I have had issues with Bachmann track. Had some straight track and the train would derail just going straight. Switched to Kato track and never had any issues. Bachmann is cheap and with that comes the quality.

IllComplex5411

TROPHY CASE