National Hairball Day

Well, I missed it this year, but what do you get for someone for National Hairball Awareness Day -- a trichobezoar?

Crammed full of knowledge

What I learned this semester:

• Having students complete comprehensive self-tests for each chapter of the textbook vastly increases the likelihood of them reading the textbook before class and improves the quality of class discussions.
  
• Writing a comprehensive self-test for each chapter is a useful review of the material in the textbook.
  
• Writing a comprehensive self-test for every chapter of a textbook takes a LOT of time.
  
• Grading self-tests which involve 50-150 questions each week, even with much of the process automated, takes a LOT of time.
  
• I don't have a lot of extra time.
  
• At this point in my life, I am unable or unwilling to lose significant amounts of sleep on a regular basis.
  
• My superpowers do not include the ability to find or create pockets of extra time.

Conclusion: Taking on tasks which require enormous expenditures of time without commensurate reduction in other time commitments, even when the choice serves valuable goals, leaves one very stressed and tired.

But hey, ask me anything about STDs or paraphilias or sexual dysfunction -- really, anything -- and I can probably answer it, as long as it's in this textbook! ;)

Back to work.