bobgian%PSUVAX1.BITNET%Berkeley@sri-unix.UUCP (03/04/84)
The "Netwide AI and Mysticism" course I had hoped to offer to all
interested people has become the victim of my overenthusiam and the
students' underenthusiasm.
The term here is half over, and student energies and motivations are
YET to rise to the occasion. I have tried my best, but (aside from a
very select and wonderful few) Penn State students just do not have
what it takes to float such a course. I am spending most of my time
just trying to make sure they learn SOMETHING in the course. The
inspiration of a student-initiated and student-driven course is gone.
My apologies to ALL who wrote and offered useful comments and advice.
My special thanks to all who mailed or posted material which has been
useful in course handouts. I WILL try this again!! I may give up on
the average Penn State student, but I WON'T give up on good ideas.
I will be moving soon to another institution -- one which EXPLICITLY
encourages innovative approaches to learning, one which EXPLICITLY
appeals to highly self-motivated students. We shall try again!!
In the meantime, the "Netwide AI course" is officially disbanned. Those
students here who DO have the insight, desire, and maturity to carry it
on may do so via their own postings to net.ai. (Nothing I could do or
WANT to do would ever stop them!) To them all, I say "You are the hope
for the world." To the others, I say "Please don't stand in our way."
-- Bob "disappointed, but ever hopeful" Gian...
[P.s.]
Since my last posting (808@psuvax.UUCP, Sunday Mar 4) announcing the
"temporary cessation" of the "Netwide AI and Mysticism" course from Penn
State, I have received lots of mail asking about my new position. The thought
struck, just AFTER firing that note netwards, that instead of saying
"I will be moving soon to another institution ...."
I SHOULD have said
"I will soon be LOOKING for another institution -- one which EXPLICITLY
encourages innovative approaches to learning, one which EXPLICITLY
appeals to highly self-motivated students. We shall try again!!"
That "new institution" might be a school or industrial research lab. I want
FIRST to leave behind at Penn State the beginnings of what someday could be
one of the finest AI (especially Cognitive Science and Machine Learning)
labs around. Then I'll start looking for a place more in tune with my
(somewhat unorthodox, by large state school standards) teaching and research
style.
To all who wrote with helpful comments, THANKS. And, if anybody knows of
such a "new institution", I'm WIDE OPEN to suggestions!!!
-- Bob "ever hopeful" Gian...
Bob Giansiracusa (Dept of Computer Science, Penn State Univ, 814-865-9507)
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