On Aug 7, 9:58 am, mhampton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>most students aren't motivated enough to install Sage on
> their own computers
I'd agree with this, although I might have said "many", not "most".
Another issue is that requiring (or even suggesting) that students
install new software for a class can cause a fair bit of extra, off-
topic work for instructors and teaching assistants. The emails
arriving late in the night before an assignment is dues will not just
be asking about the material, but also how to install the software or
set it up.
This may not be relevant, but I'll end with a story that relates to
using software in a class for which it is not, strictly, required. A
few years ago, I created a Matlab assignment for one of my courses. I
had a teaching-assistant at the time, and it all worked quite
smoothly. Then the university took away the TA, and I realized just
how much time it takes to explain software issues ("use (...) instead
of [...] there", and so forth), as opposed to issues relating to the
subject matter for the class. I also started to realize (after
talking with the students!) that these people were paying to learn
about the course topic, not how to use Matlab. So I dropped Matlab
from the course. There were no ill effects. Some students used
matlab, others used other tools that they preferred. (Lately, by the
way, there has been a move away from matlab to python. But that's
another story.)
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