Transition: Step One

I just sent out messages to all three of my classes, asking what electronics they have available at home: desktop, laptop, smart phone. This will make a difference as I begin planning for the on-line remainder of the semester. Can I use Zoom? Not if some of my students don't have at least a laptop. It may be possible to salvage the group assignments in Development of Modern Mathematics; I don't know how I'm going to handle the remaining midterm and final. (Those focus on factual information and short-essay questions, not suited to take-home.) In Differential Geometry, the tests are all take-home already, so that won't be a problem, but I may have to pare down the lecture content. (We need to cover geodesics, and damned if I'll sacrifice Gauss-Bonnet, but there's some other stuff that can be skimmed or omitted.) The other History of Math class - up to Descartes - I don't know about. Maybe the department meeting tomorrow will provide some ideas.