Crowding has already become an issue during the first full week of classes as students struggle to find assistance in Maple help labs.
Calculus students, particularly those in MA 241, found tutoring sessions crowded as they sought help with their first programming assignment in Maple, which, for 241, was due last Friday.
Maple is a programming language new to most first-year students, and those in classes that require it often find it difficult. Ben Gibson, a freshman in civil engineering, said he has not used Maple but has heard it can be tedious.
“My first Maple assignment isn’t due until next week,” Gibson, who is enrolled in MA 141, said. “But I’ve heard it’s hard and takes a long time to get right.”
The University seeks to assist these struggling students, primarily at the Mathematics Multimedia Center in SAS 2105, where graduate students are available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. In addition, students can attend bi-weekly help sessions in Harrelson G108, where at least one student is available to answer questions. However, the sheer number of students attending these meetings often makes it difficult to find help.
“[The Maple expert] is constantly being asked for help, so it’s kind of like, ‘pick a number,'” Blake Hovis, a graduate student pursuing a Master of Arts in teaching and mathematics, said, though he said there are times the tutor is not busy at all. “There’s hours he sits there, and no one’s asking for help.”
Courtney Artis, a senior in physics and applied mathematics, works as a computer consultant and tutor in SAS three times a week, usually for a total of eleven hours. She is one of the students available to assist students with Maple and noted the increased crowds the previous week.
“Everyone had a computer,” she said, though this does not solve every problem. “All students aren’t going to get help simultaneously.”
This logistical frustration has yet to derail students entirely. Often, students who are unable to get help from a graduate students are able to consult and collaborate with other waiting students, according to Artis and Rebecca Jayne, a graduate student in mathematics and teaching assistant who works in SAS.
Jayne had insight into last week’s crowding. “[The busy-ness] is more guided by schedule than space,” she said.
Jayne said SAS is filled with students as tests approach, but for the week following, very few take the time to stop by.
Artis also pointed to homework and tests as the determinate for student attendance.
“Crowds fluctuate with assignments,” she said. Even after the addition of SAS’s Mathematics Multimedia Center, the ebb and flow of crowding “really hasn’t changed much,” Artis said.
