Online Video Conference Meetings

Now that we’re a few days into the group and most everyone seems to be registered and has had some time to respond to the initial questionnaire, I thought I’d set a time for our online meeting(s)/sessions.

Most people have indicated to me that they’ve either already bought/received the text and have started reading, or are about to begin. I have a feeling  that most will find the first several chapters very basic, (but we’re all here to help those that don’t).

There are currently 25 people registered!

As a reminder, as mathematically “sophisticated” readers, we’ll be using a “flipped” format for our meetings, so everyone will generally be expected to have read the appropriate sections and worked on some problems/examples ahead of the meetings so that they can bring any problems/issues they may have to get some help from the rest of the group.

Upcoming meetings

As an initial meeting, let’s aim for:

Friday, June 5, 2015 at 6:45 pm Pacific / 9:45 pm Eastern on Google Hangouts.

In this session, we can get any  basic administrative things out of the way and discuss any problems/issues anyone may have with the first two chapters which primarily cover some initial basics including set theory and functions.

For our regular, weekly standing meetings, let’s shoot for

Monday evenings at 6:45pm Pacific / 9:45 pm Eastern.

Hopefully this weekly time will work for those on both coasts of the Americas without any undue burden.  We can attempt to record sessions for those who aren’t able to make it due to time zone or other conflicts, but no one seemed to have any issues with Mondays and we seem to be roughly split with participants on both coasts.

The second meeting will be on:

Monday, June 8, 2015 at 6:45 pm Pacific / 9:45 pm Eastern on Google Hangouts.

We’ll cover everyone’s questions from the following sections (which everyone will have been expected to have read beforehand):

2.3 Ologs; 3.1 Products and coproducts; and 3.2 Finite limits in Set

If necessary, outside of this, we can try to hold an alternate time on Saturday, which was the other day no one seemed to have issues with. An earlier time may help those who live outside the Americas as well. Anyone who’d like an alternate time is invited to mention it in the comments below.

Due to platform requirements and the diversity of the participants, Google Hangouts seems to work for everyone and allows video, audio, screensharing, and most of the other useful features we might want.  As I recall, one doesn’t necessarily need a Google+ account, but can login through their gmail interface (typically with a browser plugin), or via the hangout app on the bigger cell phone platforms.

You can click on the individual links for the appropriate date to find/join the particular hangout on this page (above), or on the individual links listed within the syllabus.

Office Hours

As a reminder, most participants have indicated office hours during which they are available to chat with others to offer assistance or help. I’d hope that everyone would try to login to Google Hangouts and make themselves relatively available to others to offer assistance, if they’re able during their stated office hours. Remember that helping others can assist you in reviewing/clarifying the material for yourself as well.

As always, additional assistance can also be easily had by making a post here to the “blog” with a specific question or problem and everyone can take a stab at helping out through the comments on that particular post.

If you haven’t already done so, feel free to do the following:

We all look forward to seeing you soon!

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