Use complete solution manuals (available in C-36) to help you pick out homework problems. It's much easier to look at the solutions in the manual than to work all the problems out yourself when you are trying to judge what skills are included each problem and whether the computations will be lengthy. For some courses, there may also be "instructor guides" which suggest homework assignments, as well as examples for lecture, worksheets, etc. (The instructor guide recommendations should be evaluated in the context of our syllabus, because the guide usually is aimed at someone covering every detail in the book at a more leisurely pace.)
Share office hours with other instructors of the same course. For all instructors who agree, announce all office hours to all sections. If possible, hold the hours in a common location (e.g. reserve the MSC conference room, or CMU B-014 next door when 111/112 is not using it, or ask Brooke for another room.) Most students will go to their own instructor, but this cuts down on the need for appointments with students who can't make your office hours. This works best if you have homework due on the same day of the week and similar homework assignments, but can be helpful for both you and your students anyway, especially if you have a common room and cultivate the idea that those times are a "Math 307 [or whatever] Study Center" where students can work with each other as well as ask the instructor questions.
Work together will one or more other instructors of the same course to plan syllabus, homework assignments, review materials, and/or quizzes and tests. Joint homework assignments is an especially good idea if you share a grader. If your classes are scheduled back to back, you can even use exactly the same quizzes and tests. Even if you don't use the same quizzes and tests, you can pair up with someone to bounce around problem ideas and proofread the final drafts.
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Most recently updated on July 16, 2009