School of Architecture and Planning

Tue 11/30 - school project work session
Thu 12/2 - school project work session

Tue 12/7 - wrap-up discussion and course evaluation
Thu 12/9 - final presentations

The final memo is still due on Wed 12/15.

Professor Keyes will be joining us again for our next class on Tuesday, October 26. I have changed the schedule so now there is only one assigned reading for Tuesday (“Privileged Places” by Squires and Kubrin). Please be prepared to discuss the articles on housing policy that you read for today. Don’t forget to submit your reading responses.

Anyone who wants to interview people for the school consolidation project must take and pass the human subjects training course (http://web.mit.edu/committees/couhes/humansubjects.shtml). The course teaches you about research protocol and includes several tests. More information is available on the Committee on the Use of Humans as Experimental Subjects website at http://web.mit.edu/committees/couhes/index.shtml

Please complete the human subjects training course by next Tuesday (10/26).

Please note that we will have class on Tuesday, October 12 after the Columbus Day Holiday.

For the first half of class on 10/12, Amy will lead a session on gathering and analyzing data. The second half of the class will be devoted to group work time to prepare for your interim report on the school consolidation project.  There are no assigned readings for class on Tuesday.

Also, we have shifted some class readings from ‘required’ to ‘recommended.’ The recommended readings will be labeled in Stellar. A revised syllabus is also posted on the course website.

The DUSP Students of Color Committee (SCC) is sponsoring a memo writing workshop on Sunday, October 3, from 12:30-2 pm in Room 10-401. Check Plaza (http://plaza.mit.edu/) for more details.

Here are a few updates and responses to questions raised in class:

Project Description – I have posted a longer description of the school consolidation project that was discussed in class today. You will find it on the course website in the “Materials” section under “Introduction to School Consolidation.”

Sharing Information – Everyone is encouraged to share information they find on Hull and Cohasset. The “Forum” section of the course website now has two discussion topics (“Communities: Hull and Cohasset” and “Schools: Hull and Cohasset”) where you can post and share useful data, links to websites, charts, etc.

Reading Responses – A few people mentioned it would be helpful to read each other’s reading responses before class. Please post your responses by midnight before class so everyone can read them and so we can incorporate the written responses into class discussion. 

Also, there was concern about the amount of work per week. Please note that for the rest of the semester, you will not have to write more than one reading response per week.

Memo Writing – Cherie Abbanat, who teaches a course on writing and communication, has created some guidelines for writing memos. These are posted on the course website in the “Materials” section under “General.”

Office Hours – Amy will set up office hours once her schedule settles down. In the meantime, students can make an appointment to see her by contacting Janice O’Brien at jobrien@mit.edu.

I will hold office hours on Tuesdays from 3:30-4:30 pm in Room 9-230. You can always schedule a time to meet with me by sending me an e-mail at shomon@mit.edu. 

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. See you Thursday.