Word: wegner
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...twisted psychology experiment. Most were utterly confused, others just infuriated by the exceptionally unfair lottery used to determine enrollment into the popular class, commonly known as Psych 15. Far from any sick joke or experiment, the lottery was taken quite seriously by Professor of Psychology Daniel M. Wegner and his teaching staff, who arbitrarily decided to base class admission on the ability to find a seat in the packed hall...
...students sitting or standing in the aisles received colored slips. At the time, it seemed as though the teaching staff was merely trying to estimate the number of students taking the course in relation to the room capacity. To the surprise of nearly every student there, however, Wegner announced that those with white cards would be joining his class this term. Students who were unable to shop the class that day or came late and couldn’t find seats were eliminated from the class roster and prohibited from enrolling. The “lottery” came...
Lotteries occur frequently for undergraduates at Harvard, where professors who wish to maintain the integrity of smaller, discussion-based lectures choose to limit enrollment through standard and fair procedures. Unlike his fellow colleagues, Wegner decided to create his own method, one that failed to give priority to seniors and concentrators, many of whom needed this foundation class for their concentration requirements...
When asked in an interview why he chose this method of selection, Wegner alluded to two sides to shopping period. While students actively engage in evaluating classes, teachers, syllabi, and so forth, so too do professors take the time to select students in order to create the best learning environment for their class. Certain criteria such as good attendance and punctuality are among the values professors seek to uphold in the classroom. “Shopping period goes both ways,” Wegner argued. “The students are shopping and so are professors?...
Although no one has come to his office to ask him what he thinks, Wegner says, he has been satisfied with the level of consultation...