INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE /JULY 25, 1989

 

 

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Ed Jolley: Physics Instructor

Douglas College physics instruc-
tor Ed Jolley chuckles when he’s
asked to recount his first impres-
sions of the College back in the
early days of 1970.

“My first reaction was of ab-
solute devastation,” he says.

“On my first day on the job, I
went to a particular location where
Douglas College was supposed to
be. It was an empty field...you can
imagine the shock!”

Jolley soon discovered the of-
fices of the College were then
located on Columbia Street. Once
he got his bearings, everything fell
into place. “I settled in pretty quick-
ly while the College was getting
organized,” he says. ‘““We were
going through a kind of orientation
phase, and getting courses settled.”

Initially, classes were offered at
night or on the weekends at various
high schools in the Lower Main-
land, and Jolley taught at several
locations until the College acquired
its own building.

Now, almost 20 years after com-
ing upon an empty field, Jolley still
enjoys working at the College -
most of the time.

“It has its ups and downs,” he
says. “This past year has been a
strange one because of the labour
difficulties we’ve had. And there
are times you can see faculty get-
ting down. But overall it’s been a
good place to work.”

Jolley has always faced the chal-
lenge of teaching a subject that is

 

often viewed with horror or fear.
Why do students take physics?

“Mostly because they have to,”
Jolley says. “The universities say
they have to have first-year physics
or maybe two years of physics be-

many are afraid of the subject, al-
though that number is decreasing
because more of them are studying
physics in high school.

“We are seeing more students
who have high school physics, and

 

 

 

 

 

cause of the area they’re going into.

Very few of the students who go
through Douglas College end up in
the physics department of a univer-
sity. This year we have a few, but
generally speaking, our clientele
consists of people who are going
into science, and have to take
physics.”

Jolley doesn’t find that difficult
to understand. “When I was at
university, I attended classes where
there was maybe only three or four
of us, say in the fourth-year
physics. It’s not popular.”

For those who do sign up for
physics, Jolley recognizes that

 

it makes it a little easier for them,”
he says. “They are less afraid of it
than they used to be. But some are
terrified of the math applications
we use. If it was just reading the
book and learning definitions,
doing a multiple-choice exam, they
wouldn’t be afraid at all.”

Jolley says there are certain steps
he takes to help students overcome
their fear. “Right off the bat, you
tell them one of the biggest
problems is going to be math,” he
says. “You alert them to that. You

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