cheating, cheating, everywhere

If prisoners can secretly build computers, hide them in the ceiling, and connect them to the internet to do just about anything they want, should we be surprised that our students (who have far more resources) are cheating?  What should be done about it?

Signs of the Times?

An observation from a month or so ago (when I seemed to be spending all my time draft-conferencing, or, all too occasionally, sleeping, and passing through the campus at odd very early and very late hours in between), and when student-government campaigning was in full swing (which for us means flyers and chalking):

It seems to me that improved wifi has replaced improved parking as the most popular student government candidate platform.  

This makes sense in a way, since our parking infrastructure has improved (garages have replaced several parking lots) and the fee structure is more rational (you can pay more for a guaranteed spot
and/or a shorter walk, or less for a considerably longer walk from a lot that never fills up completely), but the wifi infrastructure is seriously overtaxed in some spots (including some of the bring-your-own-device classrooms, which is, well, a serious problem, and I don't appreciate classroom IT support telling me "oh, yes; we've been having problems all over campus." Fair enough, but if necessary to provide reliable service, the classrooms that are designed with the assumption that wifi will be working need to be on a separate, more robust, more closely monitored and carefully maintained system.)

Or maybe the stereotype is true, and millenials (even suburban millenials) just hate, or at least don't care about, cars? 

This is life.

Whether you're celebrating Memorial Day, National Reconciliation Week, a great mattress sale, or just another day during a mini-semester, may you find peace.

Somewhere in Orange, Texas, there's a horse grazing and thinking good thoughts about you.

"Need to..."

Sorry, just a speedy.

Can we just agree to crush any advisor who comes into a faculty office and starts with: "Lauren needs to get a B in your course"?

Yeah, well Lauren needs to turn in some work. Now you need to leave.

Big Thirsty

11 pointers for college success from a professor (and dad)

By Rodney E. Rohde, PhD

1. It's the syllabus, stupid!
2. Exams, in most cases, will not be like the ones you took in high school or dual-credit community college.
3. Visit your professor and graduate instructors. 
4. Be alert for what your professor writes on the board, course blogs, emails or other interactions during the lecture or outside of the formal coursework.
5. Writing matters – yes, even the grammar counts!
6. Your mom was right – social skills and good manners are where the rubber meets the road.
7. Do more than what's expected!
8. Surround yourself with great mentors.
9. Time is truly precious, so don't waste mine — or yours.
10. If you have to work, try to limit the hours. Better yet, find a student worker position on campus.
11. Try to find internships and other paid or non-paid opportunities to gain work experience with your career skills.

What would your #12 be?

Adjunct Debt [from Prof. Pottah]

Ok, Zooze and Company, here's the dirty list:

--I make about $14,000 per year (we'll call it 14 large to sound cool).
--My house in underwater.  Market crashed a few years after we bought. It's also in the city of
Chicago (bang-bang; I thought that we were done with that in the 1920s), so there's that. It was a mistake, but one we could not have prevented.
--Didn't even finish my degree. (Anxiety, ADD, etc.)
--Adjuncting. Student loan payments are more than my salary. Not teaching in summer, unfortunately.
--Student Loan Forgiveness: Adjuncts need not apply. (Yes, I know Dick Durbin is working on something . . . or was, in 2014 . . .)
--Out of forebearances. (Forebearancii?)
--My poor wife!
--My poor kids.

I asked some folks who are in the discipline in which I teach, and they didn't have much to say other than "teach in Saudi Arabia" and "Wait for Durbin."

Suicide is an option; if I die, I think the loans go away. The shame on my wife and children, though, makes this not an option. Not in the slightest. I'm ok.

Look, I've had some bad luck, but I've also made bad decisions. Mostly bad luck, though.

I've tried to get jobs in other fields. Dice: None. I'm 48.

I'm writing a letter of rec tonight for a decent student. I'm not sure why I'm doing this.

What options do I have? Any ideas? I have none.

Prof. Pottah

Should white guys get out of the way? [from Frankie Bow]

So there's been a big kerfuffle over this post, from a lecturer at the University of Hawaii, on the blog of the American Mathematical Society:

Get Out The Way

Not to alarm you, but I probably want you to quit your job, or at least take a demotion. Statistically speaking, you are probably taking up room that should go to someone else. If you are a white cis man (meaning you identify as male and you were assigned male at birth) you almost certainly should resign from your position of power. That’s right, please quit. Too difficult? Well, as a first step, at least get off your hiring committee, your curriculum committee, and make sure you’re replaced by a woman of color or trans person. Don’t have any in your department?  HOW SHOCKING.

My reaction: As provocative and deliberately over-the-top as the proposed solution is, it still wouldn't accomplish the desired result. If all the cis-hetero white guys (or graying Baby Boomers, or any group of tenured faculty) quit their jobs tomorrow, they'd just be replaced with adjuncts--if they were replaced at all.

What do you think?

Frankie

Big Hungry

What are you looking forward to this summer?  Anything?

75-100%

A terrific student of mine who has just gone on the market has called me to ask if all HR departments are the same, and if they include information like the "required abilities" list below from a school to which he/she has applied:

• Visual Abilities: Read reports, create presentations and use a computer system – 75-100% of the time
• Hearing: Hear well enough to communicate with co-workers, vendors and students – 75-100% of the time.
• Dexterity, Grasping, Feeling: Write, type and use the telephone, copier, and computer systems – 75-100% of the time
• Mobility: Open files and operate office machines; move between departments and attend meetings across campus – 75-100% of the time
• Talking: Frequently convey detailed or important instructions and ideas accurately, loudly, or quickly – 75-100% of the time
• Lifting, Pulling, Pushing: Exert up to 30 pounds for force occasionally, and/or up to 20 pounds of force frequently, and/or up to 10 pounds of force constantly to move objects – 50-74% of the time.
• Cognitive/Emotional: Ability to critically think and concentrate. Must be able to respond quickly to changes in conditions – 75-100% of the time

In Which Bella Ponders the Kind of Wisdom that Can't Be Taught

Tina is 18 years old and epileptic.  She told me in the beginning of the semester, and went over what I should do for her if she had a seizure in class.  I wrote it all down on a page in my grade book and went over it in my mind.  That was in January.  As we were going over the revision requirements for the final research essay, Tina appeared to be in distress.  She stood up and seemed to be intending to walk out of the room.  And then she was down.  Tina sat in the back half of the room, and she was quickly surrounded by a ring of concerned students in the row between tables.  I rushed to her, remembering I needed to loosen the clothes around her neck, and was relieved to see she was wearing
a t-shirt. I did not have anything to put under her head, so I tried to put my hands between her head and the floor. Kneeling down, I looked up at the concerned faces of the other students, processing the scene during which no time seemed to have passed. "Let's give Tina some room, some air,"  I said.  I wanted to get up and call security, but was still frantically thinking what to do about her head.

"Tina," a deep, soothing female voice said.  "I think I need me a little lay down, too."  Rachel is a sixty-ish grandmother who has struggled with her writing and comprehension of every assignment the entire semester.  It can't have been easy for her to get down on the floor, but down on the floor she came, laying down right next to Tina and giving me her soft leather handbag.  Her voice and expression were incredibly calming, and I took the handbag and put it under Tina's head.  Rachel lay her head right on the floor.  "We'll just set here a bit, me and Tina.  Now go on, y'all."  The seizure was already abating.  I rose and told the students yes, you all should go.  You can ask me any more questions about your rewrites via email.  I went to the phone by the door and called security.

Tina was fine.  Thankfully she did not hit her head on the tables, and was only bruised from her fall.  I remain so awed by the quiet wisdom of Rachel, who knew what it must feel like to be on the floor surrounded by worried eyes.  Rachel, who got down on the floor with Tina and somehow made it seem like no big deal.  Rachel, who struggles academically in spite of her hard work, and who wants to get a college degree to inspire her grandchildren.  Rachel, kind and wise and caring Rachel.  I am so glad she was there.

--Bella

comment

What very little editing I do, I mean well and try to be true to the voice of the author(s).  No doubt I'm
imperfect and somewhat inconsistent.  Any constructive feedback I receive about this will continue to be read and appreciated.

Your Real Gosh-darned Moderator,
Zooze (the Horse)

I'm just kind of tired. Are you?

Is hate inevitable?

Is resistance the secret of joy?

When the college president replies, "yes yes lots of times with lots of girls," should a proffie silently
pity the man, or defiantly and loudly shout that the earth is not flat, that it revolves around the sun, that black people are human, that atoms don't really look like plum pudding, and so on?

Is there a place for truth in higher education?  And where are the boundaries drawn?

https://onenewsnow.com/education/2017/04/19/final-exams-are-next-weekunless-you-hate-trump

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/05/08/black-grad-students-harvard-hold-own-commencement-ceremony/6tGHbUjyz8vLvDNVZwzidL/story.html

https://heatst.com/culture-wars/students-refuse-to-take-exams-after-photo-of-classmate-wearing-blackface-resurfaces/

http://www.hrc.org/resources/lavender-graduation

https://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/05/08/university-grants-black-students-extension-on-final-exams-because-of-alleged-racist-incident/

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/17/u-illinois-calls-james-watson-lecture-over-his-racist-comments

Some Yale teachers are refusing to eat in protest of the university. I'm one of them. [By Lukas Moe]

The flava:

I have not eaten for two weeks. I’m one of eight graduate teachers fasting at Yale in protest of our university’s refusal to negotiate with us since we voted to unionize.

When you think of college teachers, there’s probably an image that comes to your mind. Someone with a job for life, summer vacations, sabbaticals every few years. Someone with a roomy office, a flexible schedule and few cares in the world.

Unfortunately, this describes little of today’s reality. . . .


The article:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/10/union-we-wont-eat-yale-university-negotiate

Speedy Professor-on-Professor Rant, from Wombat of the Copier

Holy ****, Sara Goldrick-Rab. For a woman whose scholarship focuses on the inequitable burden of higher education, you need to get a grip on how you handle flight delays.

--WotC

"Well, maybe an old married guy like you might not understand. . . ."

About ten years ago, I had a couple of new research students coming to me, so I asked them what they wanted to study. They said, “You won’t believe this, Ross, but we want to study Facebook privacy.” And I said, “You what?” And they said, “Well, maybe an old married guy like you might not understand this, but here in Cambridge all the party invitations now come through Facebook. If you’re not on Facebook, you go to no parties, you meet no girls, you have no sex, you have no kids, and your genes die out. It’s as simple as that. You have to be on Facebook. But we seem to have no privacy. Can that be fixed?” So they went away and studied it for a few months and came to the conclusion that, no, it couldn’t be fixed, but they had to be on Facebook anyway. That’s the power of network effects. One of the things that we’ve realized over the past fifteen years is that a very large number of the security failures that afflict us occur because of network effects.
    --Ross Anderson

Quote from:
https://www.edge.org/conversation/ross_anderson-the-threat

And the guy who bought it said: "What? No study guide?"

A few weeks ago, a copy of Galileo’s Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences sold at auction for just over $790,600. 

Today in News That's Obvious to Everyone Except The People Who Decide Whether You Get to Keep Your Job (plus: a mini-thirsty!) [from Frankie Bow]

Students Don’t Always Recognize Good Teaching, Study Finds (Whaaa?)

The researchers analyzed data from a basic-algebra course at Phoenix from 2001 to 2014, using such measures as students’ scores on a standard final examination, their performance in a subsequent algebra course, and their evaluations of teaching...High-quality instruction didn’t necessarily predict positive feedback on student evaluations, the researchers found. Instead, high marks on evaluations instructors tended to be rewarded with high ratings if they gave good grades.
were most positively correlated with students’ grades in a course, meaning that

What a surprise (If you ignore previous studies like this one and this one and this particularly infuriating one)!

What's the answer, though? The current system encourages grade inflation, handing out cookies, and coming to class disguised as a white guy (a high-stakes tactic that can backfire when you sneeze and your fake mustache shoots across the classroom). The most fair measure seems like it would be student performance on a standard final content exam measured against predicted performance (that last part is important; otherwise the incentive is to pressure your struggling students to drop the class).

How do we measure good teaching?

--Frankie Bow

early thirsty for confessions, from Wombat of the Copier

I organize the adjuncts in my department and collect their grades to submit to registrar.  As the semester wraps up I get a lot of e-mail from students requesting grade checks.  I received an e-mail from a student asking me if his class was still going to get to drop the lowest quiz grade "since Professor X didn't give any quizzes until spring break".

I opened Professor X's electronic grade-book and saw grades for every week in February and March.
Not only that, they were artfully distributed across the spectrum from almost passing to high-As.  And there was no correlation between the average for the month of April and the grades as they were trending prior to spring break.  It wasn't an attempt to give effectively the same grades they had earned, while making it look like he'd given a quiz every week - it was a straight up crap-shoot.

Professor X rubs people the wrong way. I prayed this was an attempt by a desperate student to screw Professor X.  Then I got another... and another and another...

Either he faked grades or the students are better at organizing for revenge than they are for forming study groups.

I passed it on to a higher authority, but it made me think of a time I lost a folder with a bunch of quizzes that I'd never recorded in my electronic grade book.  Amazingly, everyone got 100!  So that brings me to my thirsty...

Have you ever lost student work? And what did you do?
A) "what quiz?  that never happened."
B) "100s for everyone!"
C) other...


--WotC

update from Orange, TX

There's good stuff happening in Orange.  And nearby Bridge City.

1. Frod posted as "Unknown" to try to throw us off track on April Fool's Day.   
2. Krabby Kathy sent in a kind thank-you note after receiving the book.
3. Local students finished college before finishing high school.  
4. I continue to rarely reply to emails, for a number of reasons.  Near the top of the list of reasons is preserving the pseudonymity, anonymity, privacy, and dignity of people participating here.  This morning, I was reminded of how horribly wrong that email thing can go.
5. Use your imagination: ______________________

This is just another of those infrequent, unpredictable updates.  Bottom line: Thank you for all the kind and/or informative emails. Thank you, everybody, for participating here.  You make it worthwhile.

Your Real Gosh-darned Moderator,
Zooze (the Horse)

an experience is shared by Aca Deme (formerly AcadeManiac)

It's the end of the semester and it has occurred to some students to check their grades on the LMS.
One student asked, "Is it 74% out of 100?".

Now mind you, each project is graded as the number of points achieved / number of points possible.
The total number of points is listed. A total percentage is also listed, as I question whether or not students could calculate this.

So, um, yeah. 74% out of a possible 100%.

--Aca Deme

Big Thirsty, from Hungry Hungry Hippocampus

Hi folks,
Here's an idea for a Big Thirsty:  

From today's Inside Higher Ed:  "A student at the University of Kentucky climbed through ceiling ducts and dropped down into a faculty member's office to steal an exam Tuesday night," Kentucky.com reported.

The rest:
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/05/04/student-drops-ceiling-steal-exam

Big Thirsty:
What is the most creative cheating method you've detected in your classes?

--Hungry Hungry Hippocampus

This is Some Kind of Bullshit.

We are VERY important.

We have gotten 35 applicants for a VERY specifically worded job application that has just hit its deadline.

This is the entire text of the automatic email to candidates. It was voted on by my colleagues:

Due to the large volume of applications, we will only be in contact with those that are selected for an interview.