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Winding Down The Semester at Unknown University

It's Saturday afternoon, and i am in my workplace writing final exams whereas the remainder of the Unknown Family is one state away at a nephew's birthday half.

So that suggests that it should be the tip of the semester.

I have someday of categories left and 2 exams to offer - one in my principles category and one for my student-managed investment fund category. and each exams area unit well on the thanks to being written. So, i am in higher form than I even have been at the tip of the semester than in a very whereas (I'm typically doing the mad scramble for the end line). I figure another day's work on the exams and some of days grading, and i am done till succeeding crop comes in.

It's been an honest semester. My principles category went higher than it's gone in a very long-standing. I continually attempt to provide my students their money's value, and push them considerably tougher than within the alternative sections of the category. In previous semesters, they'd griped regarding this to the Powers That Be.

This semester appeared totally different. a part of this was that I even have a far higher perspective regarding life than I had antecedently. most of the people World Health Organization apprehend Maine would characterize Maine as evangelical (sometimes to a fault) and optimistic. whereas the Unknown Son was within the final stages of his malady, i used to be terribly stressed (ya think?). once i am stressed, i purchase over slightly critical, which ne'er plays well with students (particularly once you are extremely pushing them).

This semester, i used to be unabashedly positive and relaxed within the category. I additionally spent rather more time too soon framing their expectations. So, there was little or no griping to the oldsters within the Dean's workplace. Finally, I created a conjunctive effort to form positive the focii of the category were operating issues (and creating THEM work problems) at school till they could not take it any further, and forcing them to participate. the scholars appear to possess gotten the message that a neater road at school is commonly not the the simplest choice.

Unfortunately, we do not do a typical exam for the principles category at Unknown University. Anecdotal proof appears to counsel that my students have a stronger grasp of the fabric than in a number of the opposite sections, however i am continually mistrustful of constructing statements like this owing to biases in my very own perceptions (confirmation bias, hubris, and so on). i would prefer to see if laborious information shows that they apprehend additional, or if i am simply convincing myself. Maybe next time I can convince them to travel the common exam road.

My student-managed fund category additionally did higher than I expected. I continually concern the worst as they are obtaining scan for his or her end-of-semester presentation to the Alumni. This semester, we have a tendency to created the presentation it at the offices of a major investment-management company. the scholars did well, thus it ought to facilitate with placement of our grads at this firm within the future. I brought some of juniors World Health Organization are within the category next semester on to the presentation, associate degreed one among them might need created a affiliation there (with an Unknown University alum World Health Organization already works at the firm). So, he might need created a significant step towards grading associate degree place for this summer.

In any event, I've had enough workplace time for a Saturday. thus it is time to go out for a few Christmas searching then settle certain the large UFC fight tonight. Since the Unknown Family is out of city, i purchase to try to to the bachelor issue.

A Good End To The Semester

Teaching may be frustrating, however it's its moments. I simply bumped into one among my best students - three.9 GPA, got a CFA scholarship, is doing associate degree honors project, etc...

Since he is coming up with on taking the CFA Level one communication in Gregorian calendar month, he had some questions on however best to induce started on the fabric. So, we have a tendency to talked for a couple of [*fr1] hour, and that i Lententide him my study notes therefore he might start over the break (he hasn't nonetheless gotten his material from Schweser and CFA Institute).

I wouldn't be stunned if he has the Accounting and Ethics sections (and in all probability the Quantitative Methods) of the CFA material bolted down before he gets back from Christmas break.

If solely I had a schoolroom choked with students like him. however that may be too straightforward.

Stick A Fork In Me!

I'm done, done, DONE with grading for the semester. Now there's nothing left to do but wait for the complaints. Ah well - that I can deal with.

For a reward, I spent the night spent reading an anthology of short stories titled Strange Brew by P.N. Elrod (author of the Vampire Files). It includes stories by some of my favorites, including Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs, and Charlaine Harris, among others (what can I say - I'm a big fantasy/sci-fi nerd).

On the biking side, there's been nothing but rain for the last few days, so I went to the gym to use the exercise bike for about 40 minutes. It's a poor substitute for having wheels on the road, but my 50 miler (the Angel Ride) is only 11 days ahead, so it's better than nothing.

Enough goofing off - back to research.

Update: The rain stopped, so I got in another 26 miler. I rode like a circus bear on a bike, but I was still within a minute of my best time, so I'll take it. The good news is that I seem to be able to handle at least that distance at a pretty good pace even on an off day. So, with a bit more work, I should be able to do the 50 if I dial back a bit. It won't be pretty, but it's a ride, not a race.

The Default Major

A colleague just pointed out a great article in the New York Times, titled "The Default Major". Here's a few choice pieces:

Business majors spend less time preparing for class than do students in any other broad field, according to the most recent National Survey of Student Engagement: nearly half of seniors majoring in business say they spend fewer than 11 hours a week studying outside class. In their new book “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses,” the sociologists Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa report that business majors had the weakest gains during the first two years of college on a national test of writing and reasoning skills. And when business students take the GMAT, the entry examination for M.B.A. programs, they score lower than students in every other major.

...

Donald R. Bacon, a business professor at the University of Denver, studied group projects at his institution and found a perverse dynamic: the groups that functioned most smoothly were often the ones where the least learning occurred. That’s because students divided up the tasks in ways they felt comfortable with. The math whiz would do the statistical work, the English minor drafted the analysis. And then there’s the most common complaint about groups: some shoulder all the work, the rest do nothing.
“I understand that teamwork is important, but in my opinion they need to do more to deal with the problem of slackers,” says Justin Triplett, a 2010 Radford graduate who is completing his first year in Radford’s M.B.A. program. From his perch as a teaching assistant, he estimates that a third of students in the business school don’t engage with their schoolwork. At Radford, seniors in business invest on average 3.64 hours a week preparing for class, according to the National Survey of Student Engagement.
...
One senior accounting major at Radford, who asked not to be named so as not to damage his job prospects, says he goes to class only to take tests or give presentations. “A lot of classes I’ve been exposed to, you just go to class and they do the PowerPoint from the book,” he says. “It just seems kind of pointless to go when (a) you’re probably not going to be paying much attention anyway and (b) it would probably be worth more of your time just to sit with your book and read it.”
How much time does he spend reading textbooks?
“Well, this week I don’t have any tests, so probably zero,” he says. “Next week I’ll have a test, so maybe 10 hours then.”
He adds: “It seems like now, every take-home test you get, you can just go and Google. If the question is from a test bank, you can just type the text in, and somebody out there will have it and you can just use that.”

Let's see - the students don't study as much, they minimize effort, cheat on take-home exams, and don't come to class prepared.

These sound like things I've heard my own colleagues say in the hallways at Unknown University.

Nothing new. But somehow, there are professors in my school (several come to mind without much effort) who hold the students to high standards AND get top evaluations. The common threads in their classes is that they DEMAND that students come to class prepared and cold-call from day one. And they make classroom performance (either measured by the quality of participation or by numerous in-class quizzes (often of the unannounced, "pop quiz" variety) a major part of the grade.

Of course, they work a lot harder than the other professors in the classroom, but DUH.

Students will slack, not go to class, and cheat like crazy if all the instructor does is read off PowerPoint slides and give softball take-home assignments. They're rational, after all.

I view the course design (of which the grading scheme is a major part) as a mechanism design problem. In other words, it's an exercise in putting together a grading scheme that forces the students into behaviors that I want them to engage.

For the most part, they're rational - they'll find a way to get the grade they want while minimizing effort. The trick is to set the class up so that they can't slack. Unfortunately. that's harder than the old "30% of the class grade is based on the mid-term, 50% on the final, and 20% on quizzes" structure.

But it's possible.

The First Ride of the Season

Up until the last two weeks or so, I've been getting up at least 5 days a week at 4:30 and working out at the local YMCA from 5-6 (mostly spinning on the stationary bike). As a result of this and watching my diet, I've dropped about 15 pounds since the beginning of the year. So, I'm about the same weight at the beginning of biking season that I usually am around mid-Jul. I was wondering how this would translate to actually being on the road.

Today I found out - I took my first ride of the season, and went about 17 1/2 miles (about twice what I usually do at the beginning of the season). Despite the relative cold (about 52 and windy as all get out), it was pretty easy - I was able to keep my heart rate under 150 pretty much the whole way (except for the last 50 yards of a steep half-mile long hill at the 8 mile mark). So, it looks like it'll be a good riding season.

I'll be riding in the Angel Ride, a 50 mile fund-raiser for the Hole In The Wall Camp over Memorial Day Weekend, so I need to get with it. It's actually the second day of a two-day ride where they go the length of northern Connecticut (from the northwest corner to the northeast corner - about 80 miles) the first day, stay at the camp over Saturday night, and ride down the eastern border of Connecticut (northeast to southeast - about 50 miles) the second day. I'll be as part of a group that includes two guys from my weekly bible study and a lady from my wife's grief group (she lost a daughter to cancer a couple of years ago).

And finally, there's only three weeks left to the semester - yeah, baby!

Some Reasources For Teachers

I'm not (by any account) always the best teacher. I do all right - ry (and sometimes even succeed), but I have a few personal characteristics that sometimes work against me. First, I have a certain, shall we say, lack of interpersonal skills and an occasional inability to pick up on cues (insert joke about faculty member with mild Asberger's here). In addition, I have a tendency to become a bit sarcastic under stress, and that never plays well in the classroom.

But, much like the palace eunuch, even if I can't replicate it while it's happening all around me, I know it when I see it.

I saw it today when I came across Joe Ben Hoyle's website. He's an accounting professor at the University of Richmond, and I've mentioned him previously here, where he was profiled in UR's alumni magazine.

It turns out he has a website with some good teaching material. One of the links is to a set of short (1-2 pages each) essays on teaching and another is to his blog. Both are well worth reading. Go over the blog when you have time, but do yourself a favor, and download the essays (they're in one document) now. I almost guarantee you'll get something out of it.

Things You Wish You Could Write On Students' Papers

Here's a pretty good list of things I wish I could write on some students' papers, from Sapience Speaks. #6, while harsh even for this list, is my favorite. Feel free to add your own in the comments.

"You certainly have a way with words. A long, long way."
"You seem to be attempting a very delicate approach to the assignment--so delicate, in fact, that you fail to touch on it at all."
"Every one of the words in this sentence is utterly devoid of meaning."
"I can't help feeling that you treat the ideas in your paper much as a black hole treats its neighboring star systems: forcefully and vigorously synthesizing them, you condense them beyond recognition, leading to utter destruction and chaos."
"like the broad swift stream / a thesaurus will go far / but yields no great depth."
"This paper isn't even bulls*&t. Bulls*&t has substance. This is diarrhea."
"I find your rhetorical strategy in this expository to be similar to that of a rhinoceros in extracting a tooth: large, blunt, and wholly ineffective."
"This entire page says exactly NOTHING."
"Every teacher wishes she could read a paper like this one. It makes the rest of her life so much brighter by contrast."
"As I was reading, I felt that you were trying to include in your paper every type of fallacy possible. If so, you only missed one."
"The level of disorganization in your paper suggests that your true topic must be chaos theory, not, as your title implied, Wordsworth."
"the wind speaks all day / yet with only empty breath: / you have no thesis"
"I'm not sure even you believe this sentence."