tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post4857618536031285711..comments2023-10-15T04:23:50.187-04:00Comments on College Misery: Pat From Peoria Doing the Link Thing With Context. What's Happened? How Can I Be Miserable If People Are Doing Things Correctly?!?!?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-59383171999822023002015-10-26T13:16:46.670-04:002015-10-26T13:16:46.670-04:00Agreed. I gave a midterm, nearly the same as last...Agreed. I gave a midterm, nearly the same as last year with an average of 71%, with this year's students garnering an abysmal 51% average. Absolutely abysmal.<br />As per Debra's suggestions, I had a "re-think", but it didn't last very long:<br />Were there any issues with the curriculum, or the test content?<br />Nope.<br />Student performance? : Just a bunch of lazy dumbProf Poopieheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00997969128824319914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-78184656169433778242015-10-23T22:12:40.556-04:002015-10-23T22:12:40.556-04:00I just gave a midterm in my big section of introdu...I just gave a midterm in my big section of introductory calculus based physics and the class average was 59%. Last semester, after very similar instruction and almost exactly the same exam (same types of problems, remarkably similar to homework questions, etc.), I had a class average of 73%, which is much more typical of the course. I made sure to check that nothing was wrong/different on my kshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10758001473313265911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-43024761215001833202015-10-23T20:53:00.267-04:002015-10-23T20:53:00.267-04:00I think it's quite possible that the Dean made...I think it's quite possible that the Dean made clear that the professor was doing the right thing. I also think it's quite probable that this student is an unreliable narrator who has paraphrased what people really said or did so as to bathe herself in the most favorable light. The subtext breaks through in phrases such as "When she finally got back to me a few days later."Ogre Proctor Hephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17428431147495287413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-20049648109353206012015-10-23T19:07:29.495-04:002015-10-23T19:07:29.495-04:00(Least) favorite line: "When she finally got ...(Least) favorite line: "When she finally got back to me a few days later" (of the dean investigating the student's "formal complaint" against the professor). <br /><br />Because of course the math Dean, the professor, and anyone else who could possibly provide satisfaction should immediately drop everything to figure out why one student in intro stats didn't do well Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-80202011516245537022015-10-23T18:52:40.509-04:002015-10-23T18:52:40.509-04:00My guess is that this student might actually have ...My guess is that this student might actually have one or more legitimate complaints (witness the discussion about where test questions do and should come from above; I wondered about that part, too, and tend to think that students are, indeed, entitled to get their graded tests back, though maybe that's the naive perspective of someone who went to a pretty fancy school with plenty of money toContingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-29995999747883822852015-10-23T18:19:58.325-04:002015-10-23T18:19:58.325-04:00And, at least in my experience, results in online ...And, at least in my experience, results in online classes tend to be even more variable than face to face ones (and I'd guess that that effect is multiplied in a low- or no-admissions standard environment such as a community college, perhaps especially when some people are taking stats there in the mistaken hope that it will somehow be easier than at their "regular" college). Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-64805671225346044082015-10-23T16:44:10.318-04:002015-10-23T16:44:10.318-04:00I don't have a problem with recycling types of...I don't have a problem with recycling types of questions, or even (on occasion) exact questions. But I would not assign, on a midterm, completely different kinds of questions than I had assigned for homework or on quizzes. I would be happy to borrow questions from other universities and online curricula but I would be sure that they were similar, in kind, to the things the students had Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05870951375586185772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-25581996353194372962015-10-23T15:26:01.611-04:002015-10-23T15:26:01.611-04:00Borrowing and sharing testing materials, not to me...Borrowing and sharing testing materials, not to mention commercially developed testing materials, are immensely common in higher ed, especially in technical fields. <br /><br />And I should confess: while I create my own tests, I recycle essay questions mercilessly. I like my questions.Jonathan Dresnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04356112719229675996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-9477676420773825492015-10-23T14:35:56.757-04:002015-10-23T14:35:56.757-04:00I just taught a lesson on avoiding overgeneral lan...I just taught a lesson on avoiding overgeneral language and yet I used it in my comment above. By "re-think" what I meant was:<br /><br />- I would first ask myself if the test was too difficult. Did it test what it was supposed to test?<br /><br />- Then, I would ask myself if there was an issue with the curriculum or the way that I delivered it. Did we need to spend more class timeProfessor Old Schoolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14558131297163848448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-16511321949646599102015-10-23T10:20:33.010-04:002015-10-23T10:20:33.010-04:00What about the student's claim that the teache...What about the student's claim that the teacher had taken "exam questions from curriculum already posted online from other universities"? I'm not a teacher, but to me that was the weirdest sentence in the whole article. Is that really a common practice? Why would the teacher not be expected to construct her own exam questions, based on the material covered in the class and the Pennsylvania Pennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17554566920089893921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-34738092144003435952015-10-23T10:08:34.819-04:002015-10-23T10:08:34.819-04:00That depends; she's given the exact same test ...That depends; she's given the exact same test many times before. How does this class stack up to the previous ones? Maybe this particular group of students just doesn't cut it. It happens.<br /><br />Also: I often teach courses where there are opportunities for easy points but the exams are wicked tough. That could be the case here. In fact, stats is one of those subjects where it'Three Sigmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10822893039310439770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-67685049334402941762015-10-23T09:34:36.906-04:002015-10-23T09:34:36.906-04:00Many problems with the writer's argument, but ...Many problems with the writer's argument, but if I gave a test and the class average was 58% I'd re-think that test.Professor Old Schoolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14558131297163848448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-39441812334568657792015-10-22T17:32:56.741-04:002015-10-22T17:32:56.741-04:00"Like any student who has just been told they..."Like any student who has just been told they failed their midterm, I was secretly hoping she might take pity on me and see that I was making an effort to meet with her (driving an hour from where I lived)."<br />Translation: I should be graded on my effort, not on my mastery or lack of mastery of the material.<br /><br />"I had hoped that after meeting with the dean, I would be J Profhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08070000686133103346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-15140486503580294872015-10-22T16:02:41.954-04:002015-10-22T16:02:41.954-04:00In the words of one alert commenter,
I would lik...In the words of one alert commenter, <br /><br /><i>I would like to point out a problem with your use of statistics here, <b>which anyone who has taken a class in statistics should know.</b> Saying the class average was 58% does not mean that each person in the class made an average of 58% on the test...For all we know, there could have been four people total in that class and aside from you, oneAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15711314415244801354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-61571170461462679122015-10-22T16:00:12.672-04:002015-10-22T16:00:12.672-04:00I teach at a preschool and I find every way I can ...<i>I teach at a preschool and I find every way I can to work with my kids to make sure they take something away from each activity. Why should college be any different?</i><br /><br />Oh dear. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15711314415244801354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-48449391056569459332015-10-22T13:12:00.667-04:002015-10-22T13:12:00.667-04:00Remember the old antiacid commercials?
"I ca...Remember the old antiacid commercials?<br /><br />"I can't believe I clicked through and read the whole thing."<br /><br />I need ibuprofen.Jonathan Dresnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04356112719229675996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-78447546694861782212015-10-22T13:02:39.409-04:002015-10-22T13:02:39.409-04:00This was my "favorite" bit (heavy on the...This was my "favorite" bit (heavy on the scare quotes):<br /><br /><i>In May, University of Houston Philosophy professor Keith Parsons said he would be addressing his freshmen students with, "It is no part of my job to make you learn. At university, learning is your job -- and yours alone." He wasn't just speaking to the number of students using his class as social hour toGrad Student Graciehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05708180635208405250noreply@blogger.com