Fwd: Class
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2011 11:32:28 -0200
From: afapex@mynui.edu
To: undergraduate_dean@myuni.com
Dear Dean,
This
student seems to have been inadvertently registered as a senior in the Basket Fabrication
major. I would be happy to help with any
paperwork to correct the error.
Regards,
Alan
from Apex
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Class
Date: Sat, 09 Jul 2011 12:05:35 -0200
From:ConfusedCarl@snowflake.net
To: afapex@myuni.edu
Hello,
Im looking at the results section of the write-up for this
basket, and am not sure what to put in it. This template format has me kind of lost. Its sections are “Abstract, Basket Results, and
Discussion”. The weaving examples have
sections titled “Objectives, Assumptions and solution”. Im not sure how to relate examples to a write-up
format with different section names, and this is confusing to me. Im not sure what to put where. Im having another problem with the first
example, it had 7 different reeds and 4 weaving patterns. The second example basket had 14 reeds and
two separate diagrams of weaving patterns which were the same, except for the 2nd
row, which changed from [L R L R] to [L R L]. I’m having a difficult time piecing together
this proprietary information and am trying to understand how to piece the
information together. Any help would be
great. Thanks.
Carl
Proprietary?
ReplyDeleteYou keep using this word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
My guess: some professor in Carl's past referred (correctly) to the "proprietary databases" purchased by the library as a way of distinguishing sources of "credible" information from those available on the internet at large, and now Carl thinks "proprietary" means "scholarly" (which is probably exactly what the marketers of said databases would like him to think, which reveals a flaw in current approaches to "information literacy," especially in at a time when we're moving -- I hope -- toward open access, but that's a a conversation for another day).
DeleteYour mistake, Alan (as you're probably aware), is that you asked Carl to think (and also, apparently, to read -- complex material, even). On your evaluations (and/or on The Site That Shall Not Be Named) you will be described as "unclear" and possibly "disorganized." Congratulations on your rigor (and I hope you have tenure).
ReplyDeleteTenure? If I had tenure, the e-mail would have been sent, or I'd have made use of the open door.
DeleteI've not yet made it to The Site That Shall Not Be Named, but I've had three people recently remark on my word-of-mouth reputation as challenging. This pleases me immensely. And two of them were enrolled in a class of mine.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMet a grad-student (math) once who couldn't tell the difference between a finite set and an infinite one.
ReplyDeleteTell him to count the members in each. If he doesn't grow old or starve to death before he finishes, it might be a finite set.
DeleteMet a physics grad student once who refused to believe in infinite sets on the grounds that he was an atheist.
DeleteWhat an excellent fantasy email to your dean.
ReplyDeleteI've had students hand in graphs that didn't have labels on the axes or made the units inconsistent (300, 310, 320, 365, 430) because that's what the data points said. So I started teaching how to make a graph as part of giving them the assignment. Then they started handing in graphs where the axes were labeled "X" and "Y". And arguing afterwards that I'd said they had to label both the X and Y axes. Sigh.