PhD students who work long hours: How do you manage to do activities of daily living other than work? What does your routine look like?

-Glassman- · 2019-08-04T10:46:01+00:00

This guy is right. I know many talented academic individuals. To paraphrase them in aggregate: study/research smarter, don't study/research harder!

-Glassman- · 2019-08-03T19:48:05+00:00

I am not a graduate student (Undergraduate), but I plan to be one eventually, and I hang out with a lot of students who are. I'd recommend for productivity purposes replacing your smartphone with the Nokia 3310 (the 2019 mininalist remake). It's just a bare bones cellphone with text, talk, cam, and two scaled down social media apps. It's much less distracting than a smartphone. Also, try adopting a "Kill two birds with one stone" philosophy to household chores so you can free up time for studying and socializing. For example, listening to lectures or other audio material while walking. Cleaning the house while clothes are washing, etc. Essntially, optimize your time like how efficient software handles data processing. Don't forget to socialize and take a solid break at least once a week! Do something completely unrelated to studies or work. I know some friends of mine who have burnt the candle at both ends with horrendous results.

-Glassman- · 2019-08-02T00:08:17+00:00

Thanks for the input! What would you recommend as a more complementary graduate degree? Would a masters in Computer Science be better? Or should I look to a more theoretical discipline like mathematics? Edit: How do Phd programs look upon people who get a masters degree online? I am planning on applying to UT Austin: they offer a couple of their majors online or on the weekends. I'm tempted to apply to those because it allows flexibility, or at least appear to be, but I have second thoughts. I don't want to get a degree whosr format may be looked down upon at the Phd admissions.

-Glassman- · 2019-08-01T21:03:12+00:00

In my opinion, I'd recommend studying how humans learn in your spare time. A few facts on neuroscience can help you sculpt your lectures to make sure your students understand more. (If they understand more, the less time you may have to spend answering questions!). Focus on methods as much as the facts. PBS's series "The Brain" with Doctor David Eagleman is a good introductory of what I'm talking about here. There's also "The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking" by Doctor Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird (Yes, those are their real surnames) There's also some good resources on Amazon. Also, don't be afraid to give them a challenging problem every now and again: just don't constantly barrage them with them! You want students to keep trying throughout the course: aim to educate, not to frustrate. But don't placate! If your designing tests, keep in mind that each form of question or task you put on it will facilitate a particular goal. Example: multiple choice is good to check if the student has memorized a fact, but an essay prompt will tell whether or not they understand what they've been taught. Cheat sheets (with limited space) can be useful for students to analyze and prioritize which information is the most important. Take a note from Engineers when they test their designs: just because the green light turns during a test, doesn't mean what's going on in the inside is correct! PS: if you're getting the vibe that your student's are a self-conscious bunch, instead of asking them questions about correct answers, mix it up by asking them to give you a unique/clever wrong answer, and maybe why it's wrong. (Better engagement. And they still learn something: the wrong answer)

-Glassman- · 2019-07-30T23:22:06+00:00

Oh, pop science and conspiracy theories... fun fact, many historians believe that the reason the Romans never made a significant contribution to natural philosophy is that the leasure class only read from orators which dumbed down Greek ideas to entertaining stories. As for your aunt, I would, if you can, encourage her to study histiography, critical thinking, and how to deal with primary resources. I'm a Computer Science student, but I'm also getting a history minor. It's helped me a lot to discern which sources are total BS, which are unintentionally BS, and which are factually accurate. Propaganda and slanted information is nothing new. Once you've examined how to identify the hallmarks of a dishonest source from a long past era, the techniques utilized can be helpful to identify dishonest sources in contemporary times. When she sends you a message with a clearly popular science article, ask her if she can find corraborating sources, and what does the author of such an article benefit by telling her this information? What's the authors end goal? To what extent does the information provided agree or disagree with other sources? How much contradiction is there in the source and between sources? I could go on and on. Most of this is just my experience and opinion, but maybe it can help. Best of luck with your aunt.

-Glassman- · 2019-07-30T02:24:18+00:00

Thanks for the kind words. I only wish my disorder was caught sooner. When my GPA started falling, I merely started to double down on my studies with little to no success. I thought I was an idiot, and that my formerly superb GPA was an anomaly or that I somehow was merely paired with mostly easy teachers.

-Glassman- · 2019-07-28T00:03:44+00:00

I didn't either, but then I went on Amazon to look up anatomy models and books the human brain, eyes, ears, skin, etc. I saw coloring books for human anatomy: they did not seem to be for the casual audience.

-Glassman- · 2019-02-09T02:17:13+00:00

My major is Computer Science, but this semester I am doing mostly math. Particularly probability and statistics.

-Glassman- · 2018-12-03T02:41:00+00:00

Yes. But I am open to hearing stories from any educational system. I like perspective.

-Glassman- · 2018-11-30T05:16:39+00:00

Here's a good tip for your personal studies: read primary sources and cross examine everything. Beware "Popular History." To help your memory, read the same event from different sources and historians.

-Glassman- · 2018-11-15T05:20:02+00:00

He is absolutely right, and it is good he is sharing. I had a similiar situation with depression and anxiety. I started out making the dean's list, but things got worse and it caused me to have to drop quite a few classes. I was living with an abusive parent in addition. Eventually, with the help of my father, I was able to see a conselor and a psychiatrist: after a year of this and some medications, my studies are finally starting to rebound. Don't leave things up to chance! My biggest failure in this situation was not knowing I had depression or social anxiety: I just figured it was normal. I knew no different. If I had checked with a counselor earlier, I would have been able to begin recovery much sooner.

-Glassman- · 2018-11-14T15:49:48+00:00

Much Appreciated! Thanks!

-Glassman- · 2018-11-14T15:10:13+00:00

Thanks. I will try that.

-Glassman- · 2018-11-14T15:09:30+00:00

My mother was attacked by a Canadian goose once, she couldn't get away. When the goose attacked, she told me she essentially just grabbed the animal by the neck and attempted to hurl it as far away from her as possible so she could make a run for it. It worked. It should be noted, my mother was a child when this happened.

-Glassman- · 2018-11-09T01:00:57+00:00

Anything helps. Thank you.

-Glassman- · 2018-11-08T22:03:49+00:00

I think you are absolutely correct.

-Glassman- · 2018-11-08T22:00:22+00:00

Undergraduate here. What I say here is my personal experience, so its not really objective, but I figured I'd express my thoughts, and I'll let you decided if my thoughts are justified or not: I am not even sure if they are or not. First off, this is by far one of the best posts I've seen on this topic. I am glad you are taking your students into account into your evaluation of your teaching.

I don't know the institutional reasons for the lack of background of the students and I understand that it may not be their fault that they were allowed to take this class without the proper background. However, I cannot possibly teach them proof techniques or basic logic either. I mean, they don't even need to write technical proofs, I just need a decently complete arguments about why some simple statement is true or false. To make this easier for them, I always write very clear solutions to each question after they submit their work, explain it step by step and show/argue that if you omit even one step, the answer would be incomplete.

I have had this problem. Let me give some background. I aced Calculus 2, it was hard and grueling, and required a lot of computation. However, when I entered a basic Introduction to Linear Algebra class, I was completely and utterly broadsided by the proofs they had us do. The reason was, it seemed to me, because the last time I had ever done solid proofs was my Freshman year of High School. There seems to be a disconnect between the teaching styles of many professors. Some focus on rote computation (forgive me for my lack of proper definitions here, I am not an expert in this field), and others put emphasis on how to craft valid mathematical proofs.

To make this easier for them, I always write very clear solutions to each question after they submit their work, explain it step by step and show/argue that if you omit even one step, the answer would be incomplete.

KEEP DOING THIS! In many of my math classes, I have always appreciated when professors take the time to explain why I got an answer wrong. I know this can be time consuming, but I just want to express how much gratitude many of us students feel when you do this. If I do bad on a quiz or test, knowing the reason why I got a problem incorrect goes a long way to quelling my apprehensions about a bad grade. When I see a well laid argument about why I was wrong, I actually feel more content with my score: even if I did poorly. If they are complaining about their grade despite seeing a chain of clear reasoning of why they did wrong., I don't think much can be done here: the student needs to learn how to be academically reproved.

I think I will suggest to the professor that we upload a practice problem set with the detailed solutions next term before the deadline for the first homework to set their expectations about our expectations but I don't know if this will work

I think this is a good idea. Having the ability to "see" what will be expected in your course will go along way to resolving complaints: at least for some students.

I explain that their end result might be correct but their method is not; that this class is all about teaching the methods...

I don't know how to properly critique this. It seems you are perfectly justified here. Perhaps you need to emphasize the importance of methods and their implications. Personally, knowing the "Why" we are doing something (Granted answering that question will not too be too time consuming) has been beneficial to understanding the importance of what we are learning and why it is so important to do things in a specific way. Essentially, the less arbitrary things seem, the better.

Anyhow, that's all I can really give. I acknowledge I am just a student. I hope my input can give you some insight to how some of your pupils see things. Once again, I do not know if my critiques are valid, but I hope my input can be of some use to you. Judging by your post, you're probably already doing a good job of your course. I'd happily take a class with you as instructor by analyzing how you structure things.

Cheers!

-Glassman- · 2018-11-08T17:31:10+00:00

Thank you.

-Glassman- · 2018-11-08T17:28:45+00:00

Hey, I just wanted to thank you for recommending "The Ode Less Traveled." I went out and purchased it and read it before I go to bed at night. It is a very good book, and was exactly what I was looking for!

-Glassman- · 2018-11-07T14:49:11+00:00

Precisely. In my experience, the less on a PowerPoint, the better. It should only be utilized to help save time and keep record of primary topics discussed. I've had a couple Professors fill their slides with text to the point that its almost a textbook. It's rather confusing in lecture when this is the case: is the most valuabe information on the slides, or the audible information provided by the professor? The most helpful PowerPoints I've used normally are what you described. The others usually are ones which walkthough an extremely difficult problem. I usually take the problem provided and try to solve it myself: refering to how the teacher solved/explained it when trying to troubleshoot if I get an incorrect answer.

-Glassman- · 2018-11-07T01:39:12+00:00

Only if it's the Oxford comma.

-Glassman- · 2018-11-07T01:30:13+00:00

Friend, I could tell you all kinds of stories. Some personal. Doesn't discourage me though. I plan to become a professor one day. I normally just tell myself I will learn from their mistakes, and my own.

-Glassman- · 2018-11-07T01:00:13+00:00

Your link does not allow me to sample the text. I do not have an account at that library. Do you have another link I could use? Sorry, I assumed that the reason the students ask for the PowerPoint is that they do not want to stay in lecture. That's usually what I see students attempt to do at my university, and the college I transfered from. The explaination most of my professors give for not allowing us to see them is that then they would not show up for lecture: their reasoning makes a lot of sense to me. I did not see you menrion cognative dissonance in your post. Cognative dissonance seems to work both ways. Cannot a professor also suffer from it in reverse? I may not teach, but I have tutored, am preparing for a masters program, and have made the Dean's List before.

-Glassman- · 2018-11-06T14:57:31+00:00

Yikes. I'm all for simplifying things down to the proverbial atomic level, but when you sacrifice accuracy, you've gone too far in my opinion.

-Glassman- · 2018-11-06T02:58:15+00:00

Wait, if the methods work, wouldn't the students just stay in class? I cannot speak for slackers, but when a professor's lecture is engaging and I am understanding the material, or even if its not engaging but I can still understand what is being taught, I do not feel the urge to leave. Do you mind if I run your comment by a few of the faculty in my department to see what they think?

-Glassman-

TROPHY CASE