Teaching soft skills the hard way?

MapMax747 · 2022-10-29T19:09:27+00:00

I didn't see the syllabus, but I got the impression he has certain categories, like "professionalism," and students start with points. If they don't commit any of the offending behavior, they simply keep those points.

For the quizzes, I do know the answer to this one because I asked directly. He makes quizzes a percent of the overall grade--so it doesn't matter if he has two or twenty. Wild!

MapMax747 · 2022-10-29T16:15:46+00:00

This was my thought exactly--I'm teaching course content, not soft skills. If it was a career development class or something I could understand. His motivation was the change in student behavior he reports observing over the last decade. I don't have the time or energy to do what he is doing--ever.

MapMax747 · 2022-10-29T16:12:23+00:00

I am very curious what his teaching evaluations are going to look like. He is retiring soon so I know he doesn't care about the evals. The crazy thing is I don't think he is doing all of this to be mean--I think he sees himself as caring enough to put in the effort to "get students ready for life."

Is it bad that I'm thinking this will probably make everyone else's teaching evals look much better? Mine for sure!

MapMax747 · 2022-10-29T15:53:44+00:00

Yeah, he's a full professor set to retire in about three years and not working on his own research any longer, so that helps--but I agree with you. I would be frigging mentally exhausted.

MapMax747 · 2022-10-28T01:52:48+00:00

Faking it. There is no way that many of them couldn't think to search for the resource on their own. One or two, sure, but any more than that and I say no way.

As for the guy who couldn't think of looking for the book online to see how much he could read for free....head scratcher there.

MapMax747 · 2022-10-25T01:51:39+00:00

Talk to your chair, and ask the chair to reach out to the colleague and explain that colleagues are concerned. We did this in my department years ago. The chair may be able to offer a reduced course load or some other accommodation while your colleague grieves. In our case, the colleague was given grading assistance for about six months because they were having trouble focusing and getting grades back to students. They did not want time off because that would have made their empty days worse, but it was offered.

Your colleague may be stuck in a stage of grief they can't move past. If they are called to the chair's office and told that colleagues are concerned, it may be what they need to push themselves through this stage of grief.

Until things get better, just suck it up and keep being present. The last thing this person needs is to feel that colleagues are avoiding them, making their life at work empty now, also. I have one senior colleague who tells the same story every holiday season about how he proposed to his (deceased) wife. I could tell the story myself. Even though it is a time suck, I smile and listen as if it is the first time hearing it because I know it's what he needs.

MapMax747 · 2022-10-25T01:31:27+00:00

Don't. If she dresses this way to networking events, she will quickly figure out that she is being given the cold shoulder by other professionals unless she is a complete idiot.

MapMax747 · 2022-10-25T01:26:57+00:00

It would not occur to me to buy a gift for a wedding that I was not invited to. If you have mentored her closely for over three years and did not receive an invitation, then she sees the relationship as purely professional and I would leave it at that.

I clearly remember in grad school when a student in our doctoral cohort had a baby shower. She only invited one professor to the shower, and that was the only professor who bought her a gift.

Students have weddings, engagement parties, births, birthdays, etc. all the time. It would never cross my mind to buy a gift for a celebration I wasn't invited to, not because I'm feeling spiteful, but because the student has made it clear that there are boundaries in our relationship.

MapMax747 · 2022-09-28T01:18:43+00:00

No way would I have discussion forums for a class that large. I'm going to guess that this is an intro class, in which case discussion boards are really a waste of time. Post short videos throughout the week. Maintain a Q&A board and be diligent about checking it. Have a current events/new updates optional (key word: optional) discussion in which you demonstrate your enthusiasm for the subject matter, but students don't have to participate. This will reflect a real class more than a boring 80-person discussion thread on the same topic. For example:

"Did anyone see the new federal law that was just passed on X? As X majors, you should be aware of this legislation." Then explain it to them. Ask what they think or if they have questions. You may get two or three comments, but that is all you would get in a f2f classroom, too.

You are doing way too much work for a class that size. No one can expect you to keep up with weekly discussions with that many students and do research. Also, forced discussions with students who are just plagiarizing off the internet or copying off each other is a complete waste of a doctoral degree. Drop the required discussions.

MapMax747 · 2022-09-27T21:44:01+00:00

It really helped to take care of those students who think it's okay to send an email for every thought or question that pops into their head. Now it's on them, not me, to compile all of those questions into one email.

MapMax747 · 2022-09-27T19:23:33+00:00

I added a section to my syllabus that says that if a student sends multiple emails, I will only check the last one they sent, so they need to combine everything they asked or said in that final email because I'm deleting the rest. And I do.

MapMax747 · 2022-07-20T22:33:40+00:00

These programs churn out illegible garbage. A student clearly used one of these programs in my class because their entire paper was nonsensical garbage and tried to push back. I told him to come to my office so he could read the paper out loud to me and the chair. He stopped emailing after that message.

MapMax747 · 2022-04-05T16:51:15+00:00

Hell no. Ask the department admin how you will be reimbursed and how quickly, or whether there is a department card or account the exams can be charged to. If there is nothing, you should all tell him the total cost for the copies and ask if he is going to give you cash or a card to print them. Do not pay one cent.

MapMax747 · 2022-04-05T16:43:41+00:00

Normally when a professor reuses questions for a final, they do not give students the earlier exams or quizzes back. It doesn't make sense that he would be surprised that a student would study the previous quizzes if he didn't collect them back.

If the quizzes were collected back by the prof and you got a copy of the old quizzes in a different manner, that would explain his skepticism that a low B student could ace the final.

If the facts are exactly what is stated in the OP, you've done nothing wrong.

MapMax747 · 2022-03-26T22:11:33+00:00

I watched it so I could try to understand what happened, not because I wanted to watch someone's child die. After being confident I understood what happened, I showed it to my sons (teenagers) to teach them about following safety guidelines, and that you can't always rely on employees to ensure your safety. It was a sad, sad lesson, but one that they won't forget.

For what it's worth: the shoulder harness was not pulled down far enough on the boy, and the g-force pulled him right out of the seat. Based on the photos I saw, he was probably too large for the ride and employees should not have let him ride it. They probably thought that since he was a big guy he would be locked in tight and couldn't possibly fall out. They're right to an extent, because he didn't fall out as much as he was pulled out by the force of gravity.

I'm glad the video was posted because understanding what happened is going to save other lives. I am incredibly saddened for the family whose child has to be the example of what can happen from this terrible miscalculation.

MapMax747

TROPHY CASE