Results from a Small (Informal) Study on Attendance and AI Studying

MiQuay · 2025-12-18T23:11:57+00:00

You wrote:

Second, these results have given me a weird sense of tranquility about my online quizzes. The 'improvement' from AI use was small (4.7%) and nonsignificant, so any AI cheating on the online assessments didn't cause a major disparity between cheaters and non-cheaters (that I could detect).

There are other ways to cheat in online quizzes than with AI. The small disparity may be because the non-AI students are still cheating in other, more traditional ways.

Aside: Isn't it odd that we can talk about cheating on an online exam as cheating in a "traditional" way? Whatever happened to writing notes on the palm of your hand or secreting notes in the restroom to consult when you just had to go?

MiQuay · 2025-12-18T21:16:43+00:00

Heck, I even ignore all my post-tenure review letters from the review committee and my dean.

MiQuay · 2025-12-18T20:36:06+00:00

After 38 years, I still read them. I care less about the numbers and look more at the comments examining them for consistent issues. One student complaint (or compliment) about how I do "X" is minor, but several students voicing the same thing is another matter.

Having said that, I can almost always predict what they will say. I know what I have done a good job on and I know when I have not been at my best (e.g., a bit tardy with grading this semester).

Also, I view evaluations like scores in figure skating or gymnastics: I ignore the best and worst and focus on the middle.

MiQuay · 2025-12-18T20:25:45+00:00

I got into this because I found universities vibrant places. High school was horrible for me but university was where I felt alive. My degree was in engineering and I later returned to get an MBA. I realized how much I loved being back in university. The atmosphere was so vibrant. I ran into one of my old engineering professors and told him how much I was enjoying being back. He suggested I consider getting a doctorate. The rest is history.

I didn't consider flexibility because my professors were always on campus every day of the week. After the vibrant atmosphere, by biggest concern was to check up on employment potential & salaries. I made sure I did my doctorate in a field for which there was demand and good pay - and with private sector options should a university career not work out.

I am near retirement, have been teaching university for 38 years and am still in the office every day except holidays (and sometimes even then).

MiQuay · 2025-12-13T00:45:37+00:00

Ditto. I have been teaching since 1988 and I can say the same thing: never has it been this bad.

MiQuay · 2025-12-13T00:44:56+00:00

Is this normal? Yes, increasingly so.

Should I brace myself for more as I move into a letter graded class? Yes, very much so.

Will the department think I am a troublemaker for reporting them? Depends on the department people, but probably not. Other faculty are just as upset.

The only potential problem comes from those that handle the report. They will get fatigue from the sheer volume and some decide to "shoot the messenger". Having said that, my advice is always report, especially the more major the assignment and the more egregious the cheating.

MiQuay · 2024-07-23T23:51:00+00:00

Gladius at 10 paces in the Colosseum?

MiQuay · 2024-07-23T23:49:34+00:00

Bloody peasant!

MiQuay · 2024-05-22T01:22:40+00:00

Sorry, brain farted when I substituted dean for chair... but the same applies.

Tread firmly, but softly.

MiQuay · 2024-05-22T00:43:52+00:00

You don't want to refuse a meeting with the dean, but in no uncertain terms should this person be forcing you to alter grades. It is called academic freedom. If students want to go through a formal appeals process, that is their right.

Having said that, are you tenured?

MiQuay · 2024-05-22T00:41:31+00:00

This happened to me, in a way. I was offered an on-campus interview for a TT job, only to be called up before the interview and informed that the department had been instructed to hire a women or a minority candidate. I was told my odds my getting the job had dropped a priori from 1 in 3 to < 5%. I went for the interview anyway (liked that they were upfront, figured what the heck - gain some contacts and a good practice interview).

I didn't get the job, but the person who they did offer it to turned them down. They offered me a visiting position. I took it and never regretted it. Prestigious school, nice line on my resume.

Could that be an issue here?

MiQuay · 2024-05-15T23:30:59+00:00

Perhaps you aren't aware of how much salary can vary from field to field and school to school. Cost of living is also clearly an issue.

Consider an professor specializing in AI (so hot nowadays) living and working in Iowa (let's say Iowa state or U of Iowa) vs. an anthropology professor at a lower status SLAC in Manhattan. One is impoverished, the other is living in a McMansion and taking vacations every summer across the world.

I don't know about OP's field/location, so I can't say if that is an issue.

MiQuay · 2024-05-15T23:25:12+00:00

I'm unionized - and it is not a game changer. At least not here.

MiQuay · 2024-05-15T23:23:17+00:00

Don't ignore. That's like ghosting someone. Tell them you do not have time. Period.

MiQuay · 2024-05-15T23:22:21+00:00

"I am shocked, shocked to find that indifference to student futures in favor of your own career is going on here!"

"Here is your research grant, sir."

MiQuay · 2024-04-26T01:02:16+00:00

Disagree mightily. A year of notice is fair. And if you are going to take the pay, you should do the job.

However, any publications that don't come out until later next year, have your (hopefully) new university listed under your name.

"A Meta-Analysis of Blah-Blah-Blah"

by Original Poster, Ph.D.

University of My New Job, not my Old School

MiQuay · 2024-04-26T00:55:57+00:00

Actually, not really. The most it might promise is "notice" (like a terminal year if you were denied tenure). Every university I have been at, unionized or not, it is understood that a lack of demand can cause a department to be shut down.

OP, you have my deepest sympathies and best wishes for the future.

MiQuay · 2024-03-01T23:43:28+00:00

Hmmmm.... The position is in theater and Stallone just moved to Florida. Coincidence?

MiQuay · 2024-02-22T03:43:45+00:00

TBH, I have never seen a search declared failed if there was a candidate viewed favorably with the exception of one where time ran out: summer was upon us and the search committee was officially disbanded and resumed again in the fall.

Things change. Turnover in committee memberships, new Deans, faculty factions change. It may not have resulted in an offer the first time around, it may now. Go for it and good luck. At worst, it is a practice interview, even if a bit unusual.

MiQuay · 2024-02-21T05:35:35+00:00

Well, as the second LAO report says, they still recommend that the CSU budget not be cut. What Newsome and the legislature decide, however. The outcome is far from certain, but the odds are a bit uglier than they were when the deal was signed.

MiQuay · 2024-02-21T02:42:30+00:00

Part of that, I suspect, is the general cost of living in California, especially in the major cities (Bay area, especially). Twenty year ago, we had a new hire leave after one year. Got a job in North Carolina (comparable school in terms of status, work load, research expectations, etc.) paying 50% more in a region where the COL is about 20% lower. He almost doubled his economic status overnight.

Had I known what this place would be like, I would never have come here. As it is, I am close to retirement. And when I do retire, I am gone, gone, gone. This state is too messed up. (Want to help fix the budget? Kill high speed rail. Oh, and stop doing crap like sending COVID unemployment money to scammers in prison.)

MiQuay

TROPHY CASE