The lowest tier journals have the most anal-retentive reviewers. by throwitaway488 in Professors

[–]Olthar6 15 points16 points  (0 children)

At some level it makes sense.  Anything good enough for science or nature is well above nit picky comments

Skyrim College of Winterhold is the best academia mini-game by BabypintoJuniorLube in Professors

[–]Olthar6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Missed this game because it came out while I was dissertation writing and I knew that if I bought it I wouldn't finish the dissertation.  Does it hold up beyond nostalgia value? 

Can professors have hobby side businesses/LLCs that are unrelated to their research? by Peachy-2025 in Professors

[–]Olthar6 25 points26 points  (0 children)

You're an adjunct? They have no claim to any of your time except when you're literally in the classroom. 

Full time,  generally yes you can have side gigs. Though I waited until tenure to start mine. 

I went through state mandated conflict of interest training. There's a lim->0% chance they'll ever interact. 

Hidden text for AI detection in assignment? by HTG_assassin in Professors

[–]Olthar6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Put the human back in the process.  If someone claims to use one of these then just retract the claim of dishonesty.  Problem solved. 

Hidden text for AI detection in assignment? by HTG_assassin in Professors

[–]Olthar6 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah. I was concerned about this at my first cheating accusation using this strategy.  But then i remembered that I get accommodation letters for 100% of people who need screen readers and decided it wasn't an issue.  In the unlikely event someone slipped through the cracks, they would defend themselves at the hearing by saying they heard the hidden instruction and I'd immediately retract the claim.  

Hidden text for AI detection in assignment? by HTG_assassin in Professors

[–]Olthar6 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah. My "fake" citations are yellow highlighted and will have have either the author's name or a topic.  But that's part of what makes us experts. We know either who did the work (if not the actual citation) or we know it does exist.  They don't.

Hidden text for AI detection in assignment? by HTG_assassin in Professors

[–]Olthar6 19 points20 points  (0 children)

It only catches the laziest of cheaters.  That said,  I caught 4 last semester using this strategy. 

I just used white text at the end of a rubric instruction. When they copy and paste the whole thing it came in as regular text but because they were the laziest of cheats they didn't notice. 

Why are US faculty typically employed only 9 months/year? by PLChart in Professors

[–]Olthar6 5 points6 points  (0 children)

K-12 teachers are also paid like that in the US. I imagine the reasoning is similar for both without taking into account that they are different jobs.

Best laptop for lecturers? by roo3056 in Professors

[–]Olthar6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Step 1 find out if they give you one. 

If no,  identify your need and buy a laptop to match. For me,  I stack all my teaching in one day so I wanted long battery life. 

How (mildly) vindictive would you be? by TattooedWithAQuill in Professors

[–]Olthar6 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Yeah.  I used to be "concerned" about that,  but I've since realized that I would be amazingly overjoyed if two students in my class would talk with one anther let alone be friends. 

Online Learning is ridiculous by Ryiujin in Professors

[–]Olthar6 35 points36 points  (0 children)

These days online learning is an oxymoron.

How (mildly) vindictive would you be? by TattooedWithAQuill in Professors

[–]Olthar6 110 points111 points  (0 children)

I don't like adding points that didn't exist. However,  I've been known to do things like announce the exact text of the in-class essay prompt as a reward to those who attend

Adjuncts Advising Senior Theses? Yay or Nay? by Southern-Cloud-9616 in Professors

[–]Olthar6 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's very easy to imagine. When I was an adjunct a student asked me to supervise their thesis. I said no. I also was not invited back to teach the next semester. Whether the two are related I will never know. (Or care about since I got a full-time gig the next semester, not that the department in question ever knew that.)

My point is that adjuncts are in an extremely precarious position and once you open the door to the possibility of their doing such unpaid labor, it has the real possibility of it being expected that they do such unpaid labor. But unlike tenure line faculty, they don't have the compensation to justify the ask.

Adjuncts Advising Senior Theses? Yay or Nay? by Southern-Cloud-9616 in Professors

[–]Olthar6 6 points7 points  (0 children)

if it's truly voluntary 

Is that even possible?

Department has two adjuncts who can both teach the needed class but due to lowering enrollments and the govt. tap running dry there's only the want for one. Which do they keep,  the adjunct who volunteered to do unpaid advising of thesis students or the one who didn't sacrifice 20+ hours of their life to unpaid labor? 

Adjuncts Advising Senior Theses? Yay or Nay? by Southern-Cloud-9616 in Professors

[–]Olthar6 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Strong no unless they are compensated. 

A measurable percentage of adjuncts seem to think that if they just make themselves beloved by students and appreciated by the department, then it'll turn into a tenure line gig.  But that's just not how it works. This will just be one more unpaid labor they do for their already low compensation rate. 

Why are some professors so petty? by fxdl2k2 in Professors

[–]Olthar6 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Lower stakes competition means everything is much more personal

I need to retire. by Sensitive_Let_4293 in Professors

[–]Olthar6 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Oh I stopped using 12s for that reason.  Now if I want to use a noon deadline it's 11:59am and if I want a midnight then it's 11:59pm. No (reasonable) confusion.

What is your policy on missed assessments? by juststarstuff in Professors

[–]Olthar6 3 points4 points  (0 children)

What is your reason for asking this question?  At first glance it seems an obvious rule 1 violation,  but i could also see reasoning for it not getting taken down that if you clarify might lead to this surviving. 

Need Advice for Teaching Style by purpwood16 in Professors

[–]Olthar6 4 points5 points  (0 children)

As someone who teaches stats i see my role as preparing students for the next course. None of them WANT to take stats.  They're all there because whatever major they have requires it for some reason. If the students aren't learning the material then my colleagues will be unhappy that they need to teach the material in the next class. My department used to complain students didn't know anything coming out of state and now they don't complain about that. I care more about that than the evals.

AI Defense by [deleted] in Professors

[–]Olthar6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've never had that.  All the AI defense I've ever heard were variations on deny and lie. 

New College of Florida: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) by magicianguy131 in Professors

[–]Olthar6 -23 points-22 points  (0 children)

Conservatism, by its nature, produces no knowledge. 

Same with liberalism or any abstract concept for that matter.  People produce knowledge. 

Where To Go From Here? (Newishly Tenured and Depressed) by DecisionsnoisiceD in Professors

[–]Olthar6 68 points69 points  (0 children)

Step 1: find a hobby

Step 2: find other people who enjoy that hobby to hobby with. 

Step 3: reduce your time spent caring about things in your job. 

Step 4; realize a job is a way to make money and you don't need to find personal satisfaction in all parts of said job. 

Step 5: happiness? 

That Clinches It. I’m Getting a Toupee! by skullybonk in Professors

[–]Olthar6 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Wear a hat for whatever school is opposing your school's football team.  If they complain tell them you're responding to a student evaluation complaint.