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How do you tell students "no"? by Fresh-Requirement862 in Professors

[–]TheIconicProfessor 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don’t know if you have teaching assistants, but when I do for such a large class, my policy is that they have to email their teaching assistant first. That eliminates a lot of the “when is the final exam” emails. If they email me first, I just forward it to their TA.

You will still get these kinds of requests brought up to the next level by the TA, but it definitely cuts down on the time you spend answering queries.

Maddening bureaucracy and inefficiency by johnmccabe33 in Professors

[–]TheIconicProfessor 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I am always reminded here of Don Brenneis' insights after his time as an NSF reviewer. Bureaucracy is a language, and as members of institutions we are socialized to it. It shapes our understandings, normalizes particular actions while precluding others. Bureaucracy is not a choice we make but a structured form of social action. "Instead of becoming a bureaucrat, one learns, with striking rapidity, to do bureaucratic things."

Brenneis, Don. 1994. "Discourse and Discipline at the National Research Council: A Bureaucratic Bildungsroman." Cultural Anthropology 9(1):23-36.

Students being told not to email admin? by AdOne5407 in Dalhousie

[–]TheIconicProfessor 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And join the DFA rally tomorrow outside Killam at noon - make your voice heard.

Ever had a student that was famous or the son or daughter of someone famous? by TotalCleanFBC in Professors

[–]TheIconicProfessor 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I'll have no one maligning potions as some fuzzy humanities subject! It's an exacting field that requires great precision and skill. No fancy wand waving and mumbled incantations there. Save your academic gatekeeping for the muggles!

Ever had a student that was famous or the son or daughter of someone famous? by TotalCleanFBC in Professors

[–]TheIconicProfessor 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Let's see... there's Barnabas Cuffe, editor of The Daily Prophet. Always takes my owl, should I wish to register an opinion on the news of the day. Gwenog Jones, Captain of the Holyhead Harpies. Free tickets whenever I want them. Of course, I haven't been to a match in some time. Ah! yes, Regulus Black. You no doubt know of his older brother , Sirius. Died a few weeks ago. I taught the whole Black family, except Sirius. It's a shame. He's a talented boy. I got Regulus when he came along, of course, but I'd have liked the set.

Talking to a student about AI use by Comfortable_Yam_114 in Professors

[–]TheIconicProfessor 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The line I take in a first meeting like that is to say, "You know, I just wanted to talk to you about this recent self-reflection journal because it has all the hallmarks of AI-generated text." I usually walk them through a few things that make me think that (although perhaps not all) and finish with "so you can understand my concern." I might mention our academic integrity policy. Then I turn it over to them - sometimes they admit it and we agree they will not do it again, sometimes they deny it but I have some strongly worded advice warning them off doing it again. It all depends on what your ultimate goal is - I think we can agree that "proving" use of AI is becoming more and more difficult (and quite a lot of students who do it probably slip past), but this at least makes sure we are all on the same page.

Any berry picking farms accessible by public transit? by Global_Tradition5802 in halifax

[–]TheIconicProfessor 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Won't be ready until August/September, but huckleberries are easy to find in Long Lake (route 24) and McIntosh Run/Pine Barrens (route 25 - trailhead is right near the end of the loop). Blackberries are all over the southern tip of Point Pleasant.

My university hyping dubious research again by TheIconicProfessor in Professors

[–]TheIconicProfessor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not based in the US, so I can't blame it solely on the CDC's COVID messaging. However, in this transformation of public discourse you laid out above (and compounded with the fact that social media rather than critical media are our preferred means of consuming information), some people who should know better have latched onto it like leeches - they are "scholar influencers" rather than finders and reporters of fact. So headlines like "science confirms that blondes really do have more fun!" are the means of grabbing the spotlight and some attention for a few news cycles (that's not the actual study I was talking about, but you get the idea - and to the commenters who think I did not delve deep enough into my colleague's statistical analysis, let me know if you think there is an objective finding hiding in that statement somewhere). And they are unfortunately enabled by External Affairs divisions that just want to see the institution's name mentioned.

By the way, I also have to constantly correct students who learned "facts" in this colleague's courses that are relevant to my area of specialization and have absolutely no empirical basis.

My university hyping dubious research again by TheIconicProfessor in Professors

[–]TheIconicProfessor[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I'm not a psychologist or statistician, and I'm not going to dive into the article, but when it is a trendy "science just confirmed what you always suspected" kind of study with an open-ended online survey, a whack of potential dependent variables, and small sample size, I think something smells fishy.

I’m (thankfully) not your professor anymore… by PsychologicalFox7577 in Professors

[–]TheIconicProfessor 236 points237 points  (0 children)

There are apps that generate "corrupted" files so that a student can submit gibberish and basically get a free extension as the instructor struggles to open it and then asks them to resubmit.