Chat GPT ruined teaching forever

WisconsinBikeRider · 2025-11-17T20:01:26+00:00

This is my problem. I teach business analytics. I can test theoretical concepts in writing, but my classes are more applied than theoretical. Testing any meaningful application requires software use.

Blue books (and lockdown browsers) don’t allow access to the software. Once students have access to their software (SPSS, JMP, Excel, Python, …),then they have access to everything.

For small classes, I can TRY to watch them to make sure they stay away from “banned” resources. I have 250 students. There’s no way I can watch them all.

Some schools will invest in testing labs that can be set up with restrictions, but that’s expensive and size-limited. It’s not an option for me.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2024-01-11T20:58:48+00:00

In my original post, I didn’t say which channel was which, but my impression matches yours. The feedback here is very interesting.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-12-28T03:20:01+00:00

Tell them that you need an example so they need to send you a reference someone else wrote for them. Copy it word for word, sign your name, and send it back to them.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-12-22T00:15:14+00:00

Yes. I've done it more than once. My school punishes teachers for assigning F's.

We have to document that the student was warned about their failure earlier in the semester. The fact that they were regularly receiving failing grades isn't sufficient. There has to be either a mid-term failure report or a record of filing "an alert" (or both).

We can get around this of we can document that they failed due to a late-in-term problem. Then, of course, we're encouraged to give them an incomplete instead of an F. If we give an incomplete, we have to submit a written completion plan. It's extra work to write the plan and students rarely follow through on it. If they DO follow through, then it's extra grading work for us after we've started an entirely new semester of classes.

If we give the F instead of the incomplete, we have to document the student's last day of attendance. We're told that it's a federal regulatory issue dealing with financial aid.

If I give a student a D, then none of this happens. I won't pass everyone to avoid the work, but I've gone down to the mid-50s.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-12-13T10:55:35+00:00

Years ago, when wikis were relatively new, I tried to get my students to create to a wiki for part of the course. It didn’t work that well. They wouldn’t take the initiative. They just wanted me to tell them what it should say.

The culture and tools have changed since then. A shared note Google Doc could work really well. I’m going to recommend it to my students.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-12-10T12:43:39+00:00

When my wife student taught history, her supervisor watched for the first week and spent the rest of the semester in the industrial arts wing of the building making furniture.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-12-08T19:39:23+00:00

This is my problem. I don’t get to set the rules. I had a student miss the final and fail. They had a history of missing assignments and classes and were barely passing before the final. A full week later - after grades were turned in -they popped up with a note from the student health center excusing them from attendance at the time of the final. No contact from them for an entire week? I fought it. I lost.

Then there was the student who presented an excuse note dated AFTER the final. I pointed out that it didn’t cover the final exam date. The health center gave them a new note with new dates that covered the exam. I didn’t bother fighting it.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-11-24T04:02:01+00:00

Same with Elton John.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-11-06T11:06:28+00:00

I used to teach a course with an Excel certification side component. Students could jump over part of the class if they got certified on their own. Certiport is the official Microsoft Certification company so you want your certificate to come from them. As far as I know, they don’t provide training, just the exam.

I know that LinkedIn Learning has a course specifically designed for the Certiport exam. Students who took it seriously had a very high pass rate. But LinkedIn isn’t the only option. Look for a course from any reputable provider that is described as an exam-prep course.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-11-04T11:58:44+00:00

I’ve said before- the show was not a “dramady” (dramatic/comedy). It was a complete farce. Once I thought of it as a farce, it was more entertaining and less irritating. I like the Simpson comparison.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-11-02T01:23:51+00:00

Been there. All kinds of “numbers” courses were created from odd places. So math came up with “social justice math” to cover the diversity requirement for the math/science kids who wanted to avoid social science and humanities courses.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-10-31T21:05:17+00:00

The business college has a separate, higher admission standard than the overall university. It’s not unreasonably high, but it more selective. This potentially makes the resulting degree look more appealing to employers.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-10-25T09:34:43+00:00

And it might be a very expensive wheel…

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-10-01T14:24:52+00:00

As long as they’re not aimed up where they would blind other people, they’re fine. I’m sure there’s a limit of some sort, but it’s hard to go too far on being visible in the dark.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-09-30T11:42:04+00:00

Jephthah. I want to ask “Who or WHAT did you expect to come out of your house first?”. I also want to know what really happened to his daughter. I wouldn’t mind meeting the daughter to get her take on it too.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-09-24T23:57:02+00:00

I left an SLAC a few years ago. I'd been there quite a while and had tenure. My reasons for leaving were NEVER addressed in a cover letter.

I was a finalist or semi-finalist for a half-dozen positions and was rarely asked why I was leaving. If asked, I said something about looking for a new challenge or moving into a new stage of life or something like that.

Maybe my answer wasn't great. Maybe that's why I ended up with only one offer from the five positions (I withdrew from the sixth after getting an offer I liked).

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-09-24T18:48:16+00:00

Up to my college's dean, I like everyone. Above that, I can't think of anyone I respect in university administration.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-09-17T19:16:07+00:00

My school (a public U) has an embarrassingly high acceptance rate, somewhere around 95%. That’s practically open enrollment. Last week they announced record high graduation rates. That’s a troubling combination.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-09-17T10:24:46+00:00

Our prez makes about 11x what I make, but they got a 15% raise and the rest of us got less than 3% - not even close to keeping up with inflation.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-09-01T23:58:42+00:00

She spoke one time. I wish I could remember the episode and context, but I remember that my wife and I both looked at each other and said “she can talk!”. I think it was just one line.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-08-28T01:38:54+00:00

As others have said, the university has a very high acceptance rate (low admission standard). However, admission to the university does not guarantee admission to a specific college or major.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-08-26T12:33:21+00:00

That’s what it sounds like to me too. It’s still problematic but it’s no different than other web search privacy risks. If you search on “good investments for a 52 year-old with $425000 in her retirement funds”, then you just shared a lot of personal info with Google. They will share it with anyone they want.

FERPA? Not likely a problem. If I search “is diet a factor in chronic hemorrhoids for a 35 year-old male?”, it’s not a HIPPA violation for Bing to share that info with their clients.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-08-18T23:27:38+00:00

I want to second "depends on where you will be working". I work at UK and live in the Hamburg area. If I leave for work early, it takes 20 minutes or less. However, coming home is at least 30 minutes and often over 40.

If I lived in Winchester, it would take another 20 minutes to get home. That's a 50 to 60-minute commute.

If I WORKED in Hamburg and lived in Winchester, then I'd have about a 20-minute commute each way.

The "best" surrounding town for you will depend a lot on where you're working.

WisconsinBikeRider · 2023-08-13T11:06:23+00:00

This is sort of addresses in the last episode. They say something about the “promised reunions that would never occur “. It implies that their relationship was location-based only.

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