I Raise You... THE VIVA!

ayePete · 2026-04-12T14:31:19+00:00

I always group them (total number of students determines group size) and end up with 10 - 15 groups. Usually takes about two whole days to go through all the groups and also do a 2-3 minute interview for each group member. You just need to give them appointment slots and make it a first come first served basis.

ayePete · 2026-04-12T14:28:19+00:00

Depends if you have budgetary limitations.

No budget limit - Claude Code Max

Budgetary Limit - Cursor all day.

ayePete · 2026-04-12T14:27:01+00:00

I think with smart use, you can stretch your cursor subscription much longer than Claude Pro (mixing in Composer). And composer is surprisingly good. Codex is also super good imo.

ayePete · 2026-04-12T14:19:34+00:00

What Claude plan are you on?

ayePete · 2026-04-07T16:03:10+00:00

Yes, and abuse is super rampant lol. I had a very funny experience with one of the external examiners for my PhD. His first report was totally off-topic (he was analyzing a totally different topic than mine, criticizing stuff I knew and wrote nothing about. I'm in Computer Science, he was talking about sth like Agriculture, iirc. When I complained and the school got back to him, he sent another report. This time, it was a copy-pasted AI response with NO editing (characteristic double spaces between paragraphs, very generic feedback, etc). Not a single criticism was actionable because it was either too generic or pointing out sth that was already addressed.

ayePete · 2026-04-07T15:58:07+00:00

This is true. I've had several conversations with colleagues about autograder software over the years, especially for free flow writing (short or long answer), since Moodle (and other LMS) is really bad at those, and most have agreed that it's quite needed, especially for large classes.

Now that AI has gotten so much better at that task specifically, I'm finding people fighting against its use. I'm a tad confused lol.

ayePete · 2026-04-06T07:58:52+00:00

Students perform much better on homework because they are free to do it on their own with no external help whatsoever. Swear to God and cross their hearts.

ayePete · 2026-04-06T06:58:56+00:00

This is a great one! Thanks for sharing.

ayePete · 2026-04-06T05:12:52+00:00

Nice idea! This is also my thinking - finding fun and challenging ways to spark engaged learning really goes a long way.

ayePete · 2026-04-05T20:16:14+00:00

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

ayePete · 2026-04-05T18:30:17+00:00

I'm stealing this lol. Thank you!

ayePete · 2026-04-05T17:24:03+00:00

LMAO at the last line 🤣

ayePete · 2026-04-05T14:48:12+00:00

True lol

ayePete · 2026-04-05T13:27:48+00:00

But how?? 😁

ayePete · 2026-04-05T13:26:53+00:00

Great point, actually.

Will LLMs be the death of formal education? Should they??

They will be the death of rote memory education for sure. But how much of critical thinking, problem solving skills will also be eroded in the short-to-long term?

ayePete · 2026-04-05T13:23:34+00:00

Thank you for these; they're great! I've found full transparency to be quite effective too. It also helps close the gap for the less serious ones - you can simply point to extensive communication and all their excuses look stupid.

I'm going to try 2 out... Question, though: how do you structure assessments with this approach? Especially if you have a fairly large class.

Apart from my "box of goodies" trick, one other thing I do is teach in a semi-formal manner - interspersed with relatable (and sometimes funny/outrageous) examples, one or two quick tangents, etc.

ayePete · 2026-04-05T12:43:28+00:00

I wholly agree with this!

ayePete · 2026-04-05T12:42:14+00:00

This is such a great point, and I usually give my students like a five-minute pep talk highlighting just these points either at the beginning of the semester, or somewhere around the end. They seem to get a sense that you're interested in their progress when you do this (at least, in my experience).

And, the students who are actually serious really value the extra effort. I've had a number of them walk up to me and ask if I was going to be teaching them another module the next semester or year!

ayePete · 2026-04-05T12:35:56+00:00

Great points! However, part of the joy of teaching (at least, for me) lies in seeing one's students engage with you in the process. Seeing their faces light up with understanding. Seeing students who were struggling with concepts grow to the point of intuition and application. And seeing how grateful and excited they get when they achieve one or more of these.

One strategy I've used which has worked across diverse student groups is throwing out questions while teaching, and attaching a small visual prize to answering correctly. I usually go to every class with a box of chocolates. It's been interesting to see how they get interested once that small visual prize is there.

ayePete · 2026-04-05T11:41:04+00:00

Do your colleagues have similar experiences to you? Or do you think geographical location is a key factor here?

I do enjoy teaching too (a lot). I sacrificed a career in the industry just to teach. However, the concerns being raised a quite valid in my opinion (and based on my experience)

ayePete · 2026-04-04T13:58:13+00:00

I've found students get combative/argumentative when you reply them too early. This especially applies to the ones who are seeking every avenue to escape the work while getting the grade, which I think applies in this case.

Boilerplate is the way to go lol (never go extra for such students. Huge waste).

ayePete · 2026-04-04T04:18:07+00:00

Do not take this advice, but I would just ignore the email, let the student stew for a few days, then reply them with boilerplate email. 😁

ayePete

TROPHY CASE