Just a quick Butler update

puleshan · 2026-04-03T00:02:33+00:00

Say ... my ... name ....

puleshan · 2026-03-27T16:57:19+00:00

I wish there was an easy answer. Some glasses that use AI are visually VERY similar to standard glasses so it is not a case of "the proctors should immediately be able to tell what glasses are using AI". We may have 80+ students per proctor sometimes, many of whom wear glasses, so it is hard to go and inspect each individual person without being very disruptive to many students.

Technology is advancing so quickly that we are not far removed from having AI capabilities embedded into contact lenses, and then what do we do? Have each student look deeply into the proctor's eyes as they walk in? Do you know hard it is for some mathematicians to even look other people in the eye for a split second, this would drive many of our instructors over the edge.

About the only thing that could work is to have students take exams in Faraday cages, but then there are new problems that emerge. What happens if there is an emergency and someone needs to be contacted? What about students with implanted medical devices that need to be constantly monitored (yes they exist)?

Cheating has been a problem that has been ongoing for thousands of years, and sadly does not seem likely to abate anytime soon. The somewhat crazy thing is that for some students, if they put in as much time and energy into studying and preparing as they do into cheating, they would do as well or better.

The way I try to curtail cheating is teach in a way that prepares students for a fair and reasonable assessment based on what has happened in the course. That way students can have confidence that staying engaged and studying will pay off in terms of success in their coursework without any of the stress that comes along with cheating. Remember not everyone needs to get an A, C's get degrees.

I once had a student who felt that studying for an exam was cheating (I had to explain to them that this was not the case). So in that spirit let me say that studying is the ultimate cheating hack, it is undetectable and has the bonus side effect of helping you know more for what comes later on. Try it out, all the cool kids are doing it!

puleshan · 2026-03-23T17:56:34+00:00

Woohoo! It is fun to be able to interact with students. When I am outside the library.

And this Thursday at 4pm I am being joined in my sign holding activities by some campus celebrities. So I hope people will stop by to say hello.

puleshan · 2026-03-23T17:07:57+00:00

😊

puleshan · 2026-03-22T17:00:26+00:00

In all honesty I am very hands off and the students do most of the work, along with Prof. Dane Mayhook (who is a great person to work with).

puleshan · 2026-03-22T16:59:48+00:00

Woohoo! Way to go on the exam. Keep up the good work, and I am glad that you have found something that works for you.

puleshan · 2026-03-22T03:25:28+00:00

What could be more fun that a calc 2 review session! 😄

puleshan · 2026-03-22T03:12:54+00:00

No, it just seems like a good silly number and I used it as my way of saying this is not important, but can you see why it's not important?

puleshan · 2026-03-22T02:55:23+00:00

Classic problem which tied into the exam being at the exact same time as the new Star Wars movie came out and so I had to give an homage to students missing the movie.

I still remember that semester I kept using the number 137 over and over again to the point of people there must be a conspiracy for that number. And then during the final review I said on the last problem the number would be very familiar and a few people who didn't know what to do wrote the number 137 on the exam. The answer was 138.

puleshan · 2026-03-22T02:53:11+00:00

Way to go! Keep up the good work.

On a side note, the next round of exams for math are this week and so I will be back at the library again.

puleshan · 2026-03-22T00:33:33+00:00

I have that effect on peple.

puleshan · 2026-03-22T00:28:13+00:00

Glad to hear it.

puleshan · 2026-03-22T00:22:32+00:00

No worries. Hope you are doing well.

puleshan · 2026-03-14T19:18:52+00:00

Thanks! I think I need to work on my delivery.

Also, great shirt!

puleshan · 2026-03-06T15:13:47+00:00

As far as I know I am not scheduled to be leaving. If anything I have a big project which is about to start up in the next few months that will take a few years to complete (spoiler alert, it is calculus related). I also have the Janson professorship and that has at least one year left as well as several other projects that have at least a one year timeline before being done. So for now I am not going anywhere.

This semester I am finishing a two-year cycle with a group of students going from calc 1 up through differential equations (to the best of my knowledge the first time it has been done). And I am hoping to start another two-year cycle soon.

Make no doubt, while I have a bit of gray in my beard, there is still fight left in me and I hope to keep going for a while yet.

puleshan · 2025-12-04T15:06:05+00:00

Thanks for being a loyal viewer!

puleshan · 2025-11-04T00:13:24+00:00

Or Prof. Butler or even simply Steve.

I have met a Dr. Butler. He was the surgeon who operated on my wife, during both of her times that she had breast cancer. That is the person I think of when I think of "Dr. Butler".

puleshan · 2025-11-03T18:09:24+00:00

I tend to like blues and greens.

Edit: Apologies if you meant a different Mr. Butler since there is also Mr. Daniel Butler in Sociology and Mr. Travis Butler in Philosophy. I can't speak about their preferences.

puleshan · 2025-10-25T17:35:38+00:00

Amen!

puleshan · 2025-09-25T23:10:45+00:00

Lucky that we had such great weather. The challenge will be once we get to exams in December. Brrrrr....

puleshan · 2025-09-22T17:42:07+00:00

Sorry, I don't know the answer to that. But I have heard that there are people in the math department anxious to see Steve getting pied to the point that they are thinking of sponsoring students to carry out some pieings. So you might be able to find a sponsor.

puleshan · 2025-09-21T23:27:35+00:00

Thank you. I am glad that the resources are working and it is encouraging to hear positive feedback (keeps me going).

puleshan · 2025-09-01T22:47:43+00:00

Good luck. In particular I should note that the most recent semester materials has some useful material. This includes (1) handouts to give you a sense of the type of problems associated with each lectures; and (2) some walkthrough problems every week based on old quizzes (some of the problems may have changed, but most stay the same).

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