Spin Machine - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Aug 7, 2004

Spin Machine

Date: Aug 7, 2004

Shelboo has a new ploy to jack up the enrollment figures - students who were suspended after Spring Semester are now eligible to enroll in the fall (under the previous policy, they had to sit out Fall semester). This new policy was put into the catalog without going through Academic Council (but who cares what they think anyway). The results is that we'll have those kids around for another semester (particularly the Fall semester which is reported to IHL). Then we'll flunk 'em out in December, let 'em sit out Spring, and get 'em back again in the Fall, when we need their warm bodies again. We have worl' class minds in the dome....

Date: Aug 7, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: My-too-sense
"Shelboo has a new ploy to jack up the enrollment figures - students who were suspended after Spring Semester are now eligible to enroll in the fall (under the previous policy, they had to sit out Fall semester). This new policy was put into the catalog without going through Academic Council (but who cares what they think anyway). The results is that we'll have those kids around for another semester (particularly the Fall semester which is reported to IHL). Then we'll flunk 'em out in December, let 'em sit out Spring, and get 'em back again in the Fall, when we need their warm bodies again. We have worl' class minds in the dome.... "

If all of this is true, it would be a cruel trick to play on the students.

Date: Aug 7, 2004

I, too, am a parent of a USM alum, and I am outraged by the administrative shenanigans that the public has had to watch be played out. It is not the faculty, folks. It's the pres. of the university. Shelby Thames's antics have embarrassed my 25 yr. old daughter to no end. Fortunately she had a group of teachers/advisors at USM (Honors College/English Dept.) that nutured her into believing that she should think for herself. Is she ashamed of the faculty? No. Is she ashamed of the andministrative tactics? Yes, she is horribly ashamed.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Parent of USM Alumni
"If all of this is true, it would be a cruel trick to play on the students."

No, because we will be giving them a second chance. Sometimes it takes a bad experience to help kids to get their heads screwed on straight. Some of these returning students will make out alright. Last semester in one of my classes I handed out 3 F's. In this class I gave 4 tests and the students were given all the test questions in advance. These were the exact test questions. All they had to do was show up and take the test with no surprises. None of them passed any of the tests, so they failed the class. I just checked my enrollment and two of those three students are back in my class. I like to think they are going to do better this time. Obviously when an instructor gives the exact test questions in advance and the students fail anyway there is some motivation problem or some time management problem. Maybe these students, on their second chance, have figured it out.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by: Online Prof
"In this class I gave 4 tests and the students were given all the test questions in advance. These were the exact test questions. All they had to do was show up and take the test with no surprises."

Offside Prof,

Please don't post anything like this on a site which can be read by the public. Your posting, to the effect that professor give the students the test questions in advance, might disabuse them of their belief that we are wurl'l class.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

Online Prof,

I understand what you are saying. I was once told when I began teaching that you cannot make a test too easy, there will still be students that flunk it.

On the other hand, giving the exact question ahead of time. Unless these are overly complex questions that you expect your student to do extensive research on prior to class, this sounds like you are babying your students too much. Just out of curiosity, the class that you flunked 4, how many students were in that class?

Date: Aug 8, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: ewe
"Offside Prof,Please don't post anything like this on a site which can be read by the public. Your posting, to the effect that professor give the students the test questions in advance, might disabuse them of their belief that we are wurl'l class."

You do not know anything about teaching. My method is much more preferable to the innumerable professors who are giving take-home tests. You are obviously stuck in the high-school philosophy of test-taking. My tests focus more on grammar, spelling, syntax, and research….because anybody can do rote memorization.

If you ever get accepted to a college, let us discuss this topic more then. Thank you for your "wurl'l class" post.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by: Online Prof
"students were given all the test questions in advance. These were the exact test questions. All they had to do was show up and take the test . . . . . . . . ."

Online Prof, you must be the teacher my Mamma told me about.

Bubba

Date: Aug 8, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: asdf
"On the other hand, giving the exact question ahead of time. Unless these are overly complex questions that you expect your student to do extensive research on prior to class, this sounds like you are babying your students too much. Just out of curiosity, the class that you flunked 4, how many students were in that class??"

I only gave 3 F's, not 4. I had only 2 A's. By the time the class was finished there were only 8 students left. Why do you ask and what is the importance of how many students were in the class?

Date: Aug 8, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: ewe
"Please don't post anything like this on a site which can be read by the public. Your posting, to the effect that professor give the students the test questions in advance, might disabuse them of their belief that we are wurl'l class."

Pewie, over 95% of the posts on this board already do that.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Online Prof
"I only gave 3 F's, not 4. I had only 2 A's. By the time the class was finished there were only 8 students left. Why do you ask and what is the importance of how many students were in the class?"

Online Prof:

I CANNOT afford to give raises to professors who have students drop their classes. Everyone must do their part to help me reach the 20,000 students that I promised the IHL before next year when they consider renewing my contract. If you continue to give poor grades, students will go to JCJC during the summer to take your class. We don't want that, do we?

Date: Aug 8, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Shelby
" Everyone must do their part to help me reach the 20,000 students that I promised the IHL "

I guess that when we reach 20.000 students, a duck will fall from the roof, dangling by a string, just like what happened in those old Groucho Marx TV shows.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Online Prof
"No, because we will be giving them a second chance. Sometimes it takes a bad experience to help kids to get their heads screwed on straight. Some of these returning students will make out alright. Last semester in one of my classes I handed out 3 F's. In this class I gave 4 tests and the students were given all the test questions in advance. These were the exact test questions. All they had to do was show up and take the test with no surprises. None of them passed any of the tests, so they failed the class. I just checked my enrollment and two of those three students are back in my class. I like to think they are going to do better this time. Obviously when an instructor gives the exact test questions in advance and the students fail anyway there is some motivation problem or some time management problem. Maybe these students, on their second chance, have figured it out."

Well, Online Prof, this explains a lot for me. You and I TOTALLY disagree on methods of testing students knowledge and skills. What would be the difference if some one stole the test ahead of time? Why should anyone in your class study on a daily basis as EDUCATED people do? Why don't you try giving a test the students have never seen before and find out if they have been learning anything in your class?

You are what I consider an ENABLER. You are punishing the hard working, motivated and serious students in favor of students (you identify with because of the path you took to get a degree) who are not as motivated, lazy or unqualified.

Sorry for the flame, but I don't consider what you are doing to be UNIVERSITY education. If this is what is going on, no wonder USM has a grade inflation problem and Mississippi is on the bottom.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Shelby
" Online Prof: I CANNOT afford to give raises to professors who have students drop their classes. Everyone must do their part to help me reach the 20,000 students that I promised the IHL before next year when they consider renewing my contract. If you continue to give poor grades, students will go to JCJC during the summer to take your class. We don't want that, do we? "

But I am not teaching in order to get a raise.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Otherside
"
Why don't you try giving a test the students have never seen before and find out if they have been learning anything in your class? "

Like many of your posts, this makes no sense. You keep throwing in terms about “education” and “being educated” but I am not sure you have a firm grasp of what that means. I do not give open book tests, and I do not give take-home tests. There are many ways to assess whether students are learning anything in class, and you have no idea what methods I use or do not use. You do not even know what I teach or what department I am in, so how can make a fair judgment of my methods. Alot of old school faculty—I am giving you a great courtesy of assuming you are faculty—are not keeping up with the latest teaching methods. Your philosophy, and others like you that tout it, is keeping students in the stone age.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

Hey everyone, please stop engaging online prof. It seems as if the board is becoming all about him/her. There are MANY valid ways to teach a class, and there are lots bigger issues we should be discussing than online prof's personal educational philosophies.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

Online Prof,

Wow. I mean, wow.

What a challenging method you have there. Let's see, here: you give out the questions, the students study only the material necessary to answer those questions, and then you give the students an "exam" so that they should (with a minimal amount of preparation) be able to "ace" your exam. How very challenging! You (and others like you, if you are in fact faculty) are the reason that education in the US is going downhill fast; you expect very little from students. Then, when these students get into a real classroom with a teacher who expects them to command knowledge over a body of material, they fail. They fail because you have conditioned them to be hand-held and spoon-fed.

Here's a news flash for you, OP: employers still want educated employees who can catch on quickly to innovations in their respective industries; whether the industry is journalism, accounting, chemistry, etc. It appears that in whatever Mickey Mouse field you teach, your students get jobs with employers who want monosyllabic automatons.

Do not lambast others for their teaching methods, or I will continue to call you what you are -- a glorified middle school teacher.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Online Prof
"
Like many of your posts, this makes no sense. ... I do not give open book tests, and I do not give take-home tests. ...
"

But the question you never answered was "Why not give tests the students have never seen before...?"

As Tired suggested, I'm also tired. I need to leave the board for the beach, but I would love to read your reply for my edification before I go.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

Thanks for the backup, My Foot. By the way, I
Love you name, it could be award wining.

I would love to personally introduce you to SFT. "Dr Thames, I would like to introduce My Foot ....".

Date: Aug 8, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Online Prof
"
Like many of your posts, this makes no sense. You keep throwing in terms about “education” and “being educated” but I am not sure you have a firm grasp of what that means. I do not give open book tests, and I do not give take-home tests. There are many ways to assess whether students are learning anything in class, and you have no idea what methods I use or do not use. You do not even know what I teach or what department I am in, so how can make a fair judgment of my methods. Alot of old school faculty—I am giving you a great courtesy of assuming you are faculty—are not keeping up with the latest teaching methods. Your philosophy, and others like you that tout it, is keeping students in the stone age.
"

Otherside is a troll. Don't pay any more attention to him. Can't you see he is just trying to start a fight with you so he can attempt to discredit you. Ignore this troll and his poorly formed and unconvincing arguments.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

Otherside has forgotten more about this board community than you will ever learn - don't even start.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Board Memory
"Otherside has forgotten more about this board community than you will ever learn - don't even start."

He is not just a troll, he is immature, just like most of the undergraduates on this board. I will give him one thing though. At least he keeps using the same name, unlike you and the webmaster who keep switching names to reply to people. I wonder how I would know this though? You posters are not very experienced with this software and its potential for security violations. You are using the most common bulletin board program, and with that comes the increased chances that hackers will design scripts to work with this software from the outside. Think about it.

Oh, I am only letting the cat out of the bag because I got what I needed.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

Bring it on, sweets, and by the way did you get any takers to your post the other day as "Interviewer"? I've got the entire collection - you needed only to ask.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Keepn' it real
"

... he is immature, just like most of the undergraduates on this board. ...
"

Why thank you. It has been several decades since I was called these names. This is liked being asked for an ID when buying beer. It makes my day..err week.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

document.write("Proof of Concept");

This is a test of something posted up-thread. The web master may feel free to delete this message.

Date: Aug 8, 2004

Proof of concept failed. This board does correctly remove JavaScripts entered in messages. (Rats!) It may allow remote scripts to be executed, particularly those triggered by external links or linked images. Further testing is warranted... Back to the LAB...