<issue_start>username_0: Today some of my friends were discussing a motivation letter. One friend's application was rejected. One reason his friends find out is that the letter of motivation is very emotional. So I was thinking: is there no place of emotion in academia? People used to study a lot as a strong feeling works in them, inspiring them to do more and more work. This is the emotion. Can it play harmfully in a letter of motivation?

**Edit: I have collected his small letter. It is included. We thought it is very emotional.**

>
> College XY has best undergraduate mathematics department of the university of XY.
>  IITX is built upon the basement of the first engineering college of Asia. I completed my B.Sc. from XY and M.Sc. from IITX. Both the times I got first class after each evaluation. I had a dream to continue my PhD studies in a good western university. I tried. My degrees are equivalent to degrees from European universities. I came to the understanding that my knowledge is not much sufficient for their requirements. Currently I am working in a project focussing on a very particular problem. I am out of touch from many interesting topics of mathematics.
>  Many advanced parts of mathematics are till unknown to me which shall be very useful in my work. So I am thing for a better opportunity to revise my
>  mathematical concepts in a better way and to collect new knowledge. I wish to build myself in a way that I can continue my PhD work in a good university and I can be a successful researcher. If I get the opportunity to continue the diploma hope I reach my dreams.
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: There is most certainly a place for emotion in academia.
That place is amongst your most trusted friends and closest colleagues.

Science works by identifying truths that hold regardless of whether we care about them or not, regardless of whether we desperately want them to be true or fear that they might be.
Science is funded by agencies who don't care how much your work means to you, but rather how its outcomes might support the agency's mission.
Professors are hired by other faculty who don't care whether working there will fulfill your dreams, but rather how your skills and abilities will fit the needs and goals of their department.

So by all means, have emotions, share your emotions with people who genuinely care about you as a person, and allow your emotions to direct your passion in research and teaching. But know that you will be judged not by your passion, but by the fruits of your labor, and make sure that those are at the forefront of how your present yourself to strangers.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Emotion in academia is a double-edged sword. On one hand, emotion (e.g. curiosity, drive) is usually what drives us to conduct research in the first place. But as research should always be targeted at getting closer to a objective truth, emotions must not interfere with your struggle for the truth. Yet there are many emotions (e.g. fear, faith, trust) that can cloud your judgement and lead your research down a wrong path.

In short, emotions can be a good reason to conduct research, but must not affect its results. If your friend's motivational letter was suggesting that he might be affected by emotions in the latter way, this may justly be held against him.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: There is a wonderful quotation by <NAME> that perfectly sums up the nature of emotions in academia:

>
> Nothing great is achieved without passion, but underneath the passion there should always be that large impersonal survey which sets limits to actions that our passions inspire. [1]
>
>
>

You should definitely show a sense of inquisitiveness, drive, enthusiasm, and eagerness; the "catch" is that we want to see that *in your work*. Dazzle us with your papers and presentations. Wow students in your lecture. But what we don't want is for *you* to tell us that you're enthusiastic and passionate. Leave that for others, such as the people writing your letters of recommendation, to tell us that.

[1]: *The Basic Writings of <NAME>*, George Allen and Unwin Ltd., p. 536 (1961).
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: In brief, even after imagining that text's language cleaned up, the problem is not about "emotion" but about lack of verifiable substance. As in @aesmail's good answer, insubstantiated claims, or, worse, claims which appear to be counter to any documentable reality, are at best unpersuasive. For example, unsupported claims about the quality of one's university or department are at best pointless, and suggest that one does not know how things work. Proposing to "collect new knowledge" gives a very strange impression, as though the writer believed that learning new things was somehow unusual... while being remarkably inspecific.

That is, if I were to receive such a letter, I'd consider it basically content-free, for all practical purposes. "Emotion" is not the issue. The problem is that such letters should *not* be content-free, but should include tangibles, past accomplishments and connections with the future, etc. A content-free letter competes very badly with content-ful letters.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_5: As others have said, the main problem of that letter is not its emotionality, but the lack of content and the presence of unnecessary details. Let me analyse a few example sentences:

>
> College XY has best undergraduate mathematics department of the university of XY.
>
>
>

According to whom or according to which criteria?

>
> IITX is built upon the basement of the first engineering college of Asia.
>
>
>

This is unnecessary: it does not actually strengthen the previous claim, nor it gives useful information to understand the background of the applicant. It's just a historical curiosity. Probably briefly listing the main research topics of the department would have been more useful.

>
> I completed my B.Sc. from XY and M.Sc. from IITX. Both the times I got first class after each evaluation.
>
>
>

What was he evaluated on? Typically students have to write a dissertation at the end of their degrees, it would have been better to add information about these: objectives achieved, feelings about continuing on the same topics or moving to other topics.

>
> Currently I am working in a project focussing on a very particular problem.
>
>
>

Which problem? Is it a toy problem or a research problem that can be suitable for a publication?

>
> Many advanced parts of mathematics are till unknown to me which shall be very useful in my work.
>
>
>

Indeed, many advanced parts of mathematics are also unknown to mathematicians. So which are these parts that are needed for his work?

Therefore, on the basis of the above, I would have rejected his application too. You can write an emotional letter, but the emotions should be just an addition to the information needed by the application board to correctly assess the level of the applicant.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: The original poster is asking totally the wrong question. The problem isn't his friend's level of "emotion"; it is his friend's utter lack of social intelligence at how he will be perceived in writing such a thing. The answer is not for his friend to become a smoother wordsmith; the answer is for his friend to get out into the world more, and actually develop a functional level of social intelligence.

The intended reader of this letter is a HUMAN, probably a group of them. Each of them can be expected to be a very, very smart human, who will analyze the letter on many different levels, but nevertheless, a human, with emotions, from which the writer would like a particular (favorable) response. My immediate emotional response, as a human, after reading this, is disbelief, annoyance, and disgust. Disbelief at how clueless the writer is, annoyance at how little useful information he provides me, disgust at how little he must have thought about me and what I might want to see in such a letter, and then a bit more annoyance at what a waste of time it was to even read it. This letter is so poor on such a fundamental level, it's hard to wrap my head around the idea it was written by someone seeking entry into a PhD program.

The primary emotions being expressed in the letter are anger at the injustice and victimhood of being denied, and bewilderment at not understanding the reasons why, and then more anger at finding out his prior education, is, apparently "worthless" in the eyes of these institutions.

So, the reader of the letter should admit into their PhD program, an angry victim of rejection, a victim who seems to believe the fault was with the evaluators, not himself, yet does not show any understanding of WHY others rejected him? A candidate with this lack of awareness does not inspire confidence, doesn't seem like a good bet.

And instead of telling us even what area the "very particular (mathematics) problem" is in, we are left to guess? Why doesn't he just say it's a "problem in the area of (some mathnobabble area, I'll say "online reputation management") involving (slightly more particular considerations, I'll say "mathematical models for detecting falsified reviews"). What is he hiding from us by being vague? Maybe he's hiding... that he actually knows NOTHING! Yet, perhaps he knows a great deal. The reader cannot tell anything useful about what he does and does not know in the relevant area.

A socially intelligent writer would have gone to great lengths to find out why his qualifications were perceived to be unsuitable by other institutions, and then calmly but briefly explain it. How could he appear to not know WHY those other institutions rejected him? Was he so lacking in motivation, he did not bother to find out the specific, detailed reasons for his rejection? I submit that much academic work is about figuring out what the problem is that needs to be solved, and then applying thinking and action to solve it. How is it possible to have confidence in a candidate who accepts rejection without clearly figuring out the reasons, what the PROBLEM was? How can this man be trusted to take effective action to identify problems, and then solve them, as part of a a PhD program? To address this issue, he must be able to briefly and calmly explain what the problem was, and preferably why it will not be an issue at the desired institution. For analogous examples from Finance and Economics, "European institutions require an EU-accredited course in Financial Derivative Models, which was neither required nor available at my prior institutions." Or, "European institutions prefer graduates of the Austrian school, while my coursework was centered around the Chicago school". Explaining why the problems other institutions cited won't be an issue at his desired institution is an exercise I will leave to him.

And overall, there is little to no mention of anything substantive he has done, nothing that can be verified; the primary mentions are of the injustice he feels has been done to him by having his degrees ignored and disrespected by other schools he has applied to, schools who are obviously arbitrary, mean-spirited, and just out to get poor little him.

I hope I reach my dreams? What ARE his dreams, maybe a little statement of them would help? His dreams are so vague he can't even briefly state them? And he HOPES he reaches, not he "is determined to do the work to reach", his dreams? But don't just try to be more smooth; invest time, attention, and emotion to figure out what his dreams actually are, so that he can clearly and compellingly express them in a sentence or two. "My dream is to..." (I'll say, "help the online world become a more honest place") "...and being admitted into this program would bring me closer by..." ("being around brilliant mentors who can help me devise and improve mathematical models for detecting patterns of deception and fraud").

Such a letter should be written to show an awareness of, and caring for, the point of view of others. As it stands, it loudly conveys a lack of awareness in those areas. The readers would be likely to conclude the writer is unaware, a bad thing in itself, or, even worse, uncaring.

The writer of the letter would be better advised to take up some hobby or activity, take a year off from school if necessary, to work on and improve his social intelligence. Maybe go to a university and work as a mathematics tutor for students in the areas he has learned, while taking classes or doing other work that involves interacting with people a lot. It should be an area that requires a level of social intelligence skills to be successful, provides opportunity after opportunity to develop them, and provides immediate and direct personal feedback on how well he is doing. A quick list of ideas could include doing commission sales work, working as a bartender, and volunteering to canvass and advocate for political candidates and their campaigns.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: The problem is not about emotions. Other answers have pointed out a lack of substance, but I'll make a different point. It's that your friend draws a very bad image of him/her-self. Your question title should really be "Can a letter of motivation that highlights weak points be harmful in a PhD application?"

Just isolate these four parts of the motivation letter:

>
> I tried.
>
>
>

*And then?*

>
> my knowledge is not much sufficient for their requirements
>
>
>

*So no surprise you're not admitted.*

>
> I am out of touch from many interesting topics of mathematics.
>
>
>

*Not good if you're to pursue cutting edge research for a PhD.*

>
> advanced parts of mathematics are till unknown to me
>
>
>

*ditto*

This is an application. It needs to draw a good image of the applicant, **not** show the weak points.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: Here is my cruelly honest translation of the letter. I am not trying to insult you. I have received many similar messages as unsolicited emails (always from India), and this is essentially how I read them.

College XY has best undergraduate mathematics department of the university of XY. - I am aware that my university isn't particularly good, so I am making a desperate attempt to argue that my education wasn't as poor as the general standard for my university.

IITX is built upon the basement of the first engineering college of Asia. - If something isn't actually good, point out how big, old or expensive it is and maybe people will be fooled.

I completed my B.Sc. from XY and M.Sc. from IITX. Both the times I got first class after each evaluation. - Hard to tell due to the bad English, but apparently the applicant is claiming to have had good grades. Impossible to tell whether this means top 10% or top 90%.

I had a dream to continue my PhD studies in a good western university. I tried. - What is this supposed to mean? Applicant once was accepted and started a PhD at a European university, but failed?

My degrees are equivalent to degrees from European universities. - According to whom?

I came to the understanding that my knowledge is not much sufficient for their requirements. - Contradicts the previous claim.

Currently I am working in a project focussing on a very particular problem. - Currently I am doing some research that I am not at all interested in and that I am not even prepared to explain in detail if someone asks me about it, because I don't understand it myself.

I am out of touch from many interesting topics of mathematics. - In an application I was once asked about some basic (first year level) knowledge related to what I was applying for and didn't even have an idea what the words meant.

Many advanced parts of mathematics are till unknown to me which shall be very useful in my work. So I am thing for a better opportunity to revise my mathematical concepts in a better way and to collect new knowledge. - Maybe I could become a mathematician by doing my undergraduate degree all over again, this time at a proper university.

I wish to build myself in a way that I can continue my PhD work in a good university and I can be a successful researcher. - Because I underestimate the effort involved in learning things properly, I think that I can do this on the side, while officially working on a PhD, and even get a PhD too.

If I get the opportunity to continue the diploma hope I reach my dreams. - Diploma or PhD, what's the difference? It's all the same to me.

Besides, my English isn't good enough to study in English, and since I am blissfully unaware of the fact it is not likely to improve. Sorry that I can't mention the special strengths of the university I am applying to. I have no clue what they are, and anyway, I am sending this to several hundred. It would be too much work to adjust the text for each.
Upvotes: 4


<issue_start>username_0: "Underwater basket weaving" is often used as a placeholder for "irrelevant, useless university course." (Despite the fact that it's an [actual thing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0cn8iUOc5k).)

More generally, "Basket weaving" and related courses (e.g. "quantitative basket weaving") are often used as a placeholder for "some university course."

This phrase appears several times [on Academia.SE](https://academia.stackexchange.com/search?q=%22basket+weaving%22). It has also been used in official university documents (e.g., [this sample curriculum change request](http://academics.boisestate.edu/facultysenate/files/2013/09/UCC-Curricuum-Examples.pdf), [this sample assessment plan](https://www.american.edu/provost/assessment/upload/basket_weaving_example-1.pdf), [this sample thesis title page](http://www.unr.edu/Documents/provost/honors/Title-SignaturePagesExample.pdf), [this guide to curriculum changes](http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/academicsenate/UCC/GuideToCurriculumChanges.PDF)).

What is the origin of this usage? When/by who was it first used this way?<issue_comment>username_1: The best history of the phrase that I know of is [the one given in Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_basket_weaving), which traces it to a letter in the LA Times in 1956. Whether that's actually the ultimate origin or not, I don't know if anybody has actually tried to track down further...
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: The earliest reference known to Wikipedia (as [shared by username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/38576/11365)) is from 1956, but I found a few that were earlier.

First, perhaps a hint as to how this usage evolved, here's a mildly sarcastic 1919 reference about universities that have abandoned the ways of the Ivory Tower to offer such "practical" courses as plumbing and basket weaving (which presumably was a useful vocational skill in those days):

>
> Higher education is becoming very practical indeed. It includes everything nowadays - excepting, of course, Greek and Latin - from plumbing to basket-weaving.
>
>
> *Source: "Studying National Parks," The watchman and southron. (Sumter, S.C.), August 06, 1919. [link](http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn93067846/1919-08-06/ed-1/seq-4.pdf)*
>
>
>

The earliest usage I found that was specifically for "*underwater* basket weaving" is from 1953. It's in an article about slang used by the "younger generation" (implying that the usage is new, or at least new again):

>
> Any snap course in school is "underwater basket weaving."
>
>
> *Source: "In a Hepster's Lingo, the Girl Who Likes to Neck is a Giraffe," Boston Globe, Oct 4, 1953, pg. A50*
>
>
>

Throughout the 1950s, there are many references to "basket weaving" in the context of easy courses taken by student athletes.

Here's one such reference from 1952:

>
> These may include courses in life-insurance salesmanship, bee culture, square-dancing, traffic direction, first aid, or basketweaving.
>
>
> *Source: "Magna cum nonsense," New York Times, March 16, 1952, SM68.*
>
>
>

Here's a reference *in a quote from one of these athletes*, from 1953:

>
> A varsity baseball player said he had received offers from San Francisco University guaranteeing him passing grades.
>
>
> "I hardly would have had to go to classes," he said. "They told me I could major in basket weaving if I wanted to."
>
>
> *Source: "Other Schools Made Bids, Spartan Athletes Content," Newsday, March 3, 1953, pg. 50*
>
>
>

The 1956 reference with "underwater basket weaving" that Wikipedia cites:

>
> Why should he be given a better deal than those students who are attending college in order to get a "real" education ... majoring in underwater basket weaving, or the preparation and serving of smorgasbord, or particularly at Berkeley, the combined course of anatomy and panty-raiding?
>
>
> *Source: "College 'Pro' Football Hit," Los Angeles Times, June 4, 1956, pg A4*
>
>
>

There's also many about plain "basket weaving" that year. For example:

>
> Several schools screamed to high heaven about the fact that these so-called students, or at least the majority of them, couldn't pass the basket weaving examination and that their grade transcripts resembled those of the village idiot.
>
>
> *Source: "Cronin's Corner," Los Angeles Times, May 26, 1956, pg. B3*
>
>
>

and

>
> It was explained rather superciliously that they had a stiff struggle to get minimum passing grades in basket-weaving, musical appreciation or Loaf and Sleep (Letters and Science) courses.
>
>
> *Source: "Sports of the World," Atlanta Daily World, Nov 13, 1956, pg 5*
>
>
>

---

I found these by searching ProQuest databases, the results unfortunately don't seem to include permanent links. Hence the lack of links.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]


<issue_start>username_0: I am trying to help assess grad school applications this year but have little experience. In most cases I can work out a rough ranking but I find Italian university grades very hard to understand. For example, we have one candidate with

* Master degree in Information Technology (Date) University of Catania
Grade: 1st (Italian grade: 110/110 cum laude)
* Bachelor degree in Information Technology (Date) University of
Catania Grade: 2.1 (Italian grade: 110/110)

Does this rank the student as being the top of their year or do many people get 100% in an Italian university?<issue_comment>username_1: It seems to me that without having specific information (for example, the year of graduation), it is impossible to give you a proper answer.

*110/110 cum laude* means that it is top of the class (it's the maximum possible result), but if we knew the year we could search the percentage of students who got the same result in that class.
In the end: the results are really good, but without a bit of research we cannot know exactly how good they are related to others.

**Update**: you can see some statistics [here](http://www2.almalaurea.it/cgi-php/universita/statistiche/tendine.php?LANG=en&CONFIG=profilo).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Does this rank the student as being the top of their year or do many people get 100% in an Italian university?
>
>
>

110/110 *cum laude* is the maximum obtainable result for a graduation in Italy. To achieve this result a student should pass most of the exams with a grade equivalent to that of US A/A+ and produce a very good dissertation. Take into account that in Italy, typically, exams are not graded on a curve.

More specifically, exam pass grades in Italy range from 18 to 30. To have the possibility to get a final grade of 110/110, a student should typically average about 28 or more along the 3 years of the BsC degree or along the 2 years of the MsC degree.

However, the relative number of students who achieve this result can depend on the field and can vary between universities (this is a major source of problems when comparing grades). Unfortunately statistical data about grades are not easily found on universities web sites (e.g. I couldn't find these data for my university). Maybe the consortium [Alma Laurea](http://www.almalaurea.it/en) might provide general statistical information.

---

**Edit I:** I've found some statistical data: [this pdf file](https://www.almalaurea.it/sites/almalaurea.it/files/docs/universita/profilo/profilo2014/rapporto2014-profilo_volume-completo.pdf) from Alma Laurea contains a report on the 2013 graduates (unfortunately, it is in Italian only). On p. 120 there is a graph which shows grade classes vs field. For the engineering field (ingegneria), 16% of the students achieved the maximum result of 110/110 *cum laude*.

---

**Edit II:** As [username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26682/aubrey) noted in [his answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/38918/20058), the Alma Laurea web site contains also a [searchable database](http://www2.almalaurea.it/cgi-php/universita/statistiche/tendine.php?LANG=en&CONFIG=profilo) of graduates' profiles. For example, for the year 2013, for the Department of Electric, Electronic and Computer Engineering (Information Technology probably belongs to that Department) at the University of Catania, the database reports [these data](http://www2.almalaurea.it/cgi-php/universita/statistiche/framescheda.php?anno=2013&corstipo=tutti&ateneo=70008&facolta=944&gruppo=5&pa=70008&classe=tutti&corso=tutti&postcorso=tutti&disaggregazione=tutti&LANG=en&CONFIG=profilo). The average grade for the MsC degree is 107.5/110 (110/110 *cum laude* is considered as 113/110 for the calculation of the average).

For comparison, and to show that there can be a large spread on the averages, for the same year and the same kind of Department, graduates from the [Politecnico di Torino](http://www2.almalaurea.it/cgi-php/universita/statistiche/framescheda.php?anno=2013&corstipo=tutti&ateneo=70032&facolta=899&gruppo=5&pa=70032&classe=tutti&corso=tutti&postcorso=tutti&disaggregazione=tutti&LANG=en&CONFIG=profilo) (my university) have an average grade of 99.6/110 and those from the [University of Rome](http://www2.almalaurea.it/cgi-php/universita/statistiche/framescheda.php?anno=2013&corstipo=tutti&ateneo=70026&facolta=765&gruppo=5&pa=70026&classe=tutti&corso=tutti&postcorso=tutti&disaggregazione=tutti&LANG=en&CONFIG=profilo) an average grade of 101.8.

---

**Edit III:** Last but not least, students can ask to their universities the so called [Diploma Supplement](http://ec.europa.eu/education/tools/diploma-supplement_en.htm), a document which should help the international recognition of the qualifications. This document provides information on the Italian grading system and reports the corresponding student's grades in the [ECTS grading scale](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECTS_grading_scale). So, in case of doubts, better ask foreigner students to attach this document to the application documentation.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]


<issue_start>username_0: Our applied math department is beginning to have a serious attendance problem at our colloquium. The appropriate level for our colloquium is that any person with an undergraduate degree in a quantitative/theoretical field should be able to follow the talk as long as they are paying close attention.

In an invitation letter to our speakers, who are mostly faculty members at other Universities in a variety of fields but also include some faculty at our university, we say

>
> "Your talk should be entirely self contained. You can assume the audience is mathematically mature and has a solid understanding of undergraduate real analysis and linear algebra but do not assume any prior knowledge in physics, biology or more specialized mathematics. Of course feel free to talk about such topics, just be sure to explain all basic concepts needed to follow the rest of the presentation as soon as they come up."
>
>
>

Despite this warning, speakers go on, as usual, giving seminar level talks. Graduate students and the few advanced undergraduates that used to attend have basically stopped attending, which looks bad on our department, and lowers graduate student morale. Note the target audience is not undergrads. The target audience is first year grad students (and up) and faculty from many different quantitative fields.

I think part of the problem is that speakers assume applied math means "The math done in my field of research". They don't understand despite us linking to our graduate student's list of research interests in the email that applied math is extremely broad. Some researchers will have never taken probability theory or optimization and some who work in theoretical computer science haven't studied a differential equation since their sophomore years of college. And science backgrounds outside of math will be even broader.

Besides adding the request in our email, that the talk not be too technical, is there anyway to prevent speakers from giving talks that are too specialized or advanced?<issue_comment>username_1: I think there are a couple of layers to the problem:

* The wording of your request to the speaker could be more clear. You should be very specific that you *encourage graduate students to attend the department talks*, so please keep the talk accessible for non-experts.
* Some of the speakers may not be prepared or able to give a (I presume 30 to 50 minute long) "popular science" style talk on their current research. Some things are much more difficult to distil than others. Either that, or (donning my Hat of Cynicism) they're ignoring your request because they don't want to write a whole new presentation or they didn't read the email properly.

Perhaps you could ask the guest directly if they are able to distil their research down to a talk that is appropriate for a grad student not familiar with the field. If they decline, make it clear in the talk invitation that it is a specialized presentation. If the speaker agrees to do this, you should explicitly tell your grad students that the talk should be accessible for them. This will avoid them feeling as if they wasted their time attending high-level talks, thus they'll be more likely to attend the others.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: One important thing to do is to be more choosey about inviting speakers who you know are capable of presenting to a broad audience. Some people will never give an accessible talk, no matter what you do. Others are good at speaking to a broad audience. Some good ways to find such speakers:

* People who do cross-disciplinary work are often really good at this, since they are generally used to speaking to non-specialists (i.e., people who are specialists in the other disciplines that they work with).
* Look for people who have recent survey publications which are broadly accessible, or who have had recent articles or other publications in the popular media.
* If you go to conferences and workshops, look for people who give accessible talks, even to a specialist audience. The best speakers will always *frame* their work accessibly, even when the meat of it is extremely specialized.

Once you have invited a speaker, make the speaker give you a full abstract, as well as a title. If the abstract is getting too technical, it's a bad sign for the talk. Send it back with request for revision to attract a broader audience. This can help people adjust expectations, though you can never prevent a speaker from speaking badly once they've begun.

If you feel brave, you might even explicitly challenge your speakers more in the information that you send them. My favorite series that I have ever been involved in organizing was the ["Seminar on Dangerous Ideas"](http://projects.csail.mit.edu/dangerous-ideas/dangerous/www/) that I helped create when I was a graduate student, and which ran for about five years. This seminar was really trying to push people outside the box, and one of the ways we did it was to ask the speakers to address ["the five questions"](http://projects.csail.mit.edu/dangerous-ideas/dangerous/www/instigator.html), which included things like "Why should I fear your research?" and "What should I tell my mom about it?" Many of the best talks that I have ever heard were in this series, because the challenges that we gave were able to create an atmosphere in which academics felt safe to say things they otherwise would not.

You'll also need to work to revive your existing seminar series. A good way to do that is to line up several speakers in a row who you are certain will have broad appeal and be able to give a good talk.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I would suggest saying in the invitation "The appropriate level for our colloquium is that any person with an undergraduate degree in a quantitative/theoretical field should be able to follow the talk as long as they are paying close attention. The target audience is first year grad students (and up) and academics in many different quantitative fields". I don't know what it means for a talk to be entirely self-contained, and that kind of wording encourages the inference that this is supposed to be a general public lecture -- then the remainder of the guideline shows how that's not so. Therefore I would expand on what the first sentence means.

I take it the problem is not that the talks are at too low a level, but rather they are at too high a level. Saying that "the audience is mathematically mature" may encourage reaching too high -- I tend to think of ABD grads and faculty as being "mature" in a discipline. If the problem is that speakers are interjecting arcana from physics or biology or unrelated areas of math, then you need to strengthen the "do not assume" clause. Make it a sentence on its own, and elaborate.
Upvotes: 1


<issue_start>username_0: Is it a standard practice for tenure and promotion committee to ask for referee reports of some published papers of the one evaluated?<issue_comment>username_1: **Review reports** as in your title: yes. Asking an outside expert in the field for comments about the published work of the candidate. This is standard practice in some places and in some fields.

**Referee reports** as in the question: I have not heard of that. Except maybe in the case of a paper that has been accepted but not yet published: the referee report or editor's letter may be used as evidence of the acceptance.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I can't think of a committee expecting candidates to preserve the referee reports of previously published papers. I delete the referee reports from my mail box as soon as a paper is published.

They can ask, however, the acceptance letters of the papers listed in your CV as *accepted for publication* but not yet actually published. In case you don't provide the acceptance letters, the committee might not (or *will* not, depending on the country, institution etc.) consider those publications in the evaluation process.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: My university (a private R1) does ask for **referee/reader reports** in the case of newly published material in tenure and promotion cases. This is done when the scholar has recently published material that has not been cited elsewhere (thus, no bibliometric citation data) and the committee wants to ascertain the contribution to the field of study that the text may make.

Assuming your publication was accepted, you should view this as a good thing. Referee reports in those circumstances are positive, highlighting the contribution you are making to the field (otherwise, why would the journal publish it?). Folks on tenure and promotion committees also know to read through the negative cruft on reader's reports, so don't worry about that issue either.

p.s. I should note that at my university (as well as others), there is pushback against the use of pure bibliometric data (impact factors) as a way to ascertain a scholar's prominence in the field, but that is another question.
Upvotes: 4


<issue_start>username_0: The [Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS)](https://oeis.org/) is a large online database of number sequences. It's popular among professional and amateur mathematicians, and its entries are widely cited. Like Wikipedia, most of its content is authored and edited by the community; no particular qualifications are required to participate, though in my experience most active editors are working mathematicians or scientists.

I've occasionally seen academic CVs which list OEIS contributions among the publications (usually in a separate subsection). I've also seen CVs of known contributors which make no mention whatsoever of their OEIS contributions.

I was wondering, then, whether listing OEIS contributions is generally a good idea when applying for academic jobs such as post-docs and professorships. How much weight, if any, do recruiting committees in math and computer science place on OEIS contributions? Are they viewed as minor professional publications, as non-academic community service, or as unwanted and annoying CV padding?

Related question: [Value of contributions to Wikipedia when applying for academic jobs](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2621/value-of-contributions-to-wikipedia-when-applying-for-academic-jobs)<issue_comment>username_1: Important: separate section. So no one thinks you are trying to sneak them in as equal to publications.

Probably it will have no weight for recruiting. I suppose having the list there may cause someone on the committee to say "I've heard of this guy."

But CVs have uses other than job searches. So go ahead and include them if you want to.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: This kind of contribution is important and not as much credited as it should be. But I wouldn't suggest to include single contributions to OEIS or other things like that in a CV. Two reasons:

1. You are not the author and it's an impossible task to include the author list.
2. It clutters the CV and makes it unreadable long.

However, it deserves its space. In Economics, there is often a section in CVs called *Service*. It is about refereeing activities and faculty jobs. I would mention there that I contribute to OEIS or Wikipedia. Alternatively, you mention it on your personal website. Recruites look there, too.
Upvotes: 1


<issue_start>username_0: I submitted a research paper to a special issue of a reputed computer science journal (SCI indexed) and the results were due on January 31st. However, the results have not been announced to date, and my email to the Guest Editor requesting for information on the delay has gone unanswered. I am really worried about this delay without notification, as the whole point of submitting to a special issue was to get reviews faster than regular issues. Is this big delay normal? Should I be worried that my paper is lost or worse? I can see the status "Reviewing" when I log into the journal's tracking service. Please advise on what I should do.

Thanks in advance.<issue_comment>username_1: I had a similar experience, although not with a special issue. In my case, the delay was due to the fact that a change of Editor-In-Chiefs happened. However, it came not even close to a delay of 45 days. That can be because a reviewer did not meet the deadline.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Oftentimes, and that's valid esp. for academia, a call will be better than an email. It's really easy to oversee (deliberate or not) an email, but if you call, the editor (or a secretary) has to answer. And if you have someone on the line you can ask your questions directly and he has to answer or give you sme other sort of feedback.

It's annoying for a lot of us, since an email is easier, faster, you can better oversee what you're writing and you don't have to call someone and speak to him personally. But from an efficency point of view, a call is in most of the cases the best approach.

Just ask polite, don't make some sort of accusation or preasure somthing, but that are the same rules that apply for emails.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]


<issue_start>username_0: Where can I search for some authors of publications or researchers in a specific filed (e.g. Computer science) and in a specific country (USA, China, ...)

For example I would like to find all people who work on *Data Mining* located in *Iran*<issue_comment>username_1: I suggest that you use a variant of [snowball sampling](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball_sampling). Start with the largest, most visible research university in that country (e.g. Iran). Do a web search for the departments most likely associated with the topic (e.g. data mining). Look at the web pages associated with the most prominent researchers. You will find listings of their published papers. In those published papers, you will see co-authors, many from the same university and (importantly) from the same country. Follow the trail of co-authors and repeat these procedures with their web pages.

In a similar fashion, find conference held in this geography. It is likely that there will be a high concentration of local participants and conference committee members. They may or may not be important in the grand scheme, but you will find them.

Using this procedure, you should be able to enumerate 90%+ of the people involved in any one specialty in any one (small) geographic region.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Another approach to get a first set of names is to use one of the large bibliographic databases - [Scopus](http://www.scopus.com/) or [Web of Science](http://apps.webofknowledge.com/) will let you search by affiliation/address. Once you have identified a suitable group of papers (eg by keyword/topic searching) you can filter it to only show papers where at least one author had an Iranian affiliation. You'll then be able to work through these pulling out the relevant authors.

Unfortunately, Google Scholar does *not* let you search by affiliation and so isn't much use here.

(Scopus, for example, has 9500 papers published since 2014 which match a title/keyword/abstract search for 'data mining', but only 146 of these have an Iranian author)
Upvotes: 3


<issue_start>username_0: I was assigned a research topic for one of my psych classes this term. I designed the study, collected and analyzed data and then wrote a paper. After I presented my paper to my professor, she was very excited and said this paper was publishable. She would definitely run follow-up studies on this topic. I then offered to join her team to run this study and she agreed.

Now I am not sure if I am only participating as a volunteer research assistant or as a co-researcher for this project, considering the research topic is not my original idea. I just designed the study, ran it and received significant results.

Should I ask for clarification on my role at the upcoming meeting with my prof ? If so, how should I approach? I don't want to appear too aggressive.<issue_comment>username_1: If you have conducted the pilot study and are also part of the follow-up team expanding it into a full publishable study, then you should definitely be invited to help write and be an author of the paper.

This should also be an easy and uncontroversial decision for your professor. It's also fine and in fact good to get that clarification explicitly now. You can just ask something like:

>
> I'm excited about helping turn this project into a paper. Am I right in thinking this means I will be an author of the paper as well?
>
>
>

This is not a hard question, so if your professor says anything other than "yes," (possibly with appropriate caveats about you actually sticking with the project) then you should be concerned.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Before talk with your professor, take a look at other papers published by him/her; you will get a sense if he/she usually includes all involved students as co-authors or not.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: All of the other answers give good advice.

It should never be considered aggressive to ask. You certainly shouldn't assume your name will go on the paper. It may be too early to tell if you'll be first author, so I'd use "co-author" instead of "author" when asking.

*I don't know what the psych field is like. I've had experience in microbiology (where the average number of authors is ~5) and physics (where the average number of authors in some fields is ~2).*

If asking about authorship makes you uncomfortable, another (lesser) way to do it is to offer to write up a more polished version of the paper. This will get you to the point where the professor is editing the paper and byline will be filled in. Or the professor may bring up the topic for you.

Assuming your account of how the research progressed is correct, if your professor says "no", it's time to find another lab.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: If you can prove that you were a major contributor to the paper as it seems from the fact that you "designed the study, collected and analyzed data and then wrote a paper." then you should definately be one of the authors on the paper as a major contributor.

The role of the main author differs by university/country, but if you already have written the paper and it just needs edits from more experienced academia writers, then you should be in my opinion the main author.
Upvotes: -1


<issue_start>username_0: I am currently an undergraduate student at a large state university.

I have good grades (>3.90 GPA) in Biochemistry and I am now adding computer science courses. I am doing equally well in those (>3.80 GPA). But the majority of my research is in biochemistry. I did my honors thesis, worked in a wet lab for two years, and have two research publications. But these all have nothing to do with computer science.

I am really happy with the people in biochemistry and molecular biology, but not with the field itself. My biology advisors tell me I can probably do very well for myself in biochemistry. But I want to do computer science, since that is where my interests really lie. I like making algorithms out of strange algebras that don't exist and really fancy statistics that pretend they can think, and that is almost non-existent in my field of molecular genetics. I am not a fan of bioinformatics.

I already have research experience. But it might not be the right type of research experience. Nor do I have CS internships. Just lots of biology. Should I apply for those phd programs now, or should I wait until I have more research in computer science before I apply for Ph.D. programs?

Now suppose I apply for these top ten Ph.D. programs and I am rejected. How are reapplicants viewed within the academic cs community? Can I try again after a stint in your average brand-name company?<issue_comment>username_1: In navigating my own applications over the years, I'm led to believe that the most important thing they want to know about you is are you going to be a good researcher. That you have publications in a technical field helps you a lot, it demonstrates you know the process one must go through in pursuing original work.

I will say that going straight to a PhD at a top 10 university in the field is somewhat of a leap without having much CS background, they won't have much evidence that your research interests are well-developed and that you are really serious about sticking with studying computer science at that level for 5+ years. But if they like what they see from your research and undergraduate coursework and recommendation letters (VERY IMPORTANT), then they will often just have you take a handful of pre-requisite courses at the beginning to get you caught up to where they think a beginning PhD student should be, e.g. taking some upper-level undergraduate classes that give you a good breadth of CS knowledge.

You would have a much better shot at getting into a Masters program in CS coming from your position, if you are willing to fund it yourself or take out loans. Oftentimes your PhD funding comes from a member of the faculty and so they need adequate convincing that you're worth the money.

My advice would be: apply to a few top 10 PhD programs you think you'd be a good fit for, apply to a few middle-tier PhD programs to give you some options, and then apply to a few MS programs if you think you'd be willing to go that route. You'll probably get an MS acceptance somewhere, you have a good shot at getting into a middle tier school, and you never know! They may just really like your application bundle and you might land a golden seat at a top 10.

And if you don't like the results, spend a year or two doing things to improve your application (CS research, online classes, work through problems in well-known textbooks, get a MS degree, read A LOT of papers and develop very specific research interests, etc.)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I actually see that you need to revaluate your Priorities about the so called Top 10 Universities.

I now see that the so called Top Schools are just Ranking Junkies.

Apply to lesser Known Schools in the USA Canada or Europe because the Top Schools attract too many Applicants for just 1000 Spots.

In 2002 Harvard Attracted 22.000 Applicants and now in 2020 it attracts 39.000 Applicants just for BA Degree Levels.

Top Colleges are now behaving like Corporations making money or mining their Students instead of Giving formal Education to their Patrons.

Hence Lies the Tragedy of College and University Education in the Western World.

So many students graduate with huge Student Loans worth averagely 45.000 US Dollars in the Grand Scheme of affairs.

College more important especially when it comes to Medecine Engineering and the Law.

Other subjects are just taking up land and Campus Space.

Besides one can also learn in the library and do Online Courses to add to the University Diploma Gained.
Less Known Colleges and Varsities have time for you and will enable you to become Outstanding at your Pace.

You see College must go at the Pace of your Intellectual Ability

<NAME> said there is life beyond the Ivy League so do not at all disregard the State Schools and Universities in the USA Canada and Europe.

Be humble and get into a lesser Known to avoid Wasting Dollars and Precious Time in So Called Elite Schools.

Think about it we are the all the same humans no matter the School we attend for a Diploma or a Certificate.

The Editors who create Rankings assume that creating a Social Class will get People a sense of Ego Snobbery and Nepotism.

If one can write and understand Good English then one has a leg up un the World of Academia and Graduate Schools.
Upvotes: 1


<issue_start>username_0: I really like doing research, but I've heard that all the fights for funding can be a major headache. So I am wondering, how can I enjoy my work without worrying about grant applications? Are there specific fields or positions that don't require this?<issue_comment>username_1: The need for grant funding depends a lot on the type of research that you do. The more that your research requires laboratory facilities and equipment, graduate student research assistants to run the equipment, or travel for field work than the more that you're going to need grant funding. In the other direction, grant funding is less important if you do more theoretical research by yourself or with collaborators at other institutions.

No matter what type of research you do, you're going to need time to work on the research and some money to travel to conferences and present your research.

One of the few ways in which this can be done is to hold a faculty position at an undergraduate liberal arts college. Some of these positions have reasonably light teaching loads (although typically higher than at research universities) and funds to send faculty to conferences.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: The key point is that the money for your job needs to come from somewhere and as such grant finding is a massive deal for the majority of academics.
In my experience in the UK and understanding of the general nature of academia you will struggle to be defined as an 'academic' without partaking in the perpetual search for funding. Academics are not simply employees of a university or other institute, finding funding to do their research is an absolutely key part of the job. Even as an undergraduate researcher I had applied for funding for various summer projects, its quickly something that becomes relevant but it sounds like you haven't yet experienced it?

Finding funding is also fundamental in supervisory positions where you employ other academics, it would be your job as a PI/group leader to build the group and apply for funding to do that. Are you just interested in research and not in the wider nature of academia such as supervising other research scientists, coming up with new ideas for research and presenting at conferences? If you are just interested in the practical research aspect you could work in industry or as an employee at a university/institute (via teaching positions, research assistant etc) but you are unlikely to have the same freedom of research ideas or same long term career prospects as a typical academic, for example you would not reach group leader/PI without writing grants but you could reach a lead scientist role in an industry job.

It is also worth considering that the time you would have spent applying for grants would likely be exchanged for time required for teaching or other tasks that earn you the paycheck.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: It is definitely possible, because I know people who do. Now it may definitely *limit* your career options, but there are a number of careers within my corner of academia that don't require writing grant applications. Do however note that nearly all of them involve *someone* writing grant applications:

* Lab managers - usually Master's or PhD level folks who aren't interested in running their own lab, but who are good at keeping things going, managing students, etc.
* Programmers or technicians - specialists who aren't students or faculty, but rather employees.
* "Staff scientists" - these positions exist in some institutions, often as part of centers or other large grant funded groups, and don't necessarily require you to bring in your own grants.

None of these positions *necessarily* involve writing grants, though they can involve helping with grants, and if the grant goes away, so does your employment. But these folks also often have their own research agendas as part of either a larger project, or as unfunded side projects.

There's also research positions within industry or the government that may not involve competing for funding, though all of these have other aspects that may be equally as annoying.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: At a research university in the United States, the extent to which you need to write grants depends on what your field is. As a general rule of thumb, if you are in an engineering school, you will be expected to bring in funding. You will need this both because this is how you will pay your graduate students (and yourself during summer months), and because it is used as an evaluation criterion -- at tenure review, your promotion committee will care that you have shown that you can bring in grants. This is also true for physical sciences that have lab expenses.

However, in other fields, like Math and Economics, graduate students are typically funded by the department (sometimes via teaching assignments) rather than faculty grants. In these areas, bringing in grants is much less important, and since expenses are less, there is less need (or expectation) for you to bring in large grants.

Finally, grant writing isn't all bad! It is time consuming (and so annoying when a grant is rejected), but it is useful to be forced, every several years, to think about your research agenda and put your plans down on paper. The act of doing this often clarifies your thinking about where your work should be going.
Upvotes: 3


<issue_start>username_0: I am looking for software that will automatically assess the output of student assignments, or at least the numerical parts of them. This is for a large class of >100 students and multiple assignments. As part of a scheme to avoid plagiarism each student obtains different correct numerical answers to their problems. Thus if student A should get 2.56342 for question 1, student B should get 3.42975 and no two students should obtain answers that are identical. The method of calculation is the same in each case, but students have different input parameters that change the solution. (I should add at this point that the numbers **cannot be obtained with simple or complex formulae from the input parameters**: a significant amount of work is required to generate each answer; I have written a piece of software that generates these answers.)

I am wondering if it would be possible to use an existing software package that could handle the submission of student answers/assignments and also mark/grade the results for at least the numerical parts of the assignments. So far I have looked at Moodle, Hot Potatoes and Question Mark, but none of them seem suitable because I cannot see a way of the same question having different answers for different students. It maybe that I need to try to develop a custom built system for this, but before putting that effort in I would be very grateful to hear of any suggestions of existing systems that might be able to handle this task.

I have tried to check if this question has been asked before and looked at [this question on use of automated assessment of programming assignments](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/20578/use-of-automated-assessment-of-programming-assignments), for example, but I could not find a previous question that covers the question I pose here.<issue_comment>username_1: There is WebAssign, started at North Carolina State many years ago and now an independent company )<http://webassign.com/corporate/about-us/>), which provided
versions of problems from standard textbooks in physics and other fields with random inputs so that each student would have individual numerical inputs
(I had some experience with these in the early days -- the inputs were generated from Perl scripts with input constrained to be physically reasonable).

I have not been involved with courses that used these for ten years or so, but one issue that arose then was the appearance of spreadsheets that had the algorithms for solving the problems coded into the spreadsheet, so that students could simply plug their numbers into the spreadsheet and come up with the answers.

Your question suggests that you are using more complicated problems than those in elementary science courses, but perhaps you could use scripts (using Python, Perl or whatever) to generate unique inputs for each student.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Along similar lines to username_1's answer is [WeBWork](http://webwork.maa.org/), a free open-source online homework system. Students interact directly with the software's web interface to see their assigned problems and submit their solutions. Each problem on the assignment has a Perl script that is run for each student to generate the question and validate the result, so that each student can get their own random numerical values, and you can do arbitrary computations to check whether it is right. It also saves a random seed per student, so that a single student can (if you decide to allow it) attempt their own version of the problem repeatedly.

Most users of this software just draw from a pre-written bank of questions, but if you know some Perl you can certainly make your own (there may be a learning curve, of course). Depending on how involved your validation code is, you can either rewrite it in Perl or use some mechanism to let Perl call your code in its native language.

WeBWork has a fairly specific paradigm for scoring, student records, etc, so it may or may not fit neatly into what you have in mind for your course, but maybe it is worth a look.
Upvotes: 1


<issue_start>username_0: When teaching, at some points I sometimes have to go over "boring" technical stuff. By doing so, I see students attention decreasing: they look at their mobiles, at their laptops or, in lab environments, fool around in facebook, youtube etc. Their attention comes back when the lecture moves on to "lighter" subjects.

The thing is that you cannot just omit the content from the slides, as it is crucial for the course (e.g. IPv6, TCP/IP protocols etc.). However, only a small percentage of the students seems to be interested, even after I underline that the material will be examined in the final exam.

The question is: how to increase student interest and maximize the percentage of students that actually assimilate the lecture content?<issue_comment>username_1: First of all, you can't expect that all students are interested in the same manner. Concentration has its ups and downs over time. Also, some things are dull and will remain so, no matter how good a lecturer presents or how interested the audience is. This doesn't mean that you should skip it on the exam, students just have the choice to absorb it in class or later by themselves.

You seem, however, to face that the majority of students is uninterested. You could try to change the dynamic of class, for example, by going over the "heavy" parts at the beginning. That may include that you pace your schedules so, that that particular part of the curriculum comes at the beginning of the next class. If the "heavy" part is too elaborate, try splitting it into meaningful blocks, that can be intersected by "lighter" material, of course in a meaningful way. Ideal would be blocks that you can cover in 20-25 minutes.

Being a good lecturer is not only about the eloquence of talk or the skill of rhetoric, it is also about understanding that how to "pre-chew" the material for a given audience to keep their attention but still convey the knowledge. Dull things must be included, you can't change that. You can, however, change how you approach them.

PS: I don't think forbidding cells, laptops, youtube, etc. would help very much.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Try to lighten the load as much as possible without reducing the actual amount of information taught. An example I found last week, in a certain setting we want to find the maximum of a function. Now, knowing that we have that gradient is a good thing, because we can optimize it more efficiently; but writing down the *specific formula* for the gradient is not that useful, unless you are actually going to implement it. And furthermore, computing it in class is even more boring, as it only involves standard algebra manipulations.

Once you have chosen your battles wisely, try to justify why you have to go through this. After all, I know that TCP/IP is *that thing* that makes computers talk to each other, and I have been very happy not knowing more than that. Some of your students may feel that this is something that only the people working on IPv7 would ever use it. Briefly explain why this is not the case, and why should they learn the details.

Lastly, candy is always good. After a hard lecture learning a complex algorithm, you can explain how someone used it to do something completely unexpected or fun. This gives the motivation to go back to the topic, study it deeper to better understand the particular application.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Not all students learn in the same way, so not all will find the lecture presentation the best way of understanding or engaging with technical material. Injecting an element of practical or laboratory work is often a way of focussing their attention.

I find with networking they often do not **realise** that it is technical or detailed. They just look at the surface layer (the application in ISO model) and think they *understand* how email or the web works because they click on it every day. I ask them to program small clients and parts of protocols and they begin to realise that it may not be as straight forward as they thought, this then brings the lecture material back into context and focus for them. This only works, in my experience, when the practical work has some assessment marks associated with it. It depends if you are in a position to make changes to the assessments and the teaching facilities that you use. Some people might be stuck with an exam and a lecture theatre!

I did create a *role playing game* to teach some of the aspects of networking protocols which worked fine for 12 year olds, but for some reason I could not get 19 year olds *en-masse* to engage. Those that understood RPG loved it; but at least I can say I used *kinesthetics* in computer science teaching.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: It seems obvious but: Make it come alive!

My subject is something completely different (philosophy of religion). Under my professor's predecessor (I'm "only" TA), the subject had somewhat of a niche existence. Students went there, because they had to.

Students hate it, when they are just "receivers". They want to be involved. I do not know your field enough to give any particular advice, but I can tell a little what we did.

Instead of just "feeding" the audience with information for the exam, we let them do research on it on their own. We bring quotes, each can choose one and from that they have to figure out who said it and how to understand it. Furthermore my professor and I have some very distinc differences in our views on certain topics (e.g. the "liberus/servus arbitrius"). We both set up small challenges for students where they can try to "silence" us (meaning: bring us to the point where we cannot directly reply to their arguments anymore without having to read up first). They get some small rewards for that. Furthermore we re-introduced the old academic tradition of "disputationes". It's between professors and students and gives them an opportunity to actually use what they learnt.

I don't know if any of these suggestions can be applied to your field, but one thing for sure can: Let them try out and make mistakes. That's where they learn most from.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Change the way you deliver content for such topics, and break lectures into segments.

For example, once you get to a technical topic, say "The next topic is going to be a bit technical, so let's take a 3 minute break before we get back to this." They'll have so much more attention if you don't just glide into it.

One thing that's worked well for me in such situations is to just shuffle class. I ask students to leave their seats and come huddle closer to me with their chairs, a bit like in a circle if the tables weren't in the way. You can't do this 3 times per lecture, but once a week is totally possible, and it changes the dynamics: it's more like a personal communication than a lecture, and it allows me to talk in a different way about things I find important. It doesn't work if you need to use the projector of whiteboard, but it allows to talk about the big picture at least. The shuffling to get everyone away from their phones and seats also serves as a nice break from the previous topic and clears everyone's minds.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: I like many of the answers that have already been posted, but there is one additional aspect that I think is important in all cases -- your own attitude.

Make absolutely sure that you aren't projecting the idea that this topic is boring! You need to raise the energy level and show a very positive attitude toward the topic. Your voice should be loud, your gestures wide, and your face beaming -- you're absolutely blessed to be teaching such a great topic. "Hey, look, isn't this cool? The SYNACK flags being set will tell the client that their request has been accepted -- and further, that the server wants to talk to the client! Whoopee!"

Otherwise, the students will sense your disinterest and immediately head to their laptop, without taking the time to figure out the topic is boring on their own.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: I belong to the field of literature and in that to make things clearer our professors give us examples from the daily life. It not only helps to understand the the thing momentarily but it somehow seeps into your mind and you tend to remember it longer than the information given without examples.

Another great technique is to try to elaborate the tough or the boring part in their own language. As in, if English isn't the first language of all the students and they all share the same language then try explaining things in that language. People tend to grasp things faster in their own language than any other language.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_8: If you're teaching it, and calling it 'boring', what must the students think?

The simple solution is to tell the kiddies that this subject will be on the exam, and it will also be on the retake exam, so it's best to learn it now.

Not all of the problem is yours. If the students don't *want* to learn, you can't force them. But you also don't have to give them a passing grade if they don't know the correct answers.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_9: Give them a project to do. Tell them that they can create any program they want, as long as they use the technical stuff you talk about.

They could, for example, develop an RPG. Or, they could make a program that allows them to, say, turn off a computer using another computer.
Upvotes: 1


<issue_start>username_0: I am preparing for my Ph.D. oral defense in mathematics and am reading tips from various resources. It seems that the usage of slides is usually assumed, though it is generally not required. For me, I am more used to the more traditional way; that is, using whiteboard and markers. I have almost never used slides in my past part-time teachings.

My questions:

1. Is it a bad idea to use whiteboard and markers instead of slides in my Ph.D. oral defense?
2. If I use whiteboard, what if the committee have questions about the contents that I have already erased in my presentation?<issue_comment>username_1: The answer to your first question is hidden in your second question. Usually the questions are asked after the presentation and hence you might be asked to go to previous slide when the opponent might have a question or doubt. Also if people will ask you questions in between the presentation which is considered as rude behaviour on their part, might destroy your concentration and flow during presentation.
Being a defence related to mathematics you might need a chalk and board anyhow as you can say everything on the ppt presentation, so you might need it to explain something not present in your slides.

Overall my recommendation is to use ppt slides for the main presentation and also keeping chalk and board handy for odd questions not covered in the slides.

Good luck with your defence!!!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I have seen plenty of thesis defenses that use blackboards (the boards in our department are black- rather than white-, but I don't see that it makes a difference) and also plenty that have used slides. You should ask around -- or remember from previous thesis defenses you have attended; these are almost always open to all interested parties -- to see whether there is any local preference between slides and writing on the board. Ask your advisor too.

I suspect that you will find that it is up to you. In that case: do what makes you feel comfortable.

>
> Is it a bad idea to use whiteboard and markers instead of slides in my Ph.D. oral defense?
>
>
>

No, if you know it will make you more comfortable and more able to present well, it's a good idea.

>
> If I use whiteboard, what if the committee have questions about the contents that I have already erased in my presentation?
>
>
>

I don't see any fundamental difference between a thesis defense and any other math presentation. In general people can ask questions at any time; if the speaker indicates that she would rather address them later, then they get addressed later, in which case it's up to both the speaker and the questioner to remember the question (e.g. someone could write it down). A question which is specifically pertinent to something complicated you wrote on the board is probably better addressed then rather than later. If you get a later question about something that's not on the board anymore, your options are to answer the question verbally, to rewrite something on the board, or to pass out some other written materials which address it.

I will mention in passing that mathematical culture seems to prefer "chalk talks" more than general academic culture at this point. I have absolutely never used slides / powerpoint / whatever in any class I've taught. I do it only at large conferences where I can't be confident in advance that the board will be available and easily visible to all and/or that I've been given such a short amount of time that I feel that I have to whip through slides at top speed in order to "cover" what I want to. Writing mathematics on the board takes time. But so does understanding mathematics, and it feels a bit dishonest to need to present material faster than you can write it on the board. Moreover, if you're writing then you can adapt your presentation to the audience on the fly (which for a thesis can be important, so that e.g. having a thesis defense in a room with nothing to write on at all would seem weird to me).

Good luck.

**Further Thoughts**: Many thesis defenses have two very distinct parts, and the first part really is a lot like a conference talk in that you have a set amount of material to "cover" and the general expectation that you will get through that "coverage" with little distraction. So doing slides for that part of the defense makes perfectly good sense to me: a thesis defense is not a lecture, and the goal of that part of the defense is *not* to impart the maximal possible understanding to everyone in the room. You want to get through that first part with little fuss, and you don't want it to drag out. So for instance if you are the type of person that prepares much more to write on the board than turns out to be realistic (as I often am), then preparing slides could be a good strategy to stay on track. Still, if *you want* to write on the board during this part of the defense: go for it.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: There is another option, that gives the best of both worlds: use transparencies on an overhead projector! Your department will probably have one buried in the dungeons somewhere.

Some projectors have a continuous roll of film that you scroll up and down over the surface you write on, with others you'll need to use individual A4 transparency sheets. If you use a clear numbering system, it's easy for the audience to ask you to go back to a specific spot.

You can even draw complicated diagrams by hand in advance, or print some sections onto transparency paper. But you still have that possibility to write directly onto what you're projecting that you can only do with a computer presentation if you have a "smart" whiteboard or a digitizer tablet.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Well to give a better understanding visualization is needed. During defense you main aim is to make people understand what you were doing and how good it is. If you feel you can make them understand without the slides go for it.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: Let me answer question 2 first, since it is easier.

* You can highly encourage your examiners/audience members to interrupt you at anytime with questions. (This prevents the problem from happening.)
* Additionally prepare some written notes and when giving your presentation use clear and consistent numberings/namings of equations and theorems. (This makes it easier for the audience to scribble down the context of their question, and for you to recall the statements later.)

---

Question 1 on the other hand depends on a lot of factors.

1. ***Is your oral defense "serious" or "pro forma"?*** In the first case it is often better to use whichever you are more comfortable with (but read on for the points below). In the second case you should just use slides (it saves every one some time and gets you out of the room to enjoy the champagne that much quicker). Since in the second case you don't really care about giving a good talk, we will assume you are in the first case for the following points.
2. ***Slides doesn't mean faster.*** While it is possible to abuse slides and give talks at a higher pace than you would otherwise (and hence should), it is considered bad practice by many to use slides for the sake of "covering material". Your job in giving an academic presentation is not to simply show off how much stuff you know, but to convey a sense of narrative to the project and to impress on the audience the actual knowledge you have discovered.

	* If you are covering the slide from top to bottom with words, you are doing it wrong.
	* If you have more slides than minutes for the presentation, you are probably doing it wrong.
	* If you presentation can be presented without you (namely that the audience can just read the slide from beginning to end without you being involved), you are doing it wrong.The keyword in *visual aid* is "aid". Most people find it difficult to process two different streams of verbal information at the same time. If you use slides you should use keywords and phrases to anchor the attention of the audience, but not full sentences (which would be an invitation to stop listening to what you are saying).
3. ***Board doesn't mean slower.*** You don't have to write down every word that comes out of your mouth. Mathematics excels in having symbolic notation. And while it is good to state your theorems in a reasonably complete way, for technical hypotheses you don't necessarily have to write it down (unless that hypothesis is sort of the point of the presentation): you can simply *give names* to your hypotheses and express and explain each of them orally.
4. ***Is your penmanship good?*** This is obviously a concern for the decision between board versus slide. If your board writing is perfectly illegible, you really should use slides. Even if all your peers use the board.
5. ***Some further comparisons*** (in no particular order)

	* Slides force you to adopt a fixed linear narrative, and it is harder to jump out of it on the fly. Board allows you to be more free-form. On the flip side, if you are very nervous about your presentation, the regimental nature of slides may help you settle into a groove more easily.
	* Slides do allow you to race through material. If you are the type that when excited will start talking faster and faster, maybe the action of writing on the board can help prevent you from blitzing through your talk at an incomprehensible speed.
	* If your talk has a time-limit, one benefit from a board-talk is that you can adjust your presentation on the fly to accommodate the limit. It doesn't look good if you give a slide talk and either finish 10 minutes early or end up with 15 slides that you never got to. (You can do adjustments for slide talks too, but it is harder to hide it from the audience.)
	* If your talk uses a lot of pictures, I would recommend slides. Very few people are talented enough to draw great illustrations on the fly on the board. The same applies to any material that will take significantly longer to reproduce on the board than the time it will stay up on the board.
	* On the other hand, if your illustrations are "dynamic", it can sometimes be done better on the board. (Example: reproducing a straight-edge and compass construction, or illustrating Reidemeister moves in knot theory.)
6. In mathematics at least, ***both are common enough*** that you really shouldn't feel the need to conform to using one or the other. Ultimately your decision should be determined by "how can I give the best presentation?" while factoring various things like nerves (you will be nervous at your oral defense, regardless of how many talks you have given before; the same is true of your first tenure-track job talk, your first talk at a large conference, etc.) Of course you should spend time to prepare the content of your talk. But you should also spend time to discover the common pitfalls of public presentation (I listed some above, but the list is by no means complete) and make the effort to take preventative actions. One way to do the latter, as has been suggested elsewhere on this page, is to go to other students' presentations. Wisdom is in large part learning from other people's mistakes.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: I recommend the blackboard. Shows your process of thought better. Plus more old school. Unless you have complex graphics, skip the slide show.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: You should not compare presentations (at a defense, at a conference, etc) and teaching. A presentation does not necessarily explain the material, and its main purpose it to advertise your work in the presence of time constraints and stress. All blackboard presentations that I saw, put the presenters at a disadvantage. They would waste time copying from their notes to the board, fixing mistakes, then searching what's the next thing to copy. If you need to make a presentation, don't do it on blackboard.
Upvotes: 0


<issue_start>username_0: I am teaching English for an Employment course; the entire course usually takes 2 months.

This semester I have a student who is **talking too much** in the class and for anything that I teach he has something to say—sometimes related to the course and sometimes not. However, he performs well enough in my class activities and homework and he doesn't seem to be deliberately rude.

He is not a chatterbox—he's not talking continuously for a long time, but for many and many times, but each time he speaks for a short time. Sometimes he is also a bit aggressive, saying things like "non-human employers" or "psychologists talking empty for money". I think he is suffering from [aspergers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome) since he also usually brings some maths stuff to read in class.

How can I deal with such an unpleasant situation?

BTW, I am a woman teacher and the student is a man; does this makes him more rude?<issue_comment>username_1: In the first place, I would take him aside for a quiet chat. Nothing aggressive - just explain how you see the situation he is creating. If he has some interesting points to make, do listen. But also make it clear you are teaching *all* the students in class, not just one. This, hopefully, should be sufficient.

The second stage -if needed- is a serious warning in class, in front of everyone. Other students need to see you are taking things in hand. He has been forewarned.

The third level is OUT, plus whatever disciplinary measures are current in your institution.

Unfortunately, just ignoring him will not help him see his errors.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Introduction
============

I have responsibility for students with alternate needs in my academic department (of a UK University). I also have responsibility for quality in teaching and learning. There are two issues that you raise here which are different, and being aware that they are different is necessary to understand routes to a solution.

There are different kinds of *talking in class*. There is the situation where two (or many) students are talking to each other whilst the teacher/lecturer continues with teaching. We teach in very large theatres (in hundreds) and this sometimes happens that the noise level at the back prevents students hearing the lecture, but the lecturer is unaware of the chatting until there is a complaint; or on some occasions the lecturer *is* aware of it and continue regardless!

There is the situation where the talking is from one student alone, either to themselves or chatting to you, interrupting you or asking questions of you with great regularity.

Tourette's
==========

You have implied it is the one individual situation in your question, so I will constrain my answer to that situation specifically. One individual may be talking a lot for several reasons, some of which may be due to a specific condition. For example, a student with [Tourette's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourette_syndrome) may call out, involuntarily, and sometimes convert the interruption into a question to cover the situation. This is unlikely to be the position you have but I wanted to highlight it for others. This situation needs handling with some diplomacy and tact to avoid overly embarrassing yourself or the student in question. A student with Tourette's may appear overly aggressive or even acting improperly with respect to your gender. If this is the case you should seek advice from your special needs advisors.

Autistic Spectrum
=================

A student on the [Autistic Spectrum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism_spectrum), which may include Asperger's, will relate to you differently an needs handling differently. For a student on the Autistic Spectrum they have more difficulty accepting that other people are present and see the class as a one-to-one conversation with you and treat it as such. They would respond to as if no one else was present. If you asked a rhetorical question, such as "What do we think of this?" - they will answer immediately! If you ask "Do we all understand" they will very likely say no (another aspect of Asperger's). One of my students used to answer his phone in class (quite loudly) because he had overlooked the fact that he was not alone.

Several things that a teacher can do with one (or more) student on the Autistic Spectrum in their class at University. We need to make it clear when question can be asked and when not. *"I will explain how ..... and save any question until later. You can ask me questions after the end of class."* is a simple statement that can make the protocol clearer. Avoid saying "Ask me any questions". They will take it literally, including asking non-related questions. If you want a Q&A session you again have to be clear: *"I will take a small number of clarifying questions from different students."* - this makes it clear that you cannot answer all the questions from one person and that the time is finite.

Once the protocol is clearly established such students are happy to work within such a regime. It is likely that it has never been explained to them how it works. Their condition makes it difficult to work it out for themselves how this aspect of human interaction operates. It has to be spelled out for them, even as adults and even at very high levels of knowledge. If you're not sure, watch a bit more of [The Big Bang Theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Bang_Theory)!

Psychosis
=========

A final note, that we also teach students with [Psychosis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosis) which can manifest itself in various forms. This can include paranoia, delusional behaviour, threatening behaviour and so on. It can cause them to talk aloud in class (answering the voices they are hearing). Again, there may be gender related issues with this category of student and one should seek advice of the support professionals.

Summary
=======

So, when in context, you can see that talking to the student in a quiet chat is a good place to start as you may learn the reason for their behaviour, but not all categories of *"chatters"* are necessarily self-aware. We have to remember that in many cases we are the responsible adult in the relationship (to use a legal term). The responsibility of doing the **right** thing is ours.

---

Some resources:

* [Teaching Students with Asperger's at College](http://www.autism.org.uk/working-with/education/education-professionals-in-fe-and-he/guidelines-for-teaching-students-with-asperger-syndrome-in-further-education-colleges.aspx)
* [Teaching Students with Asperger's at University](http://www.autism.org.uk/working-with/education/education-professionals-in-fe-and-he/college-and-university-supporting-students-with-asperger-syndrome.aspx)
Upvotes: 4