Some final thoughts on the semester
Published on Dec 14, 2006 at 10:35 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under college teaching.
I gave the final exam to my astronomy class last night, and afterwards some of the students stayed to observe Saturn and some Geminid meteors. We saw several meteors right from the light polluted campus, so I know that it was a good shower. The Geminids have come to be one of the best meteor showers of the year.
The semester is now over. All the exams are graded, and final grades have been computed. Some students pleasantly surprised me by doing much better on the final exam than on earlier exams. They learned something!
But, I have a few thoughts on the semester. Tomorrow I’ll get back to astronomy topics.
1) Students: when you write term papers, think about what you are writing. Yes, I know that you read a source written in the 1990’s talking about a future NASA mission to Mars. But, don’t write a term paper in 2006 saying that NASA plans to send a spacecraft to Mars in 1998 and it is hoped that it will do such and such. In fact, when you read that in the original source, it would be a good idea to look in later works to see if said spacecraft actually was launched, or if it worked when it got there! This also goes for the student who told me that “next year, in 1994 Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 will strike the planet Jupiter.” Think about what you are writing. When you write things like that, you make me wonder if you are plagiarizing or simply clueless. Neither thought is what you want me to have when I am grading your paper!
2) Administrators: Do you really think that it is smart to close off all of the stairwells in the building to do renovations during final exams, and then park a big truck in front of the only doorway leading into the wing of the building thus blocked off? Did you ever hear of fire codes? This really could have been done next week when the college is closed for the holidays.
3)   Administrators: I just submitted my grades online. You told us that this new software with online grade submission would make reporting grades much easier. Under the old method, I turned in a scantron with grades bubbled in. Under this new method, I have to turn in copies of EVERYTHING. The all electronic submission will make me turn in 146 pages of pointless stuff tomorrow that I printed off tonight. Really, does this sound easier to you? Do you have any idea how much all that paper and ink costs the college? This saves us money, how???
4) To whoever came up with the new regulation that we have to have our keys checked. Come on, we are college professors, not school children. And the rationale given doesn’t make sense. You tell us that we have to have our keys checked to make sure that a terrorist doesn’t get hold of one. Because, we all know that terrorists use stolen keys to unlock doors …
Now, I get to get a bit of rest, and then back to more astronomy blogging.
There’s going to be a lot of holiday related things going on for the next couple of weeks, so my regular readers might notice that postings will be somewhat erratic for a while.  I should be getting back to more routine posting in January.
-Astroprof
Seeking Solace on December 15, 2006 at 10:00 am: 1
You have to check your keys????
Have a great Christmas!!!