I apologize for the delay in posting, but I will not be doing a Musing this week. All of the good food and great company have sent my musing mind into a bit of a content stupor. Any musings are of the joys of family. You can read about those thoughts at Grandfatherswish.blogspot.com.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
The first of two situations: How to get help
A bit of a continuation of my topic form last week, this week I've talked with a number of students looking for help. They were frustrated, disappointed, or in some other way discontent about their situation. In one case the student said that "he kept on getting the runaround" and that "nobody would help him." Two others were facing consequences from literally "not making the grade" they needed. Both of the situations are ones that many people, myself included, face in different ways throughout our lives. It was thinking about these that prompted this particular musing.
In the first situation the student didn't feel like anyone was able to help him. When I asked him what the situation was he related what a lot of students would like to know: What classes go well together to provide a balanced workload? In some ways this is similar to when students ask what classes are "easy." I used to get after students for asking for easy classes until I found myself asking my master's advisor the same questions. Most university personnel don't have an ethical problem answering this questions. It's not like we are banned from endorsing one professor or class over another. The reason why advisors say they can't answer this question is simply because it's impossible. Easy is relative. What one person finds easy another one finds hard. Anybody who has received a personal recommendation about this or that book, movie, game, restaurant, college, person to date, etc. knows that while the person recommending may have good intentions they may not know enough to provide a perfect match. Sometimes they get close and sometimes they are way off - it depends on how well they know you, how long, etc.
Many students expect advisors to know the "best" schedule of classes for them to take. However, I don't have many interactions with professors, have never (in the majority of cases) sat in on lectures or taken their class, and have no idea what the student's preferences are in teaching style. How can I recommend a class to a complete stranger when I don't know anything about the person or the class? It would be nice if I did and it's not always difficult. At my last school I did know many of the professors by sight and name and we had a small enough faculty that I heard a lot of things from students. However, I still felt very uncomfortable when students asked me for recommendations. I explained this all to the student and referred him to ratemyprofessors.com, where our university has a pretty decent following. In some ways this is the easiest way to find out about professors and classes as the reviews are done by students who have to say what class they took. I still tell students to take the reviews with a grain of salt as what someone like somebody else hates. The student then asked how he would go about meeting with an advisor. Figuring he was just looking to talk to someone else (or perhaps he thought I was just a secretary because I was manning the front desk) I asked him what kind of help he was looking for.
That question, "What kind of help do you want?" is an important one. I think that when we are looking for help it's important that we answer that question first as it will help us narrow things down. The kind of help he was looking for was basically a variation of what he asked me for - what classes should he take together. I told him who he needed to talk to for his degree and suggested a way to approach the appointment so he should get better results. What is this way, students ask. Try to ask specific questions whenever possible. The easier you make it for someone to help you the more likely they are to be able to. If you ask someone, "Can you help me?" without preamble they will probably not be able to until you tell them more.
This has run a little long, so I'll continue with the 2nd situation next week.
In the first situation the student didn't feel like anyone was able to help him. When I asked him what the situation was he related what a lot of students would like to know: What classes go well together to provide a balanced workload? In some ways this is similar to when students ask what classes are "easy." I used to get after students for asking for easy classes until I found myself asking my master's advisor the same questions. Most university personnel don't have an ethical problem answering this questions. It's not like we are banned from endorsing one professor or class over another. The reason why advisors say they can't answer this question is simply because it's impossible. Easy is relative. What one person finds easy another one finds hard. Anybody who has received a personal recommendation about this or that book, movie, game, restaurant, college, person to date, etc. knows that while the person recommending may have good intentions they may not know enough to provide a perfect match. Sometimes they get close and sometimes they are way off - it depends on how well they know you, how long, etc.
Many students expect advisors to know the "best" schedule of classes for them to take. However, I don't have many interactions with professors, have never (in the majority of cases) sat in on lectures or taken their class, and have no idea what the student's preferences are in teaching style. How can I recommend a class to a complete stranger when I don't know anything about the person or the class? It would be nice if I did and it's not always difficult. At my last school I did know many of the professors by sight and name and we had a small enough faculty that I heard a lot of things from students. However, I still felt very uncomfortable when students asked me for recommendations. I explained this all to the student and referred him to ratemyprofessors.com, where our university has a pretty decent following. In some ways this is the easiest way to find out about professors and classes as the reviews are done by students who have to say what class they took. I still tell students to take the reviews with a grain of salt as what someone like somebody else hates. The student then asked how he would go about meeting with an advisor. Figuring he was just looking to talk to someone else (or perhaps he thought I was just a secretary because I was manning the front desk) I asked him what kind of help he was looking for.
That question, "What kind of help do you want?" is an important one. I think that when we are looking for help it's important that we answer that question first as it will help us narrow things down. The kind of help he was looking for was basically a variation of what he asked me for - what classes should he take together. I told him who he needed to talk to for his degree and suggested a way to approach the appointment so he should get better results. What is this way, students ask. Try to ask specific questions whenever possible. The easier you make it for someone to help you the more likely they are to be able to. If you ask someone, "Can you help me?" without preamble they will probably not be able to until you tell them more.
This has run a little long, so I'll continue with the 2nd situation next week.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
An academic case study: Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan.
My family and I watched Monsters University last week. I enjoyed the film and it brought back a couple of memories about my own college experiences. In professional life I've worked for four different universities and colleges of varying types and have met with hundreds of students. I'm not into the thousands yet, but I'm sure I'll get there someday. I thought that Mike and Sully in the film were a lot like real students that I've met with before.
Students that have Mike's enthusiasm are some of my favorite but not because they are generally well prepared for their appointments and don't have any surprises. I take a sadistic pleasure in asking high achieving students about the one imperfect grade they have. I find it fascinating how much ire an A- grade can generate from someone who has straight As otherwise. I do this very, very rarely and only with students that I am comfortable with. I get the feeling that Mike might prove to be a bit difficult. His desire to become a scarer coupled with his lack of scariness is like when I've met with students who wanted to enter a program that required a 2.75 and had a 2.0. Those circumstances are some of the more challenging, but not impossible. I freely admit that there are many situations that students can recover from. I've even guided students who overcame a .75 GPA deficiency to qualify for the program they wanted. It takes time and effort and is done regularly. However, I also acknowledge that often the challenges require more than the person can or is willing to invest. I did like how the movie showed how Mike was able to achieve his dream in a way that was conducive to his abilities. As I think about Mike's desire to become a scarer and the position that we know he ends up in I think that he enjoys his eventual position more than he would enjoy being the scarer he wanted to be. He has an mind for analysis and he likes be in control. Really, as a scarer he is the one taking orders. Mike did a good job of refining his dream to match his abilities and his experience. Much like many students all over the country do when they have their first dream crushed or bubble popped.
Sully, Mr. James P. Sullivan, exhibits a trait that get to see in many, many different students. He has a sense of entitlement that he has to overcome. He is not just this feeling. I liked the roundness that he had and the depth of his internal conflicts. In many ways, he overcomes his entitlement fairly early in the movie and then dukes it out with his other challenges such as dishonesty, depression, self-doubt, and anger management. Many say that entitlement is a feature of the Millennial Generation, which is the one that is currently moving through college to the workplace. I've attended a least a dozen panels, workshops, or presentations where the topic was working with millennial students. Entitlement can be a big deterrent in a student's education though. I heard a student say that he intended to "talk his way through college, just like he did high school." At the end of the school year I came across a letter of probation in that student's file. Somehow I didn't think he was going to talk his way through a class whose professor presented "10 reasons why this class is not for you" as the first lecture. As I mentioned, Sully learns pretty early in the film that what he thought was a given required more effort from him than just being there. Once he got that figured out, he did a pretty decent job at learning how to succeed.
Mike and Sully were two very different students who have very different problems. Like unhappy families, students with difficulties all struggle with different things. In meeting with students for petitions or probation / suspension intervention I've never heard the same story twice. Every situation under the sun is possible. One of my favorites was when I asked a student what was his biggest academic difficulty. He replied, "I'm a great student when I'm not in jail!" To me getting thrown in jail means that you're not a good student, but what do I know. Regardless of what difficulties students have, my job (and every advisor's job) is to help students succeed. So when (not if) you start to have difficulty, don't hesitate to see an advisor. We would love to help you get through it and it is far better to meet before things go to pot than afterwards.
Students that have Mike's enthusiasm are some of my favorite but not because they are generally well prepared for their appointments and don't have any surprises. I take a sadistic pleasure in asking high achieving students about the one imperfect grade they have. I find it fascinating how much ire an A- grade can generate from someone who has straight As otherwise. I do this very, very rarely and only with students that I am comfortable with. I get the feeling that Mike might prove to be a bit difficult. His desire to become a scarer coupled with his lack of scariness is like when I've met with students who wanted to enter a program that required a 2.75 and had a 2.0. Those circumstances are some of the more challenging, but not impossible. I freely admit that there are many situations that students can recover from. I've even guided students who overcame a .75 GPA deficiency to qualify for the program they wanted. It takes time and effort and is done regularly. However, I also acknowledge that often the challenges require more than the person can or is willing to invest. I did like how the movie showed how Mike was able to achieve his dream in a way that was conducive to his abilities. As I think about Mike's desire to become a scarer and the position that we know he ends up in I think that he enjoys his eventual position more than he would enjoy being the scarer he wanted to be. He has an mind for analysis and he likes be in control. Really, as a scarer he is the one taking orders. Mike did a good job of refining his dream to match his abilities and his experience. Much like many students all over the country do when they have their first dream crushed or bubble popped.
Sully, Mr. James P. Sullivan, exhibits a trait that get to see in many, many different students. He has a sense of entitlement that he has to overcome. He is not just this feeling. I liked the roundness that he had and the depth of his internal conflicts. In many ways, he overcomes his entitlement fairly early in the movie and then dukes it out with his other challenges such as dishonesty, depression, self-doubt, and anger management. Many say that entitlement is a feature of the Millennial Generation, which is the one that is currently moving through college to the workplace. I've attended a least a dozen panels, workshops, or presentations where the topic was working with millennial students. Entitlement can be a big deterrent in a student's education though. I heard a student say that he intended to "talk his way through college, just like he did high school." At the end of the school year I came across a letter of probation in that student's file. Somehow I didn't think he was going to talk his way through a class whose professor presented "10 reasons why this class is not for you" as the first lecture. As I mentioned, Sully learns pretty early in the film that what he thought was a given required more effort from him than just being there. Once he got that figured out, he did a pretty decent job at learning how to succeed.
Mike and Sully were two very different students who have very different problems. Like unhappy families, students with difficulties all struggle with different things. In meeting with students for petitions or probation / suspension intervention I've never heard the same story twice. Every situation under the sun is possible. One of my favorites was when I asked a student what was his biggest academic difficulty. He replied, "I'm a great student when I'm not in jail!" To me getting thrown in jail means that you're not a good student, but what do I know. Regardless of what difficulties students have, my job (and every advisor's job) is to help students succeed. So when (not if) you start to have difficulty, don't hesitate to see an advisor. We would love to help you get through it and it is far better to meet before things go to pot than afterwards.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Cold
The temperature for the next week is not supposed to get over freezing (32 degrees F. / 0 degrees C.). Living in northern Utah means that you'll have weeks like this from time to time - often several times in the same month. I know it's not as cold as many other places, nor is it the coldest we can get. Peter Sinks (not far from where I went to college in Logan) holds the state record (or at least did) at -69 degrees F (-56 degrees C). It has a bit of an unusual situation that fosters that kind of temperature. I do remember being on campus when it was -40 degrees F/C (the point where the scales intersect). That day it didn't get above 0 degrees F (-17 degrees C.) You know that it's below 0 degrees F when the air in your nose freezes and pulls all of your nose hairs. If you've never experienced it you'll understand when it happens.
It's interesting that cold is measure of how little heat there is in something. A degree is a measure of heat. That's why the absolute scale (Kelvin) is considered such. Fahrenheit and Celsius are taken in reference to something. Fahrenheit has its zero point centered on a equal mixture of water, ice, and salt. Celsius uses zero as the freezing point of water. Kelvin uses the same degree size as Celsius but has zero at the point that all matter becomes inert. According to the third rule of Thermodynamics you cannot reach absolute zero. If you think about it this is simple and a bit of a no brainer. In order to measure something your instrument needs to move. If you're at absolute zero nothing is moving. A metaphor that Pratchett likes to use may be fitting. Reaching absolute zero is like trying to open a box with the crowbar that is inside of it. It just isn't going to work unless the laws of physics decide to conveniently ignore you. However, near zero temperatures are a big area of study. It's even used in quantum computers. Derek from Veritasium did a video with with Dr. Morello from the University of New Wales where they talk about one of the methods of cooling thing to near absolute zero using helium
So if we consider the absolute scale as the measure of heat that means that we cannot have negative temperatures because there is nothing less than nothing. However, there are studies that work in "negative temperature." It is not less heat that zero, but rather a different level of energy. Professor Moriarty from the University of Nottingham explains how this work, but not without a little frustration when Brady asks him to make his metaphor fit an incompatible situation.
You can get some answers to frequently asked questions about negative absolute temperatures here. In all, it's fascinating how cold we can get something and the consequences of doing so. Or should I say, how much heat we can suck out of it.
It's interesting that cold is measure of how little heat there is in something. A degree is a measure of heat. That's why the absolute scale (Kelvin) is considered such. Fahrenheit and Celsius are taken in reference to something. Fahrenheit has its zero point centered on a equal mixture of water, ice, and salt. Celsius uses zero as the freezing point of water. Kelvin uses the same degree size as Celsius but has zero at the point that all matter becomes inert. According to the third rule of Thermodynamics you cannot reach absolute zero. If you think about it this is simple and a bit of a no brainer. In order to measure something your instrument needs to move. If you're at absolute zero nothing is moving. A metaphor that Pratchett likes to use may be fitting. Reaching absolute zero is like trying to open a box with the crowbar that is inside of it. It just isn't going to work unless the laws of physics decide to conveniently ignore you. However, near zero temperatures are a big area of study. It's even used in quantum computers. Derek from Veritasium did a video with with Dr. Morello from the University of New Wales where they talk about one of the methods of cooling thing to near absolute zero using helium
So if we consider the absolute scale as the measure of heat that means that we cannot have negative temperatures because there is nothing less than nothing. However, there are studies that work in "negative temperature." It is not less heat that zero, but rather a different level of energy. Professor Moriarty from the University of Nottingham explains how this work, but not without a little frustration when Brady asks him to make his metaphor fit an incompatible situation.
You can get some answers to frequently asked questions about negative absolute temperatures here. In all, it's fascinating how cold we can get something and the consequences of doing so. Or should I say, how much heat we can suck out of it.
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