Homework for this weekend
The homework for this weekend is to get caught up on ALL of your homework. Everything should be turned in. Any overdue homework which be charged the late fee as outlined in the syllabus.
If you are caught up, have a nice weekend. If you ar enot caught up, please let em know what I can do to help you get caught up.
Take care,
--Dr. M
posted by maclin_uni @ 1:30 PM
14 Comments:
I don't want to speak for the entire class, but I think that people have some issues with having the test next week: using outside class time to take the test takes away from our time devoted to other classes and therefore some people feel that if we are going to take the test outside of class, at least class should be cancelled.
Why can't a test be made that could assess our abilities in the time allotted for class? Couldn't a condensed version be made? Some people simply do not have a lot of time outside of class to devote to this, it still is an extra two hours out of the week in addition to class time.
there seem to be three things that people would be happier with: 1. have the test supervised outside of class, but cancel class, 2. make the test fit into class time by condensing it or 3. make it a true take home and let us take it home to work on it, considering we will always have all of the tools in a real world stats setting.
just thought i would outline some concerns
Yeah it doesn't really help to have the test scheduled outside of class time, it just becomes one more thing that needs to be done that week. I haven't heard a single person say they liked this idea.
We are having troubles with the homework for Friday. I realize that we "should" know how to do all of the things you say we should know how to do in your email, but frankly, it's easier said than done. Some of us have spent at least 2 and a half hours on the first part of the assignment--and I don't think that is what you expected when you assigned the homework, at least I hope not. It is really frustrating to spend so much time on an assignment, trying to do it correctly, and then be told we should be able to replicate these same behaviors on a test in about "2 minutes". I don't know how to alleviate this problem, but even following along with Howell, and your powerpoint, the homework is extremely tedious and frustrating. I just thought I would make you aware of some of the troubles students are having.
Not sure who exactly posted the first comment, but I have to say that I agree....any of the options would be much appreciated rather than scheduling a test outside of class while continuing to move ahead in the book.
You know, it is frustrating to have to schedule this out of classtime, but, at the same time, we have other classes that have demanded a whole lot more out-of-class time from us than this one....diads, WAIS administrations, nasty exams that take 3+ hrs., research grps. for ethics, need I say more? Why does everyone wait until Stats to voice this complaint? Is it because we are really that pissed about it or is it maybe because Dr. Maclin is the only professor we have who will actually take complaints seriously? Really, it's only one extra hour since class has already been canceled this week. I guess I think the best solution would be just to have take home tests(which means actually taking them home and working on them and then bringing them back the next day or whenever). That way we could spend the amount of time we wanted to on them, we'd still learn the material, we wouldn't have to cancel class, and it wouldn't be a scheduling mess with a bunch of disgruntled students.
RE: We are having troubles with the homework for Friday.
I appreciate your being able to write and express your concerns. You are absolutely correct – it is always easier said than done. We all spend a great deal of time with this class. It takes time to develop a skill. In reading the other posts it is clear that you all have others classes that put different but equally time consuming assignments.
What specific problems are you having? As I said earlier in the semester, the more specific you are about your questions/problems, the better I can address them. I am not sure why it is taking you so long. Let me know what you are stuck on and I can help you.
“2 minutes” was my attempt at humor – it was associated with my copy and pasting the results into the results section (the more complex statistics require more time to write up). Sorry if it did not come across that way – I try to use humor to when packaging information about stats (which as you say can be "tedious and frustrating"). I apologize that it obviously created stress for you – it was not my intention.
As I said in the email – do the best you can. As in the past, you will be able to get corrective feedback and make changes if necessary to get full credit.
--Dr. M
RE: Exam 3
Wow – It sounds like you guys are really stressed out. While I am not aware of the amount of work you all have to do for your classes. The amount of work you are doing for this class compares to my experience as a student.
As I said in the beginning of the semester, stats like math, computer programming, and foreign languages is skill based and requires a lot of outside work and practice. Like most skill based tasks, it is frustrating at time when you are learning.
It sounds like you are getting a ton of work in other classes and have huge 3 hour tests. I appreciate that this too is frustrating and I am glad that you can vent this through me, but please try not to see me as the sole cause of your frustrations. I realize that many of you, given your druthers, would not freely take stats – so double the frustration I suppose. But also don’t see me as the person who made you take stats in the first place – I am just the messenger. Here is a link to CNN article on math confidence/frustration and math performance http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/10/18/unhappy.achievers.ap/index.html)
Regarding exam 3. I don’t think it is unreasonable to take a test out of class. It is not uncommon to have “take home” tests. What would be uncommon however, would be to cancel a class period to correspond with the take home test. This is a different take home test because I want you to develop and rely on your skills before you take the exam (therefore not use the books to help you with the exam). If that were the case, that I just said here do this at home, it would just be another homework assignment of a cumulative nature.
When I brought up the idea of a “take home” exam, only one person expressed concern. I spoke with her later and she said that the problem was in scheduling when to take it. I told her that I would make it so anyone could take the exam any time, it would just have to be with me, Jen, of Jeanne. So you can take the exam anytime next week 24/7. One of the three of us has to be there to make sure that books are not being used. Now I would rather not have to go to campus at 3:00 AM, but if that is the only time you can take the exam – I’ll live up to my end of the agreement and meet you there.
Thanks taking the time to share your frustrations and provide me with valuable feedback. Let me know how things go after the exam so we can figure out if we want to do it that way again in the future.
Take care,
Dr. M
It's not only one extra hour, the cancelled class was because Dr. Maclin was sick. It doesn't have anything to do with the test. The difference between this test and our out of class work in other classes is that we were told from day 1 about those assignments and we knew from the first week of class we needed to schedule time for them. This was sprung on us at the last minute and it's not easy for some of us to fir into our schedules for various reasons. But I think the main poin is that Dr. Maclin proposed this idea to help us because of the problems on the last test, which I appreciate, I just don't think this particular approach is helpful. The ideal solution for me would be to simply have class at a different time and/or in a diferet room on test day.
It's frustrating because I know that he's trying to help and I just don't think anyone in this class finds this approach helpful. THe certain 3 hour test you mentioned earlier I'm pretty sure was designed to piss us off so that's different.
So let's just try this approach just this one time and see if it as bad as you think. If afterwards, you want to scrap it, we can go back to the way we did exams 1 and 2. I am happy to do so and we can spend the moral fund and have a party in class and you all can razz me about what a bad idea I had. I am trying to be helpful - not hurtful - my intent is good. Please help me this once and try this. Just once. Please. Don't make me beg...
PS - your point about the out of class work for your other classes being articulated in advance is well taken.
Just try it this once and if we don't get 100% approval from the class on this approach - we junk it an go back to what is articulated in our syllabus.
I am more or less indifferent about when/where we take the exam. My complaint is more with the homework. I, like most of the class it sounds like, am getting really frustrated with how long the homework is taking and feeling like I don't know what I'm doing. We fly through a chapter in lecture and that's it. Then we're expected to know it well enough to take a test over it. I would like to see more examples and explainations before the hours-long homework is assigned and before we take the tests.
I agree with the person that said that asking us to schedule our exam outside of class is not really asking a lot of time from us compared to out other classes. But, I think the frustration comes from not having enough notice a head of time and having to spend a lot of time on the homeworks. These HW problems do take a while if you want to to a qualitiy job. I guess I'm in favor of take home exams as well for that reason.
I also agree with that person, and with the previous comment. I'm also in favor of take home/take homes because I don't think these tests should be timed. That could really impede performance for some. Also, yah, we should cut Dr. MacLin some slack because he is trying to help unlike some egocentric professors who shall remain nameless who enjoy watching us suffer.
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