- Feature Articles
- CodeSOD
- Error'd
-
Forums
-
Other Articles
- Random Article
- Alex's Soapbox
- Announcements
- Best of…
- Best of Email
- Best of the Sidebar
- Bring Your Own Code
- Coded Smorgasbord
- Mandatory Fun Day
- Off Topic
- Representative Line
- News Roundup
- Editor's Soapbox
- Software on the Rocks
- Souvenir Potpourri
- Sponsor Post
- Tales from the Interview
- The Daily WTF: Live
- Virtudyne
Admin
Oh yeah, you got me started. Tenure is a ridiculous notion. It basically says a certain type of worker can only be eliminated if there are compelling financial reasons. Reasons having to do with anything else don't even qualify. Prof. Pukey McRummy can show up stoned and drunk two hours late to class and face only "discipline" rather than getting sacked on the spot; try doing that on any other job.
The notion of tenure was originally designed to keep profs with controversial opinions about politics and society, or even engineering practices, from being sacked. It's the same reason a civil service system is developed-- to keep cops, etc. from getting sacked just because the councilman they supported for re-election lost the election and the new councilman wants his supporters wearing the badge and drawing the pay. This was ostensibly designed with the interests of the people (or the students as the case may be) in mind. But like all such ideas, there are unintended consequences, and over time, all systems get corrupted as people learn to live and work within them-- and exploit them.
Good profs don't need tenure. Good but controversial profs generally don't get sacked since they are too popular, and if they do, they can find other work (since they are good). Bad profs however need tenure. They are the ones that carry on the loudest about it.
Personally I think the whole higher ed thing has become utterly corrupted by money (witness the recent kickbacks-on-loans scandal in New York state that is rapidly getting settled out of court and swept under the rug: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/us/03loans.html ) and various forms of BS, such as battles for prestige of all kinds, most notably in the realm of sports. Academics on the other hand can go hang-- for example, many of the teachers in freshman and sophomore classes are grad students themselves, with limited or no experience to recommend them, while their students are paying top dollar for actual professors. Many of the actual profs though usually don't want to "deal with" students anyway since the money and prestige is in research and publication, not teaching. On top of that, we are using a style of instruction that is wholly unsuited for today's work-world. All the while, costs for "higher ed" continue to shoot up-- why? What's the point? It's ridiculous.
Admin
this is what I call a boomerang assignment. The teacher proposes a job that he needs to be done and uses the best he collects. used throughout the world...
Admin
Wow, times have changed - I would never have considered licensing my assignments. The thought wouldn't even have occurred to me. It's kind of depressing, in a way. (I'm told my high school teacher is still using some of my assignments as examples - wonder if I should charge him royalties? ;)
But I agree - the issue should have been brought to the university's attention. While the "dummy company" won't care (they paid for work, they rec'd work), and the university might not care to make an issue over this incident, getting it on file starts the paper trail for when this prof isn't favored as much.
Admin
I had a similar teacher in high school. I took an advanced placement Computer Science course where we were supposed to learn C++. Our teacher had no idea what she was doing. She would assign us a chapter to read for the week, then tell us to do the programming exercises at the end of the chapter. My friend and I would finish the assignements within a half hour or so and spend the rest of the week teaching the other students the information from the chapter or playing Quake on the school network. If a student asked the teacher a question, she would just refer them to my friend and me. They eventually stopped asking her and started comnig directly to us. At the end of the year, each student had to submit a multiple-choice question (with the answer, of course) about something from the book and this set of questions became our final exam. At one point, we watched the movie Sneakers, had to take notes, and then had a quiz about the movie. Supposedly it was a C++ class, but I don't remember ever hearing or reading the word "object" in the entire course...
Admin
This is the classic case of fact be much stranger than fiction.
Admin
Admin
Is it 1 (because that's the first number in the list), 2 (because it's the first number in the group of numbers before the C) or 3 (because it's the number immediately preceding the C)?
Admin
Wow, I thought I recognized the story. Reading both the main article and the older sidebar is a good look into the anonymization process for these articles
Admin
Admin
Do I know you? This sounds just like the C++ class I took in high school. Right down to the games of Quake. Did the teacher leave class one day almost in tears to have a smoke break?
Admin
It happened a little differently; the original article can be found here: http://forums.worsethanfailure.com/forums/post/114696.aspx
and for the record, I was well-versed with SQL long before that and I never submitted the project - the prick actually gave us the source to improve, and all the links were direct (e.g. http://www.initech/file.htm instead of /file.htm)
The funny bit was that what he started us with was what was live on the internet; for my final, I completely redesigned it from scratch with the same graphics, the old code was just too horrible to work with.
Admin
In the second year of my computer science degree, we had to develop a CGI application in C (OK, this is going back a while). As part of the preparatory tutorials, we had four hours of labs on HTML. I walked out of the first one ten minutes in, when I looked at the handout and discovered that the "example" HTML page was one I'd written for the department as a research assistant the previous year.
Admin
A real genius, you are. ;-)
Admin
Admin
Well, you can't anyways since the school generally keeps rights to the copyright of anything you produce for them.
The school might be able to sue, though.
Admin
In that case, you're totally off the hook. I watched that movie so many times as a kid that now, at 33, I can practically recite the entire thing from beginning to end.
Admin
Well, the question of whether or not professors should be encouraged to stay at least within sight of mainstream opinion instead of going off on some wacko tangent while they are working for the taxpayers set aside for a second, they still are not free to do whatever they want. They need to get published, get funding for research, attract students, etc. The only professors who are free to do whatever they want are those who don't do research and who just teach entry level required classes (like this guy).
Admin
Oh, man. Is it someone's birthday? Because that just took the cake.
Admin
Admin
At least it became clear what the good professor was referring to when he mentioned his "contacts in the business world".
So let me get this straight: The company hired the professor to do their website, and the professor assigned his students to do it?
I'm sure there's a law against that... but, well...
Admin
Heh, when I was working towards my CS degree, I always put "copyleft $date" in the comments of any code (or by my name for any creative writing, though that's not as pertinent to this discussion) just because I thought it was sort of silly (as a variation on "copyright"). I basically felt that the work was public domain, essentially the polar opposite of copyright, hence how I came up with the word. Years later, I found out that there was an actual copyleft, and it was only slightly different than my intended meaning (i.e. the inclusion of the provision that derivative works maintain the copyleft status). I wonder now if that was an unintentional hindrance to some professors dreams of exploitation...
Admin
Heh.. not coding related but when I was in school we always thought one of our networking professors did this. We had an assignment to write up a network design proposal and the rumor going around was that he used the best ones submitted for his own consulting business.
Admin
I hope you gave credit where credit is due, not just to us, but to the professors evaluating your work, as well.
As one of my graduate professors said, "Giving credit is the currency of academia." In other words, there's nothing wrong with using another person's ideas or work, but if you don't clearly cite and give credit where it's due, it's tantamount to stealing.
Admin
reminds me of a colleague's database design teacher. He read directly from a powerpoint presentation. He then asked after each slide if anyone did not understand. If so he would re-read it, louder.
Admin
If it's Maryland, then you are making me cringe.
Admin
I don't see how, as coursework is likely not a work for hire (haven't checked specifically), and you have to assign copyright explicitly otherwise.
Admin
Why does there have to be a law against it? Do you feel a need to pass a law to legitimatize or restrict every other behavior anyone could ever engage in? Perhaps we should go through life having to look up a rulebook before shaking anyone's hand?
Sorry, people who confuse private rules with public laws annoy me.
Admin
Into to Computers. This class was very good for preparing students. It taught the education and liberal arts majors to find the CS or CIS students to do their computer assignments for them and, at the same time, prepared the CS and CIS students for the lack of an education that they were about to receive. Good old DSU. It was great when during my senior year the CS deparment was crippled when one of the good professors was promoted to dean. Slim pickens for your electives.
Admin
Like this one?
Admin
Copying materials for the sake of TEACHING is listed under fair use clauses in copyright laws. That means, such activities do not constitute a copyright breach.
Admin
Admin
Admin
Lane Community College, Eugene, OR
The school went to a +- grade system either before or during the 1999-2000 academic year.
There is an almost-related story that goes with the one A+ I earned. The main difference is that I was somewhat pissed that my work did NOT get used IRL.
The capstone course for Programming majors used the real-life problem of tracking building keys as the subject matter. Most of my classmates were quite content to confine their efforts to group-development process meetings and UI mock-ups. I focused on making a working application.
Our instructor noticed, and gave me the single A+ awarded for the class.
By the end of the term, I had completed only one screen in full working condition, but I took the initiative to talk to our Public Safety Director and inquire whether he was truly seeking a working application. On his assurance that he was, I spent a good part of my time that summer cranking out the rest of the key-tracking system.
When I went back to show the system I'd built, it became clear that the college IT department had put the kibosh on the project. I never got to show the system I'd built because the IT folks were convinced that anything not produced by a commercial vendor would be impossible to maintain, too much work, impossible, impractical, and too expensive, yada, yada.
Postscript: I went to work for the college the next year, and spent five years in a user support position. I did have to get a new key issued a couple times during my tenure. Each time we went through he same process where the administrative assistant down in Public Safety would look through a card-file to find the paper copy of the key order, sort through a pile of keys for the right one, have me sign a key contract that went back into the card file, etc.
You know, I'm not at all sure that the biggest WTFs in academia have anything to do with what goes on in the classrooms.
Admin
I once had a Professor that drew a falling curve in is very first class. He told us tht would be the amount of students present at his class throughout the semester. I soon found out why. Despite having a computer with a beamer at his disposal he insisted on writing his sourcecode on the chalkboard. He tried to sell us 30 year old pinciples as brand new and not beeing able to speak any english at all he managed to pronounce every english word totally wrong, so you had to really think to find out what he really was describing. I hated that guy, every time I had to keep myself awake, I wasn't always successful. ;)
Admin
Admin
This means that they would put non-binding legal mumbo jumbo at the start of their source code eh? Every single university (in the UK at least) will have in place in their Calendar (the Calendar is the rules and laws of the university) that all submissions are copyright of the university and cannot be assigned without express permission of a department, usually some 'ventures' or 'IP management' office.
For example, heres University of Warwick's one:
As soon as a work has been produced in a recorded form, it is automatically copyrighted. However, the creator can also provide additional protection by marking their work as copyright followed by the name of the copyright owner and year of publication. The creator can sell or transfer all or part of their copyright to another individual/organisation.
However, please note that any intellectual property produced by staff in the course of their employment at University is owned by the University. Intellectual property produced by undergraduate or postgraduate students during their course of study is also owned by the University. However, where intellectual property is exploited for a commercial purpose leading to income generation, the University can offer support to ensure a sharing of income between you and the University. There may also be cases where alternative contractual arrangements apply, such as intellectual property generated as a result of externally sponsored research. Students should contact their project supervisor for further advice. Members of staff should contact Warwick Ventures or Research Support Services.
Admin
Hey, weren't you the kid that filled the dorm with synthetic ice?
Bloody students...
Admin
Exactly. Members of staff implicitly assign copyright of any created works to the University. This text specifically states that the creator maintains copyright in any other case. Therefore, a student could certainly attach the GPL or any other license to her assignments and have the right to pursue enforcement if the terms of that license were violated.
Admin
Weasel.
Admin
Wow, sounds just too similar to my own school a few years back. In case you're considering going to http://www.bib.de/, don't. For just about the same reasons.
Admin
See "Intellectual property produced by undergraduate or postgraduate students during their course of study is also owned by the University." immediately following that section.
Admin
Sorry, longtime reader, first time poster. Makes more sense now.
See "Intellectual property produced by undergraduate or postgraduate students during their course of study is also owned by the University." immediately following that section.
WTF is "onomatopoeia" (my captcha)?
Admin
Admin
Admin
For some reason this is my favorite captcha to see. When this word POPS up on screen and it's meaning WHIZZES past your head and BANGS into the wall behind you, landing in the floor with a CLATTER, you realize that an onomatopoeia is a word that sounds like the sound it is used to describe.
Admin
unfortunately, this is not as un-common as you'd expect. The real WTF though, is how people get tenure in the first place....
I used to lecture at a UK university, and as a junior lecturer generally got s**t on by a number of the principle and senior lecturers (normally the one's that knew little about their subjects). In order to start rising through the lecturing ranks, you'd have to show that you were a valued member of the research community - i.e. papers and publications.
So then we get to the point of tutoring student projects. It was always my opinion, that a students project should, if published, be published under the name of that student (a view which most academics i worked with agreed upon). Since really tutoring isn't much more than guidance - have you looked at X? do you know how to debug? are you going to be completed on time? etc. Most students i tutored knew more more about their chosen subject than i did (i'm not lacking in knowledge, just honest!).
There were however a small percentage of lecturers that believed that any publication from one of their students, should be jointly published under the name of the student and the tutoring lecturer. Pretty much every publication from those lecturers was more often than not, the entire work of the student. To compound matters, those senior lecturers were normally the ones who assigned tutors to students - so you could normally guess who the top students were going to be tutored by....
Anyhow, after 4 years of that i finally went and got a real job and am very glad about that. (and yes, lecturing does turn you into a raging alcoholic - it's the only way to retain your sanity)
Admin
That is complete BS. A student has to pay for the right of possible exploitation? That is crazy! I can understand the first part regarding staff - the staff are PAID by the college. But to PAY for the right to give your IP to someone else? WTF? There is no way I would let my college(s) try to take ownership of stuff I created on my own system in my dorm-room, even if it was related to my coursework.
Not to mention the "the University can offer support to ensure a sharing of income" part - they "can" offer support or "will" offer support?
Schools need to remember that they exist for the benefit of the students, not the other way around! Geeze...
Admin
Yeah, sorta like the time we built this laser using a frozen bromide-argon matrix and the professor sold it to the military. We got him good though; See, he hated popcorn and we build this gi-normous jiffy pop (tm) in his living room and then hacked the military control computers with the help of the local physics guru burnout-turned-hermit to target hist house during the test flight.
Man, that was awesome. Almost as good as when we hacked the pesky pet student's braces to make him think he could talk to God...
Admin
Heh - have you read the earlier posts? I think you are a bit late to the party... :)
Admin
I read this differently - "where IP is exploited (BY THE UNIVERSITY) ... leading to income generation," and the support they offer is not help-desk stuff that you'd be paying for, it's assistance by the Uni to the student to ensure the student gets their fair share of the moola collected by the Uni.
Of course I could be misreading their meaning, your meaning or, in extreme cases, the very fabric of reality, in which case feel free to ignore my psycotic ramblings.