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    Data Structures


    2010 - 02.26

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    Posted in CS, Teaching assistant | Comments Off

    I’m grading for the data structures course this semester. The prof has never taught the course and is reusing assignments from a previous professor’s version of the coursework.

    I spent Monday sick and grading. (I did not receive the assignments to grade until after the department grade-by due date and had to rush.)

    Grading is a very disheartening. The purpose of the assignment was to demonstrate using a queue. Prof said they could use more advanced data structures. The students did not comprehend they were to still follow the queue requirements (enqueue, dequeue, limited access, etc.).

    Out of 70 students only 1 included a queue, reused from recitation. About 20 had included Java’s queue (many of which preceded to use a secondary data structure to do the actual work). The rest used another data structure altogether to reach the same effect: ArrayLists to LinkedLists to HashMaps to trees.

    For people that are not familiar with a queue, this is among one of the simplest data structures to implement. It implements a First In, First Out (FIFO) means of accessing data. One can only access the first (or “top”) Object in the queue; all other contents are inaccessible.

    … I don’t understand the drive of these students to use more complex data structures (and code design) than is necessary. A queue uses notably less memory and has a faster access time these other data structures.

    I read comments that a hash table is more efficient than a queue. Queues have constant time adds (enqueues) and removals (dequeues). A hash table has O(1 + k/n), where k is the number of keys and n is the number of elements; this is between linear and logarithmic time scales (meaning the amount of time to perform an add or removal will increase with an increase in the size of data structure).

    This scares me. There will be (if there aren’t already) computer scientists and programmers making inefficient code because they genuinely believe their way is better.

    … I talked to the prof in charge (who has been out of town this week) about my issues. My actual boss, the Director of Mentoring and Retention, had spoken to him previously about this. (I was actually third to complain about it to her.) And she was not getting through to him; she was even considering going to the department chair.

    After I told the prof what had transpired, the light bulb finally went on for him. Students will not prove they understand concepts unless they are forced to. Getting the right answer is more important than learning, I guess.

    Special Treatment


    2009 - 11.10

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    Posted in Rant, Society, Teaching assistant | Comments Off

    Professors are always biased when it comes to students they know. Depending on the professor, this may be a bias in your favor or one that makes you work 10 times harder than everyone else. Both aren’t okay.

    Today, I missed class because there was more grading for me to do. This extra work was because the prof I am TAing for accepted homework assignments via email from a handful of students and didn’t bother to tell me. 2 of these students emailed after the due date.

    None of these students has a learning disability, let alone one that affects their ability to turn work in. And, even if they did, university policy states that disability status cannot force a professor to have a flexible due date for students with disabilities.

    I’m pissed for several reasons:

    1. The students know damn well they need to use the checkin program and how to use it. Department machines can be accessed remotely.
    2. Turning in work late isn’t okay. Unless there’s a medical emergency, then tough shit.
    3. These students were out of town the weekend that the assignment was due. They had 1 and a half weeks to do and turn in an assignment that should take at most 2-3 hours at their level.
    4. I wasn’t informed until today about these students, 10 days later. I’m expected to finish grading within 5 days of the due date. (I ended up missing a class to do this new grading.)
    5. The professor didn’t consider the graduate TAs saying “no” to the students requests. This is rather disrespectful.

    Special treatment is very different from accommodation. I have never turned in an assignment late or partially completed; no one has ever told me that these are acceptable things to do. No one has said that misinterpreting directions, or choosing to view them as “not including me,” as being an acceptable thing to do.

    I have begun the process to file a complaint about this. And it’s not just about me. It’s about the graduate TAs that are expected to tell me what the professor is doing. And it’s about the 65 other students that did follow directions.

    Damn, I wish my job wasn’t so stressful.

    Setting Bars


    2009 - 11.03

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    Posted in Class, Rant, Teaching assistant, Work | Comments Off

    [What follows is pretty free form, so sorry if it's hard to follow.]

    Yesterday, I went to a talk on science education in the twenty-first century. The main points from the talk were:

    • Traditional lecture-style teaching results in 10-20% retention of knowledge.
    • Working memory can last for at most 7 distinct topics.
    • Examples, analogies, and images decrease the working memory load.
    • Explain things as cohesive units rather than as disjoint parts.
    • Even if the choice is insignificant, the ability to have a choice increases motivation.
    • Most students leave classrooms with less “expert-like” thinking than when they entered.

    … So, if it isn’t really clear, I research a lot on education in STEM areas. And, the longer I am in college, the more I am convinced that many professors have no idea where the bar should be set on how students should preform. A particular favorite is a professor who explained his curving scheme thusly:

    Of course there will be a curve! I list everyone by their uncurved score and then [moving his hands in a window/gap creating fashion up and down] go ‘hmm there.’ And divide the grades that way [with partitions].

    In all honesty, this seems to be the primary methodology for curving computer science courses, including ones where exams are already curved. And it seems detrimental to students learning. This arbitrary curving indicates that one did better than some percent of students, while giving no evidence of what material was actually learned.

    I am currently grading the second programming course in the curriculum. And I feel like banging my head against a wall while doing so. Students make mistakes on material covered in the prerequisite course. Repeatedly. After I dock points and write a comment on what error occurred.

    The professor for this course disproves of  me grading students harshly. This includes docking points for having unnecessary looping and requiring that all of their variables be more meaningful than ‘x.’

    The professor I am working under is also the professor for one of my courses. My project is notably more difficult than others (many have settled on game A.I. while I’m doing computer vision and machine learning). On more than one occasion, he has indicated that he feels it is too complex for me. I’m not sure if this is cultural or because he feels I can’t succeed or that it shows an example of higher difficulty that others should be able to do.

    From elementary through high school, in gifted education and accelerated learning courses. College is the first setting where I am always in classes that are designed for the middle. College is also, interestingly, the first time that I have tested notably worse than my peers and been told that I can’t do something.

    I find myself questioning why I am compared to everyone rather than judged on my own qualities. I have had professors grade me more harshly for being clever, and I don’t agree to this. But, if I’m choosing to do work at a different level, why should I be discouraged? And, to be fair, I think students working at a lower than mean level have a right to work at that level.

    Professors need to work on showing students why subjects are important and how to learn them. Professors are typically passionate about their subjects, they should share this passion.

    Grading


    2009 - 09.09

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    Posted in CS, Teaching assistant, Work | Comments Off

    It’s very strange to me how my department handles grading.

    First off, the emphasis on having courses on a curve. I understand the significance of having the course weighted for even distribution. But, when the curve is set up with a C+/B- as the median, I’m not convinced that students understand what they are suppose to. In this system, you can tell how well a student did relatively, but not what they know; there isn’t a checklist of knowledge in this case.

    I, as I have mentioned, am doing grading this semester. It’s depressing how few students follow directions.

    … Yet, I can’t entirely blame the students. They are being taught to program in the lower levels. The importance of theory (algorithms, logic, and critiacal thinking) aren’t emphasized. It’s very difficult to blame a student for not understanding, if (s)he doesn’t know why things are important and why we do things a certain in way.

    Even the tutors and some of the grad students don’t get the signifigance. I just want to hit my head against a wall sometimes.