Random Thoughts Thread

[Luke]

must...resist...urge...to...chime in about...professors

Nah, go for it.

I am still friends, and actually "hang out" with a few of my MBA professors. These are the professors that really taught, inspired, and challenged me...aka the professors everyone else hated.

But the majority of them phoned it in with the same PPP they've been showing for years. I didn't drop coin to learn definitions and simple math equations.

[BoneSnapDeez]

PowerPoint can be a useful tool. I use it all the time to teach (okay, actually I use KeyNote because I have a Mac - same thing).

The best profs I've had show maybe ten slides per class and for things like visuals and diagrams. The rest of the class is comprised of lecture and interaction/activities.

The worst are the ones who have something like 50(!) slides per class, and whip through them reading verbatim. Can't stand that.

[Luke]

The worst are the ones who have something like 50(!) slides per class, and whip through them reading verbatim. Can't stand that.

Business presentations like that will get you an exit interview. Especially if you work for me.

10 slides max, bullet points only unless you throw in a P&L. And people who actually are presenting and look at the projected slides to remember what they are talking about? Useless.

[dsheinem]

must...resist...urge...to...chime in about...professors

Nah, go for it.

I guess I just think that JT's moaning about "kids these days" and Luke, etc. moaning about death by PowerPoint and egotistic "overpaid" professors just sounds like so much cliche about either population that it starts to get my skin crawling. There are absolutely faculty and students out there who fit these descriptions, but both posts lean towards "representative anecdote" territory that encourages generalization.

JT, college students' classroom expectations, work ethic, understanding of higher education, etc. is absolutely different than ours were when we were in school for many, many good reasons (change in primary and secondary school, changes in tech integration, changes in parenting, etc.) that don't make them inherently worse. Plus, we are/were the rare exception that went to grad school - we weren't representative of the typical college student in our own undergraduate days, and so comparing our past experiences or efforts to those of our students today is just an inane exercise in frustration that ignores context and perspective.

Luke, I think you'd find that most MBA faculty are working in education for considerably less money than they can/did make in the business world - so not only are they not overpaid, but they are often teaching from a passion to impart knowledge about business to future generations. Instead of complaining about PowerPoint and/or ignoring class, why not have a conversation with the profesor about what would make the class more dynamic? If you did this (in a respectful way - not in a "Hey I want my money's worth" tone) and didn't get satisfaction, then perhaps talk to the department chair, ask other students to raise the issue with the professor, etc.

I'll stop there as I could go on for pages and pages, but the short version is: don't stew in silence, don't generalize, and don't take a passive role in shaping the educational experience you want to see.

[o.pwuaioc]

Dave's 99% right.

[dsheinem]

Dave's 99% right.

[Luke]

Luke, I think you'd find that most MBA faculty are working in education for considerably less money than they can/did make in the business world - so not only are they not overpaid, but they are often teaching from a passion to impart knowledge about business to future generations. Instead of complaining about PowerPoint and/or ignoring class, why not have a conversation with the profesor about what would make the class more dynamic? If you did this (in a respectful way - not in a "Hey I want my money's worth" tone) and didn't get satisfaction, then perhaps talk to the department chair, ask other students to raise the issue with the professor, etc.

Good post.

The professors I did like did take a generous dip in pay buy (Freudian slip) going into education. The majority of my professors, on the other hand, were wash-ups who gained money via teaching and took the job "because now I have it made"- Richard Gooner. I have engaged in one on ones with a few of my professors who complained about my "lack of passion" to no avail. Another "Gooner moment": I went to his office because he was one of the professors who complained to the Dean, which is pretty lame in the first place as he could have just emailed me.

The meeting went like this (no kidding, and as close to verbatim as possible):

Me: You wanted to see me about skipping class?

goon: Yes, sit down Luke. *sighs* You are engaging, intelligent, enthusiastic, and have a gift for making people smile. But you are the worst student I've ever had.

Me: (Holds back from saying "you're the shittiest teacher I've ever had") Doc, I'm acing your course. You know my course load is heavy, and I'm taking courses that are, well, more of a challenge than yours. If I'm making a perfect grade in your class, I don't see the issue.

goon: You're missing out on the experience of my class. We do the textbook stuff, but we talk about real world experiences.

Me: (holds back saying "You mean you constantly bringing up the fact you played college football and how everyone in business is an idiot?"). You read power point slides and let the class out a half hour early.

goon: Either way, you show up to class or I'm flunking you.

Me: How?

goon: I've adjusted the syllabus. Class participation is mandatory.

Me: Fine by me.

goon: You know? The stuff I said about you earlier, I think it's all a facade. I'd elaborate but I'm late for a meeting with my fucking bitch of a mother.

Me: Whoa. Mother in law in town? I'm open to discussing this further.

goon: Birth mother. Hate the bitch. I also have no interest in speaking with you outside of class. Show up or I'm flunking you.



Luckily this was near finals, but going back to his class sucked balls. Not only did he want to see me fail, he got into an argument during class with a friend of mine, and called my friend's Father "A fucking idiot". Said friend is Matt Dragas, of Dragas Corp., who is a HUGE player/owner/investor in YUM! brands.

Like other professors, the guy is scorned that he couldn't cut it in the world of business. He was fired from Gallo Wines, and would never shut up about how he was right, and they were wrong. "Stupid Millionaires" was his catch phrase.

So there it is. Some people are just assholes, even professors.

[dsheinem]

So there it is. Some people are just assholes, even professors.

The majority of my professors, on the other hand, were wash-ups who gained money via teaching and took the job "because now I have it made"

[Ack]

I remember my favorite professor in grad school. She had what was considered the hardest class. She never used power point. She would talk about her days as a reference librarian at Harvard and discuss the variety of reference works available to us in print while also going over the various databases we had access to (and in some cases the command prompts required to interact with those databases). She'd throw out questions about "Where can you find X source?" And her assignments were great! She would give us a set of ten questions, tell us the rules for finding the answer, and require we spend only up to three hours finding each answer and give her an analysis of our search process.

I have trouble deciding which was my favorite question to work on, but I think it was the time she gave us a theological work in French that made a reference to an obscure Chinese astrological text. I had to figure out how the French romanize Chinese. Good times.

[fastbilly1]

Realized that I lost a chunk of months of notes on a script I have been working on thanks to an unannounced image push at work. I just hope I have backup at home. The last image push was two years ago so this was really unexpected.