I, Curtis

Category: Academic

  • Illogical Prerequisites

    Course: Introduction to SPSS
    Course: SOCI 333 (3)
    Description: Introduction to the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), a computer software for data processing and statistical analysis, enabling students without knowledge of programming or without programming aspirations to utilize the computer for scientific research

    Pre-reqs: SOCI 210 (Introduction to Sociology), SOCI 331 (Social Statistics)

     

    Here is my issue. I want to take this course because I like SPSS. I like it because it is useful for generating statistical data in a short amount of time and if I end up doing anything research related in the future, it would be very useful. My department (psychology) doesn’t offer the course, but Sociology does. I want to take the course, but I don’t want to take two redundant courses. My opinion on the matter is that because I have had PSYC 210 (General Psychology) and PSYC 233 (Statistics for Psychology) I should be able to take the course with no problems. I originally thought that perhaps I was missing something from my interpretation of the course description that would require the Sociology course to be able to complete. After reading a syllabus from a previous semester I do not believe this to be the case. See Fall 2009 SOCI 333 Syllabus. Looking at the syllabus, I don’t think any social science course should be required, just a statistics course.

    I have emailed the course instructor for a pre-requisite waiver/override, but I don’t know how much luck I will have in getting approval.

  • Holding back

    I have a hard time at the end of each semester getting things done, mostly because I see them as being stepping stones to the last deadline, and to the final exam. I had a problem with it during my freshman year, and now I have a problem with it that I am approaching graduation. Its true that I still have one normal semester left, but yet I can’t get the thought out of my head that once I finish this semester there is only one left. I am fighting myself on completing a Developmental Psychology quiz at the moment because it is the last one before the final exam. The final exam is nothing more than a formality, its open book, open notes (including the quizzes), and all of the questions have been seen before. So it is like 50 questions that will take about 10 seconds each to answer. I have been more involved this semester than most in the curriculum, and staying ahead of most of my deadlines, so this is a little harder than the semesters where I procrastinate and barely get things done on time. Those semesters I am glad when they are over, but this semester I am going to likely feel a little lost when it has concluded. May 7th is the last day. There are very few things that will wait until the very last day, as I am planning to conclude everything by May 4th. There are still two papers to write, one quiz, one discussion board and several (5) final exams to take. Graduating seniors have to be done and have all of their grades by May 1st, but the rest of us have a few more days.

    I guess the best thing for me to do is to go ahead and take the last quiz.

  • What lies ahead?

    With the Spring 2010 semester almost finished, it is probably worth listing what I have planned for the remainder of my degree program.

    Summer 2010

    Behavior Modification [PSYC380]
    Emily R. Cogdell
    Behavior Modification: A study of applications of learning theories and laboratory findings to behavior problems in educational, clinical, and social settings, with emphasis on empirical research demonstrating the effectiveness of behavior modification and cognitive/behavioral techniques — 3 hours

    Registered

    Advance Seminar Sex & Gender [PSYC430]
    Dr. Lana A. Riggins
    Advanced Seminar: Sex and Gender: This senior seminar will explore how various areas of psychology conceptualize and investigate the relationship between sexuality and gender. The study of gender/sexual relations will be approached from many different perspectives, including individual, social, cultural, historical, and biological. Sources will include journal articles, books, and fictional stories. PREREQ: PSYC 352 — 3 hours

    Registered

     

    Fall 2010

    Service Learning [CSC350]
    Bing Wu
    Under the supervision of faculty of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, students will provide a service within the Department. — 1 hours

    Registered

    Social, Ethical and Professional Issues [CSC403]
    V.D. House
    This course discusses the impact of computers on society including people, business, and government. Topics include historical and social issues, security, privacy, professional responsibilities, risks and liability, and intellectual property. — 1 hours

    Registered

    Intro to Clinical and Counseling Psychology [PSYC342]
    Pius N. Nyutu
    A survey of the history, theories, and applications of clinical and counseling psychology, with an emphasis on analyses of the various approaches to counseling and therapy. — 3 hours

    Registered

    Child Psychopathology [PSYC381]
    Stephen T. Gill
    A survey of factors affecting psychological development from infancy through adolescence, with emphasis on conceptual models, assessment approaches, and treatment of abnormalities. — 3 hours

    Registered

    History and Systems of Psychology [PSYC400]
    Stephen T. Gill
    A survey of the development of psychology in historical and socio-cultural perspective. A review of the major historical and contemporary systems of psychology, and their relation to the philosophy of science and to the selection of problems and methodologies. — 3 hours

    Registered

    Introduction to Animal Behavior [PSYC443]
    Daniel A. Montoya
    This course focuses on understanding the evolution, expression, organization, and modification of animal behavior. Behavioral variation as well as the conservative nature of many behavioral responses will be addressed. The course will consider how the study of behavior in animals other than humans may help us to understand human behavior as well as to better conserve threatened or endangered species. — 3 hours

    Registered

  • Another semester almost finished

    It is hard to believe that yet another semester is almost over. It feels like it has snuck up on me. This morning GITI popped up with information for my first final exam of the semester. This semester has gone by quite quick, and I feel like it had really just gotten going. I have been more active this semester with a variety of things than I have been in a lot of semesters. I have developed a sense of direction on things, and have begun to embrace the uniquely eclectic nature of my interests. It is interesting to see how so many of them can connect and interact.

    There is one thing that has gone abandoned this semester… GITI. The Getting It Together Interface has not received any substantial code changes, and I have not even begun planning for its summer maintenance period (those 10 days between Spring and Summer semester, and the month between Summer and Fall). There are some changes that I started on last year that I will try to finish up this year, but otherwise nothing else is yet planned. I feel as though I really need to get GITI finished this summer, since I will likely be graduating soon, and it would be nice to have it finished, even if it will never be used for academic tasks by anyone again. I can’t believe I started working on GITI during the summer of 2003. Its been in development for 7 years, which I guess is good for something that was only supposed to be a temporary solution between professional apps.  This is the longest I have kept any one application for any task (I switch email clients about yearly), and also the longest I have kept up with any one project. I guess GITI has a special place in my life. Central location for most everything in my life. Now that I am struggling with C# programming I am still thinking of GITI, trying to work out ways for everything to go back to that one central point. Even with things like ExIf35 I think of how could it would be if I could make everything roam back to GITI, and just have everything centrally managed. If GITI were to have a 3rd version, it would have to include web, mobile and desktop components, so that all aspects of everything (being quite literal here) could be tracked in GITI.

    I can’t say that in general this has been the most productive semester in terms of number of papers written, and other things with a tangible significance, but I do feel that I have made a lot of progress in figuring out who I am, mellowing out my personality a little, and getting to a point where I am comfortable with everything that comes with being me.

  • Rate Table Error

    I looked at my tuition bill for the Summer semester last night, and I was somewhat surprised by the amount of the bill, $12, 981.25. Now, the interesting thing about that number is that it is larger than what was paid for the entire 2009 year, which included spring, summer and fall courses.  The correct number is somewhere closer to $500 for the entire summer semester. Once noticing the flaw I immediately contacted the Bursar (such lovely title names we have: Bursar, Registrar, Provost; each with their own unique way of screwing you). This morning I got a response from the Bursar and was told there was a “rate table error”. Some error! I can’t imagine what type of error that could be accidental would cause this situation, as the error seems to affect out of state tuition. The reason my rate is so high is because I was billed in-state tuition ($384), as well as out of state tuition ($12,000), but the rate for out of state is incorrect. It is interesting the flaws that my institution seems to create. First mysterious holds for course evaluations placed in the middle of the night, and now this.

  • The Downfall of Distance Education

    When I first started distance education (online) courses back in 2004 things were different than they are now. From that statement you might gather that things have improved, you know, something technical, so it has to have gotten better. The situation is quite the opposite. When I started online courses, I liked them better than lecture courses because they were better on many different aspects. Online instructors used to be specialized in what they did, they had a special affection for the online course delivery method. Often instructors would use such tools as web based chat, interactive websites and sometimes even video to keep students engaged in courses. The point being that the courses were actually web based courses, using the Internet as a key part of the instructional process and not just as the delivery method for the course. Now courses seem to be more structured like independent study courses that merely utilize the Internet as a method for sending in papers or taking quizzes. There is no instruction and often instructors are primarily lecturers looking to pick up a few extra hours on their schedule. To students, these instructors barely exist. I have a hard time remembering the names of my instructors because of their lack of interaction. I remember a time when I took online courses and I had a message in my inbox from an instructor at least once a week, sometimes more. Instructors would do things like send out links that may be of interest, or some little personal observation about course performance. Now the courses are pretty much forced to run themselves. It is quite a sad change. I feel as though the changes in the way online courses have been treated will eventually cause the online method to either be terminated, or force them into a completely different accreditation status.

    I believe the change in the way distance education courses have been taught in recent years has a lot to do with adult learners wanting to complete degrees. Those adult students do not want a lot of a materials to handle, or any type of interaction, they just want to do the reading for the course, take the test, and then get a meaningless piece of paper to stick on the wall. I do not believe those students truly want an education, they want a degree. With that downturn of academic ambition there isn’t a lot of reason for instructors to be involved or to do much more than a copy/paste online course in Blackboard. The courses are technically capable of running themselves, they can grade a lot of their own material and they can handle operating on a schedule, no intervention required, but do we really want to change the way academic institutions are structured to have students interacting with a course and not an instructor? If this pattern continues, that’s what will happen, no more instructors, just courses and “course designers” (the people that presently prepare courses for instructors).

    I hope that when I begin my masters program I won’t find the same thing in graduate courses as I am finding in undergrad courses.

  • CSC Headache

    Below is a problem from an Algorithms assignment that I had to complete this evening. The instructions were to calculate the best case and worst case running times for the function. Because n could be any integer, this required a response in theta notation. Because it is a while loop, the best case is simple, n starts less than 1 and as a result, only the assignment line runs (theta is a constant (1)). I had to warp my brain into a pretzel to even begin considering how to calculate the worst case scenario. I myself could not manage to entirely figure it out, I had to consult my friend Guy, who has a much better grasp of math than I do.

    First, to calculate the worst case, we have to acknowledge the best case, which is 1, then we have to add the rest of the method to it. In this case, there were five operations, so we move on to 1+ 5*z, but we have to figure out what z is. My conclusion before Guy assisted was that it had to be more than a constant (1, 2, 3, etc), but had to be less than linear (the size of n itself), which leaves a logarithmic. Only problem is I have only thought in simple logarithmics. Guy on the other hand, threw in a base 2, which suddenly made sense and helped result in the final answer, which is 1+5(log(n)/log(2)). The answer is good enough, but can be further refined to be 1+5(ceiling(log(n)/log(2)) or 1+5(ceiling(log2n)). That wasn’t so hard was it? Honestly, for me it was so mind bending that I couldn’t remember my student ID to put at the top of the document, or my instructor’s name to be able to look up his email address in my address book. I am so glad that assignment is over.

    Input: x (an integer), n (an integer)

    addStuff4(x, n)

    {

        i=n;                        

    while (i ³ 1)

    {    

        x=x+1;

        i=floor(i/2);

        return x;

    }            

    }

  • Worst Image of M42 Ever

    I do believe this is the worst image of the Great Nebula in Orion that has ever existed:

    I must say I am at least somewhat proud of it though, since I have never seen anything like this in any of my astrophotographs at all until now. I’m kind of proud of my little pink blur.

  • Newspaper Articles Suck

    I am working on a research paper for my Developmental Psychology course, and I’m running into a lot of newspaper articles that would be useful if they would actually cite what their source is instead of saying “a study by <insert nationality here> researchers indicates <some overly grandiose claim that article doesn’t prove>”. Do these undereducated newspaper reporters not think that some people may find their information more useful if it were possible to look up the original source material instead of simply taking the reporter’s word for it?

    There is not a lot of information available for “The development of gender identity in children raised by homosexual couples”, so every little bit I find is helpful, but it takes a long time to sort newspaper articles and try to guess based on a researcher’s name and the generic description of the work which journal article the study might actually be included in. I get the feeling that some of the people who write these journal articles are human article mills. I think Dr. Ruth McNair has about 200 articles by herself, which makes locating a specific study relating to one aspect of her work a little hard.

  • Inconvenient All-in-one Distance Education Platforms

    I am beginning to hate Blackboard for many things. First of all, most courses are based on these things called “due dates”, which I can only assume were never used before distance education, since Blackboard doesn’t seem to support them. Nowhere on an assignment in Blackboard is there a listing of a due date, or any other information about when an assignment is to be submitted. Also, on this same line, there is no central calendar in Blackboard to state when assignments are due, all of that has to be added by an instructor to a manually updated page. Not very effective. The second complaint against it is that there is not a uniform way to complete something. Some instructors have things to be posted to discussion boards, other instructors use the actual assignment tool and have assignments be submitted along side the instructional documents, or my favorite way, by using the digital drop box, which basically is just uploading the assignment to the Blackboard server, which also emails it to the instructor.

    Perhaps the worst trait about Blackboard in Distance Education is that instructors don’t really know how to use it. Some instructors never take the time to set up assignments; they just want everything e-mailed to them. That really pisses me off because e-mail is not that traceable, and if an assignment gets lost in transit, there is no proof that it was sent originally, and in general instructors do not usually respond when they have received an assignment.

    I am having such a hard time staying on top of my 6 courses this semester because instructors have all set up their courses differently. Some have assignments under “assignments” and yet others have assignments under “course documents”. I do not really remember which course is set up how, and it is hard to remember which course gives me 2 hours for a quiz and which one gives me just over a minute per question. It is all much more complicated than it should be. I can only imagine how people who do not have the resource of GITI manage to keep up with their assignments, it just seems like it would be hard. I don’t know quite how to do what it is I want to do, but I need to somehow give GITI the ability to accept information about class policies and integrate it into some type of workflow system for handling academics.