Incompetent student

Question

I am a PhD candidate and I have recently received an undergraduate (Bachelor degree student) to work for a short duration. For purpose of discussion, the work is mainly mathematical in this project.

I have chosen this student based on the classes he has taken and works he has done. They were prerequisites for the work that should be done for me. So, he has the knowledge required. However, since he has started working on the project, I see that he makes very "silly" mistakes or takes too long to perform some calculation. I have told him several times to check his math and I am suspecting that he does not put enough effort into the project. My friends have told me that it may be that I expect too much and not all people understand stuff as quickly as I do, given that I have been working in this field for so long. I took their approach and started detailing everything to the student. I gave him small lectures, codes that I have written, and told him to come to me every-time he has a problem. However, I see that my lectures come to deaf ears. When I discuss with him about material covered, he still cannot answer. When confronted about it, he told me two years have passed since he has taken the prerequisite courses (which is true) and that he has hard time to get back on track. Still, the knowledge is there and he should be able to use it.

We are almost half-way through the project, so I cannot dismiss him. However, my biggest questions:

Is he just being lazy or is the topic too difficult for his level of skill?

I suspect that he is being lazy and giving up because he may be overwhelmed.

If anyone has any idea on how to encourage the student or make sure that he puts more effort without lowering his motivation. The followings are options I am considering now:

1. Use fear. I will let him know somehow that he got to put more work and I am not impressed with what he has done so far. Hence, anything that he does now will be reflected in my future references for him.

2. I have already told him to send me some works that he has done previously to this project. I told him that I want to see the level of math he is used to.

3. Stop helping him. I will stop supervising his progress and if he needs help he will come to me. Otherwise, it is as if I do not care about the output of his project. When he will come to meet with my supervisor about his progress (we have weekly meetings), my supervisor will be able to see what I am seeing. However, this approach does not suit me as I do not want to involve my superior in this mess.

Any comment is appreciated.

Answer 1

So I think I can chime in here. I did research as an undergraduate sophomore while pursuing my Bachelors Degree.

I think something you should realize is that research is very different from academic schoolwork. I was extremely overwhelmed when I started doing research. Instead of finding an answer in a few minutes on stackoverflow or a tutorial on a website: I was working in such a niche field that I could not find any resources online to aid me. Apart from getting help from my grad student (who was very forgiving and understanding and guided me well)- I felt like I was completely alone and the stress definitely got to me.

Chances are the student you got is quite smart- but is not prepared for research. Schoolwork does not really prepare one for research.

Use fear. I will let him know somehow that he got to put more work and I am not impressed with what he has done so far. Hence, anything that he does now will be reflected in my future references for him.

Using fear will most likely result in less progress because you will be stressing out the student. You can hint at wanting more work to be done but by demanding more work and saying that you're literally not impressed: I don't think anything good will come from that.

I have already told him to send me some works that he has done previously to this project. I told him that I want to see the level of math he is used to.

Previous school work does not mean that they will be super capable of applying that knowledge to research. Have they done prior research before? If so you can ask to see that. If not- then they are not used to the research setting which helps explain why they aren't being as competent as you hoped.

Stop helping him. I will stop supervising his progress and if he needs help he will come to me. Otherwise, it is as if I do not care about the output of his project. When he will come to meet with my supervisor about his progress (we have weekly meetings), my supervisor will be able to see what I am seeing. However, this approach does not suit me as I do not want to involve my superior in this mess.

This will not only make the undergraduate student frustrated with you but it may cause them to stop pursuing research if their view of higher level academic research is one of a toxic community where they cannot receive help.

You should not be looking at opportunities to criticize an undergraduate student whenever you can. They are new to research. You should be guiding them on the right path- helping them as needed- giving them that extra push in the right direction. If you are not willing to do this then you should not be in charge of an undergraduate student- learning how to work well with people who have a lower skill set than yourself is a vital skill and I suggest you work on improving that skill rather than blaming the student.

Answer 2

A poor workman blames his tools. You picked him. Did you interview him or just pick the resume? The point is you're the manager here. If you hired someone who couldn't do the job, that's on you, not your employee.

So, step one is to take responsibility. This is your mess.

Step two is to fix it. Students often show up with transcripts that suggest they should know things they don't. Railing against this is unhelpful. The adult response is to decide, okay, you're the teacher, you think they need certain knowledge and skills, so teach them! If you can't do that, perhaps you need to be a better teacher.

Sure, it's possible this student simply isn't capable of the work you want done. Not everyone has the same gifts. So back to step one, take responsibility for your mistake in hiring, try to make the relationship as productive as you can, and learn from your experience.

Answer 3

I always err on the side of patience with undergraduates.

I am concerned about your relationship with the student, and its ongoing climate due to your instinct on using fear and assuming the student is lazy. This seems like a very inappropriate use of your authority over a much more junior scholar. I worked with a group of undergraduates on a technical project wherein the background knowledge of the undergraduates extended to only their prereq classes. I think, that as experts in our respective fields, we can forget the periods in our academic careers when things were not so clear. For example, I have forgotten that to someone who has never used R, setting up your WD and reading in a data file can be a daunting endeavor. For me, it is something that is trivial that I do not put thought towards.

My options were, when the undergraduates struggled with basic programming tasks, was to either ignore them, abuse my position of authority (e.g. use fear), or take the time to work with them.

In the end, I found that setting aside some time to assess their abilities and then put them into tasks where they could be successful based on that assessment was a far more productive use of my time and their time throughout the semester.

In summary-

1. you are the senior academic, you hold the power, and thus the responsibility. You can either abuse your position by belittling the student or you can own up to your own shortcomings as a supervisor and work to rectify what seems to be a worsening relationship.
2. assess the students abilities and give them tasks that they can be successful in. In you were "had" and the student is not fit for the tasks you have in mind, then so be it. Gaining a reputation as a phd student who is abusive to undergraduates put in their charge is a quick way to not have the responsibility of overseeing an undergraduate again.

Again, I cannot stress how you need to reflect upon your own actions as a supervisor and the importance of this in being a good supervisor.

Answer 4

Is he just being lazy or is the topic too difficult for his level of skill?

There's no way we can answer that question without being the student. What is required is a talk with the student and tell him ths issues you're seeing in his work and then create a plan to resolve the issue.

I wanted to address some of your comments:

...I have recently received an undergraduate (Bachelor degree student) to work for a short duration.

The situation of how he came to work with you could matter on his motivation. Is he doing this as part of a course requirement? Did he approach your professor and ask to take part in research? If he took the initiative to help, then you can be fairly certain he wants to be there and that his mistakes are likely from lack of experience. If he's required to assist you as part of coursework, he could be not invested in the work and only submitting what's required to receive the grade. Many undergraduates at my school who take part in research fall into those two catagories.

They were prerequisites for the work that should be done for me. So, he has the knowledge required.

I would also take into account that passing a course, even with a good grade, does not always translate into a person understanding the material. There are courses where someone can pass by rote memorization of formulas, values, etc without understanding the core concept.

If anyone has any idea on how to encourage the student or make sure that he puts more effort without lowering his motivation.

Again, I encourage you to sit down with this student and talk about what you're seeing in his work. Find the reason he's working with you and come up with a plan together to improve his work.