193
votes
Responding to low-key insult from lecturer
Sincerely? Let it go. The tone is also not "low-key insulting" (that means a personal disparaging attack on you), it is dismissive/snotty/irritated (do not bother me with this stuff).
The thing is ...
- 4,707
113
votes
Accepted
Lecturer ridiculing me in front of class for making a mistake
There is nothing you can really do to prevent this behaviour. You can just report it to the university.
There should be a committee dealing with teacher behaviour; things may vary depending on your ...
- 45.1k
93
votes
Accepted
The lecturer supposed to grade my presentation fell asleep while I held it. Should I complain?
The first thing to note here is that sleeping in such situations is often not a voluntary action, but a physiologically unavoidable response to the situation the body is in - many people die every ...
- 35.2k
92
votes
Lecturer ridiculing me in front of class for making a mistake
There is something a bit off about your description of events. You describe that your classmates were laughing at you as your instructor verbally abused you. I can't imagine that happening. If things ...
- 1,734
80
votes
Accepted
May I email a former lecturer?
Actually, if you thank an old instructor it is one of the most wonderful things you can do. They will appreciate it tremendously. Even just catching up is fine. But don't neglect to add a thanks for ...
- 315k
79
votes
Accepted
Why does one need to be a certified teacher to teach at secondary level and lower, but not at tertiary level?
I think the reason could be that at the beginning of education, the methodology and teaching style are much more important than the content: children have to learn how to learn before they can learn ...
- 17.2k
63
votes
The more I improve the quality of my course, the worse the student evaluation becomes. Should I provide low quality lectures?
One observation, based on my own habit of completely redoing classes, is new syllabuses suffer severely from lack of tuning. In practice, a "worse" syllabus which I've taught a few times ...
- 3,361
62
votes
Lecturer with anxiety. How to survive in academia?
Years ago, I gave up on the idea of a career in music when I developed severe performance anxiety. After I gave a terrible performance in front of a large crowd, I decided the thing I was going to do ...
- 4,631
58
votes
Why does one need to be a certified teacher to teach at secondary level and lower, but not at tertiary level?
Because, historically, the purpose of universities was not teaching, but scholarship.
The students were more like apprentices who showed up to take part in the research and debates, expected to ...
- 765
51
votes
Accepted
How can I know if I am working fast enough to finish my PhD?
In my opinion, the bare minimum required to have a good chance to complete a PhD in math is to actually want one. By that I mean, not just to want a diploma, or a practical means towards having some ...
- 181k
48
votes
Where is your line with students on social media?
My line:
On the first day of classes I tell the students that I don't want to be contacted by social media or by any means other than the school e-mail. The school also gives students a nice way to ...
- 2,841
43
votes
Accepted
Is 100 hours per year of teaching a heavy load for a lecturer?
The load seems reasonable for an established lecturer, but is a little heavy, by UK standards, for a first year lecturer. It might be worth asking for a partial teaching (or marking or tutoring) ...
- 103k
38
votes
Applying to work where I said "no" in the past?
There are many reasons why people choose to go to one program over the other. While there might be some thin-skinned people, I don't think that should lead you to rule out applying. Since applying to ...
- 40k
33
votes
The more I improve the quality of my course, the worse the student evaluation becomes. Should I provide low quality lectures?
Are you sure that you are measuring the quality of your course and not something else?
The last two years are special (corona), maybe that affected evaluations
6 years is a time in which the ...
- 3,146
32
votes
Why does one need to be a certified teacher to teach at secondary level and lower, but not at tertiary level?
I don't know if this is universally true (suspect it is) so this is a US centric answer.
In the US, the governments (state and federal) have decreed, based on general (not universal) consensus, that ...
- 315k
32
votes
Why does one need to be a certified teacher to teach at secondary level and lower, but not at tertiary level?
Content Knowledge vs Pedagogical Skill
Ben Orlin (the author of Math with Bad Drawings) wrote fairly eloquently on this a few years ago. His thesis is that instructors are people who (broadly ...
- 2,094
30
votes
Accepted
Can I call myself an assistant professor without a PhD?
the position is called "Assistant Professor"
If you hold an appointment as an assistant professor, then you are an assistant professor. Still, I understand your concern....
kinda makes no sense ...
- 62.1k
30
votes
In general, do students like or dislike classes that are taught jointly?
I can't point to any research but given that you ask for anecdata:
This approach is fairly common in the UK and related systems. A module (class) may be a single entity for administrative purposes, ...
- 16.7k
29
votes
Is 100 hours per year of teaching a heavy load for a lecturer?
From a Spanish perspective, 100 hours per year is tiny. In the University of Barcelona, most full time lecturers are expected to deliver 240 blackboard hours a year. Even part time lecturers teach up ...
- 2,509
28
votes
Accepted
Interviewing for a lecturer position in the UK
This is all pretty standard practise for UK lectureships. They are basically testing your skills that will be required in the position.
In the presentation they will want to see a demonstration ...
- 15.5k
27
votes
Accepted
Responding to low-key insult from lecturer
It sounds like the instructor was about 10 minutes late to class, leading to the entire class being confused about whether or not to go into the classroom?
That's somewhat embarrassing for the ...
- 6,227
27
votes
May I email a former lecturer?
Yes!
This is what we live for as supervisors. Students are a terribly inefficient source of papers/CV entries/departmental brownie points, almost anything they do can be done by the supervisor in less ...
- 811
26
votes
Accepted
What do teaching faculty do during semester breaks?
In the United States, the "9 month salary" for a faculty member is typically paid out over 12 months. For those faculty who engage in research or other pursuits during the summer months, the "9 month"...
- 185k
26
votes
Where is your line with students on social media?
Years ago I used to accept student friend requests on the Facebook platform, but I came to regret doing that. At some point I stopped accepting student friend requests on social media.
Steven Krantz ...
- 33.1k
25
votes
The lecturer supposed to grade my presentation fell asleep while I held it. Should I complain?
I would advise patience, wait until the grades are out.
If the lecturer was actually asleep then that may or may not be something to deal with.
However, if the lecturer was not asleep but not ...
- 28.1k
24
votes
Lecturer ridiculing me in front of class for making a mistake
Why are you letting this person get the best of you? You say:
he started to humiliate me in front of all my colleagues
I was feeling like an idiot standing there and listening to his abusive speech
...
- 8,127
24
votes
Accepted
Giving a test lecture, what should I keep in mind?
Off the top of my head, things that are different about a lecture rather than a presentation:
You're not simply relating stuff you did to your peers : You're teaching people who know less about the ...
- 9,308
21
votes
What are the potential consequences of responding in kind to a rude lecturer?
No, we cannot answer the question without evaluating your behavior first. Your behavior was, simply said, stupid. Let's go item by item:
1) Are you enrolled in the distance-learning program? If not, ...
- 3,875
21
votes
Lecturer with anxiety. How to survive in academia?
For what it's worth, I don't think this is an uncommon problem - you're by no means alone in this. A few thoughts:
Learn to see the humour in everything. Some of the time, you're going to get up ...
- 5,033
21
votes
Accepted
Is it always OK to ask for a copy of the lecturer's slides?
It is always appropriate to ask. But some people are unwilling to share their slides for a variety of reasons (none of which I think are particularly good, for basically the reasons you mention in ...
- 84.2k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible