My love/hate relationship with my iPhone

I have had an iPhone 3G for quite a while now - about two years or so - and in that time she and I have developed quite a relationship with her {I am not sure why but my phone is definitely a female}. When I ordered her, it was the anticipation that comes with the start of a new relationship... the exhilaration when she arrived and I got her working and downloaded my first messages...

In the two years I have had a smart phone, the relationship has certainly changed, like all relationships, I suppose. It has matured and the newness and excitement that was there early on has grown into something different.  The phone has in two years gotten scratched, has more than a few cracks, doesn't hold a charge as long... but none of that has dampened my love for her - it's just that I have learned to hate her as well.

The iPhone is a great device - one where I can stay connected 24/7/365 - and this is where the trouble comes in.  With technology like this comes the expectation that you are always available to answer emails, respond to texts, take calls... whatever happened to "time off"?  I know, I know... you say "just don't take it with you" but that is not really a possibility given that (1) I am a parent of a young child and (2) I don't have a land line...  So, she is always with me, ready at an instant to alert me of incoming emails asking/telling me what I need to do/should be doing/should have done...  I never thought I'd be "one of those people" who incessantly checks their phone for emails, but I have certainly become one.  I was at a conference a few weeks ago and during one of the talks looked around the audience and saw at least half the people at any point in time suffered from a similar malady.  Rarely, can I sit though a meeting or seminar without checking the phone at least a few times. Sometimes, I think if I could get away with it during my own lectures, I would...

But I have made strides in curing this addiction - I changed the settings so that it doesn't alert me when a new email arrives (it was buzzing incessantly!) and this has been a plus since I don't need additional prompts for me to look at my Inbox...  Before I changed this, when am email arrived I felt I HAD to look at it immediately. What was I expecting, an email saying I had been made Head Coach of the Denver Broncos, but only if I replied within the next 30 seconds?  I do, however, get emails from Nigeria saying I can get several million dollars from the estate of a prince if only I send them my bank account information... you see, it seems they need to move some money and I apparently am their only option... makes perfect sense. But I digress.

Well, in the interest of full disclosure, I admit I made this change because having it constantly pushing email to my phone was eating battery life, and, god knows, I couldn't let it run out of batteries!!! Recently, I also have been trying to "forget" it on my desk in my office when I go to some meetings so I am not tempted to peek at it... just where is my self-discipline? So, how do I unplug and get some time away from the office?  I dunno... but I am working on it.  Until then, if you email me, chances are I'll see it pretty soon after you send it.

Tricky Questions on Final Exams

The 500 student Biology II class I co-teach had its final exam yesterday - meaning the course is this close to over... it is not officially over because there is still work to be done. While in a class this large (without teaching assistants!) we are forced to evaluate performance using multiple choice exams that can be computer graded, the logistics of compiling and assigning grades is always a bit of a heavy lift...

One of the things we deal with after the exams are turned in, graded and the students receive their scores are the usual bevy of emails from students asking why the answer to question 7 is "A" and not "B".  This type of question usually takes several forms from the polite query asking for the rationale to the other extreme where the student will blatantly accuse us professors of purposely trying to trick them by asking obscure and misleading questions. Since I teach the Physiology section of Intro Biology, my "favorite" emails are those that tell me the right answer to question 7 should indeed be "B" because they asked a friend/cousin/neighbor who is a physician this question and they, of course, agreed with the student.  This, despite the fact that the lecture notes and book say the opposite, their physician reference knows more than any professor possibly could at a state university...

Do we sometimes ask bad or unclear questions? Certainly, it happens (a lot less than the students think) and with computerized grading we know when and if this occurs.  It is easy after the fact to discard these questions.

However, on the issue of tricky questions, while I can only speak for myself, I seriously doubt it is the intent of professors to try and trick students by purposefully asking misleading or obscure questions. Some students don't realize that we actually WANT you to do well - there is no secret memo directing us to weed out students - and that when the class doesn't do as well as we'd expect or desire, we die a 1000 deaths.  I have asked a number of students what they think is the definition of a tricky question. By and large the response I get is that it is a question which is not explicitly stated in the notes or book.  I guess when we ask integrative questions or ask the students to think and not just memorize, we become guilty of being tricky... sigh.

Another all too common email after grades are in are those that request an additional point or two to  bring their grade to the next higher level so that they can graduate/keep a scholarship/continue in their major/etc.  We all, as faculty, are sympathetic to these issues that the students face and understand through our own personal experience how hard it is to juggle lots of classes, work, family, and so on.

But the reality is we cannot manufacture points after the fact for one or two students and not do it for everyone. Ethically, this becomes a slippery slope and we have to hold the line on the grade distributions set up before the class begins. Like the "tricky question" issue, this makes us appear heartless to the students ("What would it hurt to give ME a couple of points so I can keep my scholarship?"). Certainly, we'd LIKE to do this, but at some point the grades wouldn't mean much if we did.  It is always strange to me and my colleagues that many students feel it is perfectly justifiable for us to give only them an extra point or two and to heck with the other 499 students...


Anyway, teaching a large intro course like this is never boring - and despite some of its challenges - is something that I actually enjoy doing... Having said that, the day when the grades are in and it is officially over, like today, is always a good day.


Next scheduled lecture for this class: 1.10.2011... the countdown begins... NOW.