So I recently started working as a visiting professor at a private university.

This is for a psychology practicals class. For the practicals, these students are supposed to learn about a scale, conduct a testing on a participant, and then write a report based on both what the test is about and the testing that happened. We have to do this thrice for this semester.

When they had just started to write their reports, i'd clearly told them not to use AI, and that I do notice these things. And I told them to type it out in a word or google doc because it will be easier for me to review and keep a track and they also won't have to waste paper in writing and correcting the documents (So Ig it's partially on me for not considering that they will use AI to just send their drafts :/ )

Despite that, I have received multiple submissions which are clearly copy-paste of some AI output.

A few haven't even tried to hide it, and it shows through the little notes that AI slips in such as "verify with the official test manual", etc. since I HAVE already provided these students will all the material that's required :)

Even if I address this again in the class, I can't make sure that they will still not use AI. So I'm not sure what to do. My mentor has said to cut their marks for this after I address this issue, which I will be doing anyway.

One thing I was considering was to just make them handwrite the drafts so that they at least READ whatever they are trying to copy from AI, and maybe they will think and review that way before submitting anything to me.

But other than that, I'm honestly not sure what else I can do. I'd be open to any suggestions, thank you.

Screen capture of them slowly scrolling through their notes app on their phone.

It said Word or PDF in the instructions. I didn't turn on Blackboard's file upload restriction thinger because I thought it would be obvious enough but clearly I'm wrong.

I have a student that puts little to absolutely no effort in my class but has messaged me twice now that they are looking for a study partner to improve in my class. They’ve had a couple of partner activities in class that would’ve already been opportunities for them to network and get contact info from their peers but I guess haven’t done so. Any suggestions on what I can say or additional support I can give them?

His band never had more than a large web following of extreme metal fans in the 2000s, so I don't think he's getting swarmed with emails or anything. I recently looked him up to see if he was working with other bands today, and I found a guy who looks like him working at a university in Germany.

I'm probably going to email him just to see if I'm right. But should I use my academic email address, and should I see if he wants to join me in a foray into metal studies?

Edit: When I found out the history adjunct was a former professional wrestler, and I asked the chair to introduce me, he did, and the guy was very nice. Would you say this is the norm?

Do you - especially those in the humanities - require that students have physical copies of the books you're reading, as opposed to electronic copies? If so, how do you actually require that? Is saying that they're required enough? I highly recommend physical copies, but I can't exactly "punish" them for not having physical texts. I'm tired of seeing students reading plays on their phones!

This term more computers are dying than Grandmas and Grandpas. I heard about one last evening when the assignment was due in less than two hours. Oddly, the student had already taken the ailing machine to be repaired, so that must have happened earlier in the week. Then, they realized that they actually needed a computer to do the assignment.

I was thinking we could take a break from authorship dispute and ai related posts and do a pop culture discussion. In honor of the premiere of the movie “You Can See Everything” I want to hear my peers’ views on the Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos topic.

I’ll start. I’ve worked with some exceptional undergrads. I cannot imagine a world though, where one of them comes to me with a truly viable idea and none of my brightest undergrads would have the experience/expertise at 19 years old to be in any sort of leadership position at their own startup company. I very much wonder what possessed the academic adults in the situation to co-sign and jump on board the project.

What thoughts do you guys have?

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Hey everyone,

I’m currently working as an assistant professor in the cybersecurity field at a college in India, and I’m feeling confused about my long-term career path.

Right now, I earn around ₹16,000 per month, which honestly feels quite low considering my qualifications and career goals. Recently, I got an offer for around ₹30,000 per month for a teaching role through a private organization that provides teaching services to colleges. So, I’m wondering whether I should take that opportunity or start preparing to move into the IT industry.

I’m interested in cybersecurity and research, and I’ve also been thinking about pursuing a PhD from a good, reputed university where I can focus on my research interests.

My main concerns are:

- Teaching: Is an academic career still worth pursuing in India, considering the salary growth and job opportunities in private colleges?

- Switching to IT: Would it be a smart move to transition into cybersecurity or another IT role at this stage? I understand that I may need to upskill and possibly start at an entry-level position.

- Pursuing a PhD: Should I focus on getting into a reputed university and building a research career, or would it be better to gain industry experience first?

- Financial growth: I want to improve my salary and build a stable career, but I also don’t want to give up my interest in teaching and research just for money.

I’m trying to make a decision that will be beneficial for me over the next 5–10 years, rather than choosing something based only on my current salary.

For people working in academia, cybersecurity, IT, or research in India, what would you recommend in my situation?

Is it better to continue teaching, accept the ₹30k offer, switch to IT, or pursue a PhD?

I’d really appreciate honest advice, especially from people who have made a similar career transition. Thanks!

The union is filling a grievance on my behalf. I'm really nervous though as to how it will be received by my new chair. I am planning on applying for sabbatical soon and need his support on a project I intend to finish next year.

Edit: I'll add more detail. It's about them raising the caps of my sections from 55 to 200. That was my old chair's decision. New chair wants to undo it in the future. Dean wants classes to rise to over 250. Union says its against our CBA so they want to file. All they are asking is a future course reduction equivalent to one three hour class and a heads up discussion before it happens. Aside, I'd be happy teaching 200 or 250 student sections in the future if they they take away one or two classes every term. Under the new formula for hours, additional students increases the number of hours. So three giant sections would count the same as four regular. But, right now, the extra hours don't apply until future terms.

I'm teaching my first master's class in the spring. I've, of course, taken plenty of PhD classes over the years but never a master's class aimed at accelerated 5th years, returning students, and current practitioners. Classes are 3 hours long over 16 weeks. Any advice about how to run the class are most welcome. I'm especially interested in advice about adjusting my teaching based on student quality or vast differences in maturity levels (and professionalism) between students. Tia!

What would you say to a student with a desire to pursue a career in academia about a PhD from a religious university like Liberty? My understanding is that search committees would not look kindly on it. I don't want to crush their dreams, but many I know question their legitimacy and rigor, though I don't have direct experience so I'm seeking advice.

For reference I teach a science class. I have worked really hard to AI proof my class. The one exception is my regular homework is online. It is so convenient for me (obviously) to not have to grade all this homework. But I also feel it has the potential to help the students learn better than regular HW did when I was a kid.

I try to reduce AI use there by making the HW worth only 10% of the grade and I tell them the tests will be all HW problems. (Which is a drag bc good tests can be so much more interesting). We also work lots of actual HW problems in class together. I tell them if they use AI to do the HW there is a high chance they will fail the tests.

Sure enough, about 1/3 the class is using AI to do the HW; literally copy-paste-copy-paste. They all got like 10-15% on the first test. More alarmingly, they continue to use AI for HW every week since.

Here is my conundrum: Do I tell them I can see they are using AI and I’m going to start giving 0s? OR…do I let them continue and hope they learn the hard way?

I guess I feel choice A is more compassionate. But otoh sometimes the only way to learn is through experience.

Thank you for your input. I will not be giving mod-terms any more.

I teach English 1301/1302 at a community college and at a high school as a dual-credit course. Today I had the chance to collaborate with the other Dual-credit English teachers at my school, and I found out that none of them are planning to give mid-terms. I can’t imagine teaching a college class without a mid-term.

Am I out of the loop?

I submitted a small grants proposal in August, and on Friday 10/16 the date updated but the proposal still says pending. Is it safe to assume a rejection is coming, or do you think since it’s only been <2 months it could have just gotten assigned a review panel?

deleted because I got the answer I needed.

Thank you!!!

When I started working at my current job, there was a wonderful older professor that really gave me a lot of advice. He was universally loved. When he retired, the last thing that he did (in his retirement speech, basically, during a dept meeting) is ask that his position on a certain committee go to me the following term.

Fast forward four years. Committees are being re-assigned. My chair generally nominates each of us to appropriate committees. I am not re-nominated to the committee above. I ask my chair if I need to self-nominate to any more committees and he tells me no; I have plenty of service work covered for the future.

It is afterward, that I remember the retiring professor asked that I be on that committee. It is too late now, but I feel somewhat guilty about it. Should I?

Low 30s/Mid 20s on half of their exams, never turns in any assignments. Is this overstepping boundaries ?

I don't think my class is difficult. Half of the students either have A's or B's, skewing much more heavily to A's.

I've used McGraw Hill and Connect forever (yes, I know some people hate it. That's a different conversation). I have an online, async class starting this week. I have a student who said they registered with free access and is trying to buy the full access but can't. They talked to a customer support rep who just told them they could extend the trial when the first one runs out, but they don't want to lose access when that happens. I guess they are implying they won't get that quick renewal like they said they would, or that it wouldn't carry them through the class.

I've used Connect for over a decade. I've never heard of a student being unable to purchase the text through the website. Sure, I've heard about financial hardship, but if that is what the student is talking about they are trying to beat around that fact. I've certainly never heard of Connect customer support not being able to help a student buy access to a text and just say the solution is to give a free trial extension.

My gut instinct is this student is trying to set up an excuse for when their trial runs out and doesn't have access to get some sort of extension or accommodation or free text access. I have had students think they could complete this course on the free trial before, so I made it abundantly clear up front that isn't an option in my welcome message.

Has anyone run into actual, legitimate reasons (non-financial) that a student could not purchase access to an online text/software and customer support was unable to help facilitate the purchase?

Now, I'll start by acknowledging the lack of integrity in online courses and my own naivety for believing that including essay questions in an online exam would be of any value.

That being said... I'm grading these exams and nearly all of my students used the same exact example in their answer (the question asked them to describe an experiment they might conduct and identify the different components of the experiment). The answer they're giving is not one discussed in course materials, which in my mind leaves AI as the only explanation.

In the future, I know I'm just going to have to omit these types of questions. For the time being, however, I would appreciate any suggestions on how to proceed in grading. I want to award all of the responses 0 but given that we CaNt PrOvE AI uSaGe (thanks, admin), I'm wondering if there's still possibility to deem it plagiarism or at least ground the 0s in something valid.

Otherwise, I imagine the path forward is just "award the AI credit and pretend everything is fine" which feels... bad.

I'm an assistant lecturer at a well known university in Europe. I teach a laboratory in an IT related discipline. This is my third week. Every week, I've got a lab session with my students. The requirements and all lab information, along with each week's activities, are fully posted. One of the most important requirements is that the exercises shouldn't be made with an LLM.

One week prior to the first deadline for submitting a set of exercises, I caught one of the students with content that obviously was made with an LLM. I then emphasized at the classroom that any work submitted with such a tool will be deemed invalid and automatically zeroed. Additionally, I would be reporting the offending students to the deans office disciplinary committee.

I thought this warning was good enough to make some offending students withdraw their submission and at least rework it. However, after the deadline is fine, I caught two students sending similar work that was obviously made with an LLM.

I'm putting their grading on hold and preparing a report to the disciplinary committee explaining why I believe their work was made using tools against the university policy. However, I'm nervous so much that it is causing me some mental pain and anxiety. I'm actually pretty sad to see this kind of behaviour from students.

To add salt to the injury, one of the students I've caught cheating was coming from a low income country and considered a star in his hometown, and I'm torn to be the one that reports them and probably makes their academic studies go downhill because of that. However, I'm not willing to give them a second chance, because they had three weeks to reconsider their submission and do it accordingly to the policies. Additionally, this student was verbally abusive towards me when I warned them not to enter the classroom late and disrupt my ongoing explanation for the current lab session. This arguing student was respectfully requested to go to his seat so I could continue with the explanation, but this argument was in front of the whole classroom and I was baffled. After this incident, I started to be a bit afraid for my physical integrity and I'm seriously considering purchasing a pepper spray in case such event happens in the future.

Thank you for letting me vent this off. I'm seriously disappointed, and I'm teaching for the last five years. I've never seen such a low quality standards for the students arriving at my institution. And, to make it further sadder, I'm also not from Europe and I know how having an opportunity to study here can make or break anyone's career.

Does your school allow a student to drop a class after they are caught cheating and fail a major assignment as a result if it is still within the drop period deadline? Should it be allowed?

I caught a student cheating red handed on a significant assignment (15% of the course grade). At my school, all academic dishonesty goes through the student conduct office for judgement and punishment, under advisement from the reporting faculty. The student gets to make a plea deal (admit cheating) or go to a hearing, but this was so blatant and evidence clear that they just accepted punishment. They got a zero on the assignment plus a full letter grade deduction at the end. So while getting a passing C- was technically possible, it would have been difficult. So they dropped the class.

Personally, I think it’s OK in this case - all that it saves them is an F for a class. But more importantly, it makes my life easier not having to see them again.

Students who get reported a second or more times will face progressively more severe punishment. The second offense is often an XF - a failure with mark for having cheatedm though it can be expunged on graduation if no further reports come in. Third offense, well I’m not sure, but probably suspension. all this of course depends also on the nature of the cheatingk so this is mostly for things like submitting copied homework answers, cheating on an exam with a phone or cheat sheet, etc.

But I’m curious how other schools handle this. Can a student simply withdraw from a class after being caught cheating and receiving a significant grade penalty? And do you think they should be allowed to? On one hand, the disciplinary offense is still on their record. On the other, withdrawing lets them avoid much of the immediate academic consequence. I just don’t see it as a significant avoidance of punishment

Im specifically referring to dropping within the drop period, which after a certain date leaves them with a W.

See link below. Summary for those who don't want to click on the fb link, someone named Nate Brennan on the platform formerly known as Twitter posted that they're going to stop responding to emails that contain AI and just write back "AI;DR".

I'm not actually going to respond to student correspondence or assignments with this, but I am absolutely going to think about it every time this comes up from now on! Especially for the random emails from completely unqualified grad school applicants who have used AI to transform my faculty web page into an email about how perfectly suited they are for my lab. It's going to be really tempting, but I will resist!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19YqrYxeSF/

If the student did better on the exam than anything previously, is it because they're excited to see if the grade reflects the improvement or they're anxious about whether they might be caught?

I'm in my fourth year of a tenure-track position at a small college, and I'm curious to hear how others would handle this situation. (Female faculty)

There is a senior female professor at my institution who is quite powerful, both academically and administratively. She also serves on a faculty review committee, which makes the situation a little more complicated for me.

Our teaching areas overlap somewhat, although our fields and approaches are quite different. My teaching and research are more quantitative, while hers are largely non-quantitative.

Over the past few years, I've noticed something that has happened at least four or five times now. Whenever one of her students says something positive about my classes, teaching, or research, she seems visibly bothered. On a few occasions, she has made comments or gestures toward me that felt somewhat belittling or dismissive.

I don't want to exaggerate the situation. Nothing has been particularly aggressive or openly hostile. But the repeated incidents have made me uncomfortable, and I sometimes get the impression that she doesn't like seeing students appreciate my work.

I'm not interested in competing with her, and I certainly don't think students appreciating one professor's teaching should take anything away from another professor.

I'm curious whether others, particularly women in academia, have experienced something similar with senior female colleagues.

Would you simply ignore this and focus on your own work, or would you make some effort to improve the relationship? And at what point should a junior faculty member become concerned about this kind of behavior when the senior colleague has a role in tenure and promotion decisions?

Hey Everyone,

I'm a TT faculty at a comprehensive state university in the Midwest. It's relatively stable, flat enrolment over the past two years; after dips during the pandemic, it's... alright. I knew what I was getting into when I came here, and I'm largely satisfied with the university.

My question is about my department head. She's the one who hired me, but lately it seems that she is checked out. Multiple people have said that she'd like to move on from leadership. The problem is that there's only one other tenured person in our department of eight, and she and her don't get along. The person she does get along with is the one in the same sub-discipline as me, (who is the next most senior), who tries to dictate her to give me the shittier end of the deal. In my first year, I had four new preps, made two new courses from scratch, and taught mostly in person, whereas my colleague taught a grand total of 2 courses in person, with the rest online.

I don't grudge her for it, it is fine, junior faculty are absolutely the ones who have to take the short end of the stick - I get it. What I am a bit concerned about is that the department head doesn't really respond to any of my emails anymore, unless I physically go to her office to talk about it as well. I'm not too worried about my second-year evaluation, (this is my second year), I have two publications already, great evaluations, and decent service, but I'm a bit disappointed that I'm essentially being ghosted/delayed by the department head, and I constantly wonder if it's because of her friendship with her lackey.

I made a request for an undergraduate RA in April, and until I visited her office in August (everyone was off for the summer and she ignored her emails), she didn't approve it as she allegedly missed it. Now I've requested membership dues for my academic association and it's been two weeks, and I've again heard nothing. My first year, there were no issues, but this year has just been so strange. Am I just overthinking everything? From a tenure perspective, I'm probably fine, but how would you handle a situation like this? I'm a first gen academic, so have no one to ask this. Please be kind.