@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

rspfau

@[email protected]

Professor in Biological Sciences at Tarleton State University in Texas. My focus is population genetics at the interface between populations and species--including hybridization. Because I work at a university that (historically) has been teaching focused, my research questions and methodology are relatively simple.

I'm active on iNaturalist, posting observations of as many different species as I find and providing identifications of others' observations.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

inquiline, to academicchatter
@inquiline@union.place avatar

folks: Please consider signing and widely sharing this letter re long-term ceasefire & just solution in with university colleagues in New England, ideally before 10am on Monday Dec. 4, which is when it will be sent to US Senators representing New England states. The form will continue collecting signatures thereafter.

Note that signatories do NOT have to be US citizens, but must be a resident of CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, or VT.

🔁 welcome!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe0z2XyleqW_4hIm_HfeIVK9cAIz4BPuaOFpTvNosfn2FhdLg/viewform

@academicchatter

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@inquiline @academicchatter What if we're afraid of being fired for doing so?

dougpete, to random
@dougpete@vivaldi.net avatar

A group of scientists set out to study quick learners. Then they discovered they don't exist | KQED https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/62750/a-group-of-scientists-set-out-to-study-quick-learners-then-they-discovered-they-dont-exist

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@grant_h @dougpete @oldaily @edutooters

But here's a really important sentence: "The conclusion that everyone’s learning rate is similar might apply only to well-designed versions of computerized learning. Koedinger thinks students probably learn at different paces in the analog world of paper and pencil, without the same guided practice and feedback. When students are learning more independently, he says, some might be better at checking their own work and seeking guidance."

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@grant_h @dougpete @oldaily @edutooters Yes...and that was my intended point.

I provide my college students with lots of opportunity to practice, but a large percentage don't have the motivation to do it. Difficult for me (alone) to provide feedback and enforce practice with 200+ students.

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@grant_h @dougpete @oldaily @edutooters The ability to do that may vary depending on level of student. Ours have got to level up in order to get into and succeed in medical school. If they don't do it now, they will just fail later.

rspfau, to random
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

Sometimes I'm called upon to teach a writing intensive capstone class where the main assignment has been a review paper. Given , I've been wondering what to do differently. Helping students improve their writing is totally different now...that's all I know.

I found this article:
The role of ChatGPT in scientific communication: writing better scientific review articles

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10164801/

prachisrivas, to academicchatter
@prachisrivas@masto.ai avatar

My fly-on-the-wall observations on AI and higher education (at least teaching and learning) is that most universities really do not know what to do. Many do not have integrated policies. Most professors don't really know what it is about.

Profs need training, procedural and pedagogical. Universities should be spearheading the response. However, that is not what I see.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/after-year-chatgpt-academia-getting-grips-generative-ai

@academicchatter

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@prachisrivas @academicchatter Do students still need to learn how to write well? Or do they need to learn how to use to improve their writing? Or both?

radlschorsch, to random German
@radlschorsch@muenchen.social avatar

Wo bleiben die Universitäten im Fediverse?

Warum betreiben Universitäten nicht schon längst eigene Mastodon-Instanzen?

Warum bekommen Studierende nicht mit der Immatrikulation auch einen Mastodon-Handle?

Warum hosten Universitäten Vorlesungsvideos nicht über PeerTube im Fediverse?

Es gibt einiges, das für ein stärkeres Engagement von Universitäten im Fediverse spricht.

Ein Aufruf den man nur unterstützen kann! #boost
#fediverse #university
https://netzpolitik.org/2023/aufruf-hochschulen-aller-laender-ins-fediverse/

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@vtraag @radlschorsch @gpollara @cra1g @RichardShaw @srfirehorseart @academicchatter @edutooters @cwts Our university has almost no IT staff...mostly student workers. Noone to set it up and noone to moderate.

jeffgreene, to psychology
@jeffgreene@mastodon.social avatar

How can providing support for people’s autonomy lead to better learning? Find out in my latest Substack!
#Education #Psychology #EducationalPsychology

@edutooters
@psychology

https://open.substack.com/pub/bemusings/p/want-to-help-people-learn-support?r=dvmo5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@dsmith @jeffgreene @edutooters @psychology
I obviously need to read further, but this stood out "Of all learning outcomes, academic performance had the weakest overall relationship with autonomy support."

beatnikprof, to academicchatter
@beatnikprof@mas.to avatar

To those wondering how my Halloween Pavlovian toss the students a candy bar when they speak experiment went: pretty much the same in both classes.
First 2 students were all “what is going on?” w/ 1 even doing the Pip from LoTR gazing up into the Heavens. The 3rd student then tested the theory that talking generated candy. Once that proved successful, the floodgates opened up.
@academicchatter

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@beatnikprof @academicchatter Could be a good icebreaker after all. Now to see if they continue without the fun reqard.

beatnikprof, to academicchatter
@beatnikprof@mas.to avatar

Trying a Pavlovian experiment with my students today. I will toss a candy bar to anyone who speaks. Let’s see if they catch on and if this will encourage greater class participation.
@academicchatter

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@beatnikprof @academicchatter Sounds like a bad idea. Most students probably dont want the candy....those that do will just come to expect it. Dont feed the rhinos.

tiago, to academicchatter
@tiago@social.skewed.de avatar

This looks awesome!

https://scholar.archive.org

Can we dare to dream to get rid of google scholar?

@academicchatter

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@bbolker @DrSimonCarr @tiago @academicchatter I wish web of science was useful for my discipline. But it pales in comparison to Google Scholar.

bojacobs, to histodons
@bojacobs@hcommons.social avatar

Gifted article:

"New Evidence That Ancient Footprints Push Back Human Arrival in North America

Following up a on study in 2021 of tracks found in New Mexico, researchers used more methods to bolster the claim that the tracks are up to 23,000 years old."

@histodons

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/05/science/footprints-tracks-new-mexico-age.html?unlocked_article_code=0PXbfeHq57BgXF6MDjrrin0Rkgi2YIVmfOc9vBS9-PoRA_LfgcU85R_81CG2hiHEC7JSZK2aFTpkZglMqm5O13Ukwc218D9YAgAN9ECzaNZu_dXY9pyDcVpSroQV4aDzYs3OQlfpZgQfAUxefTbcWOLjQabeyte8Ioa6xXimP8c1I1Qh4LXe95XTfjDhezMVF3WoqU_DFJhnhT5wFm9oFReXsA1Dv4ln0p30cDcV1l8XW3G_Y4ltdfg0VGsO47qSPn7cZdUfWomcgVKz0t-UOae50cD_db6KcoMO3ptexhk5AZblif3T8KVHQtkwUU-aFUuWPxaTlvsvVQrgvmbLibj8eQGoZ9s8CEY&smid=url-share

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@bojacobs @histodons That's an odd shaped human footprint. Seems pinky toe is set too far back toward heel.

djvanness, to academicchatter
@djvanness@mastodon.social avatar

Leaders of take note: you cannot cut your way to stability. You cannot grow enrollment by gutting a university. The link below talks about enrollment declines at Emporia State University. The same will happen at . I can tell you when their glossy brochure showed up in the mail for my 11th grade son, it went right in the trash. @academicchatter
https://www.ksnt.com/capitol-bureau/esu-enrollment-dips-following-layoffs-university-defends-changes/

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@djvanness @academicchatter

Why would any parent in their right mind send their kids to a university that is cutting programs? Will they cut your kid's program next?

ingorohlfing, to academicchatter German
@ingorohlfing@mastodon.social avatar

I am looking a journal submission website of a SAGE journal run with Manuscript Central. The login option via ORCID is gone, instead one can log in with "Web of Science (TM)". What fresh hell is this? This was running perfectly (almost) with ORCID, why does one now need an account with Clarivate (which I don't want to)? Is MC owned by Clarivate? @academicchatter

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@ingorohlfing @Buxton_Vienna @academicchatter Prior to a few weeks ago, Wiley had ORCID login. They recently took it away and now I cant access my manuscript. 🤮

girls_can, to academicchatter
@girls_can@qoto.org avatar

For heaven’s sake, SOMEone remind me not to apply for another grant for at least 5 years 😭

I have GOT to stop doing this to myself

@academicchatter

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@girls_can @academicchatter That's definitely MY plan!

cra1g, to academicchatter
@cra1g@sciences.social avatar

I'm increasingly convinced that the sheer mass of casual, informal writing that undergrads have done on a daily basis until they get to college has undermined their ability both to think critically about what others have written and to write with rigor themselves. Basic logic seems more and more a missing skill, and falacious reasoning increasingly fills the void. Please, someone convince me we're not on our way to the future as portrayed in "Idiocracy." :-(
@academicchatter

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@cra1g @academicchatter Same goes for simple mathematical reasoning. Not considering that numbers reflect things in real life and how they relate to one another. It renders them totally helpless.

beatnikprof, to academicchatter
@beatnikprof@mas.to avatar

Controversial opinion:
Search committees shouldn’t request letters of recommendation from candidates until the phone interview stage, at the earliest. Take the pressure off of the candidates, their mentors, and the committee members.
@academicchatter

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@beatnikprof @profwinikoff @academicchatter At my U.S. institution, reference letters are never requested. We call references in very final stage.

beatnikprof, to academicchatter
@beatnikprof@mas.to avatar

We get so much guidance on how to identify student burnout.
Do admins get that same amount of guidance to identify burnout?
@academicchatter

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@ienvision @beatnikprof @academicchatter At a meeting with our provost today one faculty said in exasperation "we're all just exhausted" from constant change and loss of support staff. She expressed no concern.

girls_can, to academicchatter
@girls_can@qoto.org avatar

Great day . I had a big grant get funded letting me work with a fantastic new from , Autumn Watkinson, on . I got nice reviews back on a paper lead-authored by my former PhD student Jody Daniel. I taught my first lecture this fall and the whole promised to do their assigned before each . @academicchatter

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@ashleykolodziej @girls_can @academicchatter It's only downhill from there! 😉

eharlitzkern, to academicchatter
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

Update!

I have a key. I have been able to enter the office and explore. There are chairs. There is a phone. Keyboards and computer mouses.

Still no desks or harddrives so that I can actually do some work. But it smells nice. That’s good. Better than the opposite. @academicchatter

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@eharlitzkern @academicchatter If it's like here, it's the second week of classes before you got the key. If you're lucky.

TheConversationUS, to academicchatter
@TheConversationUS@newsie.social avatar

Research shows:

Students score about the same on online exams as they do on in-person exams.

https://theconversation.com/despite-giving-students-chances-to-cheat-unsupervised-online-exams-gauge-student-learning-comparably-to-in-person-exams-210221

#education #distancelearning #academicchatter @academicchatter

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@ChemicalEyeGuy @TheConversationUS @academicchatter Students aren't good at learning or cheating.

josh, to academicchatter
@josh@fediscience.org avatar

My syllabus statement on AI generative text. Feel free to reuse CC0 and/or critique here with responses.

@academicchatter

rspfau,
@rspfau@ecoevo.social avatar

@ViennaMike @josh @academicchatter I lean pessimistic so I think this will be ineffective. Students generally wait till last minute to write and thus get desperate. LLM AI will always be better than nothing. Since you can never prove it was written by AI, there's no need for them to follow your instructions.

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