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My student walked into my office and stared at the open copies of Russell & Norvig and Kleinberg & Tardos on my desk, with a look of shock and horror on their face, and then went: Do you have time to read all of that‽

I mean... given the notes scribbled in the margins and the bookmarks sticking out of my books, I can hardly deny that I've read at least parts of them in quite some detail. If I admit that, however, my students are no longer going to buy the "sorry I don't have time for an extra meeting" line...

Anybody have a good comeback for me for the next time this happens? This time I just went with "er... that's kind of the idea of studying... that you read your textbooks..." 🤦‍♀️

#ProfessorLife #AI #Algorithms #Students #AcademicChatter #AcademicMastodon #ArtificialIntelligence #Studying

ada

@ada@beige.party replied · 2 days ago

@anna One thing I used to say is, "I read that so you don't have to"; different scenario, of course.

Dr. Anna Latour

@anna@mathstodon.xyz replied · 2 days ago

@ada Yup, I mentioned something similar in one of the replies. I don't fully believe that that's true, tho. I would expect my students to not just believe me and still seek out the information independently to verify it. If only b/c I make a ton of mistakes, and likely don't catch all of them.

Dr. Anna Latour

@anna@mathstodon.xyz replied · 2 days ago

@ada Also depending on the level of the student, I actually would like them to read much *more* than I do, so I can learn from them also. At some point in their academic career, they have to reach that point.

ada

@ada@beige.party replied · yesterday

@anna Gosh I wish you were my teacher when I was a student.

How about "I read them to give you a head start"? Like you said they should not just believe you in all entirety, but burden of knowledge is such a weird thing that sometimes knowing a person is crucial to explaining a concept effectively and efficiently.

When I read a book, no matter how well it is written I often find myself either skipping or having to do outside-of-the-book research.

ednl 🇪🇺

@ednl@mastodon.social replied · 2 days ago

@anna "That is my job."

Dr. Anna Latour

@anna@mathstodon.xyz replied · 2 days ago

@ednl I will never forget this interaction with another student:

student: I wanted to propose a meeting, but then I saw a horrible graphic and decided against it.
me: oh? what was the graphic?
student: your calendar

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