Also this week: syllabus bloat, higher standards vs. LLMs, and more.
From Jeremy:
A thorough and fascinating data-driven post on the long-term decline in writing about progress. Interesting that the decline in writing about progress seems to date from sometime around the 1960s in nonfiction, but from much earlier in fiction. And that the decline isn’t restricted to texts written in English; you see the same broad trends in French and German texts. Clear patterns here, though the underlying causes are unclear. Also unclear how much it matters more broadly, as either a symptom or driver of other trends. But interesting nonetheless.
This is funny, but also serious. Reinforces my growing belief that I’m teaching intro biostats suboptimally.
The two sources of syllabus bloat. Their relative importance surely varies.
Now here’s a thought: rather than trying to ban university students from using LLMs, allow their use, assume everyone will use them (and I’d add, maybe give students a bit of training in how to use them), and then raise grading standards. I don’t hate this thought, but I suspect many of you will.
This is old, but timely again: syllabus Easter egg. 🙂 I’ve done these a couple of times.
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About Jeremy Fox
I’m an ecologist at the University of Calgary. I study population and community dynamics, using mathematical models and experiments.