[Matt Wright]

Hey Engineers,

My name is Matt Wright and I'm one of five representatives on the SRA that can take problems you're facing as students and solve them. Feel free to discuss anything from class size problems to food service issues and I can do my best to translate these into results you want!

Basically, a lot of people dislike the MSU because they don't see tangible results coming from their SRA reps. This does not have to be the case. If you want to see something done, I can try my best to make it happen, or at least make sure someone more qualified can deal with it.

This year I have made significant gains towards:

An ELM integration platform for MSU updates
MacStAR - a document issued by McMaster recognizing student involvement (https://macstar.mcmaster.ca/star/macstar/macstar.jsp)
Referral to the Space Audit Committee to find prayer space on campus (SRA 09L)
More diversified music and entertainment acts from Campus Events (I'm working wednesday @1280 for Zombieland)

My office hours this term are:
Tuesday at 10PM in West End Pub
Wednesday at 10:30AM in MUSC 204.

Wishing everyone a successful Term II,
Matt Wright

It hurts when I pee.

Oh god, where do I start:
- incompetent professors who cannot teach(one even violated copyright blatantly)
- webpage inconsistency - each prof has to make their own webpage etc.
- 5 courses in engineering is way too much material for someone to cover(this was a major problem this past semester)
- some courses have WAYY too much work to do for assignments, see previous point
- courses shouldn't NEED to be bell curved, people should be getting ok averages to begin with

Think you can help?
I'm in software engineering btw, 3rd year.

also, I ate too much chocolate these days, its making my tummy ache

Can you do something about crappy slides from profs??

I could never understand what my chem prof last semester wrote on the "slides" (which were just overheads), and it didn't help that he had a French accent

Originally Posted by lmasud

Can you do something about crappy slides from profs??

I could never understand what my chem prof last semester wrote on the "slides" (which were just overheads), and it didn't help that he had a French accent

crappy slides and internet postage of said slides are def. a problem for me too

Originally Posted by adrian

Oh god, where do I start:
- webpage inconsistency - each prof has to make their own webpage etc.

I would rather have each professor to actually use ELM instead of their own webpages. I know I could just bookmark all of em but still it would be nice to have everything in one place with grades, assignments, etc. ELM has been working fine for me for a while now so I think they should start utilizing the damn thing.

Originally Posted by adrian

Oh god, where do I start:
- incompetent professors who cannot teach(one even violated copyright blatantly)
- webpage inconsistency - each prof has to make their own webpage etc.
- 5 courses in engineering is way too much material for someone to cover(this was a major problem this past semester)
- some courses have WAYY too much work to do for assignments, see previous point
- courses shouldn't NEED to be bell curved, people should be getting ok averages to begin with

Think you can help?
I'm in software engineering btw, 3rd year.

Most of the really bad profs are tenured, so you'll never get rid of them. I can take a guess at the one who violated copyright, and can name quite a few in Software who can't teach - but that's all part of the experience. If you can't learn from the professor, pick up the book and read, Google things, figure it out. I'm not trying to justify you paying for crappy professors - but you're stuck with them so come up with ways around it.

Webpage inconsistency? So what? Do the websites have the information you need on them? Are they available? I much preferred professor's websites over WebCT and the like. And they were usually easy to find as well.

5 courses isn't much to complain about. I had 6 and 7 each year until my final year and I was able to cope. Engineering is a lot of work - you must have known that going in. If you can't handle it, you're more than welcome to spread your program out for an extra year. Talk to an academic advisor.

Some assignments have too much work, some have none at all. It balances it out and I found it quite manageable.

McMaster doesn't bell curve. Very rarely in my 5 years did my Software courses get adjusted either. Sometimes a test would get marked out of less, but that's hardly a bell. I almost always came out of the course with a mark I expected to get based on what I had calculated.

I know it gets stressful, I know it can get annoying... but it's Engineering, it takes hard work. I really don't think you should be looking to the SRA to help you with the problems you mentioned because a) they can't change most things you mentioned and b) it's a personal experience which is different for everyone in the program. I think the point of this thread is to get problems which impact MANY students and the SRA has a chance to do something about. Crappy professors impacts everyone, but again, I don't think the SRA can do much about tenured profs...

Anyways, I know I'm no longer at Mac, but is the SRA making it out to more MES meetings to give MSU updates? We only had a couple last year and they were pretty helpful and getting information out. Also, I'm curious why the Maroons were once again not able to pull together the Olympics in time this year.

Originally Posted by DavidR

Most of the really bad profs are tenured, so you'll never get rid of them. I can take a guess at the one who violated copyright, and can name quite a few in Software who can't teach - but that's all part of the experience. If you can't learn from the professor, pick up the book and read, Google things, figure it out. I'm not trying to justify you paying for crappy professors - but you're stuck with them so come up with ways around it.

Webpage inconsistency? So what? Do the websites have the information you need on them? Are they available? I much preferred professor's websites over WebCT and the like. And they were usually easy to find as well.

5 courses isn't much to complain about. I had 6 and 7 each year until my final year and I was able to cope. Engineering is a lot of work - you must have known that going in. If you can't handle it, you're more than welcome to spread your program out for an extra year. Talk to an academic advisor.

Some assignments have too much work, some have none at all. It balances it out and I found it quite manageable.

McMaster doesn't bell curve. Very rarely in my 5 years did my Software courses get adjusted either. Sometimes a test would get marked out of less, but that's hardly a bell. I almost always came out of the course with a mark I expected to get based on what I had calculated.

I know it gets stressful, I know it can get annoying... but it's Engineering, it takes hard work. I really don't think you should be looking to the SRA to help you with the problems you mentioned because a) they can't change most things you mentioned and b) it's a personal experience which is different for everyone in the program. I think the point of this thread is to get problems which impact MANY students and the SRA has a chance to do something about. Crappy professors impacts everyone, but again, I don't think the SRA can do much about tenured profs...

Anyways, I know I'm no longer at Mac, but is the SRA making it out to more MES meetings to give MSU updates? We only had a couple last year and they were pretty helpful and getting information out. Also, I'm curious why the Maroons were once again not able to pull together the Olympics in time this year.

Just to sum this post up it says "I don't share your concerns therefore they are invalid. Suck it up and deal with it."

SRA Engineering Caucus Leader Greg Voloshenko has been attending every (I think) MES meeting and has provided SRA/MSU updates at every chance. The entire Engineering Caucus also provided a general yearplan overview at SAGM I, and will do so again at the next general meeting.

Although David is right in saying there is little the SRA can do about quality of teaching from tenured profs, the MSU can lobby the university based on results from the Quality of Education Assessment which will be circulated early this term. When it comes to overarching concerns among students, it is worthwhile to voice these problems so that those in power realize how real these issues are and how many students experience them.

Keep the feedback coming, and hopefully I can formulate a solution or at least a starting point towards remedying these problems.

Thanks again for everyone's ideas,
Matt

Originally Posted by sew12

Just to sum this post up it says "I don't share your concerns therefore they are invalid. Suck it up and deal with it."

I was going more for "The SRA is not some group which can slay tenured professors and make Engineering easy... " but that's cool.

As someone who's been through the same program he's in, I know what he's talking about. I know exactly what profs are crap. I know which one's copy. I know it's difficult. But what exactly do you expect the SRA to do about it?

Originally Posted by Matt Wright

SRA Engineering Caucus Leader Greg Voloshenko has been attending every (I think) MES meeting and has provided SRA/MSU updates at every chance. The entire Engineering Caucus also provided a general yearplan overview at SAGM I, and will do so again at the next general meeting.

Good to hear. I know that was one area we wanted to hear more from last year.

Originally Posted by DavidR

I was going more for "The SRA is not some group which can slay tenured professors and make Engineering easy... " but that's cool.

As someone who's been through the same program he's in, I know what he's talking about. I know exactly what profs are crap. I know which one's copy. I know it's difficult. But what exactly do you expect the SRA to do about it?

Isn't that stuff you can talk to the VP Education about on the MES?

VP Education

Jennifer Stoneburgh

[email protected] ciety.ca

But yeah, you should probably discuss specific problems with specific classes with that professor or your faculty advisor or something, if not VP Ed.

I'm not saying the SRA can do anything about issues like Profs with tenure who are poor teachers I'm just saying he basically ran through every concern the other poster expressed and implied that because he didn't have those issues they weren't a big deal.

Originally Posted by sew12

I'm not saying the SRA can do anything about issues like Profs with tenure who are poor teachers I'm just saying he basically ran through every concern the other poster expressed and implied that because he didn't have those issues they weren't a big deal.

On the contrary, I believe he stated he had to deal with them, and actually had to deal with *more* in some cases, and that it *is* engineering, which is known for having a hard workload, such as 6-7 courses per term.


Something that bugs me is how sometimes a discussion is started on here and it turns into an eng-bash-fest... but I guess there's nothing you can do about that ^^;