Subject: RE: [hackers-il] Future vs. Present [was Re: RE: Teaching the Tec hnion]

From: Arik Baratz <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 10:27:12 +0200

The legendary "Factor Shiber" came from EE, IIRC. It's a factor for raising
the course avarage without really affecting anyone:

new_grade = (old_grade<55) ? 54 : old_grade

But I never heard of its appliance anywhere else but that once instance.

FYI, 55 is the minimal 'passing' grade.

-----Original Message-----
From: Shlomi Fish [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Tue, December 11, 2001 11:17 AM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: [hackers-il] Future vs. Present [was Re: RE: Teaching the
Technion]

On Tue, 11 Dec 2001, Nadav Har'El wrote:

> On Mon, Dec 10, 2001, Shlomi Fish wrote about "[hackers-il] RE: Teaching
the Technion":
> > > Well, I think the Technion is great. When I studied there in '94...
> > >
> > > Seriously, now, I have not encountered much of what you are talking
about. I
> > > have a C.S. B.A., and very few of my grades do I consider 'Unfair'.
> > >
> >
> > You have no idea how much I am jealous of you. I guess the EE department
> > is different than the CS faculty.
>
> Shlomi, please don't get disparaged. Remember: people tend to look back
> at things in nostalgy, remembering the good things and downplaying the
> bad things.

It's not that I am unhappy now. I'm just frustrated with the whole
Technion way of doing things. And I'm always going to remember that. I
know I was happy in high school, but I know some of the subjects I had to
study had annoying tests, which I could not never hope to pass on a good
grade. (at least not without writing a lot of non-sense in the test, which
is
something I neither can or wish to do.) But in some ways, even high school
was more fair than the Technion because you the Teacher knew you very
well, and usually had time to hear your complaints.

> Notice the comonality between all people (including me) that have said
good
> things about the Technion in this thread: It's not the department we
studied
> in, but rather the fact that we all finished our BA quite a few years ago
(I
> finished it in 1994). The BA period wasn't easy for any of us (at least
not
> for me), and at times I also cursed those hard tests, exercises, (a
relatively
> small number of) uncomprehensible teachers, thick-headed TAs, unfair
tests,
> unfair grades, hard and stupid exercises, and all these things. I can tell
> you stories upon stories on each of those things. But after we finished
all
> of that, we remember more the good things we got out of our alma mater
(the
> Technion): the ways of thinking, methodology, basic knowledge, and even
that
> coveted piece of cardboard - the diploma.

What bothers me the most now is that is that the Technion causes me
frustration. And I don't think I improved my way of thinking, methodology,
etc. because of it. I'm not going to be grateful for the Technion for
giving me a diploma, because at the moment the balance is tilted
towards me.

> After several years we can also
> appreciate more what we got out of the Technion. I *know* that I don't
apply
> in my current career at least 90% of the material I learned in my BA
(after
> all, topology and banach spaces aren't very applicable to programming) -
> but I still think that my time was well-spent, and even if nothing more,
> the 3 years of BA studies were an excellent excercise of my mind -
something
> that I badly missed in school.
>

I exercise my mind on a regular basis, whether in the Technion or not. The
fact that I am sometimes not rewarded for my thinking efforts is what
bothers me.

> I really doubt the EE department sucks more than the CS (or any other)
> department. But I admit don't have much personal experience with that
> department, other than taking two courses there ("digital systems", and
> "quantum computation"), going to a few colloquia (quite interesting), and
> talking to a few processors over there (which seemed very nice) about
perhaps
> doing a doctorate in EE.

The professors seem very nice and usually are nice. However:

1. Many of them if they write a test that is too hard or too long, leave
it at that, and tell themselves that they will compensate it with a
factor.

2. Some of them can't tell a hard test even if it hit them in the head.

3. Some of them refuse to let students talk to them face to face.

4. Most of them care more about the statistics of the course's grades,
rather than making sure hard-working and/or talented students would be
rewarded.

Perhaps there is a similar situation in other departments. Right now I'm
bitter about my studies in general, and I induce it to the rest of the
Technion. That's life in the Technion for you.

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shlomi Fish        [email-masked]
Home Page:         http://t2.technion.ac.il/~shlomif/
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---

From: Shlomi Fish <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 14:42:41 +0200 (IST)

> FYI, 55 is the minimal 'passing' grade.

Prof. David Shiber is an EE Technion Professor who specializes in
Electromagnetic Field and Waves. He was my lecturer for the course "Waves
and Distributed Systems". He has a reputation as a good lecturer, but I
personally did not like him.

The "Shiber Factor" is named after him.

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

> Subject: Future vs. Present [was Re: RE: Teaching the
> Technion]
>
>

---

From: Omer Zak <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 16:57:38 +0200 (EET)

> The "Shiber Factor" is named after him.

Reminds me of my own Shiber story, as a deaf student.
In most courses, I could get along without much access to the subject
matter of lectures, because the information was available in textbooks and
in encoded form in the formulae on the blackboard.

However, Shiber's course had also that piece of philosophy about when to
use the quasi-static approximation and why.
I didn't get it, and flunked the mid-semester exam (20% of the final
grade).  I did not understand where and why I failed, and asked to see my
exam answers with the marks.

This is not a problem in final exams, where the students have the right to
appeal their grades.  But lecturers were permitted not to accept appeals
on mid-semester exams, and Shiber exploited this to reduce nags from
students.

But in my case this was unfair, I was not after improving my grade, I was
after understanding what was wrong in my answers.

The issue was escalated, into the Student Union and mutterings about
breaking into Shiber's office to get the information (mutterings which
didn't materialize once I found that a student can sue an academic
institution which flunks him and fails to explain to him why).

Shiber didn't budge and threatened to cancel mid-semester exams in future
semesters if his hand is forced.

The resolution:  one of Shiber's TAs gave me a paper explaining the
quasi-static approximation.  After having gotten enlightenment, I finished
the course with grade 83 (if my memory serves me right) - relatively low
grade for me - but I didn't mind this because I learned and because my
grade average stayed safely above 90.
                                             --- Omer
There is no IGLU Cabal.  The founders met, but they wasted time swapping
yarns about their Technion days, and adjourned at 23:40 without finishing
anything.  Another meeting was scheduled for next week, but it is
suspected that it'll really be about Tel Aviv University related stories.
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