My college professor doesn't know his stuff...

[MacFan782040]

So I've had this class for 2 days already, and I can just tell he has no clue what he's talking about. The class is Business Info Systems...basically Excell and Access. However, for the first couple weeks we're learing basics about computers. He even told us he's not "tech-savvy"...but telling us the wrong things if just ludicris. Here's what he's said so far:

1. Said the "R" in CD-R stood for "write". Doesn't it stand for recordable?

2. Listed a USB flash drive under optical drives b/c he said it "also uses a laser"

3. Said "if your hard drive fails, you can boot up in "safe-mode" which launches DOS and bypasses the Hard Drive." Isn't DOS on the HD????

4. Said "nobody in the class" has a Core 2 Duo processor because it's so new. And he said that Core 2 Duo tops out at 2.0MHz

5. Said a Quad-processor machine would cost about $10,000.

6. And finally...here's the kicker he said today. He said about 10 years ago, the University would have to buy a copy of MS Office for each computer, which cost a lot. (ie: $300 per workstation on all campus computers)

He said with the implement of the campus-wide network, they only had to purchace ONE copy of MS Office and install it on the main server, which would remotely launch them to all the workstations. The thing is, he said "instead of it costing thousands of dollars, it only cost $300 for every computer". Nothing was said about licensing, about how 1 $300 copy cannot be used for thousands of computers!

I can't really believe this guy. I'm sure he's great at Excell and Access, but don't try to teach computers!

 

[Luis]

Wow, really, he is as tech-savvy as my grandma (no offence to her).

What is the world coming to?!

 

[CanadaRAM]

Ooooh I see a term paper coming up. "Common misconceptions about information technology and the propagation of popular errors in the University Environment."

Keep taking accurate notes...

 

[TimJim]

old people...what can you do?

 

[mad jew]

Put them in homes?

 

[MacFan782040]

The sad thing is...i don't know whether I should write down the wrong information because that is what the tests will be on....or write down the false stuff.

 

[Luis]

Talk to him! Either way, if he marks you wrong on an exam you can always defend your answers and prove him wrong.

 

[flopticalcube]

Tenure can be a bad thing sometimes.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Tenure can be a bad thing sometimes.

Tenuritis - an inflammation of the connective tissue in the brain...

 

[EvilDoc]

The funny thing is thats not that last Professor you will meet that wont know his/her stuff. Ive ran into a couple that spout nothing the BS...

 

[siurpeeman]

i had a calc professor who didn't know his trig. students had to correct him repeatedly for mistaken values. it was frustrating and a bit hard to take him seriously.

 

[Chundles]

and.... did anybody get up to refute his claims? Anybody at all? Maybe there's your answer. I know a bunch of my profs would spout crap hoping that somebody had the brains/balls to prove them wrong.

 

[lag1090]

So I've had this class for 2 days already, and I can just tell he has no clue what he's talking about. The class is Business Info Systems...basically Excell and Access. However, for the first couple weeks we're learing basics about computers. He even told us he's not "tech-savvy"...but telling us the wrong things if just ludicris. Here's what he's said so far:

1. Said the "R" in CD-R stood for "write". Doesn't it stand for recordable?

2. Listed a USB flash drive under optical drives b/c he said it "also uses a laser"

3. Said "if your hard drive fails, you can boot up in "safe-mode" which launches DOS and bypasses the Hard Drive." Isn't DOS on the HD????

4. Said "nobody in the class" has a Core 2 Duo processor because it's so new. And he said that Core 2 Duo tops out at 2.0MHz

5. Said a Quad-processor machine would cost about $10,000.

6. And finally...here's the kicker he said today. He said about 10 years ago, the University would have to buy a copy of MS Office for each computer, which cost a lot. (ie: $300 per workstation on all campus computers)

He said with the implement of the campus-wide network, they only had to purchace ONE copy of MS Office and install it on the main server, which would remotely launch them to all the workstations. The thing is, he said "instead of it costing thousands of dollars, it only cost $300 for every computer". Nothing was said about licensing, about how 1 $300 copy cannot be used for thousands of computers!

I can't really believe this guy. I'm sure he's great at Excell and Access, but don't try to teach computers!

Here's what I think of the six points:

1) This is understandable. The "r" does stand for "recordable," but the two terms are pretty much interchangeable.

2) He has no idea what flash storage is.

3) He must've been thinking of the BIOS, not safe mode. Safe mode would not function if the drive physically failed. Otherwise, he's thinking of the many times copies of Windows have randomly died from bad drivers and whatnot.

4) This guy needs a refresher course on CPUs, that's for sure. I wasn't even around for the days when 2Mhz was considered fast.

5) From this and the previous point, I guess he doesn't follow CPUs too closely.

6) I don't really expect him to understand software licensing. Perhaps MS gave the school a slightly greater volume discount since there was less physical media involved? I'm not even so sure about that, but you definitely can't run one licensed copy for a whole lab. At least not under the terms of the license, anyway.

I would personally try to educate him. It'll end up in one of two ways: he'll hate you for telling him things he knows nothing about, or he'll like the fact that you actually know something.

By the way, what school are you attending? I'm just curious as to the general area where the prof. would be from, and what school would hire such a prof.

 

[Sun Baked]

I don't know a Quad Xeon/4 socket machine would be killer.

Think of running OS X on 16 cores.

Sort of sucks that there have been no 4 CPU machines since the Daystar days and the BeBox.

 

[tomoisyourgod]

The sad thing is...i don't know whether I should write down the wrong information because that is what the tests will be on....or write down the false stuff.

Put the right stuff down in tests...

when I was in college we were taught and instructed to use Paintshop Pro, for my assignment I used Photoshop. I got a distinction.

Electronic copies of all our assignments had to be handed in .doc formats for all the assignments, I handed in PDF formats - there was no quarrels.

So just do with what you think is right, you know the facts your given are out of date and/or wrong...

 

[Father Jack]

IMO the Prof should take a refresher course ....

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

Just don't go trying to correct him while calling it (i.e. writing it as) "Excell." (;

 

[MisterMe]

So I've had this class for 2 days already, and I can just tell he has no clue what he's talking about. ...

If you are attending university, then I presume that you have completed all the lower levels. Is this the first time that you have encountered an instructor who doesn't know what he is talking about? Consider yourself lucky.

 

[Grimace]

If you are afraid of rebuke, you could open an anonymous hotmail/yahoo account and send him polite corrections to each point. CC the dept chair too. It is silly for you or others to waste so much money.

 

[jackc]

Wow, I hope you're joking! I think the anonymous email might be a good idea before you flunk for knowing the right answers.

 

[Roric]

I had a professor once that would purposely say wrong stuff, just to see if anyone was paying attention and had the guts to speak up. It was her way to keep the class awake and involved.

One of the best classes I ever had because she made you THINK about what was going on. Well, that and she handed out bite size chocolate bars to whoever corrected her. Left that class many a time with a sugar buzz going on. I would crash an hour or two later, but it was good while it lasted.

 

[Jasonbot]

Sounds almost as bad as my IT teacher that I currently have. She teaches us about Ring Topology networking

 

[mad jew]

Everyone knows that college professors and uni lecturers are people who weren't good enough to get real jobs in their professions anyway.

 

[flopticalcube]

Everyone knows that college professors and uni lecturers are people who weren't good enough to get real jobs in their professions anyway.

Ouch! "Those who can't do, teach."

 

[mcarnes]

Everyone knows that college professors and uni lecturers are people who weren't good enough to get real jobs in their professions anyway.

Not necessarily true for fields like Philosophy, English, and such. But certainly true for CS.