5 ms·

This sort of just happened and made news. A professor left clues to money in his syllabus and no one got it. https://www.npr.org/2021/12/20/1065723014/tennesse

This sort of just happened and made news. A professor left clues to money in his syllabus and no one got it. https://www.npr.org/2021/12/20/1065723014/tennessee-professor-hid-a-cash-p https://www.npr.org/2021/12/20/1065723014/tennessee-professo...

smallpipe 5y ago
And the actual “clue” looked like a borked copy paste in the part of the syllabus telling you about university wide policies that the student would have read elsewhere already. But sure lazy students don’t read the syllabus
smcl 5y ago
Yeah this was a little viral hit that went down well with boomers, but it was pretty sneaky. Everyone seems to be suggesting that if the kids these days just did what they were supposed to then they could have scored a crisp $50 and had all the avocado toast they ever wanted. But where exactly was the text and how did the students miss it? These articles say it was "in the syllabus" but don't really go much further. I don't have access to the full syllabus but a snippet showing its immediate surroundings is available: ... objectives. As a result, skill-based courses in music may be exempt from Covid-related accomodations as a progression in skills must be obtained across the semester to be successfull in these course. Thus (free to the first who claims; locker one hundred forty-seven; combination fifteen, twenty-five, thirty-five), students may be ineligible to make up classes and coursework beyond the specified number of days as determined by the instructor. Requests will be decided on a case-by-case basis with specific emphasis on the ability to achieve learning outcomes. Technology Support: If you have problems with your UTC email ... So it was right near the "please contact the tech support department if you need tech support" message. Basically it's in some boilerplate that every course has and nobody reads because they want to actually do their work and don't expect some professor to try to score internet points by pranking them this way. NPR could've done exactly the same thing on that article by adding a clause to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy docs that are linked, but which we all probably ignored and just clicked "Agree and Continue" to view the article.
- Frondo 5y ago
  It's not just that it's embedded in some of the university boilerplate that the students probably have on all their syllabuses, it's that it doesn't read like anything, certainly not a promise of a free $50. Is it a typo? A copy-paste error? Only knowing that "free to the first who claims" is part of a boomer gotcha for kids these days does that whole parenthetical make any sense to me.
  - wccrawford 5y ago
    Also, if I read that, I would assume that figuring out where I needed to go and actually taking time to do that would end up in nothing, so I wouldn't bother. I wouldn't expect to get rich off it, and the chance at (apparently) $50 wouldn't excite me enough for me to waste my time on it.
    - dlhavema 5y ago
      When i was in college, a chance at say 50$ would totally tempt me to spend a few hours hunting around campus ( Arizona State Uni for me ), i made ~$8 an hour at the time
      - Frondo 5y ago
        Sure, it could be a fun thing to do (I'd have done a little treasure hunt for $50, too), but the professor's syllabus doesn't say it's $50 at all. "Free to the first who claims" -- claims what? free what? It isn't even a complete sentence, in the middle of boilerplate that's if anything exceedingly verbose. It doesn't parse like meaningful instructions. That's why I think it's a hokey gotcha, and not an actual sign of "people don't read instructions" (which we all instinctively know anyway??)
- II2II 5y ago
  Sigh. I never had such luck. During a first year university computer science course, students were told to line up and sign an agreement for access to department computer labs. Most of the students lined up, grabbed the paperwork when they reached the front of the queue, then promptly signed it. I decided to actually read the paperwork, which earned me the privilege of standing at the side until the task was complete. No sneaky clauses, for the better or the worse, in my humble opinion. I simply had the privilege of standing out. Not that it really mattered. I walked away learning a different lesson since I already had access to their computer systems. I already asked for permission to access their systems, and was granted permission without doing the paperwork. For the most part, these agreements are intended to handle the typical case, and are meant to inform rather than be a rigid contract. (The irony: I consider trust as sacrosanct, so I often over comply with the rules.)
kovvy 5y ago
Many people put answers to assignments and exams in the course material and very few people get it.
- dlhavema 5y ago
  Is this a clever way of saying "studying"? :)
- annecruz1996 5y ago
  I think I remember a story about a professor that said they can stop taking the exam and turn it in if they read a sentence in the exam which was placed like halfway through and only a few people in the class actually did that.
- sverhagen 5y ago
  Isn't that kinda the point of these materials in the first place? :)

smallpipe 5y ago

And the actual “clue” looked like a borked copy paste in the part of the syllabus telling you about university wide policies that the student would have read elsewhere already. But sure lazy students don’t read the syllabus

smcl 5y ago

Yeah this was a little viral hit that went down well with boomers, but it was pretty sneaky. Everyone seems to be suggesting that if the kids these days just did what they were supposed to then they could have scored a crisp $50 and had all the avocado toast they ever wanted. But where exactly was the text and how did the students miss it? These articles say it was "in the syllabus" but don't really go much further. I don't have access to the full syllabus but a snippet showing its immediate surroundings is available: ... objectives. As a result, skill-based courses in music may be exempt from Covid-related accomodations as a progression in skills must be obtained across the semester to be successfull in these course. Thus (free to the first who claims; locker one hundred forty-seven; combination fifteen, twenty-five, thirty-five), students may be ineligible to make up classes and coursework beyond the specified number of days as determined by the instructor. Requests will be decided on a case-by-case basis with specific emphasis on the ability to achieve learning outcomes. Technology Support: If you have problems with your UTC email ... So it was right near the "please contact the tech support department if you need tech support" message. Basically it's in some boilerplate that every course has and nobody reads because they want to actually do their work and don't expect some professor to try to score internet points by pranking them this way. NPR could've done exactly the same thing on that article by adding a clause to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy docs that are linked, but which we all probably ignored and just clicked "Agree and Continue" to view the article.

Frondo 5y ago
It's not just that it's embedded in some of the university boilerplate that the students probably have on all their syllabuses, it's that it doesn't read like anything, certainly not a promise of a free $50. Is it a typo? A copy-paste error? Only knowing that "free to the first who claims" is part of a boomer gotcha for kids these days does that whole parenthetical make any sense to me.
- wccrawford 5y ago
  Also, if I read that, I would assume that figuring out where I needed to go and actually taking time to do that would end up in nothing, so I wouldn't bother. I wouldn't expect to get rich off it, and the chance at (apparently) $50 wouldn't excite me enough for me to waste my time on it.
  - dlhavema 5y ago
    When i was in college, a chance at say 50$ would totally tempt me to spend a few hours hunting around campus ( Arizona State Uni for me ), i made ~$8 an hour at the time
    - Frondo 5y ago
      Sure, it could be a fun thing to do (I'd have done a little treasure hunt for $50, too), but the professor's syllabus doesn't say it's $50 at all. "Free to the first who claims" -- claims what? free what? It isn't even a complete sentence, in the middle of boilerplate that's if anything exceedingly verbose. It doesn't parse like meaningful instructions. That's why I think it's a hokey gotcha, and not an actual sign of "people don't read instructions" (which we all instinctively know anyway??)
II2II 5y ago
Sigh. I never had such luck. During a first year university computer science course, students were told to line up and sign an agreement for access to department computer labs. Most of the students lined up, grabbed the paperwork when they reached the front of the queue, then promptly signed it. I decided to actually read the paperwork, which earned me the privilege of standing at the side until the task was complete. No sneaky clauses, for the better or the worse, in my humble opinion. I simply had the privilege of standing out. Not that it really mattered. I walked away learning a different lesson since I already had access to their computer systems. I already asked for permission to access their systems, and was granted permission without doing the paperwork. For the most part, these agreements are intended to handle the typical case, and are meant to inform rather than be a rigid contract. (The irony: I consider trust as sacrosanct, so I often over comply with the rules.)

kovvy 5y ago

Many people put answers to assignments and exams in the course material and very few people get it.

dlhavema 5y ago
Is this a clever way of saying "studying"? :)
annecruz1996 5y ago
I think I remember a story about a professor that said they can stop taking the exam and turn it in if they read a sentence in the exam which was placed like halfway through and only a few people in the class actually did that.
sverhagen 5y ago
Isn't that kinda the point of these materials in the first place? :)