by Rkolter on Tue Feb 19, 2008 2:26 pm
Ok, I'm going to bitch about College.
There is one class that sets the University of Missouri at St. Louis apart from most other colleges when it comes to IT Degrees - BA4850. It's a full on analysis/design project. You find a customer, you do the entire analysis, you do the entire design, you implement, the implementation is 70% of your grade, and you have five months. The end result is a working system and application for a real client, a two hour presentation, and a five hundred page binder plus all associated technical and training documentation.
It's a monster class. I've spent 24 hours in the last three days alone with it.
My team has each given maybe 6 hours. Documentation is late, if it comes at all. One of our presentations to the customer occurs tonight, and the presentation won't even be ready until 45 minutes before we have to give it.
I've written both the major papers. Certainly they've contributed heavily, but I've done maybe 1/3 of the work, out of a group of 5 contributors. I've also done all the 'long waits' while they bother to contribute.
The thing is, my grade depends on them. We're graded as a team, with some lee-way for individuals.
All this would be bad enough, but I am going into Jury Duty on March 10th. So I'm actually ok with doing some extra work now, such as it is, assuming they pick up the slack while I'm gone.
But I don't think they will. I really don't.
I can't cut them up and bury their corpses because I need their effort such as it is. I can't really go to the professor. I'm tired, cranky, frustrated, and more than a little concerned, since this class is mandatory.
ARGH.
*bangs head on wall*
Crossfire: "Thank you! That explains it very nicely, and in a language that someone other than a physicist can understand..."
Denial is not falsification. You can't avoid a fact just because you don't like it.
"Data" is not the plural of "anecdote"
