You'll love this email I received from a student this week:
Professor,
I have tried unsuccessfully several times to contact you regarding the online class. I have not been able to pull it up on Blackboard and I have tried to get help but they are telling me that I am not enrolled. But then I went to go see the Blackboard tech person and she said that I am enrolled, so I am really frustrated and confused and I have not been able to see any of the assignments and I could not get a phone number for you and I stopped by your old office but they said that you no longer have one on campus. if you could get back to me that would be great. I graduate in May and I need this class and I am extremely worried. I would be willing to do anything to pass this class I am not sure what happened to my blackboard account. Thank you, L. H.
Here was my response to her:
Hi L,
It has been quite a while since I heard from you and, unfortunately, I don't know what to tell you. How were you trying to contact me? This is the first email that I have received from you in months. My cellphone didn't ring, either (which was posted online in the classroom from day one). If you contacted your study buddy, that person never contacted me. However, that was the very first assignment in the course and you didn't complete that (at least not as far as I am aware...the other students posted their study-buddy online as I requested but I don't see any postings from you on this assignment).
I could have easily resolved your concerns if you had contacted me. During Spring break, I removed you from the online course. You had not participated or logged into the class in months. You did not submit even one assignments and I had no contact from you. In fact, the last record of your presence in Blackboard was on February 1st. If you had, indeed, been trying to get into the classroom or accessing it, what did the help desk tell you? Certainly they would have seen that you were not even listed? If you had emailed or contacted me, I would have put you back into the course.
I don't know what to tell you about graduation. But, clearly an online class requires an online presence. I made that very clear in the beginning of the course. Since I last heard from you on or about February 1st and it is now mid-April, I feel no obligation to give you an incomplete or pass you for the course. I know that isn't the answer you want to hear, but you will need to discuss this with your advisor. I'm cc'ing the department chair on this email as I had contacted her via email on 2/15 that you had logged into the class but not participated or submitted assignments. I advised the chair at that time that you were not going to pass the class since you were not participating or submitting work on time and she was notifying your advisor. Perhaps the chair will other advice for you. Best of luck and I'm sorry that you waited until mid-April to contact me.
Professor
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3 comments:
It is disheartening to see that these stupents (love your word!) don't get it in college either....there is a -supposed- honor student (in HS) who has an incomplete for the 3rd quarter and has now missed 37 1st periods (which is her trig class) and she has made NO attempt to make up work or talk to the teacher and can't understand why she is not getting an A. For the love of pete...she has a 15%...how is that an A and here is the problem....what about all the students who haven't missed a day of class and don't have an A and have at least done their work and homework and quizzes and test and not been home slacking????
ARGHHH! What kind of a student are we making if we give her a passing grade? Some days I just can't stand it.
THis school is considere College PRep..but I think we make too many students college eligible and NOT college ready...Am I the only one that sees this as a problem??
What are the chances of your online student talking her advisor into trying to get a grade out of you? What happend to the students who really want to learn and earn the grade? You can't have the only one around!
*sigh* makes one wonder doesn't it?
I have had many problems with this myself...I have had several students (while I was a TA) who missed 8 out of 13 discussion sections and then wondered why their participation grade is so low. They believed that my grading system was "not fair." One of my professors told me that the class of 2009 (those who were freshman this past year) are considered the "entitlement generation." Instead of working for their grades, they believe that they are entitled to an A (or at the very least a B) regardless of how much work they put into the course. This attitude is due in large part to the fact that today's parents spoil their children and don't teach them the value of hard work, discipline, dedication, etc.... This is of course a generalization, but I've seen it so many times as a TA that it does appear to be a valid explanation. This next semester I will be an AI (assistant instructor) and I have included in the grading section of my syllabus the following phrase: "My philosophy on grading is this--I don’t determine your grade, YOU do. Meaning, I simply evaluate the work you hand in and assign the appropriate letter or percentage—it is up to you to attain the grade you desire in this course." I'm not sure how much this will help my students' attitudes, but I thought it was worth a shot. Feel free to use it in your own syllabi...who knows, it may change the attitudes of at least a few of your students!
I found your blog through a search on 'classic denial' while posting on a Pub Trade website about why UK pub companies cannot accept any responsibility for the mass failure (going out of business) of the pubs they own; currently 50 pubs a week are closing for good over here.
With student behaviour it's the same in the UK as you describe in your blog. And 'Entitlement Generation' is a good description of its cause. Poorly directed parenting is rife in our society, even in well educated households. So I blame the parents' parents. And their teachers of course.
Problem is No One is prepared to take responsibility for anything, even if they messup on the Wee. Or is it Wii?
It's like this: I stab someone. They die. It wasn't MY fault. It's the system that made me frustrated. I didn't know what I was doing. It's the social worker's fault for not seeing that I might stab someone. The social worker should go to jail - not me.
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