Favorite student emails

[histchick]

^ Langued'oc....

Yes, and "making a plan" for all that intervention sounds more like trying to chew up and digest the instructions for the student.

F2F (or Zoom, safer) and lay-it-on-the-line, "I'm not your mother pelican" would be a simpler and more honest way to move this one along to maturity...

M.

Yes. 

I typically couch responses to students with this issue by saying something like, "from your questions, I'm concerned that you haven't read the [relevant] modules.  Please review those, let me know what you think you're supposed to do from there, and then I can address any additional questions you have."  Most of the time, the student reads the relevant module/assignment instructions/whatever and successfully completes the task without further need of assistance. 

I've got 170+ students this semester, and magically, the vast majority of them seem to know to read and follow instructions. 

[Langue_doc]

[quote author=Langue_doc
This student has to read the modules. I did think of scheduling a meeting but no amount of my talking is going to help Stu unless Stu has read the modules. Students have already discussed other questions on the discussion board. Stu should be reading these and the model responses instead of scrolling through the assignments and expecting to understand the course content through osmosis. This is a course where occasionally students will say "Oh, but this is only [Course]. I won't be spending much time on it as my other courses are far more important." I've been frustrated with this student as Stu emails me every day, and occasionally sends a second email on the same topic. Answers to all the questions in the emails can be found by just scanning the modules.

Emailing constantly, but also not doing any of the reading is a weird combination. I frequently have students who send emails right before something is due where they try to convince me that they are completely confused about the whole thing, and it must be my fault. That's just some combination of self deception and deflection.

However, this seems like a student who isn't able to follow instructions or grasp what's going on. Maybe a bigger picture conversation is called for?

Agreed on the bigger picture conversation. Stu is not understanding directions that clearly state that there are X number of steps and list each step. Office hours for this class aren't until later this week, so I'll be emailing Stu a bulleted list of things to do. Stu completed only one of the three steps for one of the assignments and appears to have no intention of reading classmates' responses.

Posted by: histchick
« on: Today at 11:53:33 AM »Insert Quote
Quote from: mamselle on Today at 07:47:32 AM
^ Langued'oc....

Yes, and "making a plan" for all that intervention sounds more like trying to chew up and digest the instructions for the student.

F2F (or Zoom, safer) and lay-it-on-the-line, "I'm not your mother pelican" would be a simpler and more honest way to move this one along to maturity...

M.

Yes.

I typically couch responses to students with this issue by saying something like, "from your questions, I'm concerned that you haven't read the [relevant] modules.  Please review those, let me know what you think you're supposed to do from there, and then I can address any additional questions you have."  Most of the time, the student reads the relevant module/assignment instructions/whatever and successfully completes the task without further need of assistance.

I've got 170+ students this semester, and magically, the vast majority of them seem to know to read and follow instructions.

Mamselle, I am going to be blunt with this one. No chewing and masticating food for this baby as Stu needs to do hu's own chewing to pass the course. I also use histick's "concern" statement in my emails. The modules contain PDFs of readings, examples of model assignments, numerous short handouts that students have found useful, and also links to specific topics and resources. Stu is most likely scrolling through the information instead of studying it.

I'll have to remind the class to post all questions on the Course Discussion Board. There are two emails today wondering where to find the information about finding OED in the library database. This information is in at least three separate places!

At least five students are getting the "I'm concerned about your progress in this course..." email that includes a list of study skills. This list which reminds students to budget X number of hours a week, to use a computer and not their phone, to read the modules, to read the directions for each assignment, to use the formatted template, etc. is also in three locations on Canvas. It's going to be a "Come to Jesus" email especially for this particular student rather than a "holding Stu's hand" email.

I usually have two or at the most three lost students in this course. This semester, there seems to be a disproportionate number of lost students.

Thanks, all, for your suggestions.

[Langue_doc]

Double post: the quote function seems to have gone berserk in the above--tried to fix it, but had to give up.

Yet another one from another student sent at 6:30 PM on Saturday:

"I am having some trouble looking up the definitions of the words in the Oxford English Dictionary. I can't seem to find where I need to look up the word."

Stu, how about typing the word in the large box, and clicking on "GO" (in a nice red box) on the right?

Another one from another student sent a few minutes prior to the one above:

"Is there any way you can send the proper example of what you expect on the vocab, the ones that you put in the assignment description shows both wrong ways and not to have in our vocab assignment. I just want to see the proper way to have it in our assignment."

The directions for this assignment are very clear and include two examples submitted by students from a previous course. Students who completed this assignment earned full credit.

Students, you were required to look up the meanings of the words in your reading before completing the two other assignments.

[bacardiandlime]

Langue_doc: I think we have the same students!! I'm always glad of the Outlook delay send function (no matter when they wrote to me, they're not getting a reply til 9am Monday).

[Langue_doc]

Langue_doc: I think we have the same students!! I'm always glad of the Outlook delay send function (no matter when they wrote to me, they're not getting a reply til 9am Monday).

bacardiandlime, you're much more considerate than me. Mine go out at 8 in the morning, Monday through Friday. No emails over the weekend. Students with real concerns get an immediate response though. Your moniker reminded me that I need a drink.

[bacardiandlime]

Langue_doc: I think we have the same students!! I'm always glad of the Outlook delay send function (no matter when they wrote to me, they're not getting a reply til 9am Monday).

bacardiandlime, you're much more considerate than me. Mine go out at 8 in the morning. Students with real concerns get an immediate response though. Your moniker reminded me that I need a drink.

Lol. Nobody is getting an email from me at the weekend.

[Charlotte]

Langue_doc: I think we have the same students!! I'm always glad of the Outlook delay send function (no matter when they wrote to me, they're not getting a reply til 9am Monday).

bacardiandlime, you're much more considerate than me. Mine go out at 8 in the morning. Students with real concerns get an immediate response though. Your moniker reminded me that I need a drink.

Lol. Nobody is getting an email from me at the weekend.

Envious. My school requires me to respond to students within 24 hours. I often fantasize about turning my email off for a whole weekend and wonder if I'd get caught.

[mleok]

Envious. My school requires me to respond to students within 24 hours. I often fantasize about turning my email off for a whole weekend and wonder if I'd get caught.

Seriously? Even on a weekend? What kind of institution do you work at?

[Charlotte]

Envious. My school requires me to respond to students within 24 hours. I often fantasize about turning my email off for a whole weekend and wonder if I'd get caught.

Seriously? Even on a weekend? What kind of institution do you work at?

Yes, including weekends. I work full time at a community college and adjunct for a university. Both places require me to respond to "any manner of communication" from students within 24 hours.

[Langue_doc]

Envious. My school requires me to respond to students within 24 hours. I often fantasize about turning my email off for a whole weekend and wonder if I'd get caught.

Seriously? Even on a weekend? What kind of institution do you work at?

My syllabus states that I respond to emails within 24 hours, M-F. I don't respond to emails on holidays.

My sympathies, Charlotte.Couldn't you use the religious observant excuse for not checking your emails on Sundays?

[downer]

Student in asynchronous class emails me telling me that they can't learn the topic asychronously so can I include some synchronous lectures?

No, I reply. I suggest they consider dropping the class.

[marshwiggle]

Student in asynchronous class emails me telling me that they can't learn the topic asychronously so can I include some synchronous lectures?

No, I reply. I suggest they consider dropping the class.

Have these people never learned anything from reading a book? (Or maybe they never have read a book.)

[ergative]

Student in asynchronous class emails me telling me that they can't learn the topic asychronously so can I include some synchronous lectures?

No, I reply. I suggest they consider dropping the class.

Have these people never learned anything from reading a book? (Or maybe they never have read a book.)

This is how I feel when people talk about flipped classrooms and videos for students to watch in their own time, and then they come to class prepared to do activities based on the material presented in the videos. Isn't that what a textbook used to be for?

[Puget]

Student in asynchronous class emails me telling me that they can't learn the topic asychronously so can I include some synchronous lectures?

No, I reply. I suggest they consider dropping the class.

Have these people never learned anything from reading a book? (Or maybe they never have read a book.)

This is how I feel when people talk about flipped classrooms and videos for students to watch in their own time, and then they come to class prepared to do activities based on the material presented in the videos. Isn't that what a textbook used to be for?

No, the videos replace the lectures, not the textbook (there is generally still also a textbook). Class time is used for discussion and what would otherwise be homework (that's the "flipped" part).

[marshwiggle]

Student in asynchronous class emails me telling me that they can't learn the topic asychronously so can I include some synchronous lectures?

No, I reply. I suggest they consider dropping the class.

Have these people never learned anything from reading a book? (Or maybe they never have read a book.)

This is how I feel when people talk about flipped classrooms and videos for students to watch in their own time, and then they come to class prepared to do activities based on the material presented in the videos. Isn't that what a textbook used to be for?

No, the videos replace the lectures, not the textbook (there is generally still also a textbook). Class time is used for discussion and what would otherwise be homework (that's the "flipped" part).

To put it another way,  in a "normal" classroom, the instruction is (in principle) interactive (i.e lecture), and the student practice is done in solitude (i.e homework). In a "flipped" classrom, the instruction is done in solitude (videos or readings), and the student practice is interactive (discussions, tutorials, etc.)

As a student, I had textbooks that I never opened since the homework didn't come out of them, and I got everything from the lectures. However, for all kinds of non-school topics I've learned everything from reading on my own.