Topic: Bang Your Head on Your Desk - the thread of teaching despair!

[spork]

Students who choose not to pay attention to deadlines, or who can't tell time/read calendars, should not be in college. I vote no on any makeup exam.

[EdnaMode]

I would not allow the student to take the final exam. If it's posted everywhere, has been discussed at length in class, and they still missed it, then that's on them. And I know my Dept Chair would back me up.

[downer]

I would decide on whether to allow the student to do a make up purely on what works best for me, not for the student. I would feel no obligation to the student.

[fosca]

I allowed makeups for quizzes, but while the quizzes were multiple-choice the makeups were all short-answer and were all given on the last day of class.  It allowed the few students who genuinely took the makeup seriously to do well, while most everyone else (probably 80-90%) would do poorly but couldn't complain because I did let them take a makeup and they knew the format in advance.  And since all the makeups were at the same time, I just needed to create one makeup test per quiz.  It took a couple of hours of my time and made me look good to my boss, which was well worth it.

[the_geneticist]

Student missed the final exam because stu mixed up the days. I understand that things happen, but I've been talking about this exam for the past two weeks, posting about it online and oh, it's in the syllabus. I guess it would have helped if stu came to class more often...

Edit: Should I take pity on stu and allow a makeup with penalty? Damn, this kind of thing always gets me in trouble though...

I'd let them take it in my office.  My chair would NOT have my back if I said they earned a 0 on the final exam.

[RatGuy]

I'd like to bang colleague's head.

Student submits final essay with 98% similarity. Student emails "I matched with myself. I asked my English professor if I could turn in the same paper I wrote for you to him too. He said it was ok." Stu forwards email exchange confirming. The English prof said something like "welp, it looks like you got lucky that the essay you'd write for him works for my prompt. Go ahead. [Ratguy] won't mind."

In what world is this ok?

[kaysixteen]

None that I could see.   What will you do here?

[onehappyunicorn]

I'd like to bang colleague's head.

Student submits final essay with 98% similarity. Student emails "I matched with myself. I asked my English professor if I could turn in the same paper I wrote for you to him too. He said it was ok." Stu forwards email exchange confirming. The English prof said something like "welp, it looks like you got lucky that the essay you'd write for him works for my prompt. Go ahead. [Ratguy] won't mind."

In what world is this ok?

Wow, submitting the same assignment for two separate classes is absolutely not okay. That situation is specifically mentioned in our college's plagiarism policy, a faculty member would find themselves in some trouble here if that happened. I don't envy you, what a terrible, awkward situation...

[FishProf]

Same old story.  Online course, all materials available on Day 1, all due next monday.  Final is 40% of grade.

1/3 cannot pass, 1/3 will likely not pass, and 1/3 would have to fail the final to not pass.

Every damn semester.

I just sent out the pre-emptive "no extensions, no incompletes*" email.

*technically: no incompletes if they aren't passing at the time of the request.

[the_geneticist]

Same old story.  Online course, all materials available on Day 1, all due next monday.  Final is 40% of grade.

1/3 cannot pass, 1/3 will likely not pass, and 1/3 would have to fail the final to not pass.

Every damn semester.

I just sent out the pre-emptive "no extensions, no incompletes*" email.

*technically: no incompletes if they aren't passing at the time of the request.

The bolded is actually REALLY important for faculty to know.  If the student isn't passing/it's not mathematically possible for them to pass the class, it's actually cruel* to allow an Incomplete.  Give them the failing grade they earned so they can quickly decide what to do next & not be stuck in "Incomplete limbo".
They can't re-take the class because they haven't failed it (yet, technically).
They can't register for any classes that require [Incomplete course] as a co-requisite or pre-requisite.
And the longer it takes to resolve the Incomplete, the longer they are delayed in completing their courses.

*and against university policy.

[FishProf]

Absolutely true.  I was on the committee that tightened up the incomplete rules at FishProfU.  It was the wild west.

We had professors that;
1) Gave EVERYONE an incomplete, so they had more time to grade; or
2) Gave EVERYONE without an A and Incomplete until they got to an A; or
3) Gave students an incomplete who could not ever pass, and thereby blocked them from repeating; or
4) Gave incompletes and allowed them to be fixed for years...

Now it's straightforward. 
1) Must be passing at time,
2) Must have completed most of the coursework;
3) Must complete the missing work by 8 weeks into next semester (summers excepted) or the grade becomes a failing grade. 
4) Extensions to the deadline must be approved at Dean level.

There was much grumbling, but the changes seem to have made incompletes the rarity they are meant to be