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

[kaysixteen]

How many professors today,  in 2020, would still accept a handwritten term paper?

[kiana]

Every semester I send class-wide announcements urging students to verify that the documents they upload to the LMS contain the content they would like to have considered for a grade. Every semester, however, numerous students submit blank documents. While it can be a stalling tactic, many of these documents are submitted well in advance of the deadline. So it appears to be a technology challenge, not a "I failed at time management" challenge.

I think it's very useful to emphasize "paste your content into the text box" as well. If they don't do it and the document's blank, it's on them for not following instructions. If they do it and the document's blank, you have verification that they had the work done on time.

[Chemystery]

How many professors today,  in 2020, would still accept a handwritten term paper?

I don't know about term papers, but I was in a department workshop about five years ago in which we worked with partners on developing expectations for lab reports.  When it was time to report out, a lot of the other members of the department were shocked (and opposed to the suggestion) when my partner and I said we expected lab reports to be typed.

[the_geneticist]

How many professors today,  in 2020, would still accept a handwritten term paper?

I don't know about term papers, but I was in a department workshop about five years ago in which we worked with partners on developing expectations for lab reports.  When it was time to report out, a lot of the other members of the department were shocked (and opposed to the suggestion) when my partner and I said we expected lab reports to be typed.

I would also expect lab reports to be typed.  Especially if you have a class set of laptops, campus computer labs, and a library.

As a counter-point, I typically expect my students to hand-draw graphs and figures in lab.  Why?  One, we don't have a class set of computers or easy access to a printer.  Two, the students have to think through what the graph should look like (what goes on the X axis? how to scale the Y axis? etc).  Three, I know it's their own work and not an automatically generated graph from Excel (which can also be appallingly bad).

No, I would not accept a hand-written term paper.  Why?  I would have the students go through multiple drafts and include proper citations.  I want it typed so it's easier to make comments & edits.

[AmLitHist]

My LVL lit class got Zoom-bombed yesterday about 10 minutes into our class meeting.  This, even when I'd set up an encrypted link, password, and waiting room--the 12-15 bombers broke through everything.  Dammit.

My students got on their mics and told the bombers to get out, as I was individually removing them from the room.  That endeared my students to me!  Luckily, it was just a bunch of idiots making silly faces and talking gibberish.  Still, I have at least two students who are underage, so happily there wasn't anything x-rated, but I'm not going to take the chance.

Back to Collaborate, much as I hate our iteration of it:  people constantly get bounced out, can't see or hear the moderator, etc. But since the institution has heavily recommended its use, if things go south on Collaborate, I'll have a leg to stand on when I protest that trying to teach synchronously is not working. 

We're supposed to be getting MS Teams, but like most things, they told us about this during Service Week and got everyone excited to use it--and then said, "We hope to have it ready for use by Spring."  Um, yay?

[downer]

How many professors today,  in 2020, would still accept a handwritten term paper?

Very few. Most schools expect that student go through plagiarism detection. Even if the school does not require it, most professors do.

[kaysixteen]

I had not thought of that.  I have never used this myself, nor taught anywhere where its use is mandated (or even  widely promoted).   Anyone work somewhere where they are supposed to use it?   How high would professor obedience to such mandates be?

[the_geneticist]

I had not thought of that.  I have never used this myself, nor taught anywhere where its use is mandated (or even  widely promoted).   Anyone work somewhere where they are supposed to use it?   How high would professor obedience to such mandates be?

We use plagiarism detection regularly for lab reports since it will check against all previously submitted versions from other students in the course along with online sources.  We tell the students before hand that we're going to use it.  It's not mandated, just another tool to use or not at our discretion.

[kaysixteen]

OK I can see this.  My only concern would be creating an atmosphere of presumed guilt/ treat 'em like their cheaters, etc., that standardized use of such software tools implies.  Or is this my elite slac background clouding my judgment wrt how many actual undergrad cheaters there are, taken as a whole, nationally?

[mamselle]

We've been discussing Turnitin since I joined the old forum c. 2007 or so.

So it's evolved a bit, and the cheaters try to get ahead of it.

But it's hardly new, and students would hardly, at this point, be surprised to learn it's in use.

One can also just suss out copied text by hearing a false tone to its voice in context.

Which I've also done.

The jurisprudence of establishing a system by which one catches cheaters is complex, but it does include having a way of confirming or denying the accusation.

One could also use Sister Mary Anthroid's Black Binders o' Doom.....

M.

[marshwiggle]

OK I can see this.  My only concern would be creating an atmosphere of presumed guilt/ treat 'em like their cheaters, etc., that standardized use of such software tools implies.

How is it different from requiring that your licence plate be visible? The vast majority of drivers aren't criminals, but that requirement benefits everyone by making it easier to catch the ones who are.

[AvidReader]

OK I can see this.  My only concern would be creating an atmosphere of presumed guilt/ treat 'em like their cheaters, etc., that standardized use of such software tools implies.  Or is this my elite slac background clouding my judgment wrt how many actual undergrad cheaters there are, taken as a whole, nationally?

I bet there's a cheater in almost every general ed. class, on average, even at a SLAC (and I say this as someone who also attended a SLAC, though not an elite one). But beyond that, there are many other uses for the software. I allow students to see their reports as a teaching device. Besides catching cheaters, Turnitin is useful for lots of things: showing students that they have relied too heavily on a single source (for instance, in a paper requiring 4 sources where 3/4 of the paper exclusively deals with one), helping them see when paraphrased material has not been paraphrased adequately, reminding students to cite when they legitimately forgot, and--my personal favorite--letting students see if a revision is actually adequate. I had a professor who used Turnitin for mandatory revisions, and the visuals for students who just change single words are spectacular (and much easier to grade). One school at which I taught also subscribed to the grammar service, and it would pre-mark grammatical errors across student submissions. One in every ten was wrong, but it saved me tons of time regardless; I could just cancel the wrong or overwhelming ones and focus my own comments on content and structural issues.

AR.

[spork]

My LVL lit class got Zoom-bombed yesterday about 10 minutes into our class meeting.  This, even when I'd set up an encrypted link, password, and waiting room--the 12-15 bombers broke through everything.  Dammit.

My students got on their mics and told the bombers to get out, as I was individually removing them from the room.  That endeared my students to me!  Luckily, it was just a bunch of idiots making silly faces and talking gibberish.  Still, I have at least two students who are underage, so happily there wasn't anything x-rated, but I'm not going to take the chance.

Back to Collaborate, much as I hate our iteration of it:  people constantly get bounced out, can't see or hear the moderator, etc. But since the institution has heavily recommended its use, if things go south on Collaborate, I'll have a leg to stand on when I protest that trying to teach synchronously is not working. 

We're supposed to be getting MS Teams, but like most things, they told us about this during Service Week and got everyone excited to use it--and then said, "We hope to have it ready for use by Spring."  Um, yay?

My very limited experience with Microsoft Teams is that it tries to do a combination of what Slack and Zoom do, but in a more complicated, less user-friendly fashion.

[AmLitHist]

My very limited experience with Microsoft Teams is that it tries to do a combination of what Slack and Zoom do, but in a more complicated, less user-friendly fashion.

Spork, I haven't used it yet, but that's my fear.  IMO, a lot of what MS comes out with tries to cash in on the work that other products have done, puts a twist on it to make it their own, and screws it up/amounts to an inferior final product. 

The last thing on the planet my students (not to mention most of my colleagues, and I) need is something that's more complicated and less user-friendly.  The basics--Word, Excel, and PPt--are fine, for the most part.  I wish MS would just stick to those and improve them, instead of getting into everybody else's games.

[marshwiggle]

My very limited experience with Microsoft Teams is that it tries to do a combination of what Slack and Zoom do, but in a more complicated, less user-friendly fashion.

Spork, I haven't used it yet, but that's my fear.  IMO, a lot of what MS comes out with tries to cash in on the work that other products have done, puts a twist on it to make it their own, and screws it up/amounts to an inferior final product. 

My understanding is that Microsoft bought Skype, which was peer-to-peer, so NOT needing any server, changed it to REQUIRE their servers, and put in into Teams. So, exactly as stated above.