The Fora: A Higher Education Community

The Miss College decision is probably helped by their extraordinarily bad season:

https://www.espn.com/college-football/team/schedule/_/id/2401/mississippi-college-choctaws

Quote from: Puget on Today at 03:49:52 PM

Quote from: the_geneticist on Today at 03:34:42 PMUgh.  Such is one of the drawbacks of a later in the week exam.
Look, I get it.  I'd rather be done sooner also. 
Can I make the entire class take it early so I'm done early - nope.  Sorry.  Not going to happen.
Will I let just you take it early?  Also nope.

Previous university had to put in some VERY strict guidelines about how finals must happen in finals week at the scheduled day and time.  Not the week before.  There were instructors that tried to get around giving a final by giving an exam in the last week of instruction.  Administration was *not happy* about folks trying to quietly finish earlier.  It came to a head when an admin person with an Important Urgent Question discovered the entire [basketweaving] department faculty & staff had departed early.

For final exam slots you get what you get and you don't get upset. Mine's not even that late- the 17th, and finals go through the 20th.
We likewise have a strict policy of no exams during the last 2 weeks of classes. You don't have to have a final, but if you do it has to be in the assigned slot.

I almost always wind up with my finals on the last day of finals week. I think it's because the registrar knows I don't hesitate in saying no to the students who try to finagle an earlier date.

The free college thing will have limited benefits i.e more educated workforce. However, the strain it's putting on the college is unreal.

https://www.masslive.com/news/2024/12/teaching-at-community-colleges-is-getting-tougher-why-do-employees-stay.html

I made the mistake of giving a student my cell phone. Advisor contacted me with sob story. So I emailed and suggested student reach out to get them back on track.

 As I'm writing this, I'm receiving texts about needing help with bus fare. Buses are free for low income folks here. Student has been to class 1x this semester and wants to either Livestream class or give them names of other classmates to play catch up.

 I've put student in touch with social services. However, they are less than enthused to do their jobs.

 I messed up with the phone #. I was getting texts over the holiday break trying to make small talk.

 This population in need of social support has changed face of CC.

  The article about states the same thing.

  There should not be barriers to education. However, free higher ed needs to have some boundaries.

 Thank you for letting me vent!

 

Quote from: the_geneticist on Today at 03:34:42 PMUgh.  Such is one of the drawbacks of a later in the week exam.
Look, I get it.  I'd rather be done sooner also. 
Can I make the entire class take it early so I'm done early - nope.  Sorry.  Not going to happen.
Will I let just you take it early?  Also nope.

Previous university had to put in some VERY strict guidelines about how finals must happen in finals week at the scheduled day and time.  Not the week before.  There were instructors that tried to get around giving a final by giving an exam in the last week of instruction.  Administration was *not happy* about folks trying to quietly finish earlier.  It came to a head when an admin person with an Important Urgent Question discovered the entire [basketweaving] department faculty & staff had departed early.

For final exam slots you get what you get and you don't get upset. Mine's not even that late- the 17th, and finals go through the 20th.
We likewise have a strict policy of no exams during the last 2 weeks of classes. You don't have to have a final, but if you do it has to be in the assigned slot.

Ugh.  Such is one of the drawbacks of a later in the week exam.
Look, I get it.  I'd rather be done sooner also. 
Can I make the entire class take it early so I'm done early - nope.  Sorry.  Not going to happen.
Will I let just you take it early?  Also nope.

Previous university had to put in some VERY strict guidelines about how finals must happen in finals week at the scheduled day and time.  Not the week before.  There were instructors that tried to get around giving a final by giving an exam in the last week of instruction.  Administration was *not happy* about folks trying to quietly finish earlier.  It came to a head when an admin person with an Important Urgent Question discovered the entire [basketweaving] department faculty & staff had departed early.

December goals:
 editing book

Work on article draft with a graduate student.

Student emails that they wonder if they can take the final early since they are done with other classes earlier and "heard that some teachers allow that". University policy prohibits giving finals outside their registrar-scheduled time slots, so I'm very skeptical as to the reality of "some teachers" [sic] permitting this. I'm certainly not going to do so, and even if it wasn't policy do you really think I'm going to individually proctor exams for a 100 person course, never mind the problem of a student seeing the exam questions early?

I don't expect this to be the last such email sadly.

Well, Mississippi College has announced that it is shutting down its longstanding football program, in large part because they don't want to mess with Name, Image, Likeness concerns:

QuoteThompson says he sees the impact of NIL on Division II athletics accelerating and that it would impede Mississippi College's ability to compete on the football field moving forward.

"We have played against any number of teams already with NIL student-athletes," he said. "Intercollegiate athletics, especially football, is about to undergo transformational change, changes like we've never seen before. We just made a strategic decision that it was in our best interests as an institution to focus on things we could do really well. We made the decision that we couldn't do really well in football anymore."

Dr. Dylan McLenore, associate professor of sports media at Oklahoma State University and a Mississippi College graduate, says the university won't be the last program to fall.

"With the new uncertainty regarding the instability of athletic conferences, as well as how expanded Division I football rosters and NIL rights will impact the Division II landscape, and I'm afraid Mississippi College will not be alone in making this difficult decision," McLenore said.

More at https://magnoliatribune.com/2024/11/19/mississippi-college-shutting-down-dii-football-program-cites-nil/

Indeed.  Hence, the banging of despair.

Quote from: the_geneticist on Today at 10:53:57 AM

Quote from: apl68 on Today at 07:57:59 AM

Quote from: the_geneticist on Today at 07:42:42 AMI wish I could give a raise or bonus to my awesome TAs. And insist on some sort of remedial training for the ones who simply refuse to be prepared.

Does your institution give them much chance to train for their work?  We had almost none when I was a TA in the 1990s.  There were a few pointers on paper grading, and that was about it.  I guess it wasn't that bad, since we didn't yet have course-management software to worry about.  It still makes me suspect that a lot of teaching assistants don't get much preparation for their jobs. 

We have a 2 hour weekly meeting where we go through the entire lab protocol for the next week, discuss any common issues/questions, etc.. There is an agenda & assigned preparation tasks for me and for them. 
They also have required classes & seminars (not sure how good they are).

This TA is just not bothering to use any of the resources provided.

That's got to be frustrating.  I can't imagine why anybody with a job to do wouldn't make an honest effort to do better than that.