Students Taking Advantage of The VIRUS!

[HigherEd7]

Has anyone else experienced students not turning in work or not following directions and blaming the virus?????

[mamselle]

You mean, because they were actually sick?

Or just the unsettling conditions they're dealing with in general?

M.

[marshwiggle]

Have you been following the discussion on the other thread about many places giving Pass/Fail, Credit/No Credit, etc grades for this term? All of those essentially sanction all kinds of student actions under these circumstances that wouldn't normally be acceptable.
(That's basically the point.)

[arcturus]

Sure. For those students who are affected, whether themselves or a family member, it is appropriate. For those that are taking advantage of the situation, they are also typically the ones who are also likely to invent family emergencies in normal times. We can waste our energy getting incensed about "kids today", or we can have some sympathy and compassion during unusual and stressful times.

[Mobius]

Has anyone else experienced students not turning in work or not following directions and blaming the virus?????

Yes, but not my problem this semester.

[Morden]

Our place is giving students the option of regular grade or Pass/Fail. Students will decide once they see the regular grade at the end. And it's fine.
Those who want to go to grad/professional school or apply for scholarships will continue to chase those high grades. Those who don't want to, won't, but they probably weren't doing so before either.

Some students won't turn in work properly; you can't grade what you don't have. And if someone hasn't met the learning objectives, they haven't met the learning objectives. But I would try not to get really upset about it. A lot is going on. Our students work (a lot); their jobs are vanishing. Many students have children; there is no childcare/K-12. They didn't sign up for online courses (and many of them have phones but no computers because they use the ones on campus), and they are dealing with an LMS system that keeps crashing as professors put up too many videos. We are all just trying to get through the semester.

[HigherEd7]

I agree with what everyone is saying, this situation is affecting faculty and administration as well and you are still expected to do a good job. If this is the case then we should blow off the semester and give students grades or let students turn in work when they want to.................................:(

[HigherEd7]

You are correct, I need to get some green tea and sit outside and relax!!

Have you been following the discussion on the other thread about many places giving Pass/Fail, Credit/No Credit, etc grades for this term? All of those essentially sanction all kinds of student actions under these circumstances that wouldn't normally be acceptable.
(That's basically the point.)

[polly_mer]

I agree with what everyone is saying, this situation is affecting faculty and administration as well and you are still expected to do a good job. If this is the case then we should blow off the semester and give students grades or let students turn in work when they want to.................................:(

LarryC used to write:

* Record the results of student choices and move on.  It's not about about you the professor.

* Never choose to be annoyed; choose to be amused.

LarryC started the original thread Humane Course Policies That Make Your Life Easier.  It may be worth doing some reading on how to do something legitimate for students and still keep your honor during this time.

[Hegemony]

LarryC is now advising everyone to waive deadlines.

<snip>

[Katrina Gulliver]

We haven't waived deadlines but have removed a lot of the assignments students had to do. Frosh now just do one essay to finish off their semester. There will be online classes for them but no grades are attached to participation. Senior thesis students got a 2 month deadline extension.

[jerseyjay]

I have to say that I am somewhat offended, but not surprised, at some moralists among us taking advantage of the chaos caused by this pandemic to push their almost Victorian view of legions of student sinners and unworthy poor who are salivating over the chance to milk this crisis to avoid doing homework.

I teach several classes in which maybe a third of the students fail or drop out because of bad study habits, lack of motivation, lack of academic ability, whatever.

Some of these students have, indeed, used the current situation as a reason to ask for extensions, lighter assignments, leniency, etc., etc.

Are they taking advantage? Well, no, I think that they are actually affected by the current situation. In fact, I think the worse students may be affected more than average because they were on such a shaky foundation to begin with.

Do I use that as an excuse to hector them about responsibility,  etc.? No, I am happy to grant my poor students, as well as my good, and even my middling students, lots of leeway.

If a student has the wherewithal to really "take advantage" of this situation and shine--well good for him. If a student is only using this as "an excuse" to not do work, chances are he or she still won't do the work after being given extensions, etc., and so why am I supposed to worry about it? And if, like about 90 per cent of the students, a student is really facing extraordinary difficulties of various kinds, why would I insist of being nasty and enforcing relatively arbitrary rules that were made for another context?

[marshwiggle]

I have to say that I am somewhat offended, but not surprised, at some moralists among us taking advantage of the chaos caused by this pandemic to push their almost Victorian view of legions of student sinners and unworthy poor who are salivating over the chance to milk this crisis to avoid doing homework.

Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?

Ebenezer, where are you when we need you???

I teach several classes in which maybe a third of the students fail or drop out because of bad study habits, lack of motivation, lack of academic ability, whatever.

Some of these students have, indeed, used the current situation as a reason to ask for extensions, lighter assignments, leniency, etc., etc.

Are they taking advantage? Well, no, I think that they are actually affected by the current situation. In fact, I think the worse students may be affected more than average because they were on such a shaky foundation to begin with.

Do I use that as an excuse to hector them about responsibility,  etc.? No, I am happy to grant my poor students, as well as my good, and even my middling students, lots of leeway.

If a student has the wherewithal to really "take advantage" of this situation and shine--well good for him. If a student is only using this as "an excuse" to not do work, chances are he or she still won't do the work after being given extensions, etc., and so why am I supposed to worry about it? And if, like about 90 per cent of the students, a student is really facing extraordinary difficulties of various kinds, why would I insist of being nasty and enforcing relatively arbitrary rules that were made for another context?

Let's unpack this last part a bit.

I don't think "90%" of students are facing "extraordinary" difficulties. I've heard from two (out of dozens) of students who claimed something like that, and even in their case, when I pointed out what their grades were so they didn't really need to complete the last requirement (which was much reduced from the original), they chose to anyway, and one (so far) thanked me for the course as well.

As noted above, the course requirements are always somewhat "arbitrary", so they should not be seen as graven in stone on Mount Sanai. So changing them in light of extraordinary circumstances is justified. However,   part of the reason to try and maintain some degree of continuity from "before" is to reassure students. Specifically, it underlines for them that all that they have done to this point is not suddenly irrelevant, and that after this is over the more they are able to preserve in spite of this the better.


Giving everyone A's to make them feel better would not necessarily have the desired effect. In the long run, they will probably be most comforted when they feel that what they were able to accomplish with the adaptations made to their courses under these circumstances was worthwhile. What that means may vary from course to course, but essentially declaring the entire term a wash is going to more depressing to many.

[downer]

LarryC is now advising everyone to waive deadlines.

<snip>

Maybe Larry C outed himself already, but that does reveal his identity.

[mamselle]

I was thinking that, also. Mods?

M.