Students who never answer

[Hegemony]

Our students do disappear from the LMS when they drop the course.  But I'm here to report that a second student has answered!  She said she had to travel home to another state to be with her disabled mother, in a complicated situation which she described. It may be that in normal semesters, the ghost students are just flaky, but this time around, some proportion of them are responsible students derailed by virus-related things. And because they are normally responsible students, they are actually answering my emails. Or at least two of them are. Still, I'm glad to know what's happening.

[backatit]

Yes, I have had a couple of those students as well. One was in the national guard, and was deployed to set up a testing center. they contacted me as soon as they were able, and finished work under extraordinary circumstances. Another had to go home to care for a parent and a sibling with autism. I feel like those students deserve as much as I can give them, and they have now managed to finish the semester, somehow (thank goodness we are almost done, but the summer is looming large - I'm not sure how I can do a 6 week course fully online and pull everyone through the same way).

[spork]

I found out that my university is calling every single currently-enrolled undergraduate student -- nominally to find out how they are doing and if they need any kind of assistance . . . but in reality it's an attempt to get as many as possible to return in the fall.

[Aster]

We're doing this as well, but I think it's mostly just to cover our butts in case some AWOL student comes back from the dead in May or later demanding a full refund. We are being very careful with issuing refunds.

[Caracal]

It may be that in normal semesters, the ghost students are just flaky, but this time around, some proportion of them are responsible students derailed by virus-related things. And because they are normally responsible students, they are actually answering my emails. Or at least two of them are. Still, I'm glad to know what's happening.

My impression based on limited data is that the problems are usually real enough, it is just that the students lack the ability or resources to figure out solutions. Then on the other hand I always have students with absurdly good excuses who want very minimal accommodations. The classic example of this was the student who was very apologetic about asking for a paper extension, he wouldn't normally do this, but the restaurant he worked at was robbed and he was PISTOl WHIPPED, so he was having some trouble focusing because of the concussion. He seemed worried I wouldn't believe him and said I could see the story about it in the newspaper. I ended up giving him an incomplete since it was very close to the end of the semester, and he naturally turned in the paper a week later.

[jerseyjay]

It is generally my experience that the stronger students, or at least the ones with very legitimate excuses, tend to me more reticent about asking for accommodation  whilst the weaker students, or those with more dodgy excuses, are more vocal.

It is also my experience that often weaker students, when faced with real situations, react in less appropriate ways.

In the current situation, however, I have had students who: have had parents or other relatives hospitalized for Covid; have fallen ill themselves; have had relatives or close friends die; have been thrown out of a job or are working many more hours. I just assume any student who disappears is in part reflecting this situation, even if they are not reacting to it in a way that I would like.

Thus I think that extra outreach is not a bad idea. At my public  open admissions university in an area hard hit by this pandemic, there is worry that many students will not return next semester, for various reasons related to this situation. I do not think it is a bad idea to reach out to the students, as long as it is done in a caring and nonjudgemental way.

[the_geneticist]

It may be that in normal semesters, the ghost students are just flaky, but this time around, some proportion of them are responsible students derailed by virus-related things. And because they are normally responsible students, they are actually answering my emails. Or at least two of them are. Still, I'm glad to know what's happening.

My impression based on limited data is that the problems are usually real enough, it is just that the students lack the ability or resources to figure out solutions. Then on the other hand I always have students with absurdly good excuses who want very minimal accommodations. The classic example of this was the student who was very apologetic about asking for a paper extension, he wouldn't normally do this, but the restaurant he worked at was robbed and he was PISTOl WHIPPED, so he was having some trouble focusing because of the concussion. He seemed worried I wouldn't believe him and said I could see the story about it in the newspaper. I ended up giving him an incomplete since it was very close to the end of the semester, and he naturally turned in the paper a week later.

Same here!  I had a student apologize for being almost late to lab because he was hit by a car at work, had a broken leg, and it took longer than he thought to get across campus on crutches.  And he was worried about participating because he had a cast on that leg and couldn't wear a proper shoe.
I've also had a student claim that the reason they didn't have their worksheet was that they had a "bad back" and couldn't carry it.  It was one page side.

[Caracal]

It may be that in normal semesters, the ghost students are just flaky, but this time around, some proportion of them are responsible students derailed by virus-related things. And because they are normally responsible students, they are actually answering my emails. Or at least two of them are. Still, I'm glad to know what's happening.

My impression based on limited data is that the problems are usually real enough, it is just that the students lack the ability or resources to figure out solutions. Then on the other hand I always have students with absurdly good excuses who want very minimal accommodations. The classic example of this was the student who was very apologetic about asking for a paper extension, he wouldn't normally do this, but the restaurant he worked at was robbed and he was PISTOl WHIPPED, so he was having some trouble focusing because of the concussion. He seemed worried I wouldn't believe him and said I could see the story about it in the newspaper. I ended up giving him an incomplete since it was very close to the end of the semester, and he naturally turned in the paper a week later.

Same here!  I had a student apologize for being almost late to lab because he was hit by a car at work, had a broken leg, and it took longer than he thought to get across campus on crutches.  And he was worried about participating because he had a cast on that leg and couldn't wear a proper shoe.
I've also had a student claim that the reason they didn't have their worksheet was that they had a "bad back" and couldn't carry it.  It was one page side.

Usually the more legitimate the excuse is, the later the student mentions it in the conversation. Your student probably told you "I have a bad back, so I couldn't carry the worksheet." I think being hit over the head with a gun by a masked robber came up three minutes into the discussion.