Creepy silence

[Baldwinschild]

Hello,

Long-time listener, first-time caller here.  I am a prof at a R1 in the middle of a blazing-hot desert, and I would be grateful for your thoughts on this non-problem. 

My students in my summer online course have gone dark.  I think I broke them.  This has never happened in 3 years of teaching this course online in summer and winter sessions.  The course is a difficult required major course, but I've done a decent job over the years of making it manageable in short online sessions (and in-person).  Usually, the students go through the stages of grief pretty quickly, realize they are not dead, and come around by the end of the second week.  At that point, I slow down the pace (the intro stuff, the hardest part, is completed by then really) and throw in some low-stakes quizzes.  After that, it is smooth sailing.

In the past, I've found that encouraging posts and "You are almost at the halfway point!" announcements help a great deal.  I also talk them through the pacing ("After this exam, we take a two-day break.").  I can keep them with me if I do this. 

My students just completed the first set of quizzes and readings four days ago.  Since then, they've just stopped reading, stop doing anything.  And they have two assignments related to those readings due tomorrow.  About 10 % of the class has viewed the readings.  I've sent gentle reminders—no movement.  No one has dropped. 

The silence worries me.  I've been teaching for 10 years, and the only time I've seen this is before a revolt.  But maybe I am missing something.  Did I break them?  Are they paralyzed? 

FWIW, I've had some difficulties with a group of ladies in the class who take turns emailing me to ask for extensions or to issue complaints.  I've granted extensions, and also said "no" to a few requests.  One received a "0" for plagiarizing on the first quiz.  And I do know they are generally unhappy about my refusal to make the adjustments they asked for.  Maybe I am paranoid, but it worries me that they've gone dark as well. 

My apologies for the long question.  Just wanted to give a clear overview to help you help me.  Should I be worried? 

[mamselle]

We've discussed elsewhere the usefulness of less formal, instructor-initiated mid-point evals in courses where things seem "off."

Have you done that?

M.

[Parasaurolophus]

I think it's pretty normal for an online class--everyone starts out determined and engagement is high, then things intrude and they slack a bit, and then they're behind and stuck in a pattern of letting other things intrude. (Hell, that accurately describes my own experience as the instructor!)

FWIW, my classes end this week, and the most views any of my videos showing them how to do proofs (which we started four weeks ago) have gotten is 10. That's up from 2-4 just a couple weeks ago.

[spork]

Stop granting extensions. It will only encourage more complaints.

[clean]

My students just completed the first set of quizzes and readings four days ago.  Since then, they've just stopped reading, stop doing anything.  And they have two assignments related to those readings due tomorrow.  About 10 % of the class has viewed the readings.  I've sent gentle reminders—no movement.  No one has dropped.

You are thinking, OMG Is it Due Tomorrow!!

They are thinking, No worries, It is not due until tomorrow!

My experience is that no matter whether the course is 5 weeks or 10 weeks, the students do not do the work until the deadline!

I have an assignment due at 1159 tonight.  At noon, I used the blackboard utility to 'send a reminder' to fully 1/2 of the class that had not yet turned in the work.  They have had access to the work since Day 1.  But as it it not due until today, why do it early?  I even give bonus points to turn the work in 2 days or more before the deadline.  After a reminder message on Saturday, I got about the best early submission rate of about 1/4 or the class.


In conclusion, while you see "There is ONLY 24 hours to go," they see "We Still Have 24 hours!"
Perspective!

[Baldwinschild]

Thank you for your help. 

Stop granting extensions. It will only encourage more complaints.

Yes, that seems to be the case.  I made the mistake of relaxing my "no extensions" policy this semester; I wanted to be more flexible because the students are dealing with so much right now.  I should not have done that.  I granted three extensions for the first assignment.  And, those three students asked for extensions for the second assignment.  They were angry when I said "no."  One of them wrote me back saying that she had attempted to take the quiz but was locked out of the system.  Her progress report showed she hadn't logged into the system for two days. 

We've discussed elsewhere the usefulness of less formal, instructor-initiated mid-point evals in courses where things seem "off."

Have you done that?

M.

No, I have not.  The reason I've not done them:  1.) I am not going to make further adjustments to the course, and 2.) I think I've already been too flexible as it is.  They are doing the least amount possible.  I've rewritten all the quizzes and exams to make sure the questions line up with the readings.  I selected texts that I know they can read and supplemented with films.  I think mid-course evals will open up the door to more whining.  And if they ask for things and I don't give them those things, they will really go left on me.  So, I only do mid-course evals when things are going well, and I am open to suggestions.  I wish I could do them in this situation, but I think it would cause more problems. 

My students just completed the first set of quizzes and readings four days ago.  Since then, they've just stopped reading, stop doing anything.  And they have two assignments related to those readings due tomorrow.  About 10 % of the class has viewed the readings.  I've sent gentle reminders—no movement.  No one has dropped.

You are thinking, OMG Is it Due Tomorrow!!

They are thinking, No worries, It is not due until tomorrow!

My experience is that no matter whether the course is 5 weeks or 10 weeks, the students do not do the work until the deadline!

I have an assignment due at 1159 tonight.  At noon, I used the blackboard utility to 'send a reminder' to fully 1/2 of the class that had not yet turned in the work.  They have had access to the work since Day 1.  But as it it not due until today, why do it early?  I even give bonus points to turn the work in 2 days or more before the deadline.  After a reminder message on Saturday, I got about the best early submission rate of about 1/4 or the class.


In conclusion, while you see "There is ONLY 24 hours to go," they see "We Still Have 24 hours!"
Perspective!

I think my worry is that things have come to a complete standstill, and they know they can't read this stuff in one day.  And I reminded them in announcements and emails.  Even the laziest student would know he can't pull off this much reading in two days.  Also, they've been in the course for two weeks now and taken the first set of quizzes and first exam, so they have the experiential knowledge.  Usually, this is all they need to start moving with more purpose.  This is why I am scratching my head. 

But maybe I don't fully grasp the time logic they use, as you and Parasaurolophus said.  I am seeing two days and many pages of reading; they are seeing 49 hours and "I got this." 

[mamselle]

You may not want to make changes to the course, and of course you don't want to send the message via an informal eval that you would consider doing so.

But it might provide a conversational opener.

Since you aren't getting input directly, nosing around for it indirectly might provide more to go on.

Go for the squishy middle place in the cookie if you want to really taste it...not just the crisp edges...

M.

ETA: Oh, then I saw your Chegg cheaters post.

So you do already know what the issues are; I withdraw the suggestion. - M.

[Baldwinschild]

You may not want to make changes to the course, and of course you don't want to send the message via an informal eval that you would consider doing so.

But it might provide a conversational opener.

Since you aren't getting input directly, nosing around for it indirectly might provide more to go on.

Go for the squishy middle place in the cookie if you want to really taste it...not just the crisp edges...

M.

ETA: Oh, then I saw your Chegg cheaters post.

So you do already know what the issues are; I withdraw the suggestion. - M.

No, as I said in my question above, I don't know what the issues are.  That's the problem really.  I am speculating.  I know they are annoyed about the quizzes, but I don't know if that's why the whole darn class has checked out.  I am just trying to keep my eyes open for more trouble from these ladies and also think of other possible reasons for the silence. 
Please do not think I have this one figured out.  I am grateful for your follow-up advice because I just couldn't figure out a middle way on my own.  I could send a gentle "How are you doing so far" survey to each student, just to open up a conversation, as you said.  Perhaps?

[Hegemony]

There's a possibility that something has gone wrong with the LMS or computer system. Maybe not the most likely answer, but possible.

I would pick a few of the students who seemed to be bright sparks early on and simply email them. Ask them, "I haven't seen you turning in X or Y yet, or even checking in to our system. Are you okay? Is everything all right? Is there something I can help you with?"

As I said in a thread a while back, it used to be that I'd email students who had dropped out of sight, and I never ever got an answer. But this last semester, I emailed everyone who disappeared — it was about 15 people — and most of them actually DID answer. Every one of them who answered thanked me for checking in and showing that someone cared about them, and said they were encouraged by my contact to get back on track. There was no one single problem, but a variety. One of them suddenly had to move, one had to travel a long distance because there was illness in her family, one had a difficult roommate, etc. But I think those things on top of the strain of the pandemic just made them falter, and then they got behind and they got so discouraged that they just gave up.  I did give them all extensions — one by one, I don't mean I announced it to the class — and they were grateful without exception. Every one of them passed.

So I'd suggest sending out a few feelers. And if the students are expressing despair and hardship, I'd go ahead and individually give them extensions. After all, we may be more or less used to it now, but we are still in a stressful pandemic. And a number of our students have been in the protests or otherwise affected by all of that, and just generally there is a heck of a lot going on right now. I think it helps to recognize that these are not normal hold-their-feet-to-the-fire type conditions. If they still fail, well, you tried. But they may perk up and get back on track.

[Caracal]

Stop granting extensions. It will only encourage more complaints.

Not a thing. I grant extensions all the time. It does not result in more complaints.

[Bonnie]

Stop granting extensions. It will only encourage more complaints.

Not a thing. I grant extensions all the time. It does not result in more complaints.

Ditto. I have not found that flexibility leads to students demanding more flexibility or complaining.

[darkstarrynight]

One thing I recommend (which is hard to do) is to stop looking at who accessed the readings and when students logged into the LMS. I used to do this obsessively and panic about it. I got so wrapped up in their level of activity in the online class that is really got to me. My spouse told me to chill, and it actually has helped a lot with my stress. They are adults and choose whether or not to participate. What you can do is nudge them in grading comments/feedback, with something like "I encourage you to reference the readings more in your response" or "I noticed on the quiz you missed all the questions pertaining to XYZ reading. Can I help you understand this concept better? Let's set up a time to meet on the phone or video chat." That shows you care without worrying so much about their schedules. I teach students in my online classes who tend to be working full-time. I have to think about how they have different schedules and may be logging in only at night or on weekends. Anyway, I would say it is wonderful that you care, but as my spouse told me, I should not have to "care more about the class for them than they do."

[Bonnie]

My students also disappeared this summer. I've taught this class in the summer before, though not for a few years, and this summer has been much much different. I have 20 students. Five of them disappeared after week 2. During week 4, I emailed each of them with a request to have a zoom meeting. Three of them responded, and I had those three meetings yesterday. Various reasons for their disappearance but it seems to mostly center on being a bit stressed and lost, still feeling out of it from spring semester and questioning whether school will be worth coming back to in fall semester. I referred each to university counseling. And made a plan with each for getting back on track.

This is a major course that must be passed in order to continue with the program in the fall. While there is always a bit of "I hate online courses" and "I hate having a 16 week course delivered in 8 weeks," students in the past have just gotten past it, dug in, done the work. I do wonder how much the weirdness of spring and the unknown of fall is impacting student learning this summer.

[arcturus]

I agree with spork. It is important to keep the structure in place. Particularly in a STEM majors course, where the students need the information/skills from each previous assignment. As the OP noted, an extension on assignment 1 leads to a request for an extension on assignment 2, etc. In a fast-paced short-term course (I assume the summer term is shorter than fall/spring...), this can lead to a disaster for the student, as there is no time to catch up. So, yes, it is important to be compassionate, particularly in these difficult times, but sometimes the correct response is that an extension cannot be granted.

OP - If the students all know each other (more likely for a majors course), your flexibility on assignment 1 may have been made known to more of the class than you realize.  I predict that you will receive many requests for further extensions if you do not hold the line firm right now.

[Caracal]

I agree with spork. It is important to keep the structure in place. Particularly in a STEM majors course, where the students need the information/skills from each previous assignment. As the OP noted, an extension on assignment 1 leads to a request for an extension on assignment 2, etc. In a fast-paced short-term course (I assume the summer term is shorter than fall/spring...), this can lead to a disaster for the student, as there is no time to catch up. So, yes, it is important to be compassionate, particularly in these difficult times, but sometimes the correct response is that an extension cannot be granted.

OP - If the students all know each other (more likely for a majors course), your flexibility on assignment 1 may have been made known to more of the class than you realize.  I predict that you will receive many requests for further extensions if you do not hold the line firm right now.

If granting extensions interferes with the purpose of an assignment then you shouldn't do it. (Although then you should probably have a reasonable late penalty policy, or some kind of built in flexibility for low stakes assignments) However, in lots of other cases, it isn't a big deal. Also, your extension policy shouldn't be a secret. That's a recipe for inequity. I pretty much always grant extensions for big assignments and tell students that.