Favorite student emails

[Biologist_]

We have a student this semester who tried to use their extra time on test accommodation to get double time on all lab exercises. We think this is partly because this is the first semester in 18 months with in person labs again.  All the students are moving more slowly and having issues getting things done in the allotted time. But no way are we turning a 4 hour weekly lab into an 8 hour weekly lab!

The ADA mandates reasonable accommodations for disabilities. There's no requirement to provide unreasonable accommodations.

[downer]

Student says they can't do the work this week because they are in military training. When asked to supply documentation they say it will be heavily redacted.

I smell a fish.

[kaysixteen]

Let us know what the redacted documentation says.   Be very careful about rejecting the accommodation unless you can prove it is bogus.   It is probable what the student is referring to is something in his orders doc that cannot be seen by those without proper clearance.   If that is the case, you would get burned badly, and properly, for rejecting it.

[Zeus Bird]

We have a student this semester who tried to use their extra time on test accommodation to get double time on all lab exercises. We think this is partly because this is the first semester in 18 months with in person labs again.  All the students are moving more slowly and having issues getting things done in the allotted time. But no way are we turning a 4 hour weekly lab into an 8 hour weekly lab!

The ADA mandates reasonable accommodations for disabilities. There's no requirement to provide unreasonable accommodations.

Our uni is trying to lay the groundwork, COVID or no COVID, that hy-flex for each student is "reasonable."

[downer]

Let us know what the redacted documentation says.   Be very careful about rejecting the accommodation unless you can prove it is bogus.   It is probable what the student is referring to is something in his orders doc that cannot be seen by those without proper clearance.   If that is the case, you would get burned badly, and properly, for rejecting it.

I'm not sure what risk I might be running. If the armed services can't make a declaration that the student was unable to do the work during the specified time, that's the student's problem. I don't see any reason why I should treat this case as different from busy nurses, or busy people with other jobs. The onus is on the student to supply evidence for their excuse. I've never received notification from anyone official at any school saying that I have to accept excuses. It is at my discretion.

[kaysixteen]

If the young man is indeed a military reservist, and has been summoned to duty, you almost certainly have an obligation to let him defer work, etc., though this might not be the absolute requirement employers have wrt employees who are reservists.   But even if you do not have such an obligation, you would look very very bad to refuse it.

[downer]

Maybe I do have a legal obligation: in which case I'm sure there is a simple procedure for reservists to show their professors they were unable to do classwork, which does not involve producing redacted documents. I've taught serving military before, and they never needed to make excuses.

[Langue_doc]

Student says they can't do the work this week because they are in military training. When asked to supply documentation they say it will be heavily redacted.

I smell a fish.

I once had a student who was in the Army Reserves (I don't recall the exact name) inform me that Stu wouldn't be attending class that week because of the training, but this was a responsible student. As I recall, Stu didn't ask to be excused from any of the assignments but merely informed me that hu wouldn't be in class.

[the_geneticist]

I am getting emails from students while they are taking their open note "did you read the syllabus" quiz begging me to tell them the answers before the time runs out.
Sorry, I'm not a chat bot!
Also, maybe you should try reading the syllabus BEFORE you open the quiz.

[apl68]

Maybe I do have a legal obligation: in which case I'm sure there is a simple procedure for reservists to show their professors they were unable to do classwork, which does not involve producing redacted documents. I've taught serving military before, and they never needed to make excuses.

Since you know what it's supposed to look like in cases like this, I suspect your fish detector may be right.

[Caracal]

Maybe I do have a legal obligation: in which case I'm sure there is a simple procedure for reservists to show their professors they were unable to do classwork, which does not involve producing redacted documents. I've taught serving military before, and they never needed to make excuses.

Since you know what it's supposed to look like in cases like this, I suspect your fish detector may be right.

Yeah, I often have students in the reserves and they just send me a letter saying they have required training on x dates. There's no other information in there, so I can't see why anything would need to be redacted. It's just a standard form sent to employers, instructors and anyone else.

[arcturus]

After doing poorly on an open-note, open-book exam, a student writes to ask if it will be curved.

Um, no? I made several announcements stating that this exam would require application of concepts taught during the semester and that it would be beneficial to study in advance, even though we allow access to resources during the exam itself. I will curve an exam if it is unfair, but not if poor scores are due to students choosing not to study.

The email requesting that we curve the scores on this exam was slightly less perturbing than the student who wrote to ask if we really expected him/her to learn everything taught in the prior 5 weeks of the course for the midterm exam.  Um, yes? It is open-note, open-book, etc, but it is helpful to know what those notes and books might contain...

I know that this is the lowest priority course for most students (online and GenEd), but they do need to make some effort to master the material. Really, it is not that hard.

[downer]

Student sends indignant email complaining about my flagging them several time on the alert system indicating students in trouble.

I wonder if they think that these emails are raising their chances of passing the course. Because they are not.

[Istiblennius]

Just got this doozy from an international student taking my online lab course. Based on some past issues with our international student office, I suspect this student was misled about the class and their ability to succeed in it based on their current proficiency with English.

hi professor

i received email from general biology they gave a link websit will join in there about module 1 lesoon could you please guide me what should i do in there ?an we should do have activity? if it possible for you please help me

I do not think it is possible for me to help, as the email they got was my daily reminder sent via our LMS about what they should be working on that day to help them stay on track. In other words to guide them on what they should do.

[Aster]

Student sends indignant email complaining about my flagging them several time on the alert system indicating students in trouble.

I wonder if they think that these emails are raising their chances of passing the course. Because they are not.

Every year, our admin-wonks deliver a monologue speech about the importance of using "early-alert" systems to flag poorly performing students.

And every year, a few (new) professors listen to that advice, submit the reports, and are then immediately berated by the academic advising department to "stop doing that" because our university does not actually have any process in place to address students who are reported. So all of the professors learn to stop using the early alert service.

And then the next year, the admin-wonks deliver a new monologue speech about the importance of the "early alert" system. I'm pretty sure that the admin-wonks are living in a bubble separated from reality.