Favorite student emails

[kaysixteen]

Might this be a situation where you should contact his advisor?

[the_geneticist]

An email exchange with a student who is "very concerned" about his grade (bold added for emphasis in his reply).

Stu,

I understand you are concerned about your overall grade, attending class regularly is important for success. For example, last week, you skipped Monday's lecture, were significantly late to lab on Tuesday morning, and missed lab on Thursday. This week you were significantly late for Tuesday's lab and turned your work in late which earned a late penalty.

To improve your work on graded assignments, I suggest reading the feedback you have received on your work. You continue to repeat similar errors on your work, and this leads me to believe you are not paying close attention to the feedback supplied on the grading rubrics. Once you have done that, and if you have questions about what you are not doing correctly, stop by my office during office hours and we can answer those questions.

Dr. Mode

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hey,

I know I missed lecture last week, and I had [another class exam] that day that I was studying for, and I know that's no excuse and then I saw we had a 5 point assignment that day, which was irritating. I am usually up on the weekends and especially monday night until 2 am every week trying to make your labs the best that I can and I just can't seem to do it. My grade is low right now so I need everything I can at this point to pass. I never emailed you or asked for help before but I figured it was worth a shot so thank you. Just let me know what I can do to make things better, thank you again.
 
Stu

What does he expect me to do? I already told him what he could do to make it better. Guess he wants 'bonus points' or perhaps to redo previous work. Who knows? I'm delaying another reply.

Yikes.  Stu is going to be so "sad and confused" that being late, being absent, and not using feedback means they will struggle and probably won't pass.

"Stu,
The most important things you can do to improve your grade are to come to class on time and turn in your assignments.
Dr. Giant Meanie who doesn't give magic bonus points"

[EdnaMode]

Might this be a situation where you should contact his advisor?

We have an online system where we can submit progress reports and the info is shared with their advisor. I've already flagged Stu twice in the system. I even included the email exchange.

Yikes.  Stu is going to be so "sad and confused" that being late, being absent, and not using feedback means they will struggle and probably won't pass.

"Stu,
The most important things you can do to improve your grade are to come to class on time and turn in your assignments.
Dr. Giant Meanie who doesn't give magic bonus points"

Yes, he is going to be "sad and confused." I remember that from the old boards :) I did write him a reply and basically said just that... come to class, do the work, ask questions if you have them, and you just might pass.

[the_geneticist]

Got one today that reminds me what I like about online assignments:

Good Morning Dr. [Geneticist]

I hope you're having a great morning and are doing well! This is [stu] and I wanted to reach out to you regarding the [assigment from 2 weeks ago]; I opened the assignment during Friday afternoon, however, it didn't submit until later in the evening (that is the time that got recorded in the submission). This issue's never occurred with me before while using [the LMS]. I understand that assignments marked as late are given 0 points, but I'm not sure why this issue occurred because it should have submitted earlier in the day prior to the due date at 5 pm. Please let me know if anything can be done when you are able to, thank you immensely for your time and help in advance. I hope you have a wonderful day and upcoming week!

Kind Regards,
[late submission stu]

Polite, got my name correct. 

But, what stu doesn't realize is it is so easy to check when they open an assignment, the time they spent, and if/when they submit.

Opened: 7:27pm
Time: 2 minutes 30 seconds
Submitted: 7:30pm

Sorry stu, you didn't even start the assignment before the deadline.  Plan better.

[sinenomine]

Got one today that reminds me what I like about online assignments:

Good Morning Dr. [Geneticist]

I hope you're having a great morning and are doing well! This is [stu] and I wanted to reach out to you regarding the [assigment from 2 weeks ago]; I opened the assignment during Friday afternoon, however, it didn't submit until later in the evening (that is the time that got recorded in the submission). This issue's never occurred with me before while using [the LMS]. I understand that assignments marked as late are given 0 points, but I'm not sure why this issue occurred because it should have submitted earlier in the day prior to the due date at 5 pm. Please let me know if anything can be done when you are able to, thank you immensely for your time and help in advance. I hope you have a wonderful day and upcoming week!

Kind Regards,
[late submission stu]

Polite, got my name correct. 

But, what stu doesn't realize is it is so easy to check when they open an assignment, the time they spent, and if/when they submit.

Opened: 7:27pm
Time: 2 minutes 30 seconds
Submitted: 7:30pm

Sorry stu, you didn't even start the assignment before the deadline.  Plan better.

I love sending them screenshots showing the access and submission times. :) I've only had one student try to argue back; it escalated from our IT folks all the way to the LMS company before the student grudgingly admitted defeat.