Favorite student emails

[the_geneticist]

I got an inadvertently almost funny one today.  I wrote to a student to say that I had a report that showed they viewed the answer to an exam question that was posted on Chegg.  Note: I didn't say which question, just that is was on their midterm.

They wrote back to say that they only wanted to "double check" their answer to the question on [Topic B] because they were confused.

I had evidence that they looked at a [Topic M] question, but now I have an admission of misconduct for the [Topic B] question too.

I know nothing about Chegg but can guess what it is. How though do you get a report on what has been viewed, or were you bluffing?

It's one of the so-called "study help" sites that students PAY for access to posted questions, textbook answer keys, etc.
No, I'm not bluffing.  Our conduct folks requested a usage report for who posted & who viewed the links to my course materials.  It shows their name, email, IP address, day & time accessed, etc.  The conduct folks will cross-reference it with the class roster to add in SIDs and other information.  You'd be surprised how many students use their real name and university emails on these sites.  Combine that with a spreadsheet of IP addresses used by enrolled students to submit their online assignments, and you can catch pretty much all of them.

[Aster]

And that's part of why I stopped returning exams a few years ago. And why all of the online assessments that I've created  for COVID were designed to be disposable. Once that regular classes resume, my online assessments will be removed from curriculum.

[apl68]

I got an inadvertently almost funny one today.  I wrote to a student to say that I had a report that showed they viewed the answer to an exam question that was posted on Chegg.  Note: I didn't say which question, just that is was on their midterm.

They wrote back to say that they only wanted to "double check" their answer to the question on [Topic B] because they were confused.

I had evidence that they looked at a [Topic M] question, but now I have an admission of misconduct for the [Topic B] question too.

I know nothing about Chegg but can guess what it is. How though do you get a report on what has been viewed, or were you bluffing?

It's one of the so-called "study help" sites that students PAY for access to posted questions, textbook answer keys, etc.
No, I'm not bluffing.  Our conduct folks requested a usage report for who posted & who viewed the links to my course materials.  It shows their name, email, IP address, day & time accessed, etc.  The conduct folks will cross-reference it with the class roster to add in SIDs and other information.  You'd be surprised how many students use their real name and university emails on these sites.  Combine that with a spreadsheet of IP addresses used by enrolled students to submit their online assignments, and you can catch pretty much all of them.

So...the site helps students to cheat, for a fee, and then turns state's evidence against them when they get in trouble for it?  Talk about amoral!  Par for the course for Silicon Valley, I guess.

[saffie]

There are Chegg bots running on Discord servers that allow Chegg answers to be retrieved without a paid account. (Google "Chegg bot discord".)  Apparently a Chegg link can be submitted to the bot and it returns the full expert answer.

[the_geneticist]

And the student who admitted to posting ALL of the exam questions on Chegg (and viewing the posted answers) while taking the exam just emailed to say that they also admit to posting the worksheet questions on Chegg.
I appreciate the honesty, but they are already going to fail the course just from the exam misconduct.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I just received an email that started with "Dear Name of Professor" and ended with "I can be reached at Email Address or at Phone Number."

There was content relevant to my course in the body of the email, but this really seems like a form letter...

[ergative]

I just received an email that started with "Dear Name of Professor" and ended with "I can be reached at Email Address or at Phone Number."

There was content relevant to my course in the body of the email, but this really seems like a form letter...

Was the body of the email about changing a grade? Because if you scroll to the bottom of this page, you'll find a sample form letter that fits your description.

See, students can do the research and follow formatting guidelines!

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I just received an email that started with "Dear Name of Professor" and ended with "I can be reached at Email Address or at Phone Number."

There was content relevant to my course in the body of the email, but this really seems like a form letter...

Was the body of the email about changing a grade? Because if you scroll to the bottom of this page, you'll find a sample form letter that fits your description.

See, students can do the research and follow formatting guidelines!

Yep. That's it!

[downer]

Student: Is 87.8% a B+ or an A?

Really? You have to ask?

[the_geneticist]

Student: Is 87.8% a B+ or an A?

Really? You have to ask?

Well, it's a fair question.  Sometimes folks adjust the grade cutoffs.  But my guess is that you would have told your students if you had done that.

[downer]

Fair enough. I've never done that. I guess I should put the grading scale in the syllabus.

[marshwiggle]

Student: Is 87.8% a B+ or an A?

Really? You have to ask?

Well, it's a fair question.  Sometimes folks adjust the grade cutoffs.  But my guess is that you would have told your students if you had done that.

Another possibility; here, it's written something like this;
85-87 B+
88-90 A
So it's not entirely clear what should happen between 87 and 88. Round? Truncate?

[downer]

Fair enough. I've never done that. I guess I should put the grading scale in the syllabus.

Turns out that the school has a prescribed grading scale very much as you'd expect.

[ergative]

Very anxious first-year undergraduate is asking for clarification on the difference between an essay and a commentary, because she doesn't want to give the wrong kind of response for a one hour long-answer essay exam.

Bless her. I was appropriately kind and reassuring.

[Harlow2]

Nervous first-year grad student:  You said in office hours that I could construct a plan if I could defend doing so.  Did you say that?