The Venting Thread

[marshwiggle]

How in the world did 13 ineligible students end up signing on for one class?

Good question. And this seems to happen every year. One might begin to suspect that someone in charge is not very competent.

Many years ago I had the same question. It turned out that, (at that time anyway), Marsh U only checked when students applied to graduate  to see that all for of their courses they had the required prerequisites.

Yes, it is as stupid as it sounds.

Wow, as much as I hate Workday Student, at least it won't let them enroll if they don't have the prerequisites.

If an individual faculty member checked, then they could get a student removed from their course if they didn't have the prereq. (This happened to me, since I taught both and they were not large, so when a student showed up on my list for Basketweaving II, I went "Wait- did they take BW I?" and sure enough, they hadn't. So I got the student removed. But in a big course, no-one would remotely be able to check all of those.)

[apl68]

How in the world did 13 ineligible students end up signing on for one class?

Good question. And this seems to happen every year. One might begin to suspect that someone in charge is not very competent.

Many years ago I had the same question. It turned out that, (at that time anyway), Marsh U only checked when students applied to graduate  to see that all for of their courses they had the required prerequisites.

Yes, it is as stupid as it sounds.

Wow, as much as I hate Workday Student, at least it won't let them enroll if they don't have the prerequisites.

If an individual faculty member checked, then they could get a student removed from their course if they didn't have the prereq. (This happened to me, since I taught both and they were not large, so when a student showed up on my list for Basketweaving II, I went "Wait- did they take BW I?" and sure enough, they hadn't. So I got the student removed. But in a big course, no-one would remotely be able to check all of those.)

"But I took Feltmaking 101 in high school!  Isn't that practically the same thing as Basketweaving?"

[Istiblennius]

Similar issue - I advise students who take a prereq in Fall for a Winter class. They register for the class, but then when their prereq grades are entered over Winter break, those grades are too low to move into the next class so the registrar removes them and notifies them. But of course none of them read their email over break and on the first day of Winter term are stunned to discover that a class suddenly disappeared from their schedule and now want an emergency advising appointment right! now! (even though they are reminded in their regular advising appointments that this could happen if they aren't honest with me about their grades in the prereq and that they need to keep an eye on things over Winter break if they are on the bubble). 

[clean]

I didnt sleep all that well last night. I have a CPAP.  My Bride is gone for a few more days helping her family while one undergoes cancer treatment.

I snored so loudly, that I incorporated the snoring into my dreams!  It literally rattled my teeth! 
I dont usually snore so loudly, especially with the CPAP.  I was even using the chin strap last night (an regularly for about 6 weeks now). 


I guess that breathing loudly is better than some of the other alternatives! 

[Parasaurolophus]

Today I filled out our 'employee engagement survey's. It had been farmed out to a third party. It was garbage that didn't differentiate between faculty and staff, and was full of irrelevancies. It's clearly just a boilerplate survey they copy/paste for all their corporate clients. It didn't even solicit any comments. I've seen better surveys designed and submitted by students to our research ethics board. Surely some faculty member could have done it instead (for 0.025 of a section release, no doubt).

Within hours, we got an email from the faculty association warning us to be careful answering certain questions, and decrying the entire affair, and explaining they were not consulted.

Who the hell in HR gets paid to come up with this crap? Seriously. The last survey of this kind was similarly inappropriate.

[the_geneticist]

Similar issue - I advise students who take a prereq in Fall for a Winter class. They register for the class, but then when their prereq grades are entered over Winter break, those grades are too low to move into the next class so the registrar removes them and notifies them. But of course none of them read their email over break and on the first day of Winter term are stunned to discover that a class suddenly disappeared from their schedule and now want an emergency advising appointment right! now! (even though they are reminded in their regular advising appointments that this could happen if they aren't honest with me about their grades in the prereq and that they need to keep an eye on things over Winter break if they are on the bubble).

We have the same issue here.
"Why did you remove me from your Baskets 102 class?!?!?" Not me, it was the Registrar.  And not her personally, but an algorithm from that office.
"But I TOOK Baskets 101!!" And you have to pass it.

It was really a mess during COVID shut-down when about 1/3 of the students in [baskets 101] were failed due to cheating.  But the investigation took so long that the students were already midway through the next quarter.  They decided to let them finish [baskets 102] and then repeat [baskets 101].

And that is why the "how to report a student for possible misconduct" is now a very, very much more streamlined process.  You used to have to fill out a really long, complicated form that would time-out after about 10 minutes for EACH student.  When a cohort of >100 cheats, it's not practical to use that approach.  Now, it's a simple form and you can list all suspected students at once.

[AmLitHist]

The predicted end-of-the-world snowfall caused pretty much all K-12 and colleges/universities in the area to close today.

As I look out my window at 9 a.m., the streets and sidewalks are completely clear (just wet), and the grass is still showing through.  It's still snowing flakes the size of grains of kosher salt.

I like a day off as well as the next person, but they really blew it on this one--and I really needed today's class time, as I've already packed each day's schedule in this shorter 15-week spring semester.

[poiuy]

@Amlithist:  Do you have the option to pivot to an online class in case of bad weather?  The last 2-3 years have made doing that much easier and more normative. Since you already have a time slot with students, can you teach the material online?

[OneMoreYear]

Our predicted snowstorm also turned into basically nothing, but the university also "closed."  We were instructed to pivot all in-person classes to remote delivery. This message was almost immediately followed by a message from the faculty union clarifying that remote delivery of in-person classes was not mandated in the contract, and faculty had full ability to make decisions regarding how they would handle the physical closure that was most appropriate for their specific courses. Fun times.

[clean]

Were 'make up days' part of the contract?
Sometimes people can be so shortsighted! 

My university is located in an area that could be devastated by the right hurricane, in the right conditions.  Our administrators, long ago, learned the lessons from Katrina and New Orleans. 
In addition to a reserve fund, (not big enough, but better than before), we are mandated to have a LMS and sufficient assignments ready to host at least a week. If we go beyond that, then we can add more.

The warning was essentially, IF you want to get Paid for more than a few weeks after the storm, Be Prepared to TEACH your classes ONLINE until the buildings are safe to run again! 

The Alternative, as we learned so well from Tulane, and other New Orleans schools is Layoffs/ tuition Refunds/ CATCH UP DAYS!! --  Extending the term until we make up the contact hours we lost!!!  By having the LMS ready, we do not lose contact hours that would need to be replaced to meet STATE Requirements! 

SO I hope that your faculty isnt surprised to learn that the university WILL comply with the Union Contract, AND state LAW and just extend the term into the Christmas break!  And if the administration is forced into that corner, expect that each class will be monitored for the now mandatory attendance and appropriate use of time!  (Enforcing All Rules to the Letter works for Admincritters too!) 

short-sighted bastards (both sides, probably!)! 

[AmLitHist]

@Amlithist:  Do you have the option to pivot to an online class in case of bad weather?  The last 2-3 years have made doing that much easier and more normative. Since you already have a time slot with students, can you teach the material online?

Unfortunately, no:  when we're closed for weather, we're specifically forbidden to go online/live virtual lecture. (This class is already an LVL, so it would have been just fine, had I been allowed to teach that day.)

Most local schools--K-12 and colleges/universities--did go virtual on Wednesday. Not us, though. Probably part of the thinking was that students at two of our four CC campuses are poor, so they wouldn't have internet/computer access--which isn't borne out by the number of F2F students I have who use laptops and phones during class that are far nicer than mine.

[ciao_yall]

@Amlithist:  Do you have the option to pivot to an online class in case of bad weather?  The last 2-3 years have made doing that much easier and more normative. Since you already have a time slot with students, can you teach the material online?

Unfortunately, no:  when we're closed for weather, we're specifically forbidden to go online/live virtual lecture. (This class is already an LVL, so it would have been just fine, had I been allowed to teach that day.)

Most local schools--K-12 and colleges/universities--did go virtual on Wednesday. Not us, though. Probably part of the thinking was that students at two of our four CC campuses are poor, so they wouldn't have internet/computer access--which isn't borne out by the number of F2F students I have who use laptops and phones during class that are far nicer than mine.

Interesting. Pre-pandemic this might have made sense. However, due to COVID our community has cranked up its wifi/broadband access and our college has made laptops pretty readily available.

We don't have weather-related closures but this has made it a lot easier for faculty to teach 100% online if they want to.

[sinenomine]

I was enjoying a lovely Friday until I got an email from HR, saying that a colleague has filed a complaint against me (not clue what it's about), and now I'm waiting for the college's attorney to set up a meeting. This is not what I want dangling over my head for the weekend. Feels like I'm in a Kafka novel.

[clean]

Nothing Good ever comes through emails. 
Never read emails between Thursday afternoon and Monday morning!!

If something is REALLY important, someone will call you!

[AmLitHist]

I was enjoying a lovely Friday until I got an email from HR, saying that a colleague has filed a complaint against me (not clue what it's about), and now I'm waiting for the college's attorney to set up a meeting. This is not what I want dangling over my head for the weekend. Feels like I'm in a Kafka novel.

Oh, sinenomine, I'm so sorry. This has to be nerve-wracking! I hope you have a union to go with you--and don't attend any meetings (even supposedly "informal" or "friendly" ones) without a union rep alongside.