The Venting Thread

[clean]

Early voting will happen on my campus soon.  That is ok.  BUT the NMBY is kicking in for me because it is scheduled for the building I WORK IN!! 
The room that they are going to use is not all that big, which means that the lines will be into the main entrance and probably down the hall. 
My fear is that there will be too many people breathing my air and sending contamination into the air circulation system! 

(Maybe I should be on the Hypochondriacs thread). 

Im going to try to limit my time on campus until after Early Voting. 

I dont know why they would not use the Ball Rooms in the University Center!  They can make those rooms  (by opening the dividers) bigger than my house!!  Plenty of room to keep distant, and best of all NOT IN MY BACK YARD/Building!!  Better, there is closer parking right outside of that building! 

Who is in charge of this??

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Unrelated.

Why, dear students (2 so far), did you decide to not use the provided file for the lab report? Instead you wrote it up on a piece of notebook paper, out of order, I might add. So, while I grade my 60 lab reports a week, I have to take extra time grading yours. 

[clean]

Unrelated.

Why, dear students (2 so far), did you decide to not use the provided file for the lab report? Instead you wrote it up on a piece of notebook paper, out of order, I might add. So, while I grade my 60 lab reports a week, I have to take extra time grading yours.

I grade on a 'meter'. The more time it takes me to find the answer, the more points come off the grade.

[AmLitHist]

I gave in to a bullying student yesterday.  He earned the D for his summer class, but he wore me down with BS nitpicking in the opening stage of the appeal process. The clincher was his excuse that he spent much of the time when he didn't turn in work because he was getting COVID tested. First I've heard of it. (And it takes 2 weeks to go in to have your nosed swabbed?  Who knew?)  He also helpfully added that he lost his paperwork from the testing (of course he did), but his aunt and uncle are standing ready to file suit on the grounds of his COVID experience if I don't accept his BS excuses.  Student's last name is the same as one of the biggest shyster, "please, I don't want any publicity" while looking at the t.v. camera, lawyers in town.

Old Me would have said, "Bring it on, asshole."  2020 Me said to myself, "Screw it.  We've wasted enough time and energy on this without having to deal with a lawsuit on top of it."  Old Me is angry with 2020 Me, but we'll all get over it.  I'm already exhausted from the year in general.  So I'll do the grade change to a C and hope he chokes on it and move on.

(2020 Me is also far less charitable in my thoughts toward PitA's than Old Me was. )

[ergative]

I gave in to a bullying student yesterday.  He earned the D for his summer class, but he wore me down with BS nitpicking in the opening stage of the appeal process. The clincher was his excuse that he spent much of the time when he didn't turn in work because he was getting COVID tested. First I've heard of it. (And it takes 2 weeks to go in to have your nosed swabbed?  Who knew?)  He also helpfully added that he lost his paperwork from the testing (of course he did), but his aunt and uncle are standing ready to file suit on the grounds of his COVID experience if I don't accept his BS excuses.  Student's last name is the same as one of the biggest shyster, "please, I don't want any publicity" while looking at the t.v. camera, lawyers in town.

Old Me would have said, "Bring it on, asshole."  2020 Me said to myself, "Screw it.  We've wasted enough time and energy on this without having to deal with a lawsuit on top of it."  Old Me is angry with 2020 Me, but we'll all get over it.  I'm already exhausted from the year in general.  So I'll do the grade change to a C and hope he chokes on it and move on.

(2020 Me is also far less charitable in my thoughts toward PitA's than Old Me was. )

I don't love the word 'shyster', but I've very sympathetic to everything else you describe. I salute the determination of Old You, and I support New You's limited concession towards the current exigencies of the world.

[FishProf]

Hey IT!  Knock it off with the nagware!

You assigned us training.  It is Due NOVEMBER 1st.  I don't expect to be nagged about not doing it until November 2nd.

[Vkw10]

Stop nagging me to open shared files, Office 365! I got the email that X shared a file with me. I filed the email. If I'd wanted a reminder, I'd have set one myself.

The new automatic productivity reminder emails are creepy. Makes me feel like someone's spying on me to be sure I'm not wasting 10 seconds.

[downer]

If Safe Assign is taking more than 12 hours to process student work, then it is basically non-functional.

Do I want to contact the Help Desk to get help? No I don't. I will just give the students the benefit of the doubt.

[the_geneticist]

I hate using Blackboard as much as the rest of folks, but I'm making it work.

Why are you telling us NOW that you've bought Canvas and that everyone has to "transition" their courses over for next year?!

And why are there no answers to easy questions like, "Can material be automatically transferred from Blackboard to Canvas?" or "When will I be able to access my Canvas sites for next year?" or "Who do I contact for help?"

[FishProf]

Next Year?!  As in, the Spring Semester 2021?

Madness.  Madness I tell you.

[clean]

Next Year?!  As in, the Spring Semester 2021?

Madness.  Madness I tell you.

I agree!  It's like religion. You dont convert over night!

[San Joaquin]

Humans.  I sent you THREE invitations with a live link into this event.  I have copies.  I cannot read your email for you.

[the_geneticist]

Next Year?!  As in, the Spring Semester 2021?

Madness.  Madness I tell you.

I agree!  It's like religion. You dont convert over night!

There has been a LOT of pushback.  I'm guessing the University will "extend the deadline".
I think they just don't want to pay for both Blackboard and Canvas at the same time.  And they are paying for a really old version of Blackboard.

[downer]

Next Year?!  As in, the Spring Semester 2021?

Madness.  Madness I tell you.

I agree!  It's like religion. You dont convert over night!

There has been a LOT of pushback.  I'm guessing the University will "extend the deadline".
I think they just don't want to pay for both Blackboard and Canvas at the same time.  And they are paying for a really old version of Blackboard.

So at a time when the online component of courses is the main part of the course, they are planning to change from Blackboard to Canvas with an overlap between the two of about a month? With unclear IT support?

Do they have a deathwish?

One of my places is doing this with an overlap of a year, and it still isn't going particularly smoothly.

[science.expat]

Next Year?!  As in, the Spring Semester 2021?

Madness.  Madness I tell you.

I agree!  It's like religion. You dont convert over night!

There has been a LOT of pushback.  I'm guessing the University will "extend the deadline".
I think they just don't want to pay for both Blackboard and Canvas at the same time.  And they are paying for a really old version of Blackboard.

So at a time when the online component of courses is the main part of the course, they are planning to change from Blackboard to Canvas with an overlap between the two of about a month? With unclear IT support?

Do they have a deathwish?

One of my places is doing this with an overlap of a year, and it still isn't going particularly smoothly.

We did it over a year but with a LOT of support from T&L and IT and it worked fairly well.