Topic: Bang Your Head on Your Desk - the thread of teaching despair!

[spork]

Students who choose not to pay attention to deadlines, or who can't tell time/read calendars, should not be in college. I vote no on any makeup exam.

[EdnaMode]

I would not allow the student to take the final exam. If it's posted everywhere, has been discussed at length in class, and they still missed it, then that's on them. And I know my Dept Chair would back me up.

[downer]

I would decide on whether to allow the student to do a make up purely on what works best for me, not for the student. I would feel no obligation to the student.

[fosca]

I allowed makeups for quizzes, but while the quizzes were multiple-choice the makeups were all short-answer and were all given on the last day of class.  It allowed the few students who genuinely took the makeup seriously to do well, while most everyone else (probably 80-90%) would do poorly but couldn't complain because I did let them take a makeup and they knew the format in advance.  And since all the makeups were at the same time, I just needed to create one makeup test per quiz.  It took a couple of hours of my time and made me look good to my boss, which was well worth it.

[the_geneticist]

Student missed the final exam because stu mixed up the days. I understand that things happen, but I've been talking about this exam for the past two weeks, posting about it online and oh, it's in the syllabus. I guess it would have helped if stu came to class more often...

Edit: Should I take pity on stu and allow a makeup with penalty? Damn, this kind of thing always gets me in trouble though...

I'd let them take it in my office.  My chair would NOT have my back if I said they earned a 0 on the final exam.

[RatGuy]

I'd like to bang colleague's head.

Student submits final essay with 98% similarity. Student emails "I matched with myself. I asked my English professor if I could turn in the same paper I wrote for you to him too. He said it was ok." Stu forwards email exchange confirming. The English prof said something like "welp, it looks like you got lucky that the essay you'd write for him works for my prompt. Go ahead. [Ratguy] won't mind."

In what world is this ok?

[kaysixteen]

None that I could see.   What will you do here?

[onehappyunicorn]

I'd like to bang colleague's head.

Student submits final essay with 98% similarity. Student emails "I matched with myself. I asked my English professor if I could turn in the same paper I wrote for you to him too. He said it was ok." Stu forwards email exchange confirming. The English prof said something like "welp, it looks like you got lucky that the essay you'd write for him works for my prompt. Go ahead. [Ratguy] won't mind."

In what world is this ok?

Wow, submitting the same assignment for two separate classes is absolutely not okay. That situation is specifically mentioned in our college's plagiarism policy, a faculty member would find themselves in some trouble here if that happened. I don't envy you, what a terrible, awkward situation...

[FishProf]

Same old story.  Online course, all materials available on Day 1, all due next monday.  Final is 40% of grade.

1/3 cannot pass, 1/3 will likely not pass, and 1/3 would have to fail the final to not pass.

Every damn semester.

I just sent out the pre-emptive "no extensions, no incompletes*" email.

*technically: no incompletes if they aren't passing at the time of the request.

[the_geneticist]

Same old story.  Online course, all materials available on Day 1, all due next monday.  Final is 40% of grade.

1/3 cannot pass, 1/3 will likely not pass, and 1/3 would have to fail the final to not pass.

Every damn semester.

I just sent out the pre-emptive "no extensions, no incompletes*" email.

*technically: no incompletes if they aren't passing at the time of the request.

The bolded is actually REALLY important for faculty to know.  If the student isn't passing/it's not mathematically possible for them to pass the class, it's actually cruel* to allow an Incomplete.  Give them the failing grade they earned so they can quickly decide what to do next & not be stuck in "Incomplete limbo".
They can't re-take the class because they haven't failed it (yet, technically).
They can't register for any classes that require [Incomplete course] as a co-requisite or pre-requisite.
And the longer it takes to resolve the Incomplete, the longer they are delayed in completing their courses.

*and against university policy.

[FishProf]

Absolutely true.  I was on the committee that tightened up the incomplete rules at FishProfU.  It was the wild west.

We had professors that;
1) Gave EVERYONE an incomplete, so they had more time to grade; or
2) Gave EVERYONE without an A and Incomplete until they got to an A; or
3) Gave students an incomplete who could not ever pass, and thereby blocked them from repeating; or
4) Gave incompletes and allowed them to be fixed for years...

Now it's straightforward. 
1) Must be passing at time,
2) Must have completed most of the coursework;
3) Must complete the missing work by 8 weeks into next semester (summers excepted) or the grade becomes a failing grade. 
4) Extensions to the deadline must be approved at Dean level.

There was much grumbling, but the changes seem to have made incompletes the rarity they are meant to be

[Puget]

Now it's straightforward. 
1) Must be passing at time,
2) Must have completed most of the coursework;
3) Must complete the missing work by 8 weeks into next semester (summers excepted) or the grade becomes a failing grade. 
4) Extensions to the deadline must be approved at Dean level.

There was much grumbling, but the changes seem to have made incompletes the rarity they are meant to be

Similar rules here, but an even tighter deadline - all incomplete work is due one month after the last day of finals. They also have to fill out a form that must be approved by their advisor and the professor. It is made very clear that it is only for emergency situations the result in not being able to finish a final assignment or exam. Yet, some students still think they can use incompletes to make up long-past missed assignments, or even that it means they don't have to do the work at all. Nope, nope, nope, not going to happen!

[the_geneticist]

Absolutely true.  I was on the committee that tightened up the incomplete rules at FishProfU.  It was the wild west.

We had professors that;
1) Gave EVERYONE an incomplete, so they had more time to grade; or
2) Gave EVERYONE without an A and Incomplete until they got to an A; or
3) Gave students an incomplete who could not ever pass, and thereby blocked them from repeating; or
4) Gave incompletes and allowed them to be fixed for years...

Now it's straightforward. 
1) Must be passing at time,
2) Must have completed most of the coursework;
3) Must complete the missing work by 8 weeks into next semester (summers excepted) or the grade becomes a failing grade. 
4) Extensions to the deadline must be approved at Dean level.

There was much grumbling, but the changes seem to have made incompletes the rarity they are meant to be

Similar rules here except the "missing work" is supposed to be resolved within 1 quarter.  This is not actually enforced except as emails from the Registrar to Department Chairs to get these resolved.

The scary thing here is that "Incomplete" is just one of the many options from the dropdown menu when entering grades.  Not even an "are you sure?" prompt to make sure folks know what it means.
Ditto for "Grade Delay" and "In Progress".

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Student missed the final exam because stu mixed up the days. I understand that things happen, but I've been talking about this exam for the past two weeks, posting about it online and oh, it's in the syllabus. I guess it would have helped if stu came to class more often...

Edit: Should I take pity on stu and allow a makeup with penalty? Damn, this kind of thing always gets me in trouble though...

I'd let them take it in my office.  My chair would NOT have my back if I said they earned a 0 on the final exam.

We're 'encouraged' to help students pass. I should have looked at the student's grade before even considering this. Stu would not have passed the course with a 100% on the final.

[Puget]

Haven't even started grading the seminar papers and I'm already banging my head.

One student has a 25% similarity match on her term paper per Turnitin, showing she copied/vary lightly paraphrased from several of her sources and some other websites. They can view their own report when they submit, and are instructed that if it indicates they may have "inadvertently paraphrased too closely" they can correct it up to the deadline. Deadline has passed, but being nice (probably nicer than I should) I email her that she can correct it and take the late penalty. She responds that she will, but "didn't realize 25% would be a problem since that has been fine in other courses." Um, what? I think we may have an unreliable narrator here, but even if not, not relevant to THIS course. Everyone else is at 5% or lower, per usual.

Meanwhile, two students have still not submitted their papers (after I gave the whole class a 3 day extension) and are racking up late penalties.