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

[the_geneticist]

Assignments update:  I have had about 1/3 of my classes drop as they started racking up zeros (that is a win).  I've also had most of those seats taken by late adds, so that's a new problem.  What do I do with those?

Some added, then did nothing.  Others added, then emailed me immediately, so they are on the ball (not counting adding late).  Seems like different solutions are warranted.

Just send one email to all the late adds.  Students who want to catch up will do the work.

"Welcome to online [baskets 101]!  Glad you could join the course. Since class started on [date], please see the [syllabus/module 1/etc] to get started.  [something about finish X, y, z by a certain day; read the previous announcements]"

[spork]

A new low in the maturity, initiative, and curiosity of students that my employer has recruited: for the first time I'm receiving late night emails (which I don't reply to for at least 24 hours) asking questions to the effect of "Do we do tomorrow's assignment using information from the book chapters that are listed for the assignment in the syllabus and in the directions for the assignment?"

[marshwiggle]

A new low in the maturity, initiative, and curiosity of students that my employer has recruited: for the first time I'm receiving late night emails (which I don't reply to for at least 24 hours) asking questions to the effect of "Do we do tomorrow's assignment using information from the book chapters that are listed for the assignment in the syllabus and in the directions for the assignment?"

Yeah, with these types of questions it's not even clear what kind of answer they're expecting other than, "It's OK; you can just skip it." (Well, short of a "sample answer" that they can just cut-and-paste and submit.)

[Sea_Ice]

A new low in the maturity, initiative, and curiosity of students that my employer has recruited: for the first time I'm receiving late night emails (which I don't reply to for at least 24 hours) asking questions to the effect of "Do we do tomorrow's assignment using information from the book chapters that are listed for the assignment in the syllabus and in the directions for the assignment?"

"Dear Student,

Yes.

Sincerely,

Prof. Spork"

I've seen these and similar things before, mostly in first semester students, and try to be kind at first b/c there's no telling what sort of miserably incompetent K12 experience they had.  Exactly why so many are unable to believe that the directions are complete and sufficient as written, I don't know.  But they do need to learn to follow them, and not feel required to second guess things, or over-think them, and perhaps even need to learn to believe that they did indeed comprehend them correctly.

That last is a major possibility when the student has been pounded into a state of near-complete learned helplessness.

[FishProf]

Due Date Saga - ep 3:

It is 3d past the add/drop deadline.  A new student has emailed me  to inform me she joined on the 18th and to request that I open up everything she missed.  I am left to ponder why you would join at the very last moment and then NOT reach out to the professor until 3d have passed.

Also, 3 students have now let 11 due dates pass without doing anything.

It would be cheaper if they took the $1k for the course, gave me $400 and kept $600 for themselves, then to burn it like this.

[kaysixteen]

'miserably incompetent', perhaps, but it also may well be that the students have been told to do this sort of thing by their parents.  It is also true that one of the very most glaring weaknesses seen in most American high schools, public and private alike, is that they generally do a craptastic job prepping their seniors for college.