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

[AmLitHist]

I have my own Zoom, too, but got heavily Zoom-bombed on the second day of the semester--about a dozen bombers broke through the password and the waiting room.  Since I have some underaged HS dual-enrolled students, that was the end of Zoom for me. 

I hate Collaborate, not least because it's our required tool and with so many of us on at the same time/days, it's even clunkier than usual.

[mamselle]

The folk dance class I take was Zoom-bombed the second week because they'd had the links up on Facebook for weeks (so easily available.)

They went to putting the links in a more protected space, and having a volunteer moderator staff tbe waiting room, who could only let in the folks who'd previously registered for the clsss.

No problems since, and that was months ago.

Also, Zoom's newest iteration (#5?) has more secure features, enforced waiting room, etc..

So if there's some way to use those things, you might be able to use it after all.

M.

[Caracal]

I have my own Zoom, too, but got heavily Zoom-bombed on the second day of the semester--about a dozen bombers broke through the password and the waiting room.  Since I have some underaged HS dual-enrolled students, that was the end of Zoom for me. 

I hate Collaborate, not least because it's our required tool and with so many of us on at the same time/days, it's even clunkier than usual.

How did they get through the waiting room? They shouldn't be able to get in unless you let them. Is this a case where you're being targeted because of the class title? Obviously it can happen, but my impression is that the chances are pretty slim unless you get targeted by some terrible corner of the internet.

[ciao_yall]

We had a meeting Zoom-bombed when the link to a meeting with zero protections somehow got emailed out to a broad mailing list.

Suddenly we had all sorts of Cyrillic names, loud Russian music and they took over the screen and started flashing crazy images.

It was like being in an Eastern European disco.

[Aster]

We are all in on Blackboard as an institution though so I expect that we will end up expanding the mandatory certification to collaborate as well.

We're a BlackBoard institution also, but we still purchased a Zoom license after so many people hated Collaborate.

Just like Collaborate, it's easy to code a direct Zoom interface within the BlackBoard LMS.

The biggest haters of Collaborate were our senior admin, who couldn't get basic meetings to work with anywhere near the ease as was done by using Zoom.

Now, most all of the staff and admin use Zoom. And at least half of the faculty use Zoom. The Collaborate users are mostly confined to our adjunct professors.

[OneMoreYear]

Gave an exam in the dreaded methods class. Had several strong As! Where is that classroom victories thread?

But, then there is a student who responded a short answer question about a landmark study in the field with this: "Lol um? I don't remember."   Ok, so I guess points for not trying to bullshit, but seriously? I am not laughing out loud.

[AmLitHist]

I have my own Zoom, too, but got heavily Zoom-bombed on the second day of the semester--about a dozen bombers broke through the password and the waiting room.  Since I have some underaged HS dual-enrolled students, that was the end of Zoom for me. 

I hate Collaborate, not least because it's our required tool and with so many of us on at the same time/days, it's even clunkier than usual.

How did they get through the waiting room? They shouldn't be able to get in unless you let them. Is this a case where you're being targeted because of the class title? Obviously it can happen, but my impression is that the chances are pretty slim unless you get targeted by some terrible corner of the internet.

We (some colleagues and I) never did figure it out for sure.  The link was provided in Blackboard (secured) as was the Zoom password.  A student in the class could have shared both, but the waiting room should have stopped the bombers' entering, since I always set it so that I as moderator have to click to allow them into the room one by one.

I did get an email this week about a Zoom-sponsored meeting tomorrow, explaining those new security features.  It's too late to switch back this fall (my 2 LVL classes are very small, and it's less hassle to just stay in Collaborate for the duration), but I hope to go back to Zoom come Spring '21.

ETA:  this was an Early American Lit/American Lit I class, so there wouldn't seem to be a particular draw there for bombers--unless they had a burning desire to learn about Bradford's Plimouth Plantation or the sermons of Winthrop, Wigglesworth, and Edwards!

[mamselle]

Well, I would have bombed into that class, too but only to listen in and enjoy it!

I don't think the topic is the point of interest....they just wanna blow up something with their mad skillz, you know?

Like, I don't think our folk dance class discriminates against or for Macedonian, Balkan, Greek, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Castilian, Spanish, Breton, Scots, or Irish dances: we usually have a fair balance of each in any given week.

Kids these days...

M.

[teach_write_research]

the eternal struggle of the LMS 11:59pm deadline vs "midnight"

No, Dear Students, the assignment is not set to "midnight". It is set to Weds Oct 21, 11:59pm.

[downer]

the eternal struggle of the LMS 11:59pm deadline vs "midnight"

No, Dear Students, the assignment is not set to "midnight". It is set to Weds Oct 21, 11:59pm.

Yes, very familiar. I've considered making the deadline something like 8pm just to avoid this problem. Or maybe 2pm, so I'm around when I get the emails saying submission won't work for them, and I can sort it out then. But I find that often students experiencing a crisis still only check their email ever 4 days, so it probably isn't worth it.

[Aster]

I've had mine set to the end of my work day for years. Students get used to it after a few weeks. Hardly anybody sends me the standard late-night "but I couldn't get anything to work blah blah blah I'm making this all up cuz I know you're not online so now I should get an extension" BS from early years working with online LMS platforms.

No kiddos, this junk's due at the end of my office hours. And I'm watching my email for those last few hours to fix any *actual* problems that you might have.

Miraculously, most of the so-called late-night "tech issues" have evaporated since I started doing this.

[arcturus]

I also have my deadlines set at the end of my work day (and all assignments are due on weekdays) for my online courses. I get the standard "I thought it was due at midnight" complaints during the first few weeks, but the students usually adjust. I also provide a 15 minute "technology glitch" extension to the submission window (not stated explicitly) so that those submitting right at the deadline don't send me panicked emails that they had the work done but could not get the LMS to accept the file in time. I see enough work marked "late" by the LMS with a time stamp that is precisely the submission deadline to know that students really do try to push it to the very last minute.

I did have a student who wanted me to change the submission deadline (for the entire class!) to be midnight the night before. I have since adopted this as a standard class announcement: if you prefer midnight deadlines, then you can set the work for this class as being due on X, Y, and Z at midnight, and consider that you will get an automatic extension to L, M, and N at COB.

If a student complains about the Friday COB deadline, I point out that I think it is important for students to have their Friday evenings (and weekends) free to do other things.

[downer]

This is starting to convince me that I should make my deadlines at some point in the afternoon, at least as an experiment. Actually, the best time for me would be about 8AM. I wonder how that would work for the students.

[marshwiggle]

If a student complains about the Friday COB deadline, I point out that I think it is important for students to have their Friday evenings (and weekends) free to do other things.

During covid, I'm having everything due Thursday evening, and nothing closes Friday or opens Monday, so I don't get email panic over the weekend about what is late or imminent. It makes the beginning and end of the work week much less stressful.

[EdnaMode]

This is starting to convince me that I should make my deadlines at some point in the afternoon, at least as an experiment. Actually, the best time for me would be about 8AM. I wonder how that would work for the students.

I routinely use 8 AM deadlines for major projects, including final projects, and have even been known to have 8 AM Monday deadlines. I will set the dropbox to have the due date/time at 8 AM on Monday, and the actual closure of the dropbox, when work can no longer be uploaded, at 12 noon that same day for late work (with a penalty). I rarely have panicked emails or last-minute questions since I started doing this and the majority of the work is turned in by the previous Friday - guess they don't want to work over the weekend. For smaller projects during the semester, they are almost always due by the beginning time of the lab where we start the next topic, so if they know when class starts, they know when their work is due.