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

[mamselle]

I'm sorry to hear that.

I hope you find your next path soon, and that it proves to be satisfying.

We learn perfection by moving in and out of it. (T'ao Ch'ien, I believe)

M.

[OneMoreYear]

I'm sorry to hear that.

I hope you find your next path soon, and that it proves to be satisfying.

We learn perfection by moving in and out of it. (T'ao Ch'ien, I believe)

M.

Thanks mamselle.  Sorry for the derail by going a little too despairy on this thread. I'm going to stick with the fun and games & cats threads for now.

[namazu]

I'd believe the student.  It's pretty common for non-native speakers to write in their native language and run it through Google Translate or some other program.  The clever ones will then clean it up a bit before submitting or ask a native speaker to proof-read.

This is generally good/humane advice, but 0susanna noted...

I found the sources for most of the material

...which implies, alas, that it was not the student's own work being translated/paraphrased and the student is misrepresenting their efforts.

[the_geneticist]

I'd believe the student.  It's pretty common for non-native speakers to write in their native language and run it through Google Translate or some other program.  The clever ones will then clean it up a bit before submitting or ask a native speaker to proof-read.

This is generally good/humane advice, but 0susanna noted...

I found the sources for most of the material

...which implies, alas, that it was not the student's own work being translated/paraphrased and the student is misrepresenting their efforts.

Ah, I missed that key detail.  In that case, give them the 0 and send it to the honor board.

[FishProf]

I don't know how they can so misunderstand.  I posted this:

"In the gradebook , if you see:
1) a number, it has been graded.
2) a blank, It has been received, but not yet graded
3) a Zero.  I don't have it.  Email it.

ALSO - IF you choose to rewrite you rough draft to a Final paper, please submit via email."

So I get this email this morning:

"I submitted the portfolio today but I noticed that it also shows it as a zero on blackboard so I am also emailing it to you."

Did you think it would automatically update the Blackboard Gradebook the moment you sent me an email?

[arcturus]

I don't know how they can so misunderstand.  I posted this:

"In the gradebook , if you see:
1) a number, it has been graded.
2) a blank, It has been received, but not yet graded
3) a Zero.  I don't have it.  Email it.

ALSO - IF you choose to rewrite you rough draft to a Final paper, please submit via email."

So I get this email this morning:

"I submitted the portfolio today but I noticed that it also shows it as a zero on blackboard so I am also emailing it to you."

Did you think it would automatically update the Blackboard Gradebook the moment you sent me an email?

To be fair, zero is a number... perhaps they did not get to option 3 before emailing you? <ducks and runs>

[Parasaurolophus]

I don't know how they can so misunderstand.  I posted this:

"In the gradebook , if you see:
1) a number, it has been graded.
2) a blank, It has been received, but not yet graded
3) a Zero.  I don't have it.  Email it.

ALSO - IF you choose to rewrite you rough draft to a Final paper, please submit via email."

So I get this email this morning:

"I submitted the portfolio today but I noticed that it also shows it as a zero on blackboard so I am also emailing it to you."

Did you think it would automatically update the Blackboard Gradebook the moment you sent me an email?

FWIW, when classes began on Monday, I sent my students an email explaining (just in case it wasn't yet clear) that our classes were all asynchronous, but that I'd hold office hours live via WebEx. I immediately got six emails telling me that the WebEx link wasn't working (it wasn't time for my office hours!) and asking how they could access the class.

I don't blame them for it (yet!), but I do think it's indicative of the care with which emails are generally read.

[0susanna]

Student who had been doing quite well before pandemic/remote teaching transition, and even then submitted acceptable online discussion posts for the first couple of times. Ze went dark for a couple weeks, then submitted a series of assignments--three discussion posts and two essays--that had clearly been run through paraphrasing machines. I gave the assignments zeros and explained why, but refrained from submitting them to the usual academic dishonesty routine, because of the circumstances. I explained to student that while the circumstances might be stressful, plagiarism was still unacceptable. I found the sources for most of the material, but really didn't want deal with the rigamarole myself right now.

What response did I get from Stu Dent?

"I read your comments on my assignments, and I wanted to explain that because English is my second language, I often write assignments in [my language] and then run them through a translation generator."

Take the zero, young person. You do not want to pursue this.

I'd believe the student.  It's pretty common for non-native speakers to write in their native language and run it through Google Translate or some other program.  The clever ones will then clean it up a bit before submitting or ask a native speaker to proof-read.

I would believe the student if I had seen signs in assignments submitted before The Plague that ze was translating the material--awkward phrasing, etc. This student frequently participated in f2f class discussions and submitted written work that seemed quite competent, even during the first two weeks of remote learning/online discussions. As I mentioned, the key evidence of actual plagiarism was suddenly discussion posts were much longer than ever before, and  passages in those posts can be traced to some of the usual suspects--eNotes, Schmoop, etc. An essay that was supposed to discuss a film was actually about the book, and several times "paraphrased" the author's name to a synonym (e.g., Young -> Youthful). In this case, I believe it was a case of stress--"I have to post something, but I haven't read the assignment. Here's some analysis...paraphrase-generator...that'll do."

[Parasaurolophus]

Here's one: the accessibility office sent me a note a few days ago concerning a hearing-impaired student, and the accommodations they'd need. I thought, cool, I'm already in compliance.

Today I heard back from the student, and discovered that the note I got had not taken remote learning into consideration. Which, you know, I had sort of assumed it would. You'd think they'd be on top of that... sigh.

I'm sure it's not going to be too hard to figure out a solution, but the accessibility office seems to have offloaded that responsibility onto the student and her advisor, judging from the email I just got. Which seems like a job rather poorly done, and gives me today's dose of despair.

[RatGuy]

I set up an online discussion board so that students in the online summer course can ask questions. I'm encouraging them to post there (so others can see the answers too) rather than email me.

Student asks on the board "Hey, can we make a GroupMe for the course, so we can ask each other stuff?" "That's what this forum is for."

They'd rather ask each other questions than ask the instructor?

Apparently, the question the student wanted to ask the others on the GroupMe was "what does CST mean?" I learned this when the above student submitted his assignment 2 hours late "because no one knew that CST was about time zones." 

[Parasaurolophus]

For my formal methods class (which satisfies the university's quantitative reasoning distribution requirement), my introductory video has 50 views. After that, the lecture videos (in which I show them how to do stuff) have... 2-4ish views. One has 8. These are short videos (~6 mins.), and we're three weeks in. Nobody is going to be able to catch up.


Why am I doing all this, again? I might as well just put up the course shell, make the textbook, quizzes, and exam available, and just sit back.

[mamselle]

When's the midterm?

They probably all plan to catch up on everything then.

M.

[Parasaurolophus]

When's the midterm?

They probably all plan to catch up on everything then.

M.

This is the mid-term (well, the point, not the exam; they have weekly tests but no midterm exam).

Oh well. I guess that's online courses for you.

[mamselle]

Ah. Got it.

They do seem to need inbuilt traffic signals to motivate confrontations with reality.

I'm trying to think if I've ever taught a class without a midterm exam.

Not sure how I'd do that....

If it's methods work, are these grad students?

M.

[Parasaurolophus]

If it's methods work, are these grad students?

Oh no, not at all. It's gen-ed quantitative reasoning at the first-year level.