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

[marshwiggle]

Note to future students: If your professor contacts you about possible plagiarism in your work, with an option to resubmit without penalty, don't blow them off with a reply that states that you will not revise your work because the item in question is "from Google." That pretty much guarantees that the professor will be motivated enough to go through with the full academic misconduct reporting process, even though it is super annoying and time consuming.

This sounds like a student who is totally clueless about what plagiarism is. (This is NOT to imply that one or several instructors haven't explained it ad nauseum.) It almost sounds Stu thinks like "from Google" is like "from God" and quoting from the definitive source is basically just like stating the definition.

[Langue_doc]

Stu who was reported for two instances of plagiarism has submitted yet another assignment at least half of which is clearly plagiarized.

Stu must be a firm believer of "third time's a charm".

[kiana]

Stu who was reported for two instances of plagiarism has submitted yet another assignment at least half of which is clearly plagiarized.

Stu must be a firm believer of "third time's a charm".

I have someone now who has cheated on 7 assignments, is ghosting the AI process and skipping class, but continues to religiously turn in cheated assignments. WTF?

[dismalist]

Stu who was reported for two instances of plagiarism has submitted yet another assignment at least half of which is clearly plagiarized.

Stu must be a firm believer of "third time's a charm".

I have someone now who has cheated on 7 assignments, is ghosting the AI process and skipping class, but continues to religiously turn in cheated assignments. WTF?

This is "a feature, not a bug" of us. The method is the easiest the student can employ to get some positive chance to graduate. Graduation is a signal.

Actually, this thread and the "Student favorite e-mails" thread are evidence.

[Caracal]

Stu who was reported for two instances of plagiarism has submitted yet another assignment at least half of which is clearly plagiarized.

Stu must be a firm believer of "third time's a charm".

I have someone now who has cheated on 7 assignments, is ghosting the AI process and skipping class, but continues to religiously turn in cheated assignments. WTF?

This is "a feature, not a bug" of us. The method is the easiest the student can employ to get some positive chance to graduate.

I can't see how this could actually be true. Obviously plagiarizing is easier than doing a good job on an assignment, but it isn't really that much easier than doing a bad job. It also involves much higher risk of failing classes, getting thrown out of school, and dealing with the process involved. I suppose more sophisticated versions of cheating can be driven by calculations about the easiest means to an end, but mostly I think I think its about anxiety and panic.

[kiana]

I can't see how this could actually be true. Obviously plagiarizing is easier than doing a good job on an assignment, but it isn't really that much easier than doing a bad job. It also involves much higher risk of failing classes, getting thrown out of school, and dealing with the process involved. I suppose more sophisticated versions of cheating can be driven by calculations about the easiest means to an end, but mostly I think I think its about anxiety and panic.

Based on classroom behavior (before they started skipping all the classes to avoid me) I think that this student went to a high school where most assignments were graded on completion. When I would circulate around the classroom, they would be 3 pages ahead of everyone else, have written *something* on every question, but it would usually be taking all the numbers they could see and doing a random computation.

I also am not sure of their command of English. They appear ok for casual communication, but although they do submit the notetaking guides for the video lessons, fill-in-the-blank vocabulary questions usually have some random number or word that the teacher has written on the board that has no relationship to the question.

It is a pretty sad situation honestly.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I'm so very tired of the same students asking the same questions.

Will there be a study guide?

Do we have a final exam?

When is the final exam?

All of these questions are answered in the syllabus, but we know that nobody ever reads it.

[RatGuy]

I'm so very tired of the same students asking the same questions.

Will there be a study guide?

Do we have a final exam?

When is the final exam?

All of these questions are answered in the syllabus, but we know that nobody ever reads it.

I do think it's helpful to have a "here is what the rest of the semester looks like" meeting a few weeks before the end of the term. Students are overwhelmed and stressed (for variety of reasons), and I'm not sure it's helpful to just point them to the syllabus. Spending 15 min in class explaining the final due dates for assignments, date and procedure of the final exam, procedure for Dead Week if applicable. Here, there's no new material the week before exams, and I do explain how and when we'll be studying. Such a meeting does wonders for their focus in my class, and we can usually proceed through the last weeks with an eye towards the end of the term.

[downer]

For my classroom classes I generally start each class with a quick review of where we are and where we are going, what work is coming up.

For my online classes I have a week by week guide in addition to the syllabus. Basically it is a user-friendly guide that a syllabus should be, leaving out all the policies and boilerplate bullshit.

These do seem to reduce the number of stupid questions I get in email.

[Cheerful]

I'm so very tired of the same students asking the same questions.

Will there be a study guide?

Do we have a final exam?

When is the final exam?

All of these questions are answered in the syllabus, but we know that nobody ever reads it.

Students are overwhelmed and stressed (for variety of reasons), and I'm not sure it's helpful to just point them to the syllabus.

And what happens when said students graduate and are overwhelmed and stressed in the workplace or unfamiliar with a workplace rule that is stated clearly in the accessible employee handbook?

Nothing wrong with reviewing due dates in class.  Otherwise, simply refer students to relevant pages of syllabus when they ask questions addressed in syllabus.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I'm so very tired of the same students asking the same questions.

Will there be a study guide?

Do we have a final exam?

When is the final exam?

All of these questions are answered in the syllabus, but we know that nobody ever reads it.

I do think it's helpful to have a "here is what the rest of the semester looks like" meeting a few weeks before the end of the term. Students are overwhelmed and stressed (for variety of reasons), and I'm not sure it's helpful to just point them to the syllabus. Spending 15 min in class explaining the final due dates for assignments, date and procedure of the final exam, procedure for Dead Week if applicable. Here, there's no new material the week before exams, and I do explain how and when we'll be studying. Such a meeting does wonders for their focus in my class, and we can usually proceed through the last weeks with an eye towards the end of the term.

This is for a 100% online course and I have announcements at least twice a week, but somehow students miss them.

[Langue_doc]

Miss the announcements? They are probably choosing to ignore the announcements.

[filologos]

A student who will probably fail my class has asked to postpone the appointment he made to make up a quiz (he was "sick" when the quiz was given). His reason? "Something came up." He is actually the third student to cancel or not show up for a scheduled meeting today. I could have worked from home for another hour . . .

[Puget]

My head banging today comes not from the students but from the registrar's office. We start early registration for spring right after Thanksgiving. Spurred by a student email this morning that suggested the prerequisites for my spring seminar might not be clear in the course registration system (which was new as of last semester), I checked and discovered that the prerequisites were entirely missing!

And mine wasn't the only one in the department-- at least 4 other courses were also missing theirs. After a bunch of back and forth with the registrar's office, the staff member concluded that they were missing for "unknowable reasons". Not just unknown mind you (which might imply they should figure out what went wrong), but unknowable, one of the great mysteries of the universe. But not the worry she said, she would fix them now. Which is great and all, but if I hadn't noticed registration would have opened with these errors still there, and who knows how many there are for other departments?

This all could have been prevented if they had (a) checked the prerequisites in the new system against those listed in the old system/course descriptions, and/or (b) alerted faculty to check their course listing before the schedule was posted for students. But they did neither of these things. ARRRGG! NOT how I intended to spend my morning.

A student who will probably fail my class has asked to postpone the appointment he made to make up a quiz (he was "sick" when the quiz was given). His reason? "Something came up." He is actually the third student to cancel or not show up for a scheduled meeting today. I could have worked from home for another hour . . .

"Something" = I still have not prepared for the quiz

[FishProf]

Our registrar/Enrollment management division "updated" the software for catalogs and, in doing so, 'wiped a bunch of prerequisites that had gone through governance from the system.  We protested but were told "the catalog is the official record".

I had to walk with last year's print catalog (the one they keep trying to retire) and show them what was required last year.  Only then did the Registrar "get" the problem and promise to fix it.  When I asked when, she said" after the semester ends (i.e. AFTER registration).

I told all the department chairs and we sent out a list of prerequisites and told our majors that, if they didn't have the prereqs by Jan 15, they would be dropped.  We'll see what happens.