I've been futzing around with things like grade sheets and emailing students who are AWOL--mostly because I can't quite bear to read any more student work but feel as if I should be doing something that has something to do with class.
Regarding grade sheets: this may seem like a ridiculous expenditure of energy, since I'm teaching, and therefore grading, online, but since NCC insists on the need for paper rosters--and those paper rosters have to have a break-down of how the grade was determined--it's helpful for me to have an Excel spreadsheet that will calculate specific categories of grades in ways that Blackboard's Grade Center doesn't seem to like. Or, really, that I don't want to have to figure out.
But in putting together the Excel spreadsheet, I realized I wasn't sure exactly how many sheets I'd actually need. I only need them for the students who have submitted enough work that calculating their grade requires more than adding two or three numbers. And I realize that there are a few students who might still return--at least for a while--though they seem at the moment to be among the missing.
As for the emails I've been sending, I doubt they'll have any particular effect, but I've now done all I intend to do. We haven't yet gotten the Academic Progress thingy that we are required to do every semester; I imagine that in all the upheaval over the pandemic, "suspended" classes, attempts to transition as much as possible to online modalities, and hoarding of toilet paper, that little detail has slipped through the cracks. If it ever happens this semester, it will happen too late to be of any use to much of anyone (especially students whose grades are in danger)--but I will, of course, dutifully fill it out.
And in all this pother, I had rather blissfully forgotten that students are supposed to submit their revised essays by end of day Sunday--which means more substantive grading for me next week. So I really "should" have tried to hang in there a little longer getting discussion board fora graded, but ... nah. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe Sunday. There will be time....
Friday, March 13, 2020
Monday, March 9, 2020
Working with an aspiring writer
Using the online tutoring platform Wyzant, I just met with a student who wants to become a better writer and who is working on a "fantasy" novel. Really, what he wants to write is a tragedy; the "medieval" trappings are simply a device--and honestly, I'm not quite sure why he wanted them, but whatever. He does, so we'll work from there. I talked to him a tiny bit about fantasy as a genre, what it is and what it does, but mostly I talked more concretely about things like having the personas of the main characters more vividly present in the first chapter, having the emotional stakes higher (and more clear), and making sure he knows enough about the characters to know how and why the main plot points could happen. I found out toward the end of the lesson that he feels like, once he puts something on paper, it's therefore and forever after immutable, so my first assignment for him was to write five pages of anything, then make a copy of the file and make deep, systemic changes to what he's written. This is a bit of "do as I say, not as I do," but he really needs to know that revising is not only possible but necessary. I also wanted him to do a detailed character sketch of one character, one he doesn't know very well yet but who will ultimately be an important part of the overall plot.
It was interesting--and it's going to work in a very catch-as-catch-can way going forward; he's not sure when he'll have time to write, and I'm not sure how this is going to work generally speaking. But we'll see how it goes.
Meanwhile, the students in my online class are turning into idiots, all of them, asking questions about things I just explained--one student asking a question in reply to the email that answered precisely that question. I'm getting a bit testy with them. They're also emailing assignments to me when I've specifically told them not to--but they're doing that because they're experiencing glitches with Blackboard. They probably need to clear their computer cache and cookies, but if I tell them that, their brains will explode. I was hoping to get an email from the help desk about how to do that, so I could mail instructions to my students, but I haven't gotten that yet. The Blackboard glitches are annoying to me and anxiety-producing for the students. Not happy about any of that either.
In fact, I'm sort of systemically grumpy. But I think I was helpful/encouraging to the aspiring novelist. I reckon I'll find out in a while whether he liked what I did well enough to want to use me again.
I'm too tired for more tonight. But it is fun working with the potential novelist. I wish we could work together more often and at greater length. Much more fun than teaching comp.
It was interesting--and it's going to work in a very catch-as-catch-can way going forward; he's not sure when he'll have time to write, and I'm not sure how this is going to work generally speaking. But we'll see how it goes.
Meanwhile, the students in my online class are turning into idiots, all of them, asking questions about things I just explained--one student asking a question in reply to the email that answered precisely that question. I'm getting a bit testy with them. They're also emailing assignments to me when I've specifically told them not to--but they're doing that because they're experiencing glitches with Blackboard. They probably need to clear their computer cache and cookies, but if I tell them that, their brains will explode. I was hoping to get an email from the help desk about how to do that, so I could mail instructions to my students, but I haven't gotten that yet. The Blackboard glitches are annoying to me and anxiety-producing for the students. Not happy about any of that either.
In fact, I'm sort of systemically grumpy. But I think I was helpful/encouraging to the aspiring novelist. I reckon I'll find out in a while whether he liked what I did well enough to want to use me again.
I'm too tired for more tonight. But it is fun working with the potential novelist. I wish we could work together more often and at greater length. Much more fun than teaching comp.
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Must dash...
...but wanted to vent just a trifle here first.
One particular student was hounding me all day today about the fact that there's some kind of glitch with an extra credit discussion board forum, so she hasn't been able to post to it. I fixed what we thought was the problem, but it didn't work, which means I have to contact the help desk to figure it out--and she was all over my email about it. She also was all over my email asking about her essay grade--even after I returned the essay, which has the grade on it. Calm the hell down and be patient--and recognize that the world doesn't run to your schedule, dammit.
And Boopsie did respond to my email, to my astonishment, and she said she has been falling down on the work but thinks she can pass the class--so she and I will talk during my office hour on Monday. That will be interesting, to say the least.
Oh, yes: and there's the student who said he got his essay back, and was there anything he could do for extra credit. I referred him to the syllabus:
So, answer your own question, young man.
But I got the essays all marked--including Boopsie's--and got the Met project done (turned out to be tiny, thank God), and even wrote a letter of recommendation for a student from my last semester in the classroom, and I am now, by god, stick-a-fork-in-me done for today. I'm going to meet my mother and go out for dinner. Not a steak blow-out with Paul and the gang, but it will do nicely, thank you.
One particular student was hounding me all day today about the fact that there's some kind of glitch with an extra credit discussion board forum, so she hasn't been able to post to it. I fixed what we thought was the problem, but it didn't work, which means I have to contact the help desk to figure it out--and she was all over my email about it. She also was all over my email asking about her essay grade--even after I returned the essay, which has the grade on it. Calm the hell down and be patient--and recognize that the world doesn't run to your schedule, dammit.
And Boopsie did respond to my email, to my astonishment, and she said she has been falling down on the work but thinks she can pass the class--so she and I will talk during my office hour on Monday. That will be interesting, to say the least.
Oh, yes: and there's the student who said he got his essay back, and was there anything he could do for extra credit. I referred him to the syllabus:
Some
extra credit is built into the regular assignments: if you do all the
assignments and get top marks, you can earn more than 2,000 points—and that
would be the equivalent of getting 100% on every single assignment. I have also
included a few extra credit assignments to help if you should fall behind. That’s enough extra credit. Your
task is to do the work assigned. Do not ask for additional assignments to boost
your cumulative score.
But I got the essays all marked--including Boopsie's--and got the Met project done (turned out to be tiny, thank God), and even wrote a letter of recommendation for a student from my last semester in the classroom, and I am now, by god, stick-a-fork-in-me done for today. I'm going to meet my mother and go out for dinner. Not a steak blow-out with Paul and the gang, but it will do nicely, thank you.
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
Might as well revert to the old blog title
Seems like, for the foreseeable future anyway, this is going to be a blog that is 99.9% about students. Which is OK, of course; it just isn't what the title might lead a new reader to expect.
But about the students:
Imagine my utter astonishment when Little Boopsie--the one who tried to join the online office hour, gave up; submitted a quiz and started another, gave up, otherwise has been AWOL--submitted her essay, two days late, and sent me two very chipper emails, one saying, "Oh, oops, I forgot my works cited page!" and the next saying "Oh, sorry, sent you the wrong works cited page; here's the right one!"
OK, so clearly she understands at least that emails work in one direction, but I emailed back saying the professorial equivalent of "What the fuck??" and of course have heard absolutely nothing back. The letter that was mailed should arrive at her house any day now--assuming she still lives at the address she has on file, which may be a huge assumption.
I'll give her some feedback on her essay--once I finish with everyone else. I got another late submission, too, from a student who emailed on Sunday to ask where he could find the article for the essay (and to whom the answer was, "You need to do research; I suggest you read the essay assignment"). So now I've gotten submissions from ten of thirteen, but not from one of the students who I thought was among the best.
And what with one thing and another, I haven't gotten everything marked--and I'm going to send everything back all at once, to sort of level the playing field as it were: no one gets extra days to work on the revision--so even though there are only two more (and Boopsie's), I have to really get rolling tomorrow morning and crank fast, so I can at least start on the Met project and see how long that will take.
Of course, while I focus on grading essays, I'm falling way the hell behind on everything else I need to mark for them, so even when I finish grading essays and get the Met project returned, I'm still going to have a bolus of work that needs doing.
Meanwhile, Cathy offered me a summer section of Native American Lit. Online courses in the summer run ten weeks, not four like the FTF versions, so that removed one objection, and I confess I'm kinda tempted--that whole "I need money" thing--but I'd have to start over from zero, as the textbook I used to use is insanely expensive new, and there are problems with students getting it on time if they get it used, and I used to use a lot of handouts, so I'd have to think of something else to do ... and I think I just talked myself out of it. I do love the course, but I haven't taught it in seven years, and there's just an awful lot to convey if I'm going to teach it right. The problems go way beyond the textbook. I'll think about it over night (the idea of the money really is appealing), but it would be an astronomical amount of work to get it up and rolling. I don't think an online version of the class has ever existed, either, so I couldn't even raid what someone else has done (and actually, full-time faculty get paid a stipend to put together an online course when it's never been taught online before, so I'd kinda be giving NCC my work for free, which I don't much want to do).
But now, even though the sun is still up, as far as I'm concerned, the curtain has descended on the day, and I'm packing it in. I thought I might do a little research into possible textbooks for the Native American Lit class, just to see how possible it might be to throw something together, but if I start on that, the wind-down process will be delayed even further, and I would like to try to make an early night of it. I expect I'll touch base tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if I get any more late essays (tonight midnight is the absolute deadline), and to see if I hear from Boopsie. We'll see.
But about the students:
Imagine my utter astonishment when Little Boopsie--the one who tried to join the online office hour, gave up; submitted a quiz and started another, gave up, otherwise has been AWOL--submitted her essay, two days late, and sent me two very chipper emails, one saying, "Oh, oops, I forgot my works cited page!" and the next saying "Oh, sorry, sent you the wrong works cited page; here's the right one!"
OK, so clearly she understands at least that emails work in one direction, but I emailed back saying the professorial equivalent of "What the fuck??" and of course have heard absolutely nothing back. The letter that was mailed should arrive at her house any day now--assuming she still lives at the address she has on file, which may be a huge assumption.
I'll give her some feedback on her essay--once I finish with everyone else. I got another late submission, too, from a student who emailed on Sunday to ask where he could find the article for the essay (and to whom the answer was, "You need to do research; I suggest you read the essay assignment"). So now I've gotten submissions from ten of thirteen, but not from one of the students who I thought was among the best.
And what with one thing and another, I haven't gotten everything marked--and I'm going to send everything back all at once, to sort of level the playing field as it were: no one gets extra days to work on the revision--so even though there are only two more (and Boopsie's), I have to really get rolling tomorrow morning and crank fast, so I can at least start on the Met project and see how long that will take.
Of course, while I focus on grading essays, I'm falling way the hell behind on everything else I need to mark for them, so even when I finish grading essays and get the Met project returned, I'm still going to have a bolus of work that needs doing.
Meanwhile, Cathy offered me a summer section of Native American Lit. Online courses in the summer run ten weeks, not four like the FTF versions, so that removed one objection, and I confess I'm kinda tempted--that whole "I need money" thing--but I'd have to start over from zero, as the textbook I used to use is insanely expensive new, and there are problems with students getting it on time if they get it used, and I used to use a lot of handouts, so I'd have to think of something else to do ... and I think I just talked myself out of it. I do love the course, but I haven't taught it in seven years, and there's just an awful lot to convey if I'm going to teach it right. The problems go way beyond the textbook. I'll think about it over night (the idea of the money really is appealing), but it would be an astronomical amount of work to get it up and rolling. I don't think an online version of the class has ever existed, either, so I couldn't even raid what someone else has done (and actually, full-time faculty get paid a stipend to put together an online course when it's never been taught online before, so I'd kinda be giving NCC my work for free, which I don't much want to do).
But now, even though the sun is still up, as far as I'm concerned, the curtain has descended on the day, and I'm packing it in. I thought I might do a little research into possible textbooks for the Native American Lit class, just to see how possible it might be to throw something together, but if I start on that, the wind-down process will be delayed even further, and I would like to try to make an early night of it. I expect I'll touch base tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if I get any more late essays (tonight midnight is the absolute deadline), and to see if I hear from Boopsie. We'll see.
Tuesday, March 3, 2020
Mostly students
I did get another little freelance gig for the Met, but I'm going to make myself finish the student essays first.
And it's a damned good thing I'm only teaching the one class, or I'd be utterly, completely sunk. It's that whole keyboard/spend-too-long-on-comments thing. But then again, I have only received eight essays--and I rather think at least one of those (Working Dad) won't make it to the end.
Working Dad plagiarized, by the way. According to Turnitin, 39% of his essay was plagiarized. And his "argument" was about which college his son should attend. (The plagiarized stuff was from a website about the values of a Catholic university education.) I hardly knew what to say to him. I do wonder what's going on with his mind: there are things he misunderstands that simply baffle me. Is he not reading? Not comprehending? Too distracted to know what the hell he's doing? All of the above?
One student tried to cover all four possible topics. {{buzzer sounds}} Thanks for playing, but you lose.
One student wrote two pages of random thoughts with no focus.
Those were the three I graded today--and I was unbelievably nice to the non-plagiarizers. The grades I give on the first version of the first essay are usually what I would consider very generous and students still receive them as horrifically insulting and demeaning. Well, sorry, but if you don't actually do what you need to do, failing grades would probably be appropriate, so anything above that is a gift, don't you think?
But I recognize that they are learning--and we're at the "they don't know what they don't know" stage: most of them simply have zero clue what a college paper should look like and have even less of an idea how to approach creating one. So, yes: I'm generous. Once they get my feedback, one hopes they'll have a better sense of what to do. But I just realized that I could have--and should have--provided a sample essay so they can see what a good, solid B looks like. I'm sure I've got one somewhere....
I'm also a bit concerned about one of the students who has not yet submitted her (I think her) essay. She's a pretty good student, so the fact that her essay hasn't been submitted yet is a real concern. I sent her an email--but then I decided to send a group email to the students who are not as good but who still have been hanging on up to this point but haven't submitted essays. It's my compulsion to keep them from drowning--if nothing else by pointing out where the lifeboats are. I doubt I'll get more submissions--and if I do, I might be kicking myself for making more work for myself--but I really do have a vested interest in teaching them, even when they don't do their part.
Well, whatever. If they don't submit by midnight tomorrow, they're out of luck on this one--and even if they do, I'll still devote Thursday to the Met project. My policy says I don't give comments on anything that's submitted more than 24 hours late, but if they at least make the attempt, I'll give them something; I'll just try not to devote quite as much time and attention to them as I have given to their peers who submitted on time.
And it's a damned good thing I'm only teaching the one class, or I'd be utterly, completely sunk. It's that whole keyboard/spend-too-long-on-comments thing. But then again, I have only received eight essays--and I rather think at least one of those (Working Dad) won't make it to the end.
Working Dad plagiarized, by the way. According to Turnitin, 39% of his essay was plagiarized. And his "argument" was about which college his son should attend. (The plagiarized stuff was from a website about the values of a Catholic university education.) I hardly knew what to say to him. I do wonder what's going on with his mind: there are things he misunderstands that simply baffle me. Is he not reading? Not comprehending? Too distracted to know what the hell he's doing? All of the above?
One student tried to cover all four possible topics. {{buzzer sounds}} Thanks for playing, but you lose.
One student wrote two pages of random thoughts with no focus.
Those were the three I graded today--and I was unbelievably nice to the non-plagiarizers. The grades I give on the first version of the first essay are usually what I would consider very generous and students still receive them as horrifically insulting and demeaning. Well, sorry, but if you don't actually do what you need to do, failing grades would probably be appropriate, so anything above that is a gift, don't you think?
But I recognize that they are learning--and we're at the "they don't know what they don't know" stage: most of them simply have zero clue what a college paper should look like and have even less of an idea how to approach creating one. So, yes: I'm generous. Once they get my feedback, one hopes they'll have a better sense of what to do. But I just realized that I could have--and should have--provided a sample essay so they can see what a good, solid B looks like. I'm sure I've got one somewhere....
I'm also a bit concerned about one of the students who has not yet submitted her (I think her) essay. She's a pretty good student, so the fact that her essay hasn't been submitted yet is a real concern. I sent her an email--but then I decided to send a group email to the students who are not as good but who still have been hanging on up to this point but haven't submitted essays. It's my compulsion to keep them from drowning--if nothing else by pointing out where the lifeboats are. I doubt I'll get more submissions--and if I do, I might be kicking myself for making more work for myself--but I really do have a vested interest in teaching them, even when they don't do their part.
Well, whatever. If they don't submit by midnight tomorrow, they're out of luck on this one--and even if they do, I'll still devote Thursday to the Met project. My policy says I don't give comments on anything that's submitted more than 24 hours late, but if they at least make the attempt, I'll give them something; I'll just try not to devote quite as much time and attention to them as I have given to their peers who submitted on time.
Monday, March 2, 2020
About students--the perils of electronic files
Yeah, see: it's about me and the keyboard.
When I marked essays by hand--writing comments and noting problems with the mechanics in pen on the page--there were limitations in how much I could say and how quickly I could say it. I still spent way the hell too long grading essays, but I was kept at least a little in check.
But with a keyboard under my fingers, all bets are off. I am a very wordy person anyway; I talk a blue streak, and I'm even worse when I'm writing using a keyboard. (If you haven't, you should see what a "brief" email from me looks like.) I except the "keyboard" on my phone, which doesn't really count, as I can't use all ten digits the way I can on a computer keyboard, but when I can type the way I was taught in junior high (and perfected as an undergrad and even more when I worked as a secretary), it's off to the races.
Which, of course, means that a. I provide comments that are way, way, way too long for the students to absorb and 2. I spend way, way, way too long providing them. And I don't quite know what to do about that, as all my usual solutions don't seem to work: setting a timer (I ignore it for the first two and then just stop setting it), drawing a line (because I keep reading after the line, and I find more that I really just have to point out), whatever.
So of the approximately 13 students who are likely to submit an essay at some point, eight have actually done so (they were due yesterday)--and it still could take me most of the week to get them evaluated and back to the students. Which is not optimal to say the least; I know they won't do their revisions until the nth hour in any event, but I don't want that to be my fault.
It's a dreadful thing to say, but we all know it's true: I'm relieved that at least one of the essays is so ungodly bad that I won't have to do much at all. The student has falling into the trap of "plagiarizing" because he didn't use quotation marks, even though he's tried to give credit to the sources; his essay has absolutely zero attempt at correct formatting; his ideas are all over the map. There's another student who used quotation marks correctly, but Turnitin helpfully points out that more than 30% of his essay is quoted, which is problematic for other reasons, mainly that whole "you actually need to have an argument" thing.
And I grant you that the one essay I graded probably is a sort of worst-case scenario: there's enough going on that it's worthy trying to get the student to do better, but it's bad enough that there's a whole lot for her to do.
In any event, I'm going to take a break--after having graded only one essay!--to catch up on other stuff I need to grade from last week, which also will help me take attendance for last week.
But oh, I didn't mention the student who sent me an email at 5:30 last night asking where he could find the article he needs to read so he can write his essay. Uh, that would be the one you need to find doing your own research?? He even took the quiz about doing research, so I don't understand where the disconnect occurs in his mind--and of course he hasn't answered my email, because my response wasn't instantaneous (I only got his message and replied today, early afternoon NY time).
On the other hand, I did talk with the student who didn't realize she'd already taken and passed 101, and we sorted things out; she'll withdraw after spring break, so she won't have to finish the class and her financial aid won't be affected. That's a positive sign. (And I just remembered that I need to contact another student who said she was going to withdraw but--as far as I can tell anyway--hasn't yet.)
Well, this is how this particular cookie will crumble. We roll along, doing what we can and knowing that many will fall by the wayside before it's all over.
When I marked essays by hand--writing comments and noting problems with the mechanics in pen on the page--there were limitations in how much I could say and how quickly I could say it. I still spent way the hell too long grading essays, but I was kept at least a little in check.
But with a keyboard under my fingers, all bets are off. I am a very wordy person anyway; I talk a blue streak, and I'm even worse when I'm writing using a keyboard. (If you haven't, you should see what a "brief" email from me looks like.) I except the "keyboard" on my phone, which doesn't really count, as I can't use all ten digits the way I can on a computer keyboard, but when I can type the way I was taught in junior high (and perfected as an undergrad and even more when I worked as a secretary), it's off to the races.
Which, of course, means that a. I provide comments that are way, way, way too long for the students to absorb and 2. I spend way, way, way too long providing them. And I don't quite know what to do about that, as all my usual solutions don't seem to work: setting a timer (I ignore it for the first two and then just stop setting it), drawing a line (because I keep reading after the line, and I find more that I really just have to point out), whatever.
So of the approximately 13 students who are likely to submit an essay at some point, eight have actually done so (they were due yesterday)--and it still could take me most of the week to get them evaluated and back to the students. Which is not optimal to say the least; I know they won't do their revisions until the nth hour in any event, but I don't want that to be my fault.
It's a dreadful thing to say, but we all know it's true: I'm relieved that at least one of the essays is so ungodly bad that I won't have to do much at all. The student has falling into the trap of "plagiarizing" because he didn't use quotation marks, even though he's tried to give credit to the sources; his essay has absolutely zero attempt at correct formatting; his ideas are all over the map. There's another student who used quotation marks correctly, but Turnitin helpfully points out that more than 30% of his essay is quoted, which is problematic for other reasons, mainly that whole "you actually need to have an argument" thing.
And I grant you that the one essay I graded probably is a sort of worst-case scenario: there's enough going on that it's worthy trying to get the student to do better, but it's bad enough that there's a whole lot for her to do.
In any event, I'm going to take a break--after having graded only one essay!--to catch up on other stuff I need to grade from last week, which also will help me take attendance for last week.
But oh, I didn't mention the student who sent me an email at 5:30 last night asking where he could find the article he needs to read so he can write his essay. Uh, that would be the one you need to find doing your own research?? He even took the quiz about doing research, so I don't understand where the disconnect occurs in his mind--and of course he hasn't answered my email, because my response wasn't instantaneous (I only got his message and replied today, early afternoon NY time).
On the other hand, I did talk with the student who didn't realize she'd already taken and passed 101, and we sorted things out; she'll withdraw after spring break, so she won't have to finish the class and her financial aid won't be affected. That's a positive sign. (And I just remembered that I need to contact another student who said she was going to withdraw but--as far as I can tell anyway--hasn't yet.)
Well, this is how this particular cookie will crumble. We roll along, doing what we can and knowing that many will fall by the wayside before it's all over.
Thursday, February 27, 2020
All about students
First, it seems that it's likely I will get these late-start, online classes in future semesters, as long as I remember to submit my availability. Which, despite the problems with the classes, is a good thing. It's a reliable revenue stream, while the semester lasts, and I can sure use that.
But I will have to check a lot of my philosophical frustrations with online teaching in general at the door. I really am a much, much better teacher of 101 when I can do it face to face--largely because of the psycho-social needs of many of the students. That said, the students who last to the end of the semester in an online class are most likely going to be only the best and brightest, which isn't a bad thing. As of right now, there are three who never attended--and I'm not counting the little boopsies who did just enough to be considered "present" but have otherwise done no work (or, in the case of one little boopsie, one quiz and nothing else). I'm pretty sure that those two plus three others are gone for sure. One student who needed a disabilities accommodation only got extended time with tests--which, as I explained to the student and to the counselor in the Center for Students with Disabilities, won't do the student any good in my class as there are no timed exams. I got an email with the student's stated intention to withdraw. One student shouldn't be in my class in the first place, so I'm hoping she withdraws. And another three were AWOL the week before the break and haven't shown up since, though they'd been doing OK up to that point. That leaves me with thirteen students who are hanging in there so far.
Paul and I talked about the process of leaving comments on their discussion board posts, and he said he thought it was a useless endeavor. I wondered, so at the end of my comments for each student on one forum, I said I'd give two points extra credit if the student responded by email and said something about my comments. One always checks--and follows up--so she got the two points automatically. Three others responded. I'm on the fence now. I can either not provide comments to anyone except those four, or I can (after their essays) send out an announcement explaining that I'm not going to waste my time commenting for students who aren't paying attention and see if that jolts anyone into starting to read my comments. (Doubtful, but one never knows.)
And meanwhile, I got an email from a student asking what he was supposed to do for the forthcoming essay. At first I thought, "Well, start by reading the assignment handout." Then I thought, "Oh, shit: did I maybe forget to post the assignment handout?" So I went searching for it and at first I didn't see it; I was all set to send out a huge apology--but then, no: there it was, first thing in a folder a few weeks ago. I posted it there thinking it would help students keep the essay in mind as they did their reading. So, back to first response for that student. "Read the assignment handout. Here's where to find it. After you read it, let me know if you have questions." Then I sent out an announcement: "OK, some of you apparently missed the assignment handout, so here's where to find it."
This experience, of course, identifies one of the problems with online teaching: I am not sure where to put things so students will actually see and pay attention to them. With that in mind, I have posted handouts about the elements of their revisions in two places. My hope is that the people who are the "let me do this now" type will find it in the first location and that the people who are the "I need to clear my head of this other stuff first" type will find it in the second--but that everyone will find it somewhere.
And I've graded everything from the week before the break, so now I can turn my attention elsewhere and wait for a new bolus of work to be ready for me on Sunday (really, Monday morning, as I won't be checking late Sunday night for the last-second submissions of work). I am on tenterhooks about their essays. Please, please, please let them at least have understood the assignment.
But I will have to check a lot of my philosophical frustrations with online teaching in general at the door. I really am a much, much better teacher of 101 when I can do it face to face--largely because of the psycho-social needs of many of the students. That said, the students who last to the end of the semester in an online class are most likely going to be only the best and brightest, which isn't a bad thing. As of right now, there are three who never attended--and I'm not counting the little boopsies who did just enough to be considered "present" but have otherwise done no work (or, in the case of one little boopsie, one quiz and nothing else). I'm pretty sure that those two plus three others are gone for sure. One student who needed a disabilities accommodation only got extended time with tests--which, as I explained to the student and to the counselor in the Center for Students with Disabilities, won't do the student any good in my class as there are no timed exams. I got an email with the student's stated intention to withdraw. One student shouldn't be in my class in the first place, so I'm hoping she withdraws. And another three were AWOL the week before the break and haven't shown up since, though they'd been doing OK up to that point. That leaves me with thirteen students who are hanging in there so far.
Paul and I talked about the process of leaving comments on their discussion board posts, and he said he thought it was a useless endeavor. I wondered, so at the end of my comments for each student on one forum, I said I'd give two points extra credit if the student responded by email and said something about my comments. One always checks--and follows up--so she got the two points automatically. Three others responded. I'm on the fence now. I can either not provide comments to anyone except those four, or I can (after their essays) send out an announcement explaining that I'm not going to waste my time commenting for students who aren't paying attention and see if that jolts anyone into starting to read my comments. (Doubtful, but one never knows.)
And meanwhile, I got an email from a student asking what he was supposed to do for the forthcoming essay. At first I thought, "Well, start by reading the assignment handout." Then I thought, "Oh, shit: did I maybe forget to post the assignment handout?" So I went searching for it and at first I didn't see it; I was all set to send out a huge apology--but then, no: there it was, first thing in a folder a few weeks ago. I posted it there thinking it would help students keep the essay in mind as they did their reading. So, back to first response for that student. "Read the assignment handout. Here's where to find it. After you read it, let me know if you have questions." Then I sent out an announcement: "OK, some of you apparently missed the assignment handout, so here's where to find it."
This experience, of course, identifies one of the problems with online teaching: I am not sure where to put things so students will actually see and pay attention to them. With that in mind, I have posted handouts about the elements of their revisions in two places. My hope is that the people who are the "let me do this now" type will find it in the first location and that the people who are the "I need to clear my head of this other stuff first" type will find it in the second--but that everyone will find it somewhere.
And I've graded everything from the week before the break, so now I can turn my attention elsewhere and wait for a new bolus of work to be ready for me on Sunday (really, Monday morning, as I won't be checking late Sunday night for the last-second submissions of work). I am on tenterhooks about their essays. Please, please, please let them at least have understood the assignment.
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