Last term I had the following conversation with Wayback Wendell.
PH: I'm sorry you have a rough term. Please tell me when you can get your online assignments in; if you need to take an incomplete, you need to tell me by X date.
WW: .......
(time passes)
PH: (Assigns failing grade.)
WW: Why am I failing?
PH: See earlier letter. We are past X date.
WW: (turns in work, all plagiarized).
PH: I'm sorry, but plagiarized work is worse than no work at all. (Assigns failing grade).
WW: You need to be softer on me. I am having a hard time. What can I do to pass this class?
PH: Don't plagiarize. Turn in X percent of your work by X date. Give me a firm date for turning in the rest. IF it is plagiarized or late, you fail.
WW: I can't turn it in by X date, and nobody else has a problem with my work.
PH: Then I am sorry, but you will fail. I advise you to turn in your work by X date, and to give me a firm date for the rest--and the drop-dead date is X day on X month.
Time passes. No word from WW. PH assigns a failing grade for the course and goes about the business of a new eight-week term.
Dean: What is going on with WW? He says you won't accept his work.
PH: (Blank look. What work?) Explains to dean.
Dean: I've had those students.
Time passes. Drop Dead deadline arrives. One .. count it, ONE day later, PH receives the following email.
WW: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to turn in my work. (five emails with attachment.)
PH: You have not communicated all term. You have missed the deadline. *IF* I have time I will grade these, but if I don't have time your grade stands.
WW: But you said I could turn them in!
PH: Yes, by X date. I did not hear from you. You have missed the deadline. *IF* I have time I will grade these, but if I don't have time your grade stands.
(Repeat exchange twice)
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Wuss that I am, I will likely grade these, *solely* on the knowledge that emails can arrive late through our out-dated and labyrinthine system; the send date is literally three minutes *before* the deadline.
Happy holidays, ya'll, from Picky Historian. Pass the nog.
Please, for the love of God, do not grade these -- think of it as a favor to the rest of us. The more people let students get away with this kind of crap, the more it happens, and the more there is a precedent we can't fight. You said *turn in* your materials by X date/time, not "send them" by then; it was the student's responsibility to take the antiquated e-mail system into account or turn in hard copy. Plus, where I work, "rough term" is only a viable excuse with documentation (funeral notices, doctor's notes, etc.). And the kid plagiarized, which would be a matter for the disciplinary board.
ReplyDeletePlease, Professor PickySnarky, save us all by holding up some standards.
Picky&Snarky: your building is probably cold. Ignite the paper (in a safe place, of course) and use it for warmth instead.
ReplyDeleteGive an F. Don't grade those. Time for a life lesson.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but Marcia, Dr. D, and Joe are wrong about the deadline. If the "sent" time stamp is even one second before midnight on the day everything was due, the papers are on time.
ReplyDeleteTo use an analogy, what if on April 15 you realized, "Oh, crap! Taxes!", commenced to figgerin', rushed to the Post Office (which is open until midnight on this day to accommodate folks like yourself), and then jammed your 1040 into a teller's face at 11:57 PM? Can the IRS say, "Oh, we didn't actually receive your return until April 17, so you owe us massive penalties"? No, the date on the cancellation mark is the determining factor. Same with student work via email.
Should the student have factored for delays in arrival? Sure. Was the student required to factor for those delays? No. Grade the work. Feel free to be super-cranky while grading it, but grade it.
Dr. Mindbender is right. You said you'd take the work if it were submitted by X date, and WW did it, so you're screwed. The issue here is why you caved twice previously when you had him dead to rights. Not meeting the I deadline is bad enough, but the plagiarism is the take no prisoners action that should have ended this whole scenario.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Bender and Doc. You need to look at the work. On a technicality, but there it is. But do feel free to drop the hammer as hard as you like, I'd say.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm also with Doc. Why did the plagiarism not end the discussion right there? How did you let him wriggle out of that one? Or in kiddie-speak, WTF?!!!
My bad. If it was sent before the deadline, grade em.
ReplyDeleteIt is easy to forge email headers, however......
Our colleagues above are correct and I was hasty: if you give a due date, you need to honor it. However, I am aghast at repeated due dates for late work (and feel the same as Joe about forged Email headers).
ReplyDeleteAnd... I may have overreacted by the comment about the plagiarism. That deserves a touch of the button on the Phantom Zone Projector for the wayward student. No additional time. No soup for you.
Screw the bastard. Even if he got the assignments in three minutes before the deadline. Just email him back and say you were going by Eastern time, not Rocky Mountain time. He should have known that.
ReplyDeleteCrush him with a tank. Not a "technical", not an armored car, not a half-track. A TANK. And a REAL one, not a little pissy Sherman or AMX-13; I'm talking Tiger, Panther, Leopard, Challenger, M1A1, T-55, T-72, T-90....something that weighs 40 to 60 tons. And film it.
ReplyDeleteWith my students, the plagiarism would have ended the discussion. My syllabi explicitly say: try to deceive me once, and we're done. He gets an F for the term, and he'll get dropped if he's foolish enough to register for any of my classes in future terms.
ReplyDeleteOh, the plagiarized work failed, and I am not regrading THAT. Unfortunately, that the ADULT student did not immediately fail for that reason was out of my hands and in the hands of the dean of that student's college. GRRRRRR. I fail people for that reason and MY dean has no problem with it. This one is falling under the heading of "I want to stand my ground but I am also picking my battles and this one is Just Not Worth It." Apparently in School X one is allowed to copy verbatim from the book when identifying people, places, ideas, things ... *Eyeroll* As for the grading--had that submission been one minute later I would be all OVER the life lesson issue! As it was, I will grade it. Given Wayback Wendell's performance so far, I do not anticipate high quality.
ReplyDeleteBleah, I guess he gets off on a technicality. The tribe has spoken.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Marcia both the first post and the last post....
ReplyDeleteJust set your timer for 3 minutes and see how much of it gets graded in that time....nice thought, anyway?
Don't worry, he'll screw himself.
Do update us if you adopt either Dr. Mindbender's or Strelnikov's suggestion.
ReplyDelete