I'm used to getting a few complaints each term, but this time around, I seem to have gotten a bumper crop of pansies. Their sensibilities are so delicate, their tolerance for work so low, that it seems anything more than the slightest effort makes them just wilt away.Older Olga: Yes, I get that you are a "more mature returning student." You've told me three times now. You also told me about how you didn't realize you'd signed up for an accelerated class. The email I sent you right after you registered which told you this and explained what that means should've been the first clue. Despite all that, you had a high B average. But this week you decided that no, you couldn't take the pressure and had to drop. It was way too much work. Since I'm the one held accountable if you drop, I tried to explain to you that the two small assignments you missed were not going to cause you to fail and that since you were already so far along in the course, sticking it out was your best bet. But after thinking about it, now you say the class makes you "too nervous," so you have to drop.
Fast-Food Francine: You were a late registrant. Our official policy is that we don't allow late registrants, but my department, in its never-ending quest to "help students out," ignores it with impunity. Despite your late start, you were kicking butt on the material. But then your McJob added one four-hour day a week to your schedule. I know the economy sucks, but the extra money you're going to make there pales in comparison to the cost of what you lost in dropping my class because now it's just too hard to keep up with the schedule. You are an accounting major. I'm a little concerned about your ability to do the math here.
Janie Jumped the Gun: You had technical problems with your major assignment. My course polices clearly state that if technical problems are a result of my college's failure to maintain IT properly, which was the case here, I'll work it out with students. No sooner did the computer eat your homework than you found yourself on the nearest phone to speak to the advising department about dropping the class because you were going to fail. I offered you a makeup opportunity, which you declined because it wasn't convenient for your schedule. Rather than telling me what would be convenient, you decided to drop the class, telling me you weren't "going to fail because of something that's not even my fault." No one said it was. You didn't even give me a chance to work with you. Again, I'm held accountable for your dropping. I think you were just looking for an excuse.
Never-Challenged Nathaniel: You started complaining about the workload three weeks ago. This is the fifth week of class. Today you finally told me why. Apparently my colleagues are falling down on the job as this is the first online class you've taken that had assignments due every week--and not just reading but also (gasp!) writing a whole two paragraphs! And then I expect you to take exams and do a research project too! Oh, the humanity! But at least you're sticking it out, which is more than I can say for the rest.
And those are just the specific ones I care to write up details on. I've had several complaints about how much work my classes are. I'm still trying to figure out what's different this semester. I am giving the same amount of work I've always given. When I was in college, I never had an English course that didn't have a reading assignment and at least a small writing assignment (such as study questions or a journal entry) due every class period. Given that most of these classes are online, you'd think that a regular discussion post would be expected. When did I suddenly become that much tougher? Or when did classes elsewhere suddenly become so much easier?
It's this basic requirement stuff that I can't get past. Two paragraphs? Really?
ReplyDeleteI have a faculty member -- an instructor, for realz! -- who claims that 2 pages per week over the course of 8 weeks is "graduate level work" and that we are asking too much of our kids.
My Dean is trying to revamp our curriculum though, and told her she was being ridiculous. We are now about to implement a rigorous level of coursework that requires a literal 12 hours per class (reading, lecture, an assessment, and two online forums).
I predict a huge drop in our department's enrollment. But while I too will lose money on that (and gosh that sucks that your uni does this), I'm cheering on the raised standards. Yay!
Too bad the ones with potential can't do the math and drop... but less reading and grading for you, overall.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed more and more that students expect less than 15 minutes of homework a day. Any more than that, and they act like I just kicked Nemo. Even more frustrating: they don't do the work if it takes more than 15 minutes. "But professor too-lazy-to-grade never assigns anything in the other section," whine, whine, whine.
Ah, but fewer students are a double-edged sword. It's less work for me now, but in the long run, accountability makes me have to do more. We have to keep track of how many students we lose, and at our evaluations, we get asked about classes, and sometimes even individual students, when a class's pass rate falls below 70%. In my field, most of our classes fall below 70%, so we're considered an "at risk" department. We actually have to have improvement plans for courses which consistently fall below this rate.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for accountability, but it seems to me this is a one-sided endeavor. Since students can no longer drop courses on their own after the recording date, I have to counsel every one of them. Most of them are incredibly annoyed by this, and I feel as if I'm the doctoral version of a telemarketer trying to talk them into something they don't want to do in order to make my own "sales" rate stay in the acceptable range. I don't see a lot of mandated accountability on the student end.
Those of you not teaching at CCs may be breathing a sigh of relief that this isn't your life. If your school is state-funded and your legislature gets the accountability bug, you'll be doing all this too before long.
Englishdoc, I AM teaching at a CC and I am both thankful that this is not my life, and terrified that one day it will be. When people drop, I am usually glad, because USUALLY the people who drop are the ones who should be dropping, the ones who have skipped enough work to make any future efforts moot. I can't imagine my being held responsible for that. There are so many reasons students don't do their work that have nothing to do with me.
ReplyDeleteI think that being in your position would be the thing that pushed me over my tipping point....but then, I am already over my tipping point with no escape.