My college resides in the temperate highlands of America. (You don't need to know more than that.)We rarely get big snows or ice storms, but this winter has been exceptionally weird. And we close down like a motherfucker. If there's a chance Susie Snowflake will slip on a sidewalk while she's putting mascara on, talking on her cellie, and drinking a 5 dollar coffee, then the adminifarts just close the whole damn thing for everyone.
I have boots. I don't care. I'm not impaired.
I teach in a department more important than any other...yes, ENGLISH. The mother tongue, the sweet guttural English that we all torture. And I have 3 developmental sections where a single day off means that students simply aren't going to be able to improve their lot in life. This is my problem, but it's the school's problem as well.
I have unsuccessfully tried to engage my students via online meeting tools a couple of times on these snow days. But they don't check email apparently, or logon to the LMS. I feel like an idiot begging them to learn what they need, but my college doesn't help me.
Q: If you had a chance and the technology, would you push for online teaching or communication on snow days? I mean, we're not living in some other century. Just because we can't all get in the same room on campus doesn't mean we can't keep moving forward, and the amount of technology in my students's hands is even greater than what I have. Am I being overly anal about this; should I just take a damn snow day, too?
Well, yes... However, my classes on Hamster Fur Weaving Administration are all once/week, so I can't afford to lose an entire "week" (unless I choose to take a slot reserved for a test later in the semester).
ReplyDeleteBasically, I go to... OMG... Blackholeboard, set up some discussion boards with prompts, and tell folks what they need to do. However, we do a Readers Digest version of the discussion(s) when we return.
Take a snow day, at least from your teaching. If you want to do work, do something that will lighten your load once classes resume. I'm not sure if I could make students participate in any class activities, even online, if classes are officially cancelled. They check email, just not email from you.
ReplyDeleteHoly cow, take the day off! Your students certainly won't appreciate the extra effort, so why bother?
ReplyDeleteHowever, I might make an exception for a graduate class that meets weekly.
It's hard to just push a class online temporarily unless you have it built in to the class in a hybrid format. Although, you could do 'online' office hours, which I have used, over a chat system. But my guess is your students are probably getting stoned and playing x-box rather than using the snow day to perfect their writing.
ReplyDeleteI ask this in all honesty and sincerity, and it applies to classes I have taught:
Do you really think those few missed days are going to make or break your students learning?
Our campus rarely, if ever, closes. I can think of only 3 times in the past 5 years, and that was due to blizzard conditions and the State Highway Patrol was closing roads. When I have to cancel classes because I cannot get to campus (or my kid's school is closed, and due to my shitty salary I cannot afford daycare), I message my students through our LMS. I tell them this (and it's in the syllabus) on the first day of class. I set up online work, and they have 48 hours to complete it.
ReplyDeleteMy courses aren't hybrid; I suppose I'd call them "web-enhanced" since I do require them to post/discuss through the LMS regularly.
Be kind to your students. This is the first time they've had an English class. Up until now they've only had 'Language Arts'.
ReplyDeleteI never thought of that but you're right. I had language arts until high school at least. Was my instructor a "language artist"? It sounds vaguely similar to faculty jobs in Harry Potter's world.
DeleteGrammarius Correctum!
DeleteI build slop days into my schedule to begin with, so unless we have epic closures or I get deathly and extensively ill (or both), I don't have too much trouble getting through the material; just rearranging stuff a bit.
ReplyDeleteThat said, unless it was a hybrid course to begin with, students don't reliably check email or the LMS, so putting material on there and expecting them to work through it independently is more or less a recipe for confusion and resentment.
For instructor absences that are planned in advance - travel, meetings - it works better, because you can say in class: this is your homework. They may not do it, but at least you can hold them to it.
Watch for what you ask for. I teach a class that is half me, live, and half on-line. They still do not look at email or do anything asked for on that God awful Blackboard system even though it is a requirement. Just feel lucky that admin hasn't docked your pay for not teaching when the campus is closes.
ReplyDeleteWe had an unexpected snow day recently and I put up the lecture they'd missed on the CMS, and emailed them to tell them it was there. 95% of the class downloaded and listened to it. How did I manage this awesome compliance ratio? The last line of the email: "You will be responsible for the contents of this lecture on Friday's quiz."
ReplyDeleteYES!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis semester, I have a whopping six conferences to attend. And 4 of them include special grants/reports on fellowships from last year, so I really do have to cancel class and attend in person.
But my uni wouldn't like me to cancel 6 different chunks of classes, some multiple meetings for the weekend! Of course not -- and I understand. Once, maybe. But six? No.
So when I've had to cancel class, I have created an online activity that is graded akin to a quiz (about 15% of their grade altogether). The points requirement makes their heads pop up. I give them a reading, a few complex questions, and require that they submit a) an answer to me in paragraph form and b) a discussion question in a general forum. Then they have to answer at least two classmates' discussion questions.
(caveat: some students do not understand how to write questions and their threads are terrible disasters. But many end up coming up with thoughtful questions with interesting threads)
I put all of this on the intranet system on the Uni. But you could also use a blogger system for your class. It works out very well because I can pay attention to everything that is being said, plus the quiet ones have to participate, AND they end up spending about 45 minutes on the assignment -- roughly the same as going to class.
I highly recommend it!
The next time you come crying to me to fix your computer, the answer is fugno.
ReplyDeleteWe have flash-floods with high winds, loud thunder, lightning, and hail all in the same sitting (cf. the Whale-Probe from Star Trek IV). My school's policy is that as long as the power is on, we have class.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, no-flake has ever asked me to cancel class on those kinds of days.
Of course, if a flash flood tore out our main highway, there might be some reconsideration.