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| Where's Glamdring when I need it? |
Across 2 sections of the same course, I have 48 students total. Of these, 7 of my students are failing outright, ranging from 0% (no work completed) to 55%. Another 6 are in the D range. Another 5 are in the C- range, and so have some hope of passing. Passing grade for transfer across our institutions is a C (which for me starts at 73.5%). This means that 37.5% of students in the course are currently not earning a passing grade. And it's the highest percentage since I started keeping track (thanks to our LMS).
I confess that like Hiram from Hamilton, I am baffled.
I am baffled that I have done everything I can think of to make this course (which is required for graduation) as stimulating and engaging as possible: It's about the future. The readings and videos are about the impact of technology on their lives. Other material and assignments are about food--the food they eat. I only lecture about the technical stuff; the rest of the time, I prefer discussion (both small and large group). And still, they refuse to engage. They refuse to read, no matter what format the reading comes in: online, or handout, or book. I feel a distinct kinship with Barb from Batavia's posts.
I am baffled that these people have 70 or 120 point holes in my LMS gradebook (which they have access to all semester long), but they're still coming to class. Some of them even smile at me and nod along as I lead class discussion. Baffling. Is it magical thinking?
I am baffled that many of them are missing what I'd consider "easy" points--20 out of the 70 points for the online homework to this point are pass/fail--all they have to do is complete it. Instead, 48% of the students got C- or below for the homework total. WTF?? Is this happening to other people? And is the administration going to make this my fault, somehow?
I am baffled that this semester, I handed out the grading rubrics WITH the assignment sheet for the papers, to show them exactly what they'd be graded on, and they STILL didn't follow directions.
I am baffled that at every one of my attempts to help them help themselves, many of them sit there and do nothing. I don't know that I've ever felt so hopeless in 16+ years of higher education. I have ground my teeth down to nubs.
Go here if you want to buy the stamp.
/Chrome out
SOunds like someone, at some point, passed them along to you when they should have gone Gandalf on their asses, and they somehow, mostly ended up in your section! You've done all you can do. Remember the mantra of not caring more about their grades than they do! What the hell else are you supposed to do, other than give the grades they've earned?
ReplyDeleteHow baffling and troubling and utterly demoralizing to put forth the effort, only to have those kinds of results smack you in the face. I had a year like that two years ago. And it went away, thank Yaro!
I'm seeing more of this at my CC every term, and my colleagues support similar misery. Our theories are as follows:
ReplyDelete1. They know that in high school, just showing up is often enough to get through, so they think if they keep coming, you'll pass them for effort.
2. They also know, at least in some high schools, that if they turned in a certain percentage of work, teachers were required to pass them or work with them until they passed. Again, they can't differentiate between there and here.
3. They think of themselves as customers. As such, they can do as they please and still get the outcome they want because "the customer is always right."
4. Their reading comprehension is terrible. I'm to the point where I think a class in reading for college ought to be mandatory for at least 80% of our students. I give them reading lessons at the beginning of the term. Most of them don't follow them or tell me they "don't have time" to read that way.
So you do what you have to do and feel a little bad but not too much since it's all in their hands. Students have to take responsibility for themselves at some point. That point used to be the freshman year of college. Nowadays I'm starting to wonder if it's age 30.
Would you please post these reading lessons? Please of course feel free to redact them to conceal your identity, but I would like to give a reading exercise to the students in my general-ed class, they need it.
DeleteSeconded for use in Biology... And for the wonderful irony of CM spawning a useful course improvement library
DeleteYour course is about the future? Well, no wonder they aren't paying attention. They can't comprehend a future beyond receiving their next text message. If they appreciated what the future had to offer them, they would start preparing for it by studying now.
ReplyDeleteIn their defense, no class is as much fun as goofing off. Since that's what they do before (sometimes during) and after class, there's no way that your or anybody's class can gather their attention for any appreciable length of time. How can we compete with their buddies' texts that say, "LOL WTF"?
This began happening to me about 10 years ago. And it only got worse. If this were the 1980s, they would be failing your class and nearly every other class for not doing the work. Instead, we can no longer forcibly drop them or flunk them even though by midterm they have already mathematically failed. At one school, I wasn't even allowed to tell them to withdraw before the end of the semester; simply offering that suggestion was verboten. Students this disengaged should not be allowed to pass, so it falls to you to be the one to hold the line. And it's a shame you feel so alone at your own school. These people tend not to be a joy in other courses either.
ReplyDeleteNI! NI! NI!
ReplyDeleteYes, this is happening to other people: you are not alone. It's terrifying in my physics class for engineers. These are people who are supposed to be learning how to build bridges and, better, aircraft, and I've seen cases that don't even know how to hold a pencil correctly, the way we were taught in first grade. As you might guess, their algebra or calculus skills are -not- good, nor can they describe the thermodynamics of an engine, nor can they take a spark plug out of one. We might be able to continue to import technical talent, but it'd be much cheaper just to ship those jobs overseas.
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DeleteAnd of course, our Provost keeps talking about "enhancing student success," which is code for "the faculty are to blame for all this," and we're expected to teach larger classes with less help and on a smaller budget.
Delete"...we're expected to teach larger classes with less help and on a smaller budget."
DeleteYep.
In my case: Larger classes, no help, smaller salary.
I am struggling to figure out why I want to teach. I was grading papers this afternoon from the class mentioned in the post, and of the 10 I made it through, 7 of them didn't follow the assignment. When I opened up the last one and saw that it, too, didn't mention the documentary that was the focus for the assignment, I lost it. I sat on the hill in my back yard and put my head in my hands. My kids (who are little) both came up to hug me because I looked so sick and sad. My OH wants me to quit, but I have medical issues that mean that I cannot be without health insurance.
We are well and truly fucked if this is the way students are trending. They're not quite the majority, but there are enough of them that I am really starting to wonder how this country is going to maintain its dominance. Answer: it's not. It can't--not with these people making their way through the world, fucking things up because they don't read the directions or follow directions or understand anything that isn't directly related to something with "entertainment value".
Um, seven out of ten are a majority.
DeleteDominance? We'd be doing well to be standing in one place!
DeleteBut of course, if we can no longer take care of ourselves, someone will inevitably take care of us.
I had a student continue attending class even after being told she'd failed for plagiarism. Since she was there on the last day, she filled out a course evaluation too (sigh).
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