Miss Marple Posted August 26, 2010 Share Posted August 26, 2010 (edited) It pays to contact the instructor! The professor responded to dss inquiry about how to do better on the discussion. She said he lost points because he didn't do the minimum amount by the due date which she stated was Friday midnight. However, the Announcement page (front page that loads immediately) indicated that the due date was midnight Saturday. The linked syllabus does have the due date as Friday. She indicated where he needed to improve and stated that his most recent posts on Unit 2 were a "marked improvement". Much of what she is expecting may be intuitive to some, but the assignment didn't actually ask for what she is looking for. That was educational... Apparently 5 of the 16 students have dropped the course :glare: Wonder if they got caught in the same due date bugaboo. ETA: she just responded and was grateful for the heads-up. Said she would give him and 2 other students more points as well as send out a clarification e-mail. Edited August 26, 2010 by CynthiaOK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldskool Posted August 26, 2010 Share Posted August 26, 2010 Wow...so glad that worked out. I hope the clarification includes an apology for the confusion. I think this is evidence that requiring this type of discussion/participation is a learning opportunity for students and instructors. It's great your dss had the courage to contact the teacher to ask for help and clarification. It took me a long time to learn to do that and it would have been a good thing to learn early on. Lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 26, 2010 Share Posted August 26, 2010 Glad it worked out! Instructors are human and make mistakes - and most are actually grateful if a student points out a discrepancy, rather than not saying anything and the glitch going unnoticed forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted August 27, 2010 Author Share Posted August 27, 2010 Weird - just discovered that 2 professors are grading. The physics professor is grading the labs and projects, the professor for the discussion board is a philosophy prof. :001_huh: That kind of explains things a bit more.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted August 28, 2010 Share Posted August 28, 2010 Thanks for the update, Cynthia. Kudos for contacting the instructor. :hurray: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 I'm glad to hear that the outcome was so promising. I agree it's intriguing that there are two graders. I hope that the rest of the class will go well for your son. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 Weird - just discovered that 2 professors are grading. The physics professor is grading the labs and projects, the professor for the discussion board is a philosophy prof. :001_huh: That kind of explains things a bit more.... That is very strange indeed. How is the guy qualified to see whether a post has any sensible content - as opposed to great rhetoric but no physics understanding? Isn't that in effect encouraging students just to BS ? This would bother me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 Weird - just discovered that 2 professors are grading. The physics professor is grading the labs and projects, the professor for the discussion board is a philosophy prof. :001_huh: That kind of explains things a bit more.... I would call the dean on that one. Correction, I would have the student call the dean on that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted August 29, 2010 Author Share Posted August 29, 2010 That is very strange indeed. How is the guy qualified to see whether a post has any sensible content - as opposed to great rhetoric but no physics understanding? Isn't that in effect encouraging students just to BS ?This would bother me. Exactly! I think the prof (female) is more interested in the logical thinking process of arriving at a conclusion than the physics concepts. And she really likes long posts. When I found out that she is a philosophy prof, I was able to help ds know *how* to write for her. He was under the impression that it was a science professor who was grading and a "just the facts" usually satisfies most science folks. He is now viewing these posts as mini-essays. And...he scored 23/25 on Unit 2 discussion! And she gave him an additional 10 points (18/25) for Unit 1 which, while still lower than we would like, is a solid passing grade (because of the contradiction in deadlines). We are awaiting a grade on his "project" which was to evaluate 3 articles in Discovery or Science magazines. I think things are looking more positive... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 And...he scored 23/25 on Unit 2 discussion! And she gave him an additional 10 points (18/25) for Unit 1 which, while still lower than we would like, is a solid passing grade (because of the contradiction in deadlines). Thanks for posting again, Cynthia! It's beneficial for me to see that after a rocky start, our students can adjust and improve/excel. Kudos to your ds for persevering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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