WWYD: Online class quiz

[shanvan]

I'll try to make this as brief and understandable as I can. Ds is taking an online class this year. The first quiz was just a quiz to see if he understands class policies. If he scored 100% he would have 2 points added to his first real quiz. He could take it as many times as he wanted until a specific time. It was multiple choice, automatically scored online, and told him his score each time.

 

All week long he took the quiz. The last day he came to me and said there was something wrong with one of the questions. He had narrowed down which question he was getting wrong b/c he had only one question wrong. If he changed his answer on any of the other questions his score was adjusted to show one wrong. But on the one particular question ---lets say #5, no matter which answer he chose the computer marked it wrong.

 

Then his dad made him take the quiz skipping that question entirely, putting no answer and it still showed he had only one wrong. So, that means, to us, that the computerized scoring was making an error.

 

The quiz closed at 7pm on Fri and he had to get to agility class with his dog. He has no idea what happened, but when he got home and checked his class page, it showed his score was 0! Of course, he was freaking out. He respectfully emailed the teacher to tell her he had taken the quiz many times and did not understand why it showed 0. She was gracious and e mailed back sayign that she had a setting wrong and that the student page was reflecting the most recent score (we still don't understand why it said zero). She told Ds his score as reflected by his best effort is 97%-- which is one wrong---#5, we assume.

 

While I took Ds to agility, Dh had also emailed her to ask if there was some sort of a problem with question #5 and explained that the computer would count none of the answers correct for that question. She said she was going to check the quizzes this weekend. Problem is Ds's last attempt shows he did not answer #5, yet he had tried every possible answer.

 

My problem is that there must have been something wrong with the scoring or one of those answers for that question would have been correct and Ds's score would have changed at some point.

 

We were wondering if the teacher possibly left that one question for herself to score instead of the computer. But if she did that how can she tell the kids to keep trying until they get a 100%? How would they ever know they got the 100 and when to stop studying the policies and when to stop trying the quiz? Do we make an issue of it? Should another email be sent? (Politely, of course)

 

At this point it seems like she is leaving his score at 97% and isn't going to address question #5 and the fact that it would not ever give him a correct score. So, Ds won't get his bonus points, even though he may have initially answered every problem correct and the computer didn't score it that way. Dh asked if anyone else reported a similar problem and she did not respond to that question in her reply.

 

I don't want the teacher to be annoyed with Ds and give her a bad impression for the year. He also had trouble logging in to the first class when I was not home. He was 5 mins late. He emailed her to tell her that he had trouble with the log in b/c she has stated that repeated lateness will effect their grade. I don't want him (us) to be labeled a trouble maker. Part of me thinks let it go b/c sometimes things happen like this and life isn't always fair, but part of me thinks the problem should be addressed in case there is some sort of mix up with the grading and it continues to be a problem for my Ds and others on future quizzes. What do you think?

 

ETA: I have great respect for this teacher and appreciate the seriousness of her class and the high level of instruction Ds has been receiving. I have no other issues with this class. A friend of mine also told me that her Ds has taken several online classes and inevitably seems to encounter some sort of issue with logging in at some point. That made Ds & me feel better.

 

Edited August 26, 2012 by shanvan

[LMA]

I'll try to make this as brief and understandable as I can. Ds is taking and online class this year. The first quiz was just a quiz to see if he understands class policies. If he scored 100% he would have 2 points added to his first real quiz. He could take it as many times as he wanted until a specific time. It was multiple choice, automatically scored online, and told him his score each time.

 

All week long he took the quiz. The last day he came to me and said there was something wrong with one of the questions. He had narrowed down which question he was getting wrong b/c he had only one question wrong. If he changed his answer on any of the other questions his score was adjusted to show one wrong. But on the one particular question ---lets say #5, no matter which answer he choose the computer marked it wrong.

 

Then his dad made him take the quiz skipping that question entirely, putting no answer and it still showed he had only one wrong. So, that means, to us, that the computerized scoring was making an error.

 

The quiz closed at 7pm on Fri and he had to get to agility class with his dog. He has no idea what happened, but when he got home and checked his class page, it showed his score was 0! Of course, he was freaking out. He respectfully emailed the teacher to tell her he had taken the quiz many times and did not understand why it showed 0. She was gracious and e mailed back sayign that she had a setting wrong and that the student page was reflecting the most recent score (we still don't understand why it said zero). She told Ds his score as reflected by his best effort is 97%-- which is one wrong---#5, we assume.

 

While I took Ds to agility, Dh had also emailed her to ask if there was some sort of a problem with question #5 and explained that the computer would count none of the answers correct for that question. She said she was going to check the quizzes this weekend. Problem is Ds's last attempt shows he did not answer #5, yet he had tried every possible answer.

 

My problem is that there must have been something wrong with the scoring or one of those answers for that question would have been correct and Ds's score would have changed at some point.

 

We were wondering if the teacher possibly left that one question for herself to score instead of the computer. But if she did that how can she tell the kids to keep trying until they get a 100%? How would they ever know they got the 100 and when to stop studying the policies and when to stop trying the quiz? Do we make an issue of it? Should another email be sent? (Politely, of course)

 

At this point it seems like she is leaving his score at 97% and isn't going to address question #5 and the fact that it would not ever give him a correct score. So, Ds won't get his bonus points, even though he may have initially answered every problem correct and the computer didn't score it that way. Dh asked if anyone else reported a similar problem and she did not respond to that question in her reply.

 

I don't want the teacher to be annoyed with Ds and give her a bad impression for the year. He also had trouble logging in to the first class when I was not home. He was 5 mins late. He emailed her to tell her that he had trouble with the log in b/c she has stated that repeated lateness will effect their grade. I don't want him (us) to be labeled a trouble maker. Part of me thinks let it go b/c sometimes things happen like this and life isn't always fair, but part of me thinks the problem should be addressed in case there is some sort of mix up with the grading and it continues to be a problem for my Ds and others on future quizzes. What do you think?

 

 

I would wait and see what she does before figuring out what to do next.

 

Next time, take screen shots of all the attempts.

[Julie in CA]

I would completely drop it. 2% on one quiz is not enough for me to take a chance on ruffling a teacher's feathers, and presumably one point over a semester wouldn't make a substantial difference in the overall grade.

 

If the online system continues to be problematic, I'd address that when it comes, first to the teacher, and then to any administrators if the problem isn't resolved.

 

For now though, I'd say nothing more. :001_smile:

Edited August 26, 2012 by Julie in CA
Totally didn't say what I meant...

[Corraleno]

By any chance, did the question have to do with who to contact if you have a problem with Quia?

 

(ETA: If that's not the one, can you post the general gist of the question he missed? I think my DS took the same quiz, and he got 100%, so there wasn't a problem with the quiz when he took it.)

Edited August 26, 2012 by Corraleno

[shanvan]

By any chance, did the question have to do with who to contact if you have a problem with Quia?

 

(ETA: If that's not the one, can you post the general gist of the question he missed? I think my DS took the same quiz, and he got 100%, so there wasn't a problem with the quiz when he took it.)

 

No, that isn't it.

[Corraleno]

I pm'd you. :001_smile:

 

Jackie

[regentrude]

I would completely drop it. 2% on one quiz is not enough for me to take a chance on ruffling a teacher's feathers, and presumably one point over a semester wouldn't make a substantial difference in the overall grade.

If the online system continues to be problematic, I'd address that when it comes, first to the teacher, and then to any administrators if the problem isn't resolved.

 

For now though, I'd say nothing more. :001_smile:

 

:iagree:

You brought it to the teacher's attention; she will figure it out. If problems persist, I'd follow up, but for two bonus points on a quiz grade? Nope.

In the future, I would bring up problems like this earlier, while the quiz is still open (you said he tried all week), and not after the fact.

Edited August 26, 2012 by regentrude

[shanvan]

:iagree:

You brought it to the teacher's attention; she will figure it out. If problems persist, I'd follow up, but for two bonus points on a quiz grade? Nope.

In the future, I would bring up problems like this earlier, while the quiz is still open (you said he tried all week), and not after the fact.

 

:iagree:That is the approach we are going to take. I'm not going to stress about it anymore. We didn't deal with it earlier b/c I don't think Ds realized what was happening until that day. By the time he came to us, it was just to close to the deadline. I was letting him handle it on his own w/o much supervision b/c, after all it's his quiz. I suppose I'll have to monitor in the future, especially if there are multiple choice questions. It's a learning experience.

 

ETA: This is our first experience with an online class so we are still figuring out how it all works and what my level of involvement should be.

Edited August 26, 2012 by shanvan

[Harriet Vane]

I would completely drop it. 2% on one quiz is not enough for me to take a chance on ruffling a teacher's feathers, and presumably one point over a semester wouldn't make a substantial difference in the overall grade.

 

If the online system continues to be problematic, I'd address that when it comes, first to the teacher, and then to any administrators if the problem isn't resolved.

 

For now though, I'd say nothing more. :001_smile:

 

:iagree:

[Forget-Me-Not]

He emailed her Friday (as in yesterday)? I would give her a few more days to respond before assuming she isn't going to respond. She may just be taking the weekend off :001_smile: