hillfarm Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Dh recently reminded dd to check her school's online message system to see if any of the instructors had given assignments to be turned in on the first day of class. Sure enough, one had. Her anthropology professor wants the first two chapters read and a series of questions answered, to be turned in on the first day of class. I think he is in for an uphill climb this semester, though. He sent the assignment email. Then he sent one asking students to respond so that he could verify everyone was receiving the emails and commented that they would be using the assignment portion of the school's online system quite a bit, referring to it by name. His third email was based on the fact that while not everyone enrolled had responded to let him know they were receiving the emails, many of those who did were not even familiar with the fact that there was an assignment component of the computerized system. Poor guy. Class starts next Tuesday. I wonder what percentage of students will come prepared? Good luck to everyone heading back for second semester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Timely reminder. I sympathize with that prof. I send my students a welcome-to-the-class email a week before the first day of class, with link to the course website which contains all information, and link to a video I made for them about the structure of the course (yes, they could also simply read the syllabus). I remind them to check the posted syllabus for the assignments for the first two days of class (the first day is just a reading assignment, nothing will happen if they don't read, but there is homework due the 2nd day). I remind them to take a computerized quiz by Thursday. It is always astonishing to see how many of the students will either forget the quiz, or not know that there is a course website, or not know that there are assignments. When I ask them, it turns out they neither read the email, nor went to the links, nor watched the video. What else can one do? Uphill battle is right... Here's to a good semester for all students and instructors! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Thank you - ds knows he has to prepare for an audition for the symphony, but it didn't occur to either of us that other professors may have assignments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Yes, I always send out a welcome message, but I don't assign anything before the first class during the regular school year. In the summer? Absolutely! It is such a compressed schedule that I bombard them before classes and have an assignment due that night at midnight. Worse comes to worse, I figure they can do it after class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 At a four year school, where do students go to find this info? Does every class have a page within Blackboard? Is it mentioned during orientation how to check for assignments? Neither CC DS has attended has had a site for the class that was given out ahead of time. One class used email and MathXL. The other gave out a syllabus on the first day, but it wasn't available ahead of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 At a four year school, where do students go to find this info? Does every class have a page within Blackboard? Is it mentioned during orientation how to check for assignments? Neither CC DS has attended has had a site for the class that was given out ahead of time. One class used email and MathXL. The other gave out a syllabus on the first day, but it wasn't available ahead of time. Usually the student can check their "My College" account, which is their electronic student access to everything they need for attending the school. Somewhere on that page would be a link to "academics" or "classes", which then leads to links to the specific class page for each course. Most classes post a syllabus and any notes or information about readings or assignments due for the first day should be posted there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 wow, I had no idea that schools did that. At my college, I can not even get information about my class until the 1st day (term 2 starts on Monday for me), it was the same in every past post secondary school I was in. THe first day was like an orientation class to the course, the syllabus handed out and then the first assignment given I never would have thought to tell my kids to check for assignments before the courses even started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 At a four year school, where do students go to find this info? Does every class have a page within Blackboard? Is it mentioned during orientation how to check for assignments? Most classes use Blackboard or a similar Learning Management System. I hate Blackboard and make my own website instead, but I create a Blackboard course and link all the info from there so that students who look on BB find the course website. I also send a welcome email to all students who are registered for the course, and I know that some other instructors who just use web pages instead of BB do the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 I can send announcements to people's e-mail as long as they have registered for the course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 At a four year school, where do students go to find this info? Does every class have a page within Blackboard? Is it mentioned during orientation how to check for assignments? Neither CC DS has attended has had a site for the class that was given out ahead of time. One class used email and MathXL. The other gave out a syllabus on the first day, but it wasn't available ahead of time. My school uses Moodle. Some professors don't use it at all and the current syllabus will be on a special computer drive accessible through your school account or the syllabus is located on the faculty page within each department. None of the professors hand out a syllabus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lispy Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 I had no idea. Dd is a couple of years away from college still, but this is good to know. Hardly anyone had email back when I was in college, much less websites. I never would have thought about this being an option. We just got our syllabus on the first day of classes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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