Ginevra Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 I find this so bizarre! She said she and the other students waited for thirty mintues and then they all began to leave. So she left also. I advised he to see if she can e-mail the professor to see what happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 This is not normal and the department chair will probably be pretty unhappy unless there's an excuse such as "hit by a car on the way to school". Check e-mail and any course management system such as blackboard/canvas to make sure there wasn't a last-minute room change or cancellation notice. I've had to send out last-minute cancellation notices when I had a flat tire on the way to school. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Well that stinks. FWIW, I had a college prof fail to show up for our first class. We waited and waited and waited. Finally, another teacher showed up with a really odd expression and asked us to leave. We would be contacted regarding our next class. Uh, o.k. I was honestly afraid the professor had been killed or something and they were waiting to say something publicly until the family had been notified. Turns out he skipped town with a former student, running off to the Bahamas or somewhere just the day before. Surely that is NOT what happened to your DD's prof though. I hope there is a reasonable explanation and that this is not indicative of future issues. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Ds's first math class is tomorrow. It's the only class that hasn't posted anything on Moodle and the syllabus is nowhere to be found yet. It's a new professor too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Ds's first math class is tomorrow. It's the only class that hasn't posted anything on Moodle and the syllabus is nowhere to be found yet. It's a new professor too. Have hope! My dc's math class didn't have anything posted ahead of time, either, even though most of the other sections did. At class today, the prof explained they were using My Math Lab access for the text, homework, and some of the exams. A hard copy of the text was optional, and an older edition was fine. We purchased tonight, and the MML version was also an older edition, saving us about $80 of the most recent text with MML included; I was able to order a hard copy of the text for under $10 on Amazon, and so I saved about $70 total. I'm very pleased! I hope the class turns out to be a good one. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Dd learned that the Prof had gotten confused with another class she is teaching on another campus. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love_to_Read Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Wow, that's not typical, but still way better than running off to the Bahamas. I second the suggestion to double-check everywhere possible (professor? registrar? department? online system?) if it happens again. I once missed the announcement for a room change, and no one posted anything on the door to indicate such, and the handful of us who stood around wondering almost got dropped from the class entirely for being absent that early in the semester. Sometimes freshman classes in particular, the kind with multiple sections of some common requirement, get re-scheduled into more/fewer sections than anticipated, due to last minute student registrations or withdrawals or bumped into a larger/smaller room, and it can happen any time within the add/drop period, plus building maintenance issues like water leaks or furnace quit blowing at random times of year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 If the prof didn't show up, that is very uncool and she has some explaining to do. That said, it is possible that the class was cancelled (for low enrollment, for example) and the department didn't bother to notify the students. That happened to a class I was scheduled to teach that had low enrollment. The dean notified me it was cancelled, but someone in her office never followed up with the students. ETA: Oops, nevermind. I saw your explanation after I typed. I've had a funny start to my semester. One student in my microbiology class asked me if there was a virus that could bring back people from the dead, into some zombie form. I told him that sometimes the CPR virus does that, but not often. I thought he would laugh, but he took me so seriously, I had to clarify that was a joke. Another student in a general biology class I teach told me he had to repeat the class because he flunked it last semester. When I asked what the problem was with his class that he flunked, he told me he didn't know he had to attend lab and lecture and just went to lab all semester. The awful thing about this is that he had the same instructor for lab and lecture and she really should have discussed this with him the first time or two he missed lecture. I leave that place shaking my head sometimes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 ... Another student in a general biology class I teach told me he had to repeat the class because he flunked it last semester. When I asked what the problem was with his class that he flunked, he told me he didn't know he had to attend lab and lecture and just went to lab all semester. The awful thing about this is that he had the same instructor for lab and lecture and she really should have discussed this with him the first time or two he missed lecture. I leave that place shaking my head sometimes. This is the sort of problem that I caught over and over when I was shepherding one of my extra kids through community college. Teaching her how to go to college made me realize what a huge advantage the students with involved, college educated parents have over other students. Crucial bits of information like this, or that you have to buy your books, or that there is a separate schedule for finals week. Trivial bits of information like knowing that a room number in the 200s is on the second floor. I am surprised that the instructor wasn,t told to watch for this type of student. Nan 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 We had some room mixups on Monday with rooms being double-booked. My lab professor changed at the last minute. Be he mentioned that, I wondered why he looked nothing like his picture. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 We had some room mixups on Monday with rooms being double-booked. My lab professor changed at the last minute. Be he mentioned that, I wondered why he looked nothing like his picture. Yeah, I changed with someone else at the last minute, and the original name on the roster was something like "John Doe" (very obviously male name). Got a few double-takes. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny_Weatherwax Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Dd learned that the Prof had gotten confused with another class she is teaching on another campus. I hope they extend some grace and have a good laugh. I teach off campus and go in different directions four days a week. A regular source of anxiety is the thought that I will drive the 15 miles to a high school only to find out I am at the wrong school. There wouldn't be enough time to drive the 30 miles to the correct school. As a result, I am constantly checking what day it is and where I am supposed to be. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 How aggravating. When my ds was taking a CC English course, the professor frequently did not come to class. On 2 occasions, not only did she not come, she gave NO notification, or explanation, before or after. Since he was not driving then, and I was ferrying him the 30 minutes each way to class while teaching both of his brothers, I was pretty unhappy about this. It amazes me that a professor can get away with no-showing twice in a semester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 How aggravating. When my ds was taking a CC English course, the professor frequently did not come to class. On 2 occasions, not only did she not come, she gave NO notification, or explanation, before or after. Since he was not driving then, and I was ferrying him the 30 minutes each way to class while teaching both of his brothers, I was pretty unhappy about this. It amazes me that a professor can get away with no-showing twice in a semester. This is something where I would recommend your student complain to the department chair. It is possible that they can't find anyone else, but you can be assured that the department chair will remember this. They do not like complaints. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 The same thing happened with my 19yo's first class last semester. The teacher was just listed as STAFF. What they found out was that the course was supposed to have been removed from the list for the semester because the teacher who had always taught it had left the school. Nobody took it off the course listing and it ended up completely full. Nobody was hired to teach it because the department assumed that it had been removed from the list of classes. So they had their first actual class on Wed and the teacher they got to take it over had to make it up on the fly. It was a pretty good class. My dd enjoyed it. She just thought the combination of errors was funny. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Oh, the instructors are told to watch for this; in fact, they have to contact the student and drop them by the drop date if this occurs. The instructor really fell down on the job on this one. This is the sort of problem that I caught over and over when I was shepherding one of my extra kids through community college. Teaching her how to go to college made me realize what a huge advantage the students with involved, college educated parents have over other students. Crucial bits of information like this, or that you have to buy your books, or that there is a separate schedule for finals week. Trivial bits of information like knowing that a room number in the 200s is on the second floor. I am surprised that the instructor wasn,t told to watch for this type of student.Nan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 I haven't read all the PP's but often these adjunct professors (not full time professors) do not get their teaching assignments until the very last minute; they are poorly paid and are working at multiple campuses to earn a living. They do not have their own offices or even the keys to their lecture halls. There's a Doonesbury comic strip yesterday that shows adjuncts as day laborers, crowded around a bonfire when a university hiring manager shows up and loads a bunch of them into the back of a pick up truck. It's too bad these highly educated teachers are treated so poorly. Yes, I would complain to the administration. ETA: Here's a link to the Doonesbury strip. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 This is the sort of problem that I caught over and over when I was shepherding one of my extra kids through community college. Teaching her how to go to college made me realize what a huge advantage the students with involved, college educated parents have over other students. Crucial bits of information like this, or that you have to buy your books, or that there is a separate schedule for finals week. Trivial bits of information like knowing that a room number in the 200s is on the second floor. I am surprised that the instructor wasn,t told to watch for this type of student. Nan Both of the community colleges my kids have done DE at had orientations that were designed to help with this sort of thing. One school had a mandatory session that included a walk around the campus to show them where the bookstore, library, ID office, etc were. I think there can be a big jump from high school, where everything is planned out for you and you have little input, even if you want it sometimes (highschoolers on our street were getting schedules that were wrong or didn't include classes they'd requested). On the other hand, it often feels like students aren't putting much effort into understanding the difference at college. We spent a fair amount of time hanging around the admin building at one CC as my kids were going through the registration process. I watched a lot of kids who were viewing the orientation videos on the lobby computers because they hadn't watched them at home. One day we were there for registration when the online system was down. So there were about a hundred people standing in line to do in person registration. There were a lot of new high school graduates who had no idea that they needed to be the person who was creating the schedule. The registrar staff was going down the line and pulling out people who hadn't yet registered as students, hadn't taken placement tests, hadn't done the online orientation videos, hadn't picked courses or sections. About one in three were being sent out of the line to do some preliminary action. Most of this was covered in the online explanations of how to register for classes or in the orientation video. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathwonk Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 I taught for 37 years and I once missed a class from just forgetting to go. (I never missed one from commuting 2 hours one way every day.) My day was so busy, and I had students and other professors coming in with questions at any time at all, and I just started talking with them and sometimes forgot about the time. Your job is just to be there all day with your door open and dealing with everything that comes in as it comes in, so it can be hectic, and at our school there were no bells to remind you of the class changes. Still it only happened once in 37 years, and it certainly was not the first day, which is kind of hard to forget about. (Of course sometimes you come in on day one and your schedule has been changed the night before and you only find out that morning.) It kind of hurt my feelings that no student came up one floor to my office to see why I hadn't come down to class, since they all knew me pretty well by then, but perhaps some were glad to get a holiday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 We had a very frustrating moment this morning. Ds's World History class is supposed to be 11:00 a.m. Apparently there was some sort of conflict with the professor's schedule and she asked for it to be changed. THEY CHANGED IT! ON A HOLIDAY WEEKEND! The email went out to students last night after ds had gone to bed stating that if moving class from 11 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. was a problem for the student's schedule - ie. work or already have a class scheduled at that time - there were other sections available that the student could transfer to and to see the registrar this morning. We got up, got around, never in a million years thought that some crazy class schedule change like that would be made THE NIGHT BEFORE - it's not snowing outside...there are no blizzard or tornado warnings, the two things that we do know would be cause for delaying the start of day or canceling classes - and so ds arrived to find out he'd missed class! He sent a pretty stern email to the administration about it, and so did I. I love the instructors at this school, the small classroom sizes, and student services who is doing a really great job of addressing ds's disability and making accommodations such as the parking, the place to stash his books, etc. But this crazy of changing school start dates at the beginning of Aug., changing last week's schedule to accommodate a three day week, followed by another very major change, is making me unhappy. I expressed that fact that they need to get it together, get a schedule, and stick with it, period if they expect parents to continue writing checks for tuition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 We had a very frustrating moment this morning. Ds's World History class is supposed to be 11:00 a.m. Apparently there was some sort of conflict with the professor's schedule and she asked for it to be changed. THEY CHANGED IT! ON A HOLIDAY WEEKEND! The email went out to students last night after ds had gone to bed stating that if moving class from 11 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. was a problem for the student's schedule - ie. work or already have a class scheduled at that time - there were other sections available that the student could transfer to and to see the registrar this morning. We got up, got around, never in a million years thought that some crazy class schedule change like that would be made THE NIGHT BEFORE - it's not snowing outside...there are no blizzard or tornado warnings, the two things that we do know would be cause for delaying the start of day or canceling classes - and so ds arrived to find out he'd missed class! He sent a pretty stern email to the administration about it, and so did I. I love the instructors at this school, the small classroom sizes, and student services who is doing a really great job of addressing ds's disability and making accommodations such as the parking, the place to stash his books, etc. But this crazy of changing school start dates at the beginning of Aug., changing last week's schedule to accommodate a three day week, followed by another very major change, is making me unhappy. I expressed that fact that they need to get it together, get a schedule, and stick with it, period if they expect parents to continue writing checks for tuition. That is frustrating. Can he join the other section that is offered? But in any case, he should get into the habit of checking email first thing in the morning. ETA: I am not quite sure what is particularly egregious about the *Holiday* weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 That is frustrating. Can he join the other section that is offered? But in any case, he should get into the habit of checking email first thing in the morning. ETA: I am not quite sure what is particularly egregious about the *Holiday* weekend. In Michigan, thousands, and thousands, and thousands of people go camping over Labor Day. It's insane here. Many people are out in the country and without internet access....you'd be surprised how spotty the internet is north of a line from Bay City due west. So if one wants to make sure a message gets through on that day, one needs to send it early. It's a weird holiday culture here. The public schools K-12 are not even allowed by law to begin school before Labor Day, LOL. Plus, an awful lot of part-time workers are required to work very, very late...none of the usual gas station, fast food, etc. jobs that are open to college students run regular shifts on that holiday so someone who normally only works four hours, may work twelve. The school is 75% commuters and working so need a little bit more heads up about such a change. The time stamp on the email was 11 p.m. on a federal holiday. The school wasn't even open that day except the food court for dorm residents, so no one would expect that the administration was sending out a "your class time changed for tomorrow" email that late at night when no one is normally at work. So, the new rule of thumb which was to check email three times per day, once before going to bed is to either stay up much later just in case or get up at 5 a.m. to check it since he has an 1.5 hour commute during rush hour. By 8 a.m., it's too late to get there on time. The additional angst is that the change to the new section requires a different text for that instructor and the book store is refusing to take back his $243.00 book. That makes me rather angry actually. They will pay him $5.00 because it's used for one class. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 The additional angst is that the change to the new section requires a different text for that instructor and the book store is refusing to take back his $243.00 book. That makes me rather angry actually. They will pay him $5.00 because it's used for one class. Are you serious??? That is insane. I'd fight that tooth and nail... or stay in the old section. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justasque Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 ... I am noticing that, because of the proliferation of smart phones, people often assume that everyone will be notified immediately when they get a new email message, rather than email being something you check once or twice a day. It's frustrating if you don't have a smartphone. I would ask to speak to the bookstore manager re the text, or if that doesn't help, the administration. It's a lesson, though, that it is often wise not to get the texts until after the first day of class. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 It sounds like his best option is to go with the earlier class time with the same professor, assuming it doesn't conflict on a different day with other classes. That would be frustrating to get an email so late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 I am noticing that, because of the proliferation of smart phones, people often assume that everyone will be notified immediately when they get a new email message, rather than email being something you check once or twice a day. It's frustrating if you don't have a smartphone. I would ask to speak to the bookstore manager re the text, or if that doesn't help, the administration. It's a lesson, though, that it is often wise not to get the texts until after the first day of class. I wish that were an option. Many professors had posted reading assignments to be accomplished ahead of first and second class. Many of them did not go over the course syllabus and jumped right in the deep. On the first day of comp sci class, they covered an entire chapter, five programming topics , and wrote a bunch of code. He is going to the bookstore after class to talk to the manager. It is operated by Barnes and Nobles so I have emailed a low level corporate manager and then work my way up if need be. Hopefully, he can advocate effectively for himself and resolve it in person. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 What the heck is with this school? All of this together is incredibly unprofessional. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 I am noticing that, because of the proliferation of smart phones, people often assume that everyone will be notified immediately when they get a new email message, rather than email being something you check once or twice a day. It's frustrating if you don't have a smartphone. I would ask to speak to the bookstore manager re the text, or if that doesn't help, the administration. It's a lesson, though, that it is often wise not to get the texts until after the first day of class. They should not be assuming that even people with smartphones have it set to beep at them when email comes in. I would not have caught this class change. Not on the computer checking email past 11p and I don't check email that early in the morning. Have other things to do -- getting kisds off to school, etc. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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