I'm glad I'm old

[klmama]

I've been helping oldest dc figure out all of the requirements for each course.  The organization skills needed today are incredible!  When I was in college, we had a printed syllabus to inform us of planned exams and major paper due dates.  All other assignments were given in class and turned in at class time.  If you went to class and checked the syllabus, you wouldn't miss anything.  It was simple.  Now, not only do they have to go to class and check the printed syllabus, but they also have to check in daily on Blackboard, MyMathLab, student email, and student college account in case there are notifications from professors.  Students have to turn in some work in class, upload some to Blackboard, do some on MyMathLab, and even email attachments to their professors. I'm sure dc will get the hang of it eventually, but I think it's confusing and too easy for students to miss something!  I am really, really glad I went to college when I did.

 

 

 

 

 

[Tsuga]

That sounds incredibly complicated and poorly run. I was in college in 2013 and am currently working at one. Both had a single online system with a single login where 100% of your assignments were posted and turned in.

 

For coding and some higher math classes, you did have to submit via an online system, but the LINK to that external system (the code validation) was presented on the "one true page" where all homework was assigned and turned in. My partner is in school now and he has ONE login for all of his classes. Math we did turn in some paper work, of course. Handwritten for linalg. But grades were posted online, the one true page.

 

Other courses all had papers submitted online, in PDF format (schools paid for PDF maker software for 100% of students, because I live in Microsoftland, where students get Office and several other perks free at all high schools and colleges).

 

In two years, plus another year that my partner was in school, neither of us ever had assignments updated by e-mail. That's very unreliable, in my opinion, and suggests an inexperienced and/or disorganized prof. They have to know that people may not get it in time, and anyway, that they cannot verify deliveries. It's much more reliable to put it all on the one true page and then you can have IT verify that students who checked the page got the information. No ambiguity. I believe in 1995-9 we were e-mailing papers and getting information by e-mail. Thank heavens those days are over.

 

I hope your DC get more organized instructors in the future!

 

ETA: I have not had a printed syllabus handed out in over a year. Usually they told us if we needed one printed for us to ask after class and the TA would arrange it.

[scoutingmom]

Well, I was fortunate.... I was in the first year that our University had automated telephone registration. I got to tap phone buttons to select all my courses. My older sister had to spend a couple of days standing in lines trying to register for courses... Work was assigned in class, or was on the original class schedule. Prof couldn't make the class? Well, the rule was that if the prof didn't make it by 20 minutes into class time, you were good to leave. Room change? Note on door.

 

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[The Girls' Mom]

Sigh.  I'm old AND dealing with all this...lol.  

 

I have a "central" online system called D2L for turning in assignments.  There is MyMathLab (which, thankfully my prof isn't using this year), a separate online program for my Econ Class homework, last semester there was a separate online program for Spanish class, student email, regular email, some profs. that want to be contacted ONLY by their .edu email, and some that ONLY want to be contacted through D2L, some that print a syllabus for you and don't list it online, some that only post it online, some that list out assignments ahead of time, and some that only assign in class.  

 

It is nuts.  I keep my planner with me, and write EVERYTHING in it.  

 

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

Oh great.  I start my class tonight. 

I'm not too wigged out by e-mail and on-line stuff.  I flunk in the cellphone department so hopefully I don't need that.

 

 

[elegantlion]

I am also old and dealing with it. I don't think it's a bad system, it's just different professors do things differently. My school has a central hub in Moodle, which some professors rarely use. We also have e-mail. For my classes, I have two that want all assignments in hard copy, which I prefer. My French class has an open source book with website and some stuff on Moodle. My bio class uses Masteringbiology for assignments, and Moodle for handouts and stuff. We also have a clicker for the class. 

 

I use a paper planner for a central location for myself. I try to put weekly assignments in there so I don't forget to check someplace. 

[Gwen in VA]

The homeschool coop that I teach a class at has a bewildering array of contact options -- through Edmodo, through the coop website, and of course plain old email. I am having to tell my students which option(s) I will use at which times.

 

And I thought technology was supposed to make things simpler!

[Peach]

We have D2L also, but I know some of the math classes use My Math Lab and most of the language classes had an online component. Some of my professors want papers turned in via D2L and some want the physical copy. I also keep everything in my Filofax and to cut down on some clutter, my student email and D2L email are all set to forward to my regular email that I check often. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

It did turn out to have various components I've never dealt with while in school, but I have already set up all my accounts and can access the information. 

 

[kiana]

I gotta say that I am a very recent convert to MyMathLab. I haven't used it before this semester (I really like to see work) but I am converted for most types of problems.

 

It hasn't made a difference to my strongest students or my weakest students, but my intermediate students are all about one grade higher than they would have been before, because they never redid their incorrect homework and just moved on to the next one. Now they know immediately that it's wrong.

[vonfirmath]

Well, I was fortunate.... I was in the first year that our University had automated telephone registration. I got to tap phone buttons to select all my courses. My older sister had to spend a couple of days standing in lines trying to register for courses... Work was assigned in class, or was on the original class schedule. Prof couldn't make the class? Well, the rule was that if the prof didn't make it by 20 minutes into class time, you were good to leave. Room change? Note on door.

 

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These are the rules I remember. All the way down to the switch from standing in lines to tapping buttons and the 20 minute wait time for a prof.

[SparklyUnicorn]

The thing my instructor uses is called WebAssign. 

 

I think my only dislike about it is that the homework assignments are all on-line.  I plan to write my answers down as well just in case.  I just imagine something happening like my computer crashes in the middle, or the power goes out, or my hard drive breaks.  There are too many things that could go wrong.  I suppose lots of things could go wrong with paper, but I never had anything go wrong with paper. 

 

 

[swimmermom3]

I gotta say that I am a very recent convert to MyMathLab. I haven't used it before this semester (I really like to see work) but I am converted for most types of problems.

 

It hasn't made a difference to my strongest students or my weakest students, but my intermediate students are all about one grade higher than they would have been before, because they never redid their incorrect homework and just moved on to the next one. Now they know immediately that it's wrong.

 

My calculus class for freshman year in the early '80s was at 8am. That was my first mistake. The other problem for me was that we turned in written assignments that were graded by TAs, but we never saw the papers again. You could go to math lab, but you didn't have your paper and I would end up hand copying most of the problems put up on the board because I couldn't remember what I had done.

 

When I have taught the kids math, I have often had them work a handful of problems and then we check the answers, talk them over, and redo if necessary. I despise wasting hours solving something only to find out I have done it all wrong. I suspect I would love My MathLab.

 

[CupOCoffee]

The thing my instructor uses is called WebAssign. 

 

I think my only dislike about it is that the homework assignments are all on-line.  I plan to write my answers down as well just in case.  I just imagine something happening like my computer crashes in the middle, or the power goes out, or my hard drive breaks.  There are too many things that could go wrong.  I suppose lots of things could go wrong with paper, but I never had anything go wrong with paper. 

 

All my assignments are turned in on line as well.  I always make a Word doc and print it out, plus save on hard drive and thumb drive.  Once, I had the computer hiccup in the middle of uploading my essays, and then I could not get back into the test...ugh!  

 

I immediately emailed my instructor and academic adviser even though it was 1 am; sent them both a copy of my Word doc with all the questions answered.  Instructor used that to grade my test.  So glad I always do things that way!!!

[SparklyUnicorn]

OH MY GOODNESS.  This thing is actually quite amazing.  I was working through the book the old fashioned way.  I was confused by a point.  So I decided to look at the stuff available on-line.  I have the e-book too.  Within the e-book they have videos for each section as well with an instructor explaining the various points.  So then after that I got it. 

 

Wow...talk about cool. 

[klmama]

Is this an e-book purchased from the publisher or is it part of the WebAssign thing you mentioned earlier?

[klmama]

All my assignments are turned in on line as well.  I always make a Word doc and print it out, plus save on hard drive and thumb drive.  Once, I had the computer hiccup in the middle of uploading my essays, and then I could not get back into the test...ugh!  

 

I immediately emailed my instructor and academic adviser even though it was 1 am; sent them both a copy of my Word doc with all the questions answered.  Instructor used that to grade my test.  So glad I always do things that way!!!

 

Thanks for sharing this! 

[kiana]

Is this an e-book purchased from the publisher or is it part of the WebAssign thing you mentioned earlier?

 

I'm not super familiar with WebAssign, but MyMathLab includes the ebook AND the videos as part of the whole package.

[creekland]

I honestly can't agree about being glad I went to college eons ago.  Every time we drop a boy off now - or talk with them - I find myself wishing I could be at college now (as a teen, not with my current life).  They have so many more opportunities than were around in my day.  Granted, in my day I thought we had tons, but comparatively... not so.  This is true even when hubby and I walk around our Alma mater.

 

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

Is this an e-book purchased from the publisher or is it part of the WebAssign thing you mentioned earlier?

 

I had the option of purchasing the e-book only from WebAssign.  The other option was to purchase the physical text and that came with a code which gave access to the e-book and functionality on WebAssign.  Either way we had to have access via WebAssign because he posts the homework assignments on WebAssign.  I find that part kind of unfair.  I don't mind e-books in general, but for textbooks I prefer a physical book.  So really one has to spend $80 so they can hand in their homework.  Although the WebAssign does have some good additional features like the videos which I assume are only available on WebAssign and not in just any version of the e-book.  Maybe ipad books have embedded videos, but other e-book formats that I've used do not.

 

I paid $150 for a used book that came with a code.  I had no choice but to purchase that from the school though because they were the only ones who guaranteed the code came with the book.  Other students bought used copies or rented from Amazon and none of them got codes.  I find the whole book business annoying. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

I honestly can't agree about being glad I went to college eons ago.  Every time we drop a boy off now - or talk with them - I find myself wishing I could be at college now (as a teen, not with my current life).  They have so many more opportunities than were around in my day.  Granted, in my day I thought we had tons, but comparatively... not so.  This is true even when hubby and I walk around our Alma mater.

 

The amount of hand holding is a bit over the top though.  If someone does poorly, they literally just didn't look at any of it.

[Reefgazer]

This is so true.  And it's not even that great an educational tool for all the costs.  I have a lab student who has a corresponding online lecture and didn't think she had to do anything for the lecture because the prof hadn't told her to do anything.  I informed her that I knew she had a test this Tuesday and 2 assignments due, so she needed to get on Blackboard and get on it.  She insisted nothing was posted.  So I had her log into her Blackboard after lab and showed her that all of her directions, assignment locations, policies, etc... were under the big red button that said "Start Here".  She looked like I had just shown her the Holy Grail.  When I asked why she had not clicked the big red start button she said "The prof didn't tell her to click the start button".  *Sigh*  She wasn't the least bit curious about what was under the start button, either.  We follow a standardized format for all online classes that was developed by QM, so these things are fairly standard (with minor variations) over all online classes.

This has been humankind's greatest lie of all history.

 

[klmama]

I had the option of purchasing the e-book only from WebAssign.  The other option was to purchase the physical text and that came with a code which gave access to the e-book and functionality on WebAssign.  Either way we had to have access via WebAssign because he posts the homework assignments on WebAssign.  I find that part kind of unfair.  I don't mind e-books in general, but for textbooks I prefer a physical book.  So really one has to spend $80 so they can hand in their homework.  Although the WebAssign does have some good additional features like the videos which I assume are only available on WebAssign and not in just any version of the e-book.  Maybe ipad books have embedded videos, but other e-book formats that I've used do not.

 

 

Thank you for explaining this.  My dc has online textbook access through MyMathLab.  I wonder if it has videos, too.  That would be very helpful! 

[kiana]

Thank you for explaining this.  My dc has online textbook access through MyMathLab.  I wonder if it has videos, too.  That would be very helpful! 

 

It does.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I had the option of purchasing the e-book only from WebAssign.  The other option was to purchase the physical text and that came with a code which gave access to the e-book and functionality on WebAssign.  Either way we had to have access via WebAssign because he posts the homework assignments on WebAssign.  I find that part kind of unfair.  I don't mind e-books in general, but for textbooks I prefer a physical book.  So really one has to spend $80 so they can hand in their homework.  Although the WebAssign does have some good additional features like the videos which I assume are only available on WebAssign and not in just any version of the e-book.  Maybe ipad books have embedded videos, but other e-book formats that I've used do not.

 

I paid $150 for a used book that came with a code.  I had no choice but to purchase that from the school though because they were the only ones who guaranteed the code came with the book.  Other students bought used copies or rented from Amazon and none of them got codes.  I find the whole book business annoying. 

 

Our CC bookstore is really amazingly helpful.  I've had their staff go through a stack of copies to see if there were "used" editions with included access codes (they found one!).  They have links on their website to various sites with used copies of the same isbn for sale.  One staffer also let us know that it was possible to buy just the access code from the bookstore.  

 

DS didn't follow through with contacting his instructors to see if older editions of paper copies would work, which ended up costing us some money.  But I think in many cases it would work to buy the current online access and then buy a slightly older edition of the paper textbook.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Our CC bookstore is really amazingly helpful.  I've had their staff go through a stack of copies to see if there were "used" editions with included access codes (they found one!).  They have links on their website to various sites with used copies of the same isbn for sale.  One staffer also let us know that it was possible to buy just the access code from the bookstore.  

 

DS didn't follow through with contacting his instructors to see if older editions of paper copies would work, which ended up costing us some money.  But I think in many cases it would work to buy the current online access and then buy a slightly older edition of the paper textbook.

 

Oh the book I bought was used and still cost that much.  They showed me that it came with the code.  They said they won't sell the books without it.

 

I did notice though that if you search the school bookstore they list prices of other on-line vendors.  They were slightly cheaper than anyone.  Plus the whole thing about guaranteeing working codes. 

 

They've got that all down to a science.  A science of making you pay through the nose!

 

There was no way for me to contact the instructor prior.  I tried to find him in their list and couldn't.  He doesn't have an office.  I think he only teaches a course here or there so that is probably why.  It's a CC. 

[klmama]

Interesting.  I just realized that of my dc's five classes, three required older editions that were available in the school bookstore.  I found them cheaper on Amazon.  One other class had a new edition available in the bookstore for other sections of the course, but dc's instructor specifically suggested the students purchase an older edition on Amazon.  So, only one course with a new textbook, and it was cheap.  I hope it works out this way again next semester!