What to do about non responsive instructor and no syllabus?

[BlueTaelon]

My 16yo is dual enrolled at the local CC and normally when there is an issue its easy to handle on the high school side, were having issues with an instructor at the CC. The class is online and my daughter is very frustrated, the class is Stress Management and oddly enough its caused her the most stress she's ever had about a class and were only about 2 weeks in. There are multiple issues and since its a college class I can't step in to resolve the issues. Teen has ASD so is really stressing, especially about the fact she's going to tank her grade in just the 2nd week because she's finding the class impossible due to unclear expectations. I don't know how to help her or what to suggest since I've never ran into this issue before.

 

The issues:
The syllabus is a standard college issued one not specific to the class beyond the name and section. Not so much as a my name is Mike and I'm the teacher, here's how to contact me and what my expectations are (I finally found his email in the help forum on the discussion forum). Doesn't explain due dates, grading, office hours or anything. (she's been stressing all week so I finally sat down to see if I can figure it out and help her)

 

Blackboard is a mess, the link to email the instructor goes to the page for the instructor to email the students, no due dates anywhere, in his audio lecture (which I listened to thinking maybe she missed it) it keeps saying to check the calendar for due dates but there is nothing loaded in the calendar, I can see her other classes due dates but nothing for this course.

 

The course is disorganized and what should be one file is split into many making it more complicated then it needs to be to track files and lectures. It stressed me and I'm not even taking the class.

 

She's emailed the teacher 3 times since Monday and has not gotten any response. She also posted on the help forum of the discussion board and also did not get a response, only from another student who didn't know either.

 

I thought I would just take her to campus during his office hours which are not mentioned anywhere either, I found them under the schools instructor directory and he only has online hours amd no campus office and no suggestion on how to contact him (her online HS has link to a virtual classroom on blackboard). I'm just at a loss and don't know what to suggest to my daughter beyond going to the dept chair which seems overkill.

 

We don't want to drop the class, I think it will be beneficial for her as she has major issues with stress and its a life skill she she needs to acquire. She's taken much more difficult courses without an issue but it looks like, well frankly laziness that the instructor couldn't even be bothered to write a syllabus. He has great reviews on ratemyprofessor.com so I don't know why were running into these issues.

 

She's had a good experience do far with college classes so I don't want her to get discouraged.

 

What do I suggest to her to help her resolve the issues?

 

[Julie of KY]

I might contact the college directly to ask how to contact the instructor - maybe something as simple as a different email.

 

However, it sounds like a poorly organized course. While a GOOD stress management course might be good, it doesn't sound like this is a good course for her. I'd start thinking about dropping the class.

[JanetC]

I agree with Julie. You should drop this class and find a different one.

[BlueTaelon]

I agree with Julie. You should drop this class and find a different one.

 

Unfortunately he's the only one that teaches the class. We have until Tuesday to drop, I'll check with the dual enrollment office and see if they can help. Maybe he's just been sick and offline or something.

[The Girls' Mom]

Drop it.  I have found that professors that are this bad the first few weeks don't improve, and the administration are often helpless to force the prof. to pick up the slack during that term.  I would drop the course, and then email the dean about why you dropped it.  

[G5052]

I'm an online community college professor. I've been in the state system for 19 years now.

 

Sometimes things do happen, and the professor has to set things up in the first week after class has already started. BUT, the fact that nothing has been set up at this point, and he's not responding at all is a significant concern. It almost sounds like he hasn't even logged in yet.

 

I'd contact the college either through your dual enrollment contact or the Dean of Students at the very least.

 

Frankly I'd also drop the class ASAP too. A bad start almost always means a bad semester.

 

The college I work for now is very, very picky about that sort of thing. If the online part I work for got wind of something like that from me, there would be a phone call to me immediately. I'd be given deadlines to get things set up and monitored very closely. They just don't tolerate things like that.

 

This is a good lesson though. Odd things like this happen.

Edited January 22, 2017 by G5052

[BlueTaelon]

ugh, one of the students replied last night to her help post that he emailed the due dates for the week a week ago and everything is now late and we don't even know his late policy!  Maybe its just me but you'd think the due dates would be posted INSIDE the class. If at least 3 students are totally lost in a class with only 30 seats you know more have to be. I checked her college email and yep, I found the due date thing. Still contacting the dual enrollment office because there are to many issues with this class.

[Reefgazer]

If she is not getting a response from the instructor, she should email the dean, who can contact the instructor on her behalf.  The most efficient way to do this is to cc the dean on her last email, with a question asking how she can contact him because her last three attempts were unsuccessful.  Don't discount the possibility that the email system is wonky and he isn't getting your messages; that happens at our college more often than I would like.

 

ETA after I read your updated post:  Yeah, drop this class like a hot potato.

 

My 16yo is dual enrolled at the local CC and normally when there is an issue its easy to handle on the high school side, were having issues with an instructor at the CC. The class is online and my daughter is very frustrated, the class is Stress Management and oddly enough its caused her the most stress she's ever had about a class and were only about 2 weeks in. There are multiple issues and since its a college class I can't step in to resolve the issues. Teen has ASD so is really stressing, especially about the fact she's going to tank her grade in just the 2nd week because she's finding the class impossible due to unclear expectations. I don't know how to help her or what to suggest since I've never ran into this issue before.

 

The issues:
The syllabus is a standard college issued one not specific to the class beyond the name and section. Not so much as a my name is Mike and I'm the teacher, here's how to contact me and what my expectations are (I finally found his email in the help forum on the discussion forum). Doesn't explain due dates, grading, office hours or anything. (she's been stressing all week so I finally sat down to see if I can figure it out and help her)

 

Blackboard is a mess, the link to email the instructor goes to the page for the instructor to email the students, no due dates anywhere, in his audio lecture (which I listened to thinking maybe she missed it) it keeps saying to check the calendar for due dates but there is nothing loaded in the calendar, I can see her other classes due dates but nothing for this course.

 

The course is disorganized and what should be one file is split into many making it more complicated then it needs to be to track files and lectures. It stressed me and I'm not even taking the class.

 

She's emailed the teacher 3 times since Monday and has not gotten any response. She also posted on the help forum of the discussion board and also did not get a response, only from another student who didn't know either.

 

I thought I would just take her to campus during his office hours which are not mentioned anywhere either, I found them under the schools instructor directory and he only has online hours amd no campus office and no suggestion on how to contact him (her online HS has link to a virtual classroom on blackboard). I'm just at a loss and don't know what to suggest to my daughter beyond going to the dept chair which seems overkill.

 

We don't want to drop the class, I think it will be beneficial for her as she has major issues with stress and its a life skill she she needs to acquire. She's taken much more difficult courses without an issue but it looks like, well frankly laziness that the instructor couldn't even be bothered to write a syllabus. He has great reviews on ratemyprofessor.com so I don't know why were running into these issues.

 

She's had a good experience do far with college classes so I don't want her to get discouraged.

 

What do I suggest to her to help her resolve the issues?

 

 

Edited January 22, 2017 by reefgazer

[kiana]

Get out now. It's probably going to end up a situation where he stuffs up so much that he just passes everyone, but you can't know that for sure. 

 

Report all of this to the department, drop the class, and find something else. If it's too late to add something new, possibly the college has a second half-term class that would fit the schedule? 

[regentrude]

Drop the class. A course that starts out like this is not going to get better.

An instructor who does not have his course set up clearly at the beginning of the semester will likely not suddenly become responsive, organized, and timely.

 

But, as a general advice: make sure you student checks her email daily, so that she does not miss emails from the instructors. Sometimes Blackboard is down, and the only way an instrctor can reach the students is by emailing them - do not rely on communications happening within the LMS.

Also, issues like this should be addressed with the department.

[Mom22ns]

But, as a general advice: make sure you student checks her email daily, so that she does not miss emails from the instructors. Sometimes Blackboard is down, and the only way an instrctor can reach the students is by emailing them - do not rely on communications happening within the LMS.

 

This for sure! My kids have found about half of their professors use email as the primary contact and at least a quarter don't use blackboard at all, even though they are supposed to. 

 

I would have her drop the class. She is essentially coming in 2 weeks behind and the odds are too high that the teacher's organization is going to remain an issue. But from now on, check email every day!

[regentrude]

This for sure! My kids have found about half of their professors use email as the primary contact and at least a quarter don't use blackboard at all, even though they are supposed to. 

 

Blackboard has many disadvantages. It glitches frequently. The gradebook does not allow the full functionality an Excel spreadsheet has. Plus, if the instructor is not on campus, which is often the case especially with adjuncts who do not have their own office, they may be unable to log into the system remotely. Email is far more robust and more widely accessible.

Edited January 22, 2017 by regentrude

[BlueTaelon]

This for sure! My kids have found about half of their professors use email as the primary contact and at least a quarter don't use blackboard at all, even though they are supposed to. 

 

I would have her drop the class. She is essentially coming in 2 weeks behind and the odds are too high that the teacher's organization is going to remain an issue. But from now on, check email every day!

 

She's really bad about checking email, we've never had a teacher that used only email and everything was still within BB but it still doesn't excuse all the other issues. She has full credit for week 1, its only week 2 she's missed. We'll get it sorted and figure out what to do by Tuesday.

 

Blackboard has many disadvantages. It glitches frequently. The gradebook does not allow the full functionality an Excel spreadsheet has. Plus, if the instructor is not on campus, which is often the case especially with adjuncts who do not have their own office, they may be unable to log into the system remotely. Email is far more robust and more widely accessible.

Been using it for 3 years, none of the instructors are on campus though the high school side, very rarely an issue with it so wasn't worried about using it in college.

[G5052]

She's really bad about checking email, we've never had a teacher that used only email and everything was still within BB but it still doesn't excuse all the other issues. She has full credit for week 1, its only week 2 she's missed. We'll get it sorted and figure out what to do by Tuesday.

 

Been using it for 3 years, none of the instructors are on campus though the high school side, very rarely an issue with it so wasn't worried about using it in college.

 

Actually, for legal reasons, I'm supposed to put ALL of my announcements and reminders on Blackboard. I live in an affluent, sue-happy area of the country, and that's the message given every semester. It's fine to email an individual or reply to an individual, but don't use email for any group-related matter. There apparently have been lawsuits over critical, lost emails.

 

I hear all kinds of bad things about Blackboard, but our state community college system very rarely has problems with it. They provide 24/7 coverage in a central location, and then I have general 24/7 coverage on all IT matters through the college. In 2016, it was only down or had issues for me twice. I think a lot of it is how it's managed and the expertise of those doing that.

 

In contrast, in the other educational setting where I teach, they use a different CMS. There is a central contact, but the nuts-and-bolts have been contracted out. It's actually a little better than it was, but it's not at all as reliable as Blackboard for me. That CMS goes down in some way probably 2-3 times a month.

Edited January 22, 2017 by G5052

[Lanny]

Drop the course tomorrow. Remember the Instructors name and never sign up for another course with him. He was unprepared from the start and the course is/was not ready.  No experience with Blackboard, TTUISD uses "Moodle", which began in Australia, but the lack of communications is a killer, especially for a course that is supposed to be about Stress...  Let the High School and the CC know about the issues. There are lots of wonderful instructors out there, but this one is not among them...  If your DD doesn't need the Credit, possibly look into a Free MOOC course from a reputable university.  NOTE: i suggest to my DD (and I do this too) that she check her email Inbox, and the SPAM box, at least once a day.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Another vote for dropping the course.

 

One method for managing stress is finding ways to reduce it.  Removing oneself in a timely way from a bad situation is a useful life skill.  Walk your dd through the college's info on dropping courses and help her through the process.  Many people have to drop courses in their college careers and knowing how to do it and when it has to be done is another growth experience.

 

BTW, you mentioned email.  One thing that we've done is to have ds's emails auto forward to one parent account and to allow delegation to the other parent.  Sometimes dh will see an important email that gets lost in the clutter.  Sometimes I have been able to go in and find a critical piece of information that they couldn't locate.  It might be a useful tool to consider.  (Of course it also means that dh was getting double the emails about broken CC elevators all semester long.  He started forwarding the emails along with snarky comments about the immanent rise of the machines.)

[BlueTaelon]

I actually have them forwarded to me to help her keep track since she has problems with executive functions, I missed it too :o 

 

 

Another vote for dropping the course.

 

One method for managing stress is finding ways to reduce it.  Removing oneself in a timely way from a bad situation is a useful life skill.  Walk your dd through the college's info on dropping courses and help her through the process.  Many people have to drop courses in their college careers and knowing how to do it and when it has to be done is another growth experience.

 

BTW, you mentioned email.  One thing that we've done is to have ds's emails auto forward to one parent account and to allow delegation to the other parent.  Sometimes dh will see an important email that gets lost in the clutter.  Sometimes I have been able to go in and find a critical piece of information that they couldn't locate.  It might be a useful tool to consider.  (Of course it also means that dh was getting double the emails about broken CC elevators all semester long.  He started forwarding the emails along with snarky comments about the immanent rise of the machines.)

 

[regentrude]

Actually, for legal reasons, I'm supposed to put ALL of my announcements and reminders on Blackboard. I live in an affluent, sue-happy area of the country, and that's the message given every semester. It's fine to email an individual or reply to an individual, but don't use email for any group-related matter. There apparently have been lawsuits over critical, lost emails.

 

I hear all kinds of bad things about Blackboard, but our state community college system very rarely has problems with it. They provide 24/7 coverage in a central location, and then I have general 24/7 coverage on all IT matters through the college. In 2016, it was only down or had issues for me twice. I think a lot of it is how it's managed and the expertise of those doing that.

 

In contrast, in the other educational setting where I teach, they use a different CMS. There is a central contact, but the nuts-and-bolts have been contracted out. It's actually a little better than it was, but it's not at all as reliable as Blackboard for me. That CMS goes down in some way probably 2-3 times a month.

 

Our campus has been wanting to switch to another LMS for several years - there had been pilot studies with faculty and the verdict was unanimous to leave BB, but our state wide system dragged its feet. We finally got to switch to Canvas, as of this year.

 

The most irritating feature I encountered was that BB deletes any record of a student's grades when the student leaves the section. Which means that if a student switches sections, all his previous grades disappear, unless the instructor has downloaded them. We had several instances of students switching between grade downloads and their records being deleted. (And really, if I need to save the grades to my computer all the time so BB does not mess them up, I might as well use Excel right away)

Also, BB does not keep the information about the multiple different course components. If a student has to take a lecture section, lab section, and recitation section under the same course number, the lecture BB has no record which other sections the student attends. Which makes coordinating grades a nightmare.

 

No, good riddance. I hate the thing. I had to use it for quizzes, and students often reported malfunctions - individual students, when it worked fine for the other 300, so it was not my quiz that was faulty.

 

I have heard from colleagues that the grade spreadsheet did not calculate grades properly, if the algorithm was complicated. That alone would nix it for me.

Edited January 23, 2017 by regentrude

[G5052]

Our campus has been wanting to switch to another LMS for several years - there had been pilot studies with faculty and the verdict was unanimous to leave BB, but our state wide system dragged its feet. We finally got to switch to Canvas, as of this year.

 

The most irritating feature I encountered was that BB deletes any record of a student's grades when the student leaves the section. Which means that if a student switches sections, all his previous grades disappear, unless the instructor has downloaded them. We had several instances of students switching between grade downloads and their records being deleted. (And really, if I need to save the grades to my computer all the time so BB does not mess them up, I might as well use Excel right away)

Also, BB does not keep the information about the multiple different course components. If a student has to take a lecture section, lab section, and recitation section under the same course number, the lecture BB has no record which other sections the student attends. Which makes coordinating grades a nightmare.

 

No, good riddance. I hate the thing. I had to use it for quizzes, and students often reported malfunctions - individual students, when it worked fine for the other 300, so it was not my quiz that was faulty.

 

I have heard from colleagues that the grade spreadsheet did not calculate grades properly, if the algorithm was complicated. That alone would nix it for me.

 

Ah. Different situations!

 

Somehow my college system archives the grades every night. So if they switch sections, the in-house Blackboard folks copy them over and tell the new professor. I've never had that not work or heard of a problem.

 

And in computer science and IT, we have no labs or recitations. So just single sections. 

 

I've never had a quiz or problem in my gradebook either. I admit that if you do weighted grades though, it's not intuitive at all. I used to teach an online professional development course for my current college in advanced Blackboard skills, and that was one of the topics. In my sections, I just use straight points. Too hard to keep track of the categories and weights!

 

Our Blackboard contract is up this summer, but I haven't heard what they're planning there. My "mole" in Blackboard support retired.

 

I've also used Wimba, Schoology, and Edmodo. I'm not fond of any of those. 

[MerryAtHope]

I'd be for dropping it too, and working on stress management outside of a college class context (something that doesn't go on her college grade record, whether you help her with a course that you teach, or it's something through a local counselor etc...). His class sounds way to stressful regardless of the topic, but especially so for this topic!

[Lanny]

Our campus has been wanting to switch to another LMS for several years - there had been pilot studies with faculty and the verdict was unanimous to leave BB, but our state wide system dragged its feet. We finally got to switch to Canvas, as of this year.

 

<snip>

 

Interesting that your school went to Canvas.  I am curious and am signed up for a very short (2 weeks) MOOC course from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University that will begin early in February. The course is on Canvas.Net

 

DD has been using the "Moodle" LMS for 4 1/2 school years and she says it works pretty well. I believe there are occasional glitches, but that those are extremely rare.  

[kiana]

Interesting that your school went to Canvas.  I am curious and am signed up for a very short (2 weeks) MOOC course from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University that will begin early in February. The course is on Canvas.Net

 

Canvas is doing well for me so far. 

[Bootsie]

Several reasons could exist for why the instructor has not posted items in Blackboard: 

 

1)  The instructor is disorganized

2)  The instructor is new and does not know how to use Blackboard

3)  The instructor does not have complete access to Blackboard.  I was a course coordinator at a school where this often happened.  New hires would not officially be hired until several weeks into the semester, and therefore could not get instructor access to Blackboard until then.  Also, if a graduate student became teaching assistant, it would be weeks before all of the red tape and bureaucracy could be worked through to get the student account switched to n instructor account so that things could be posted to Blackboard.

 

 

[Lanny]

Canvas is doing well for me so far. 

 

Today, I received an email from Canvas.Net   My course begins in 2 weeks.  I logged in and out of their web site, twice, without any issues.  I could see that I am enrolled, and that the course is "In Progress", but didn't see any information from the instructor yet. 

 

In the case of the OP, there is some irony in that the course is about Stress Management and that this issue is causing her DD so  much stress...

 

Possibly the Instructor knows the subject and how to teach it, but he did not seem to have had it ready to go on the Blackboard platform. 

[BlueTaelon]

I contacted her dual enrollment councilor and she forwarded my email to the dept head and the teacher and said we should hear back by tomorrow morning at the latest. The teacher is not new to the college, I know he taught this course last semester because we were on the wait list.

[BlueTaelon]

Today, I received an email from Canvas.Net   My course begins in 2 weeks.  I logged in and out of their web site, twice, without any issues.  I could see that I am enrolled, and that the course is "In Progress", but didn't see any information from the instructor yet. 

 

In the case of the OP, there is some irony in that the course is about Stress Management and that this issue is causing her DD so  much stress...

 

Possibly the Instructor knows the subject and how to teach it, but he did not seem to have had it ready to go on the Blackboard platform. 

 

Thats what I thought! His lecture is good but it needs to be put into 1 file, his lecture is 68 minutes long but is 17 different mp3's. They range from just 40 seconds to 2-3 minutes each. This is supposed to be the easiest class she's taken from a materials POV, instead its the most frustrating.  I feel like I'm "THAT" parent, I don't like being "THAT" parent.

[JanetC]

Yep, you are "that" parent. For college level courses, it should be the student handling any issues, NOT the parent.

 

I still think your DD should drop the class, BTW.

[G5052]

IMHO, dual enrollment requires some parental involvement. In my state at least, the homeschool parent is still in charge of the student's education with the college as an outsourced provider, just as you might outsource to a local or  online homeschool class provider.

 

With my oldest, I gradually backed off on his dual enrollment as I saw that he was fine handling issues that came up. Then when he became a full-time student, I backed off completely unless he asked me for advice or got into a rough situation. We had a crazy issue with his AP Latin credits where he wasn't getting anywhere with them, and I finally went in as "professor mom" and got it straightened out. They've been really frustrating though. Frankly I know much more than the majority of the advisors in terms of crafting a degree that will transfer under the guaranteed admission agreements to specific programs.

[BlueTaelon]

IMHO, dual enrollment requires some parental involvement. In my state at least, the homeschool parent is still in charge of the student's education with the college as an outsourced provider, just as you might outsource to a local or  online homeschool class provider.

 

With my oldest, I gradually backed off on his dual enrollment as I saw that he was fine handling issues that came up. Then when he became a full-time student, I backed off completely unless he asked me for advice or got into a rough situation. We had a crazy issue with his AP Latin credits where he wasn't getting anywhere with them, and I finally went in as "professor mom" and got it straightened out. They've been really frustrating though. Frankly I know much more than the majority of the advisors in terms of crafting a degree that will transfer under the guaranteed admission agreements to specific programs.

 

I agree, when its dual enrollment sometimes the parent does need to get involved and in my daughters case she really struggles with advocating for herself. Its something were working on but just because she can do the work academically doesn't mean she's capable of emotionally acting like an adult and advocating for herself. She has autism, maturity tends to come much later.

 

The instructor just emailed me and apologized, something about needing to merge the courses and she must have not gotten merged and was stuck in the old class. He also emailed a 6 page syllabus that answered all the stuff my daughter needed to know. He says it was sent out the first day of class but no one received it, its also now loaded on BB. I'm happy it lists the due dates so I can put it on her calendar, or rather she can but at least I know when to check in with her. It looks like they are updating the course like it should be as I see things changing looking around. I think she can survive the course with all the changes and it will actually force her to learn something I've never been able to get her to do, learn to take notes! You have to turn in your notes on his lecture every week. That ticked me off when it was required by my instructors but I think for her it will help her get used to taking notes because we can't get her to do it AT ALL. She just wants to memorize everything on the fly. The kid is thinking med school (immunology researcher), she better start learning note taking stills while the stakes are low. She's an A student and its always worked for her but that day is going to come when it doesn't and heaven forbid she has to write something down lol

[Bootsie]

 

The instructor just emailed me and apologized, something about needing to merge the courses and she must have not gotten merged and was stuck in the old class.

 

As a professor, I have had this happen with courses I am teaching.  It was very frustrating because I would not know it was happening to certain students, and when I found out I could not contact the students.  This would happen if I were teaching multiple sections of the same course.  I had one course that I was teaching that had multiple sections and a lab that caused a strange registration issue.  Every semester on the final withdrawal date, all of the students in one section would be removed from Blackboard.  It would happen at 5:00pm on a Friday--and I would not be able to get it resolved until the next week.  Having to spend more time on getting the registrar's department and IT to correct their mistakes than I was spending on teaching was annoying.

[BlueTaelon]

As a professor, I have had this happen with courses I am teaching.  It was very frustrating because I would not know it was happening to certain students, and when I found out I could not contact the students.  This would happen if I were teaching multiple sections of the same course.  I had one course that I was teaching that had multiple sections and a lab that caused a strange registration issue.  Every semester on the final withdrawal date, all of the students in one section would be removed from Blackboard.  It would happen at 5:00pm on a Friday--and I would not be able to get it resolved until the next week.  Having to spend more time on getting the registrar's department and IT to correct their mistakes than I was spending on teaching was annoying.

 

Thankfully he was very nice about it. I know there are 2 sections for the course so it sounds like they merged into 1. I let him know there were a couple other students that seemed to be in the same situation so he might want to look into it as tomorrow is drop day. He's letting her make up the missed work she refused to do last week because of the lack of due dates. She had a teacher last semester who wanted everything by Wednesday instead of Sunday and no late work accepted period so she was afraid she would just waste her time.

 

So with the new info and changes I'm ok with her staying in the course.

 

ETA: I did not expect him to let her make up the work, didn't want anyone to think I was asking for it. Its very nice of him to allow her to do that.

Edited January 24, 2017 by BlueTaelon

[JanetC]

I'm glad it's starting to get straightened out.

 

Our community college is very "PARENTS STAY OUT." They are very clear that a parent should not talk to a professor under any circumstances, only the student.

 

I can call the high school programs office and that's about it.

[BlueTaelon]

I'm glad it's starting to get straightened out.

 

Our community college is very "PARENTS STAY OUT." They are very clear that a parent should not talk to a professor under any circumstances, only the student.

 

I can call the high school programs office and that's about it.

 

The high school is the one who told me to call the dual enrollment office, dual enrollment said it was totally fine in this case because there was an actual problem and not just a parent demanding to know why their kid is failing type thing.

[Mom22ns]

The high school is the one who told me to call the dual enrollment office, dual enrollment said it was totally fine in this case because there was an actual problem and not just a parent demanding to know why their kid is failing type thing.

 

Yep. This is what colleges don't want. They also have privacy rules that keep them from discussing most situations with a parent, but you weren't asking what your daughter's grades were or why. Instead you were able to help the professor uncover a technical issue and everyone benefited. Well done for stepping in only as really needed, but not being afraid to help.

[TravelingChris]

I never talked with teachers when my kids were in dual enrollment but I did help with other school issues like first they said she didn't need to bring in immunization records because she was dual enrolled but then they changed their mind.