readinmom Posted November 23, 2018 Share Posted November 23, 2018 Ds is enrolled at community college. He has enjoyed one particular class this semester, and constantly talked about it. In the last month, the instructor would fail to show up, or leave notes on the door that class was cancelled. Then, nothing. No communication whatsoever. One of the department heads held a class meeting, said that the instructor had cut off all communication, would not return emails or phone calls. They would continue to hold class meetings for attendance purposes, would seek replacement instructor. In the meantime, the previous instructor wiped out all student grades, erased all of their lab account activity, etc. Ds came home this week fuming. A new instructor was hired, class was given a new syllabus for the remaining 3 weeks, and all grades would start over. The amount/type of work and expectations are completely different than before, and very unrealistic given the time period left. The instructor gave a big assignment that was due Thursday, no exceptions. One of the students pointed out that Thursday was Thanksgiving, instructor became very agitated, told class to figure it out. Has anyone had experience with this? It seems unfair that all those weeks of work are now wasted, unrecognized. Since it was all electronic grading, lab assignments, there is no paper trail to prove otherwise. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenade Posted November 23, 2018 Share Posted November 23, 2018 Wow. I think the students need to get together and talk to the person in charge, and take it right up the line if they need to. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted November 23, 2018 Share Posted November 23, 2018 That is not acceptable. The students need to take this up with the department head or, if that is unsuccessful, the dean. The college needs to figure out a way to deal with the instructor's unprofessional conduct without penalizing the students. Go up the chain and make noise. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readinmom Posted November 23, 2018 Author Share Posted November 23, 2018 I agree...all of it just seems so unprofessional. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted November 23, 2018 Share Posted November 23, 2018 Adding: this is one of the rare situations where I would get involved as a parent if the students' efforts don't achieve results. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted November 23, 2018 Share Posted November 23, 2018 The students and possibly their parents need to be very squeaky wheels in this situation. It's unfair to suddenly base everything on the last three weeks of work, and then to increase the amount of work. Surely there must be some kind of system back-up from a recent date that will still have the information the instructor deleted. If the department isn't helpful, the dean/director of the community college may be of more help. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 1 hour ago, klmama said: . Surely there must be some kind of system back-up from a recent date that will still have the information the instructor deleted. Yes. The department needs to contact IT. I would hope they have regular backups of the LMS. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 How messed up. I feel like we often have stories on this board about CC class grievances where the kid mostly needs to buck up and the parent needs to realize it's a college class and butt out, but I feel like I'm hearing more and more stories like this from friends with kids doing DE - classes having assignments suddenly changed, grading scales that were on the syllabus suddenly switched, having instructors changed midway, having classes canceled repeatedly and then assignments which class was supposed to prepare a student for still due... Many CC's seem to be pretty unprofessional, honestly. I hope this gets worked out. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamakelly Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 Whoa that’s crazy!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 They absolutely need to go to the Dean about it. This is absolutely unacceptable. If the Dean is in on this ridiculous scheme, then the students need to go even higher. It is totally unacceptable to wipe out student grades, after the Drop and Withdrawal date, and to start over like this. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 22 hours ago, Farrar said: How messed up. I feel like we often have stories on this board about CC class grievances where the kid mostly needs to buck up and the parent needs to realize it's a college class and butt out, but I feel like I'm hearing more and more stories like this from friends with kids doing DE - classes having assignments suddenly changed, grading scales that were on the syllabus suddenly switched, having instructors changed midway, having classes canceled repeatedly and then assignments which class was supposed to prepare a student for still due... Many CC's seem to be pretty unprofessional, honestly. I hope this gets worked out. We have had a few situations that were truly awful. We have had at least two instructors for my son that were so extremely disorganized. One is an alcoholic, showing up smelling like alcohol. No dates on the syllabus, dates and schedules constantly changing, using the wrong platform to send out assignments (aka usually using Canvas but then suddently sending email to students personal accounts, then getting mad and giving 0 to students for not seeing the email, meanwhile students were checking canvas all the time.), or another favorite- when instructors upload a brand new assignment after 5 pm, and then it's due the next day. We have had tough instructors, and instructors with weird vendettas, and instructors who weren't good at teaching but all of that is to be expected and I have done nothing but to tell my son to get with it, and do his best. However, with the two or three instructors who are truly so disorganized, it has been very hard. My son might get the first C of his life this month in Physics. From the alcholic instructor with no dates on the syllabus, who doesn't pre-test his own labs, so many times the labs are "broken" and who changes the grading scale for every single test. Oh, no he doesn't believe in grading on a curve, so what he does is change what is an F every test so that no more than one student gets an F, and then he changes the rest of the grades accordingly, so that the majority of the students get a C and very few get a B or A. It is the most messed up situation I ever saw. But the CC can't find many people willing to work in a really high COL area with extremely bad traffic (meaning that no, people living outside the area could not really conceivably work there since even people as little as ten miles away have a more than one hour commute)...so finding people is hard and then guess how hard it is to find people to teach Calculus Physics??? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 The Indian lady with the vendetta/...she turned out to be a good teacher, and very committed (though verbally scary). Sadly, she got the flu and had to miss four days of classes, and then sit there with her poor head in her hands, telling students to sit two rows back while she drugged her poor self to show up because they could not find anyone else able to teach Calc 2. BUT then, the college had sent her for a mandatory teaching conference, in the midddle of the semester and she missed another 2 days of class, so the students were told to show up and teach themselves using Khan Academy. The college needs to have a backup for situations like this IMO... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 On 11/23/2018 at 10:50 AM, readinmom said: Ds is enrolled at community college. He has enjoyed one particular class this semester, and constantly talked about it. In the last month, the instructor would fail to show up, or leave notes on the door that class was cancelled. Then, nothing. No communication whatsoever. One of the department heads held a class meeting, said that the instructor had cut off all communication, would not return emails or phone calls. They would continue to hold class meetings for attendance purposes, would seek replacement instructor. In the meantime, the previous instructor wiped out all student grades, erased all of their lab account activity, etc. Ds came home this week fuming. A new instructor was hired, class was given a new syllabus for the remaining 3 weeks, and all grades would start over. The amount/type of work and expectations are completely different than before, and very unrealistic given the time period left. The instructor gave a big assignment that was due Thursday, no exceptions. One of the students pointed out that Thursday was Thanksgiving, instructor became very agitated, told class to figure it out. Has anyone had experience with this? It seems unfair that all those weeks of work are now wasted, unrecognized. Since it was all electronic grading, lab assignments, there is no paper trail to prove otherwise. Wow! No, we've experienced nothing like this, and I agree with so many others--totally unacceptable! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 13 hours ago, Calming Tea said: The Indian lady with the vendetta/...she turned out to be a good teacher, and very committed (though verbally scary). Sadly, she got the flu and had to miss four days of classes, and then sit there with her poor head in her hands, telling students to sit two rows back while she drugged her poor self to show up because they could not find anyone else able to teach Calc 2. BUT then, the college had sent her for a mandatory teaching conference, in the midddle of the semester and she missed another 2 days of class, so the students were told to show up and teach themselves using Khan Academy. The college needs to have a backup for situations like this IMO... Part of the problem is, they don't have the staff. CC pays barely anything. In fact, if you aren't tenured, and you don't have a full time spot, the hourly wage is terrible. No one wants to do it. I was offered an ESL job at our local CC and the pay was like $25/hour not including grading time, commute time, etc..... So, for a 2 hour class, adding in grading and planning and commuting, I would be working around 4 hours......making the pay $12.50 minus taxes, so around $9/hour. Um....no. Not worth it in the least. Even for double that. Not worth it. Then I looked into becoming a CC advisor/counselor. The jobs were few and far between and quite competitive, and the pay was less than I currently make. I have stayed in K-12 for a reason. All that to say, it is hard to get backups for CC. 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 On 11/23/2018 at 11:50 AM, readinmom said: Ds is enrolled at community college. He has enjoyed one particular class this semester, and constantly talked about it. In the last month, the instructor would fail to show up, or leave notes on the door that class was cancelled. Then, nothing. No communication whatsoever. One of the department heads held a class meeting, said that the instructor had cut off all communication, would not return emails or phone calls. They would continue to hold class meetings for attendance purposes, would seek replacement instructor. In the meantime, the previous instructor wiped out all student grades, erased all of their lab account activity, etc. Ds came home this week fuming. A new instructor was hired, class was given a new syllabus for the remaining 3 weeks, and all grades would start over. The amount/type of work and expectations are completely different than before, and very unrealistic given the time period left. The instructor gave a big assignment that was due Thursday, no exceptions. One of the students pointed out that Thursday was Thanksgiving, instructor became very agitated, told class to figure it out. Has anyone had experience with this? It seems unfair that all those weeks of work are now wasted, unrecognized. Since it was all electronic grading, lab assignments, there is no paper trail to prove otherwise. I am so sorry. That sounds horrible. I do think the students should petition, write letters, etc....to the school. No idea why a "professional" who agreed to teach the class, would act that say. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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