Professor sets up funny test to see how many students actually read the syllabus...

[Corraleno]

A professor at UT Chattanooga left a $50 bill and a note in a locker and hid the clue for finding it in the middle of a sentence in the middle of the syllabus. No one claimed it, lol. He said since the story has gone viral he hopes next semester results in "the most well read syllabi of all time."

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-the-monday-edition-1.6284012/this-prof-hid-50-in-a-locker-to-see-if-his-students-read-his-syllabus-nobody-found-it-1.6284015?fbclid=IwAR39yqS2Je-syorFY9V_sDUOuwiTDcQJqaAwMKFaptByjQ7lcerf97BZ8PI

 

[regentrude]

I can totally see that happening. Judging by the number of questions I get about stuff that is clearly explained by my syllabus....

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I thought the line in the syllabus was really vague. It doesn't refer to money at all. If I'd seen it, I might have just considered it an error.

[MerryAtHope]

It’s not surprising. Kids have a ton of info thrown at them on multiple platforms now. And professors are constantly changing dates on them. Why read it when they are just going to get an update in class, through email, or online that changes things? (Or sometimes, as has happened to my kids more than once, conflicting info in multiple places. Or syllabi that were cut and paste from previous semesters and not appropriately updated.) It’s really not like when I went to school and the syllabus was everything. 

[daijobu]

14 hours ago, MerryAtHope said:

It’s not surprising. Kids have a ton of info thrown at them on multiple platforms now. And professors are constantly changing dates on them. Why read it when they are just going to get an update in class, through email, or online that changes things? (Or sometimes, as has happened to my kids more than once, conflicting info in multiple places. Or syllabi that were cut and paste from previous semesters and not appropriately updated.) It’s really not like when I went to school and the syllabus was everything. 

Thank you for posting this, as DH and I were also discussing this recently.  We speculate that in the old days when syllabi were printed on actual paper, and few students used email (think 1980s)  there was a big incentive to stick to the plan because a good portion of students would skip lectures until the final and there was no realistic way to contact them. 

We are finding that nowadays professors are feeling free to change things up in the middle of the term.  Final exams are rescheduled, final projects are cancelled or projects are redefined.  Because students are now reachable electronically, professors are given license to change their courses on a whim.  To be fair, the pandemic is keeping everyone off balance, but still.  

[EKS]

I have taken well over 30 university courses since 2015, and it is apparent to me that many, many instructors (like the majority) have also not read their own syllabuses.  It's absolutely astounding.

Most recently, I had a professor whose syllabus said that absolutely no outside help (books, notes, internet, another person, whatever) could be used during exams.  But in other places (such as instructions or emails) it said that everything but the internet or another person could be used.  

Edited December 22, 2021 by EKS

[PaxEtLux]

Feel like this was just a "gotcha" stunt on the part of the professor.  Here's the text of the "free $50", from someone who posted the whole syllabus, but buried within a much large text:

Quote

Consistent with the Faculty Senate policy on Covid absences, attendance is an inseparable function of course learning objectives. As a result, skill-based courses in music may be exempt from Covid-related accommodations as a progression in skills must be obtained across the semester to be successful in these courses. Thus (free to the first who claims; locker one hundred forty-seven; combination fifteen; twenty-five; thirty-five), students may be ineligible to make up classes and coursework beyond the specified number of days as determined by the instructor. Requests will be decided on a case-by-case basis with specific emphasis on the ability to achieve learning outcomes.

 

Looks like a cut and paste error to me.  And is it ethical to go pawing around random lockers that aren't yours just because of a cryptic message in a syllabus?  If the locker number and combination had been written on a yellow sticky note on the professor's computer, and a student happened to see it during office hours, would it be ethical for the student to find the locker and try the combination? 

[El...]

It's definitely a "kids these days" feeling. It's getting more traction in the news than it deserves, IMO. Maybe we're all a tad bored? 

55 minutes ago, PaxEtLux said:

Feel like this was just a "gotcha" stunt on the part of the professor.  Here's the text of the "free $50", from someone who posted the whole syllabus, but buried within a much large text:

 

Looks like a cut and paste error to me.  And is it ethical to go pawing around random lockers that aren't yours just because of a cryptic message in a syllabus?  If the locker number and combination had been written on a yellow sticky note on the professor's computer, and a student happened to see it during office hours, would it be ethical for the student to find the locker and try the combination? 

 

[Bootsie]

On 12/22/2021 at 2:44 PM, daijobu said:

Thank you for posting this, as DH and I were also discussing this recently.  We speculate that in the old days when syllabi were printed on actual paper, and few students used email (think 1980s)  there was a big incentive to stick to the plan because a good portion of students would skip lectures until the final and there was no realistic way to contact them. 

We are finding that nowadays professors are feeling free to change things up in the middle of the term.  Final exams are rescheduled, final projects are cancelled or projects are redefined.  Because students are now reachable electronically, professors are given license to change their courses on a whim.  To be fair, the pandemic is keeping everyone off balance, but still.  

I, and most of my colleagues, try to stick with our original syllabus as much as possible.  I do not know of any colleague who has rescheduled final exams.  At any school where I have taught the final exam schedule is set by the registrar's office and is not up to the professor's discretion.  I do know of situaitons in which a professor offers an alternative to students; I get students telling me that they cannot do work for my class or attend my class because another professor has rescheduled a final; every time I have pushed for more information, it has been a situation where the professor has offered an alternative (for example the professor has to have a time for graduating seniors to take the exam early and says that anyone else can take it then also) that the student would like to take the professor up on--but the originally scheduled time is still available.  

In the past four semesters I have had to make changes to my syllabus because of pandemic and weather related closures that have been determined at the university level.  For example, I had a class scheduled to meet five times.  Severe weather and tornadoes took out the electricity in most of the area causing the university to close--yes my syllabus had to change.  Then, we had the February freeze in Texas and I was getting changing guidance from the University hourly about what to do, so I had to change my syllabus.  And that isn't even beginning with all of the COVID disruptions.  

[MerryAtHope]

On 12/24/2021 at 5:14 PM, Bootsie said:

I, and most of my colleagues, try to stick with our original syllabus as much as possible.  I do not know of any colleague who has rescheduled final exams.  At any school where I have taught the final exam schedule is set by the registrar's office and is not up to the professor's discretion.  I do know of situaitons in which a professor offers an alternative to students; I get students telling me that they cannot do work for my class or attend my class because another professor has rescheduled a final; every time I have pushed for more information, it has been a situation where the professor has offered an alternative (for example the professor has to have a time for graduating seniors to take the exam early and says that anyone else can take it then also) that the student would like to take the professor up on--but the originally scheduled time is still available.  

In the past four semesters I have had to make changes to my syllabus because of pandemic and weather related closures that have been determined at the university level.  For example, I had a class scheduled to meet five times.  Severe weather and tornadoes took out the electricity in most of the area causing the university to close--yes my syllabus had to change.  Then, we had the February freeze in Texas and I was getting changing guidance from the University hourly about what to do, so I had to change my syllabus.  And that isn't even beginning with all of the COVID disruptions.  

My kids are always thankful for instructors like you! And I think most students understand Covid changes. It’s the other, seemingly arbitrary ones and having different info in three places that doesn’t match and instructors who keep moving due dates for projects and midterms just because it’s so easy to make changes that are frustrating. It was an issue before Covid and continues to be for some classes. Just education in the modern age! 

[Garga]

I sit with my son and read every stinkin’ word on every syllabus. He’s one of those 2E types, where he’s smart as all get out, but due to learning disabilities he still needs some scaffolding from me.

And frankly, every single syllabus we’ve read has been a mess. I get so sick and tired of reading those things, because they often have conflicting information or leave out vital information. He’s taken 8 classes and so far there’s not been a single one that didn’t have a big, glaring error that made it so my son had to contact the professor for clarification.

It’s just so frustrating. If we’d have read that in there, there’s no way we’d have taken action. My GenX self would have been like, “Look—this is the weirdest mistake in any syllabus yet! But…you should go look in that locker!” and my Gen Z son would have been all, “Mom, are you kidding? I’m not going to go snooping around in someone else’s locker. That’s wrong,” and I’d have felt like a big, bumbling oaf and realized he was right—it’s wrong to go snooping in other people’s lockers.

I really hate these “gotcha” things meant to make young people look like idiots. As if any of us entered college with the wisdom that we’ve gleaned over 50 years of life. No. We entered college just as confused as the young people are today. Why pick on young people? We were all young and we all had to learn along the way. It’s just so rich that a professor did this, when I know for a fact that they write sloppy, confusing syllabi all the time, yet get snooty and self-righteous about it. It’s getting to the point where my son just flat out doesn’t believe me anymore that reading the syllabus is important, because they’re wrong more often than they’re right and now I look like I’m the clueless one for insisting that we read them all.

 

(rant over.)

[Gil]

On 12/22/2021 at 5:36 PM, PaxEtLux said:

Feel like this was just a "gotcha" stunt on the part of the professor.  Here's the text of the "free $50", from someone who posted the whole syllabus, but buried within a much large text:

Quote

Consistent with the Faculty Senate policy on Covid absences, attendance is an inseparable function of course learning objectives. As a result, skill-based courses in music may be exempt from Covid-related accommodations as a progression in skills must be obtained across the semester to be successful in these courses. Thus (free to the first who claims; locker one hundred forty-seven; combination fifteen; twenty-five; thirty-five), students may be ineligible to make up classes and coursework beyond the specified number of days as determined by the instructor. Requests will be decided on a case-by-case basis with specific emphasis on the ability to achieve learning outcomes.

Looks like a cut and paste error to me.  And is it ethical to go pawing around random lockers that aren't yours just because of a cryptic message in a syllabus?  If the locker number and combination had been written on a yellow sticky note on the professor's computer, and a student happened to see it during office hours, would it be ethical for the student to find the locker and try the combination? 

To me, this doesn't feel much like a "gotcha" stunt. It literally says "free to the first who claims;"  then gives a LOCKER (location) and COMBINATION (a key/password). If students had at least read that portion of the syllabus, some of them would have at least been prompted to ask the professor about that bit.

Personally, I'd have gone and looked in the locker if I saw that in the syllabus, then confirmed with the professor after the fact that the money really was mine to keep.

Seeing a location + passcode on a sticky note in the professor's office is not the same as seeing a notice posted in the professors office.

If I saw what looked like a private self-reminder to the professor, I'd feel guilty about violating his space if I went to the locker.
However, If I saw a public notice that said: Free to the first who claims on the professors wall, I'd go find the locker and try the combination. It's not trespassing at all.

[LauraClark]

20 minutes ago, Garga said:

I really hate these “gotcha” things meant to make young people look like idiots

I really hate "gotcha" things in general. Watching street interviews where people are asked where such-and-such a country is or who such-and-such a person is. I think I would look like an idiot-I would forget all that I know on the spot.

[Gil]

16 minutes ago, Garga said:

I sit with my son and read every stinkin’ word on every syllabus. He’s one of those 2E types, where he’s smart as all get out, but due to learning disabilities he still needs some scaffolding from me.

And frankly, every single syllabus we’ve read has been a mess. I get so sick and tired of reading those things, because they often have conflicting information or leave out vital information. He’s taken 8 classes and so far there’s not been a single one that didn’t have a big, glaring error that made it so my son had to contact the professor for clarification.

That is super frustrating! I'm so sorry that you guys have to go through that!

I guess I've been lucky. When I was in college (CC and University) I read every part and page of my syllabi and pacing schedules because I had such a tightly packed schedule and often had to selectively skip assignments or pre-do big assignments. If I saw that I was going to have 5 big papers do at mid-term, I went ahead and wrote them during the first few weeks of school. I would do the hardest parts of "group assignments" well in advance so that if the group was lousy, my grade wouldn't be. My syllabi at the CC level always made sense and were complete.

I remember when I transferred to the University that I missed the super-detailed pacing schedules that were routine at the CC level. But some classes still had rigidly upheld pacing schedules and the problem sets/projects were announced in well in advance.

One time we had a bunch of assignments in all the classes moved due to a hurricane devastating our city, but that couldn't be helped. Many students and faculty had fled for their lives and thus couldn't complete assignments at the pre-selected date/time.

As a whole though, I don't remember having many terrible syllabi. There was one class where the professors wife and newborn were having a lot of medical issues so she didn't give a pacing-schedule and that class was canceled a lot.  She did announce assignments in reasonable amount of time and would respond to emails though.

I did have 2 professors in the same department who were terrible. They had syllabi but they didn't adhere to them. That was infuriating and highly inconvenient. One of them was  also just really bad at their job and didn't seem like they knew what they were doing or talking about. That experience was very traumatizing.

Like you, I also sit with The Boys and make them read through their syllabi, pencil in important dates in both their planner books and add them to their electronic calendars, etc. So far, they've had really solid syllabi and pacing schedules with assignments announced in advance. Fingers crossed that our luck holds.

 

Quote

I really hate these “gotcha” things meant to make young people look like idiots. As if any of us entered college with the wisdom that we’ve gleaned over 50 years of life. No. We entered college just as confused as the young people are today. Why pick on young people? We were all young and we all had to learn along the way. It’s just so rich that a professor did this, when I know for a fact that they write sloppy, confusing syllabi all the time, yet get snooty and self-righteous about it. It’s getting to the point where my son just flat out doesn’t believe me anymore that reading the syllabus is important, because they’re wrong more often than they’re right and now I look like I’m the clueless one for insisting that we read them all.

The linked article didn't have a smug or mean-spirited tone to it at all. Based on the one article linked, I really don't think that the professor meant to make his students look like idiots.

 

Personally, I have played this type of prank on my kids before. More than once on my youngest. It wasn't to make them look like idiots, but rather to encourage them to read the friggin instructions which for some reason did not sink in as quickly as I would've liked.

[Bootsie]

As a professor, one of the things that I have found frustrating is the number of things that I am required to put on my syllabus that are not related to my class.  I have to put pages and pages of information that range from what to do if there is a tornado to the phone number for the office for transfer students (yes it must even go on graduate student syllabi for which the info is totally irrelevant).  I have taught at universities where the REQUIRED info is contradictory because it is two different attorneys or two different accrediting agencies are in charge of the wording.  There are some who have been pushing at my university for three paragraphs about how the land upon which the university sits once was home to Native Americans to be included on every syllabus.  In my opinion, university policy should be in the student handbook.  Course information should be on the syllabus.  But, I am required to include so much university policy that information about the class itself is lost in the 20 pages (which, of course, no student is going to read).  I don't even think most students want to know much about my teaching philosophy, learning goals, etc. that we are forced to put on the syllabus.  They want a clear listing of what they need to do when and how their grade will be calculated--the other just gets in the way.

[ieta_cassiopeia]

On 12/22/2021 at 10:36 PM, PaxEtLux said:

Looks like a cut and paste error to me.  And is it ethical to go pawing around random lockers that aren't yours just because of a cryptic message in a syllabus?  If the locker number and combination had been written on a yellow sticky note on the professor's computer, and a student happened to see it during office hours, would it be ethical for the student to find the locker and try the combination? 

That text would have been sent back to whoever was running the course at my alma mater, because all text within a section must be relevant to the subject heading and there's no indication the bracketed part is relevant to the rest of the paragraph*. In fact, some courses might even expect their students to report it as a data security violation! (This would also go for the sticky note example). Even at 18, I would have considered claiming the locker unethical, but I would definitely have reported the issue. A lot of my fellow students would not, because they'd have treated it as an error (granted, many didn't read the syllabus because the important parts are generally provided in the pre-course materials and lesson 1, or are considered common sense or a repeat of standard information). The other issue is that students who did read the syllabus may well have a reduced opinion of the professor based on providing such a garbled text, making them less likely to a) attend lectures and b) pay attention to what the lecturer says.
 

Come to think of it... if the professor is teaching in a field where data protection is an active concern, a better-written version of this would be a good teachable moment about the importance of reading all text carefully and reporting security issues. The department is more surprising than the fact this was attempted (performing arts doesn't generally expect graduates to have professional knowledge of such topics). One of my professors reported a situation about 15 years ago where a small software provider released an EULA (that document appearing before program installation that is also rarely read in detail) which had a clause that the Devil claimed the soul of anyone installing this software and anyone mentioning the claim to the software developer before a particular date would receive £10 as thanks for reporting the bad clause. (Nobody reported it, apparently). I could well imagine that professor (who taught computing-related subjects) doing something like this had the department permitted it.

* - Also, absence policies are devised by department and are issued in department guidance, thus not something an individual course would be writing about. But that varies by university/college.

[PaxEtLux]

And can we talk about the other part of the syllabus here?  Ignoring how poorly it is written, essentially it is saying "if you quarantine or isolate because of covid, you might not be able to make up the missed classes.  Ask your instructor if this happens".  And what's the limit on missed classes?  Well, we couldn't be bothered to put it in this syllabus, but that information is somewhere else.

So, if you are exposed to covid after the drop date, what, you can't even get an incomplete?  Isn't this encouraging students who may be exposed to not test or report exposures?

[EKS]

1 hour ago, PaxEtLux said:

So, if you are exposed to covid after the drop date, what, you can't even get an incomplete?  Isn't this encouraging students who may be exposed to not test or report exposures?

I know from my son's experience that this is exactly what is happening.  His university has no coherent covid policy when it comes to missing class or exams, so it's up to the individual instructors,  many of whom seem to be operating as though it's 2019.

[Bootsie]

I had to take a teaching course in order to teach my course online during COVID (although I have been teaching the subject matter since the mid-1980s--before the person teaching me how to teach was even born).  This course instructor reviewed my syllabus and one of the recommendations was to put Easter eggs in the syllabus.  These Easter eggs were to encourage students to read the syllabus but the students weren't supposed to know there were Easter eggs in the syllabus.  I could not see how the presence of something students didn't know about was supposed to encourage them to read the syllabus. Perhaps this professor had to endure a similar course on how to teach his syllabus.  

As far as the poorly written, and non-specific informaiton about missed classes, that looks like one of the mandatory drop-in paragraphs that universities are requiring professors to include.  I know I was specifically required this past semester to have similar statements. When they were written, the university was hoping that it would encourage vaccinations.  We can't mandate that students have a vaccine.  Going into the fall semester the CDC position was that if you were a contact, but were vaccinated, you did not have to quarantine.  So, the idea was that only non-vaccinated had to quarantine, and they would be responsible for missing class.  The idea was that no student would want to be in that position, so they would vaccinate to make sure they did not have to quarantine.

Then there is the student who contacted me after receiving a D in my class.  I said that the grade reflected not only the poor performance on the final but the fact that the student had not taken Quiz #3.  The student claimed he was unaware there was a Quiz 3.  On the grade breakdown, there were points for 5 quizes.  In the quiz description, five quizzes, were mentioned.  On the class scheduled, Quizz 3 was clearly marked for a specific date (and it was given on that date).  The quiz showed up on the online calendar.  Quiz 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 all showed up in the gradebook online.  And the logic of why there would be Quiz 1, Quiz 2, Quiz 4, and Quiz 5?  And the course grading does not add to 100% if Quiz 3 is missing?  So, I can see why professors are frustrated over students no reading the syllabus.

 

[regentrude]

Re Covid absences:
one reason this cannot be specified in the syllabus is that the situation is fluid. A student who is ill in my class may watch a recording if they miss the lecture or submit electronic material fi they miss the recitation or do an at-home lab if they miss the lab. So, my syllabus policy is simply : don't come to campus with Covid symptoms, contact instructor before missing class, await instructions.
The rule for a grade of Incomplete is a university policy and usually included in the Student Academic Regulations; it is not at the instructor's discretion to decide eligibility.

I am wasting a lot of time every semester answering emails with questions that are clearly answered in my syllabus. And it does affect my judgment of the student who cannot be bothered to read the document that explains all the details how the course is set up, what the point breakdown is, what assignments are graded, when exams will be given, how to submit the homework....
I am doing my best to have a concise, complete syllabus from which I do not deviate, but oh man, I am sick and tired of answering yet another time "yes, if the syllabus says there are no labs the first week of classes, it really means that there are no labs the first week of classes." 

Edited December 26, 2021 by regentrude

[regentrude]

2 hours ago, Bootsie said:

Then there is the student who contacted me after receiving a D in my class.  I said that the grade reflected not only the poor performance on the final but the fact that the student had not taken Quiz #3.  The student claimed he was unaware there was a Quiz 3.  On the grade breakdown, there were points for 5 quizes.  In the quiz description, five quizzes, were mentioned.  On the class scheduled, Quizz 3 was clearly marked for a specific date (and it was given on that date).  The quiz showed up on the online calendar.  Quiz 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 all showed up in the gradebook online.  And the logic of why there would be Quiz 1, Quiz 2, Quiz 4, and Quiz 5?  And the course grading does not add to 100% if Quiz 3 is missing?  So, I can see why professors are frustrated over students no reading the syllabus.

Yes. My syllabus had "12 Quizzes, lowest two quizzes dropped: 50 points". There were students who didn't realize until mid-semester that there were quizzes. Never mind that the quizzes show up on their Canvas under "to do" and "upcoming assignments". Not only do they not read the syllabus, they also don't go to the Canavas page for the course. Sigh.

[Bootsie]

40 minutes ago, regentrude said:

Yes. My syllabus had "12 Quizzes, lowest two quizzes dropped: 50 points". There were students who didn't realize until mid-semester that there were quizzes. Never mind that the quizzes show up on their Canvas under "to do" and "upcoming assignments". Not only do they not read the syllabus, they also don't go to the Canavas page for the course. Sigh.

What was even more annoying is that the student contacted me about his grade within minutes of my posting the grade.  He had his notifications set so that he could know as soon as I updated anything in the LMS.  He selectively paid attention to which update he was concerned about--his grade. He did not pay attention to the update that the quiz opened, the quiz was graded, etc. all semester long.