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December 2, 2009, 02:00 PM ET

Open Thread Wednesday!

By George H. Williams

What’s on your mind?

How’s your semester going?

Do you need advice or feedback about something related to life and work in higher ed?

Do you have advice or feedback to share about something related to life and work in higher ed?

What would you like to see covered at ProfHacker?

Let us hear from you in the comments!

[cc licensed flickr photo by ToastyKen]

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Comments

1. William Patrick Wend - December 03, 2009 at 06:21 am

(I can't find a contact page on the site)

Who do I get in touch with to pitch ideas for Prof Hacker posts?

2. Tria Wood - December 03, 2009 at 12:16 pm

Can anyone recommend some wording to include in my syllabus that covers technological "breakdowns" and other issues that students claim interfere with their ability to turn in assignments online? It seems that especially at the end of the semester, many students suddenly experience mysterious technical difficulties--computers get fried, files get lost, they can't log in to the college computer system, the software for turning in electronic files stops accepting their files, you name it. (Of course, some of these are legitimate issues and some are probably outright lies.)

I already have something to the effect of "it is the student's responsibility to save and keep backup files of all assignments." What I need now is something to that addresses the "I can't log in all of a sudden," or "Blackboard wasn't working for me (even though everyone else in the class had no problem with it)" kind of issues--basically the kinds of issues to which, when I ask "Did you contact Tech Support for help?" the answer is "Uh, no..."

3. William Patrick Wend - December 03, 2009 at 05:21 pm

I tell them, over and over, to make sure they are starting their work early so, at the last minute, if there is a problem with Blackboard, etc there is no excuse.

I can't believe, with the emails problems we've had on campus, how many students don't contact IT when they have problems.

4. Courtney - December 03, 2009 at 09:25 pm

Thinking about: evaluations, grading, dangerous students, evaluating and archiving my teaching, resolutions for next semester, and how to make the most of winter break.

5. Brian Croxall - December 03, 2009 at 10:28 pm

I like the idea of a resolutions post, Courtney. It's something I've been reflecting on during my outrageous commute after finishing my last class today before finals.

6. Julie Meloni - December 04, 2009 at 12:49 am

You can contact Jason or George; click to their author pages for various and sundry ways to contact them.

7. William Patrick Wend - December 04, 2009 at 06:04 am

OK, will do. Thanks Julie!

8. George H. Williams - December 04, 2009 at 07:34 am

As campuses adopt (and encourage) the use of various digital tools for our teaching, this is becoming an issue for more and more of us, isn't it?

Check out this thread from last month on emailed assignments. I especially like this part of what Brian says, "I make it clear to students that technology has been known to fail and that they shouldn’t count on it working at the last minute..."

I think Nels has written before that he gives students a narrow range of dates during which students can submit their work electronically. In other words, the assignment sheet might read, "Students should email me their completed essay at any point between Wednesday at noon (at the earliest) and Friday at noon (at the latest)."

And I seem to remember some language from Jason telling students to expect 2 emailed responses from him: the first to acknowledge receipt of the assignment, and the second with his comments and grade.

Maybe something like this would be good:

Students must email me their completed essay at any point between Wednesday at noon (at the earliest) and Friday at noon (at the latest). Of course, technology has been known to fail from time to time, so don't count on it always working at the last minute. When I receive your email, I'll send you a brief acknowledgment of receipt to let you know it's made it into my inbox. If you don't receive such an email within 12 hours of sending me your assignment, that probably means I didn't get it. If you're having problems with any of the technology used for this course, your first step should be to contact the campus IT help desk to assist you in solving the problems. It's your responsibility (not mine, not the held desk's) to submit your work using the required methods and by the deadline.
That's just my first-draft attempt at such language, though. Any thoughts?

9. George H. Williams - December 04, 2009 at 07:42 am

I also like "resolutions for next semester," and I have been thinking about them, too. It seems to me that now's the time to look back on what worked and what didn't this past semester--not just with regard to teaching but also with regard to research productivity, service responsibilities, and having a healthy and reasonably happy life--and put that knowledge to work in planning next semester.

As for "dangerous students," that's something I've been mulling over myself for a few years after an unusual experience with a student in a class I taught in grad school. I'll see what I can do...

10. William Patrick Wend - December 04, 2009 at 10:27 am

I had a very bad "dangerous student" experience last year while subbing that made me stop working in a school. I'm sorry you are having one.

11. Courtney - December 04, 2009 at 11:24 am

Would Prof Hacker be a place for readers to publish resolutions? I would love to see what others are doing, get ideas for myself, and increase my accountability by sharing what I plan to do. Maybe we could discover a "Top 10" that would yield new topics for posts in the new semester?

12. Courtney - December 04, 2009 at 11:25 am

Oh, PS--thanks for the encouragement on my dangerous student situation, everyone!

13. William Patrick Wend - December 04, 2009 at 12:50 pm

If I sent in a job application a few days ago, it shows up in my profile as submitted, but did not get a confirmation email should I call HR to make sure they got it? It's been about three days.

14. Brian Croxall - December 04, 2009 at 01:53 pm

If it was a job at ProfHacker HQ, then you should call. Otherwise, I'd say you're fine.

15. Julie Meloni - December 04, 2009 at 02:49 pm

Where IS ProfHacker HQ, anyway? I still don't know. :)

16. Tria Wood - December 05, 2009 at 06:29 pm

Very helpful ideas, all! Thanks!

I use Turnitin rather than email for submitting assignments, which requires students to log in to our Blackboard system. That's where all the "but I really did submit this even though the file is nowhere to be seen" and "my login suddenly doesn't work" issues come in. And then there are the "my laptop exploded and I can't retrieve my files" type things... but I think that the language above can be easily tweaked for my purposes. Again, thanks!

17. Tria Wood - December 05, 2009 at 06:30 pm

Yes to the above, and I'm also interested in the "archiving and evaluating my teaching" topic.

18. William Patrick Wend - December 06, 2009 at 12:38 pm

I'd love to see a Prof Hacker post about Turnitin. My experience with it as a student left me with a really bad taste in my mouth. Right now, I am very uncomfortable with having my students use it.

19. George H. Williams - December 08, 2009 at 02:14 pm

We have to keep moving it because somebody can't stop blabbing about the location.

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