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[professor_pat]

Quick question for my wise Fora advisors. I couldn't remember which presentation group a particular student had signed up for, and I'd left the signup sheet at my office, so I emailed her to ask.

She replied that "I looked through the course materials and found there was a whole assignment I somehow
just completely didn't understand. I'm really sorry, I never grouped up with anyone. What should I do at this point to correct this?"

Now, this is in spite of having the signup sheet out and announced during at least two class sessions, verbal announcements in class, assignment on the syllabus and schedule since the beginning of the term, Q&A sessions about it, everyone else signed up, etc. To her credit, SissySpacey doesn't blame me, at least.

I wrote back saying that I didn't want to assign her to a group since the groups have already been working together for most of a week, but she could do a double-length presentation on her own (20 min) during the first presentation session this coming Thursday (the following presentation day is already filled up), and would need to choose a scholarly reading (as the groups already have) and post it for everyone by tomorrow, and I would take only a 10% penalty on that project instead of the per-day one described in the syllabus.

SissySpacey's response to that was "I want to do the work for this assignment, but a 20 minute presentation on my own seems like a lot for me right now." She is asking to do an extra-credit assignment instead.

What would you have originally suggested to Sissy? What would you say to her now?

[lotsoquestions]

I assumed that WWFD was "what would Fiona do?"

[geonerd]

Keep the task as is, but give her a couple of extra days?
Then she takes it or leaves it.

[zuzu_]

You have already been too kind. She is lucky to have the offer for the double-length presentation. Do not back down. Not signing up for the group assignment has a consequence. She needs to accept the consequence, even if it "seems like a lot for (her) right now."

Do not enter into negotiations.

[tinyzombie]

You have already been too kind. She is lucky to have the offer for the double-length presentation. Do not back down. Not signing up for the group assignment has a consequence. She needs to accept the consequence, even if it "seems like a lot for (her) right now."

Do not enter into negotiations.

Yeah, her phrase that Zuzu quoted seems fairly snowflakey to me. She messed up. She can either do what you propose, or take a zero. I think you're being pretty generous.

[tee_bee]

Sounds like the consensus is "take it or leave it, snowflake." I would have said "sorry, next time RTFS."

[mystictechgal]

A 20 minute presentation is both double the requirement and "too much for her"? Gimmee a break. Take it or leave it, Sweetie.

I'd jump all over that one (the break you're offering) if only to avoid having to coordinate group schedules. I don't think I've ever been assigned a 20 minute presentation, even as an individual project. Ours, no matter the class, and no matter whether group or individual, tend to be of the "Teach the class for an hour--or more (half-hour if there are a LOT of groups/students). What you present will be on the final, so teach it well!"

Twenty minutes is "too much"? My heart pumps peanut butter and jelly for her.

[fiona]

I assumed that WWFD was "what would Fiona do?"

It is, of course.

Fiona agrees with the other posters, especially zuzu. Be a tough cookie.

The Fiona

[bioteacher]

Dear Sissy,

You misunderstood my offer as the beginning of a negotiation. You have two choices: a 20 minute presentation or a zero on this assignment.

Hugs and kisses,

Professor Pat.

[palla]

I agree that you have been too kind.  She can take the assignment you offered or take a zero.  Her choice.

[shrek]

Dear Sissy
Of course you don't have to do the alternate assignment either. It's completely up to you. Let me know if you decide to do it or if you would rather just take a 0 for this project.

[geonerd]

Dear Sissy
Of course you don't have to do the alternate assignment either. It's completely up to you. Let me know if you decide to do it or if you would rather just take a 0 for this project.

Perfect phrasing. Shrek FTW.

[profreader]

I have a question that might be dumb - or maybe I missed something in the reading. Why would she need to do a double-length presentation? If the groups are doing 10 minute presentations, isn't it already more work if she has to do a presentation of that length on her own?

I agree, though - it isn't a negotiation. You're being very kind already even by offering a solution. When I've encountered something like this, I usually do point out (neutrally) that everyone else managed to figure it out - so the problem was not with the instructions. (Not that your student is claiming this - but many try to resort to "How was I supposed to know?")

[crowie]

I wrote back saying that I didn't want to assign her to a group since the groups have already been working together for most of a week, but she could do a double-length presentation on her own (20 min) during the first presentation session this coming Thursday (the following presentation day is already filled up), and would need to choose a scholarly reading (as the groups already have) and post it for everyone by tomorrow, and I would take only a 10% penalty on that project instead of the per-day one described in the syllabus.

SissySpacey's response to that was "I want to do the work for this assignment, but a 20 minute presentation on my own seems like a lot for me right now." She is asking to do an extra-credit assignment instead.

What would you have originally suggested to Sissy? What would you say to her now?

Honestly I would have just put her into one of the groups and told them to get her up to speed on it.  "Most of a week" is, what, 3, 4 days?  Really, it's too late for her to just jump on board with a group?  Maybe give her some kind of penalty for the fact that the other students have done some of the heavy lifting already? 

If you really don't want to put her with a group, I, like profreader, also don't understand why the solution is that she needs to do a double-length presentation alone.  It sounds like doing a regular-length presentation alone would still be more work than with the group.  Is this just punitive or is there some other pedagogical reason for this?  Will the other students really want to listen to her talk for 20 minutes on her own about a scholarly article that she probably just read the night before?  Is this going to be pedagogically effective for her or her fellow students? 

[professor_pat]

Well, my reason for not putting her into an existing group was that I didn't want to put any of them in the position of having to deal with a "free rider" who hadn't contributed to developing the topic, choosing a background paper, or initial ideas about presentation design. Yes, I could have penalized her for that, but I didn't want to penalize the other students in this way.

My rationale for doubling the presentation length was to compensate for her lack of learning about and from teamwork. For clarification, groups' presentation times are based on the number of team members, so a 2-person group will present for 20 minutes, a 3-person group for 30 minutes. I established a minimum presentation length of 20 minutes because I think 10 minutes on a topic just doesn't give enough time for any depth. So a solo 10-minute presentation doesn't convey enough learning, in my view. When I explained this to Sissy, she said she understood and thought I was being generous in my offer.

Now, if I'd had time to consult the fora before giving Sissy an initial answer, I might (or might not) have decided differently, but those were my rationales when this first came up.

By the way, Sissy decided she would rather give up 6% of her FINAL course grade rather than do an extra 10 minutes of presentation, "for personal reasons." I replied that of course I respect her decision and that sometimes, quite appropriately, life takes priority over courses and grades.