Sometimes it really sucks to be the teacher. And these are the times when it's nice to have technology that you can rely on.
It's the last week of class, and I have a fairly good rapport with most of my 10 students. We have just finished a productive discussion of Invisible Cities, which, I believe, has caused them to exercise their brais more than is usual in a 200-level literature course. Yay for me.
As one part of their overall grades--15%, I think--I have them writing weekly journals on the work or works that we will be discussing during the upcoming week. These are to be submitted to our course management system--Moodle--as online writings before the Monday of each week, unless otherwise specified. There are 5 weeks of class and 4 Mondays, so there have been 4 journal assignments--each worth 25 points, or 1/4 of 15% of their final grades. This can literally determine a letter-grade and a half. So today I walk into class a bit late to the news that the class's journal assignments are, to quote a student, "floating around cyberspace," having been mysteriously "lost" after submission. There were a couple of other interesting claims, like "there was no submit button" (duh--there wouldn't be after the assignment deadline has passed!) and a couple of wide-eyed stares and random nods. Now, the only reason I entertained this story at all is that last semester, Moodle would sometimes log people out as they tried to submit their journal entries, causing data to be lost.
So this evening I received an email reminder of an appointment with one of the students that clued me in to the discussion that preceded my entry into the classroom, in which most of those present admitted that they didn't know when this week's journal was due (duh--see the syllabus). Can I give extra credit for honesty?
When I logged in to Moodle tonight, after seeing that 3 students had, indeed, submitted their journals successfully, I remembered that as the teacher, I could actually track student activity on Moodle--not just login, but which activities had been viewed and/or completed by each student. Guess what? The only students who had viewed the journal assignment after it was posted by me were those who had successfully submitted the assignment. And I told them so.
5 comments:
Tsk Tsk...I know those kind of students all to well...half of my MASTERS level class was like that. I mean seriously, grow up and learn a little bit of responsibility. Ridiculous. Why pay the money to go to school if you're really not interested in learning...I don't get it..
Well, it sort of helps that a lot of the students where I teach AREN'T paying the money and that a lot of them don't want to LEARN anything at all--college is all about a piece of paper that entitles them to a better-than-otherwise job. :P
Which brings up an interesting enthymeme....if one pays for his or her own tuition, does one automatically value learning and education more? And, if one's tuition is paid for (either by parents or by scholarship) does that mean it doesn't mean much to the benefactor? Seems like both are (unfair) generalizations though there is always some truth in generalizations, no? As a teacher in a private high school, I wonder the same issue myself. There are plenty of students, here, who just don't seem to appreciate the $12K/year tuition their parents fork over for their benefit. But, then again, there are some students who really do take full advantage of it.
In the end, some students are just lazy, whether they are footing the bill or someone else is footing the bill. And, some students will excel whether on their own or with the financial help of others. I don't think it has to do with money; I think it has to do with personal integrity, discipline, and the purpose of the piece of paper.
-C
Incidentally, I was able to attend a private college prep school because my mother took an extra job at night to pay for it. Even though I wasn't paying the money, I sure as heck appreciated her sacrifice for my benefit and I sure as heck wanted to LEARN something. Again, I think it has to do with discipline and integrity.
-C
Chris and I are coming from the same background here, a city/state where most children do not expect their parents to pay for college and so it is not regarded either as a right or an obligation to "return their parents' investment" (as one student told me). It is a very different mindset because of the culture in this state, and that is the real bottom line, not the benefactor/no benefactor, but the reason that one goes to college and how one feels about that opportunity--and, eventually, what one makes of it. In a way, our value for education being from Louisiana is more akin to the students I encounter from the border--they didn't necessarily expect to get to where they are, and so they try a little bit harder than the rest.
You've got to figure, too, that that "personal integrity" must be taught by those people who would rather provide the tuition money and make demands as to the financial future of their children. If over-privileged students value education, it is because their parents taught them its value rather than having them take over their rental properties and the profit and possibly dictating what major the student should choose to maximize their investment.
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