July 2009

A previous boss had an unwritten late policy. The written policy was absolutely no late work accepted. Once we collected the papers for that week, we would tell students who didn’t turn it in (or if someone tried to turn it in late) to go talk to him.

He would tell them that he would make one exception without penalty. For the rest of the term, if the student didn’t turn in everything else on time, not only would he not accept that new paper but he would take away the points on the first late one he accepted, also.

As far as I could tell, the policy worked very well.

Written by Alan, LarryC, a famous historian with books on Chronicle’s forum.

I like this idea. One of my colleges has a written “no late work” policy, but then lets students make it up.

I did the “one late paper” thing, but then people blew one assignment off.

I don’t know. This sounds like it might be a good idea. Holds to the point of the rule, without being in love with the rule.

And since I will have 150 composition students this fall, I cannot afford late work.

Thoughts on my new policy:
No late work accepted. Or say I will accept one late work? Or none and hold to that?
No make-ups of quizzes.
No make-up of homeworks.
I need to take attendance every day.

I finished the on-line training for teaching on-line using Angel. I found two errors. One only grammar teachers would love.

One of the choices, which they wanted you to pick, was for “grammar-free feedback.” (Giggle.) They meant error-free, I am sure.

In the second assessment, they changed the answer to C from the self-check, but they still wanted you to pick D:Both A and C.

I did miss one other question which, unfortunately, was written perfectly well. But I still got a 93% on the two and I am officially able to teach online. (Unless they take it back when they get my email about the errors!)

1. Don’t forget your subject line. It should be very clear what you are writing about. So a blank is not appropriate. “Homework: Please read” is a better subject line than “question” or “class?” A subject line that identifies both your course and the issue, like “HUMA homework: question about the sculpture assignment,” would be excellent.

2. Professors like their titles and their names within the email.
Dear Dr. Brokenrecord,

3. Always identify yourself at the end of the letter with the name you go by in class. Use Jim Student rather than Jim, though, since I may have ten Jims. If in class I call you CeeCee, then don’t sign the email Celina Caroline. I won’t know who that is!

4. Always identify your course number and class time.
ENGL 1301 at 8 am MWF or
ENGL 0310 at 10 am or
HUMA 1301 7-9

5. Always remember that this is a permanent internet record kept by the school. Do not put anything in your email you would not be willing to have the entire school hear about. I’m not going to publish it, but you might need to show it to someone.

6. Always use the highest standard of English in your messages. Neither teachers nor bosses, regardless of their ability to translate text spellings, want to have to figure out what you said. If it needs to be said, say it well and correctly.

7. Email is not the best medium for urgent communication, unless it is the only medium possible. It is a good medium for information that is complicated.

8. As a check for whether or not your email is appropriate, read it aloud. Think about whether you would be willing to say it to your mother, your guardian angel, or your boss.

Note: This has gone from four to eight points. It may grow again as folks find new and unusual ways to create email disasters.

Students are not the only ones who have trouble with email. A good advice column from the CHE is on administrators who need email etiquette lessons.

In answer to a prof who goes to a school with + and – grades, which seem to encourage the students to fuss about their grades even more than usual, Kraken said:

Have you considered giving them an avenue to request an improved grade?

Just outline briefly in your policy that if students believe they should have a higher grade, they need only document their grades on each of their assignments, in writing. They should include a page for each assignment detailing why they feel their performance exceeded the marked grade. Require that these requests be handed in prior to the final exam.

Then you can just point them to the policy when they beg after the exam.

I love this idea. I think it would be especially useful since I teach a composition course. It would get them writing even more.

A drawback is that some student might actually do it and then I would have to read the whole thing.

Supposedly the poor economic situation will push students to community colleges.

In such a climate, it is not surprising that applications to some community colleges and other public institutions have risen by as much as 40 percent. Those institutions, particularly community colleges, will become a more-attractive option for a larger swath of the collegebound. Taking the first two years of college while living at home has been an attractive option since the 1920s, but it is now poised to grow significantly.

The Chronicle of Higher Ed

CC1, at which I have taught for the last seven years, is not growing. In fact, some adjuncts have been phased out this past semester. That is, they were told they would not be re-hired. Some of the classes that remained on the books, taught by adjuncts, are not full.

Now, it is true that I live in Texas and we were not as badly hit by the economic crisis as other places. But why would our enrollments be going down? That doesn’t make as much sense to me.

The article continued with:

With a drift toward higher enrollments in public institutions, all but the most competitive highly endowed private colleges are beginning to wonder if their enrollments may start to evaporate. In an effort to secure students, some institutions, like Merrimack College near Boston, are freezing their tuition for the first time in decades.

Okay, perhaps I live in an alternate universe.

The SLAC where I teach has grown its enrollment by 10% this year, even with a 25% tuition increase that took place June 1.

Two former college presidents, Charles Karelis of Colgate University and Stephen J. Trachtenberg of George Washington University, recently argued for the year-round university, noting that the two-semester format now in vogue places students in classrooms barely 60 percent of the year, or 30 weeks out of 52. They propose a 15-percent increase in productivity without adding buildings if students agree to study one summer and spend one semester abroad or in another site, like Washington or New York. Such a model may command attention if more education is offered without more tuition.

I laugh ruefully.

SLAC did have school year round. They recently switched to the semester system, with great grief for students and teachers who were used to the other way.

In addition, the rest of the world respects American higher education, and whether studying at a college here or an American-based one abroad, the families of international students usually pay in full. The number of international students could rise from 600,000 to a million a year if visa reviews are expedited…

Yes, this is true. My alma mater had hundreds of international students, since it was alphabetically at the top of the list and had an easy access policy.

A friend in Africa just had 52 students come to Arkansas to attend college there.

Is it about to burst?

Point is, little of the data that colleges provide really tell you much about the value of your investment: the quality of the education, the experience of the students, or how the graduates fare later in life. Instead parents have long accepted the value of the diploma on faith.

MoneyFeatures at CNN.com

From an economic point of view, in other words, a college degree costs more and more and returns less and less. Kind of like a hot stock with a price-to-earnings ratio of 32, it’s a prelude to a crash.

Why are the wages of the college-educated declining? A big part of the answer is that the pool of college graduates is rapidly expanding. It’s not surprising that as college becomes more universal, the return on a college education falls.

As the number of job applicants with degrees rises, employers become more sophisticated in assessing the value of any particular degree.

The Week

Consumers who have questioned whether it is worth spending $1,000 a square foot for a home are now asking whether it is worth spending $1,000 a week to send their kids to college. There is a growing sense among the public that higher education might be overpriced and under-delivering.

The Chronicle of Higher Ed

As I am sending my son off to the leading state university, I am thinking about this. A lot.

These are from “50 More Things New Teachers Need to Know,” which, aside from being way too many is also geared toward high school teachers. However, some of them had some good ideas.

5. Make copies of good and bad examples of student writing (anonymously, of course–scratch out any visible names) that you’ve corrected, and use them in class to show how papers should be edited. Students love this, and it’s a powerful, practical lesson (also, a good routine). Make transparency copies, or see if your school has those new projectors that display normal papers.

I would recommend using student papers from other semesters.

6. When a student starts slacking off or avoiding work, intervene as if you’re a peer: pull them aside and express concern for them, in a friendly tone, not as a lecture. Ask them what’s going on. Be firm, though: tell them that the behavior can’t continue, and–this is the most important part–tell them that you need their help to make the whole class successful. That almost always gets real results; kids love thinking that we’re partners.

I have no idea if that would work. I’m not sure I want to do it. I was, however, intrigued by the possibility.

13. Don’t try to “convert” your students to a love of reading, or any other aspect of your subject. They are almost certain to come into your class with deeply set prejudices about academic activities, prejudices that you’re not likely to impact. Yes, give them opportunities to experience the joy of your subject, and show them your enthusiasm for it (that’ll be valuable for those who do have open minds), but don’t be afraid to assign reading, writing, and any other kind of assignment as a chore. Your best shot for reaching kids with any kind of meaningful seriousness about most things will be to honestly tell them that whether or not they like it, it’s important and necessary. They’ll groan and whine, but at least you can dispense with the cheerleading and get down to some real content. Ultimately, that’ll reward everybody.

35. PC Myth #6: “Multiculturalism is important.” No it isn’t. Maybe minority cultures play an important role in your subject, or a certain part of it, and maybe not. Whichever way happens to be the truth, your subject is what it is. Don’t warp it to suit anyone’s agenda.

50. Take all advice with a grain of salt. Though there are simple, established things that are more effective than others (read Marzano’s Classroom Instruction That Works), teaching is still more of an art than a science. Everybody thinks they’re a good teacher, but not everybody’s right. Be skeptical about all experts and even “research” (which is rarely as objective as proponents would like you to think). Yes, this includes my lists. All fifty (or 100 total) of these things will not work for everybody. But many will. Your only two sure guides are common sense and experience. Take good notes, always be open to change, be flexible to responding to the needs of specific classes, and pay attention to everything. You’ll do great.

My short list from the last 50 Things list is also available, with references to other sources.

Back in 1997, Blair’s new government announced that it had set a target of 50 percent of students getting college educations. (Sounds like Obama’s goal — 55 percent.) How well has that worked out? Not well at all. The country is well below Blair’s target, and many of those who are in college get little benefit from it. The author writes about British students, “They have been told that higher education will be good for them: they have not been told that it will only be good for them if they want to do it.”

Here is the author’s conclusion: “We shouldn’t get too hung up on statistics, particularly ones like that arbitrary 50 percent target. A university education can be a joy, a privilege, a stepping stone; but it is not a prerequisite for a happy and successful career.”

from Higher Ed Oversold

“Placebo effects can be very powerful and many supposedly effective medicines do not in fact outperform the placebo. The sorry truth is that no one has compared modern education to a placebo. What if we just gave people lots of face-to-face contact and told them they were being educated?”

He reluctantly provides the terrifying conclusion: Maybe that’s what current methods of education already consist of.

from Ben Casnocha

Both these quotes came from reading Joanne Jacobs’ “High Cost, Low Benefit.”

Community college enrollment has been increasing at more than three times the rate of four-year colleges. This year, in the middle of the recession, many schools are seeing enrollment surges of 10 percent to 15 percent.
…
People who work at community colleges deserve all the love we can give them, since they get so little prestige day to day. But the fact is many community colleges do a poor job of getting students through. About half drop out before getting a degree.

Most schools have poor accountability systems and inadequately track student outcomes. They have little information about what works. They have trouble engaging students on campus. Many remedial classes (60 percent of students need them) are a joke, often because expectations are too low.

Wow.

When I started reading this OpEd, I was sure that it was going to be positive for community colleges. However, I don’t think it is.

We have lots of information on outcomes. We have lots of information on what works. Yes, we have difficulty engaging students on campus BECAUSE, as he mentioned earlier, we have so many different kinds of students. But also because MOST of our students are going to school and have families and are working. They don’t have the time to “get involved” on campus.

Now, I am part of a small initiative to change that just a bit. We’re doing a writing class for health science students. That will get them together and hopefully encourage them to know each other and stay in school. But when they have full-time lives outside of school, they aren’t going to be involved on campus.

The NYTimes OpEd seems like it is going to be positive to community colleges, but it isn’t. And part of the reason why is clearly that the author has not a clue who the majority of community college students are.