It was an in-person test for foreign language

Two students said they forgot to bring Pen for a test.

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

They know how to use social media, create AI garbage and put filters on photos. The overwhelming majority of my students don’t know how to export a document, or even find a file on their laptops. They don’t know how to install something unless it’s an app in the appstore. I asked them to share a survey link and half messed that up. The other day one was complaining that the document was broken because they couldn’t type in it, ignoring the “Enable Editing” button staring at them.

I don’t expect them to be tech wizards, but the claim that they’re all digitally savvy is laughably exaggerated.

What are you doing? Business as usual or a low-stakes assignment?

I can't decide if I want to say, "use your class time to work on your projects this week" or continue my lesson plan.

What I want is a coma until it's over, but that ain't happening so I need to figure out what I'm doing and figured I'd ask.

I adjuncted for one miserable semester at ITT Tech, shortly before the government stopped approving their student loans and they abruptly shut down. The school mandated that we take attendance at the start of evening classes, 6PM. Not a big deal. However, students would leave immediately after that, or stay until the first break and then leave. I asked my DC for guidance: he said "Take attendance after every break."

I didn't.

Newish prof in a graduate only program (stats prof in medicine). Over the time I've been teaching in the program, I've noticed some out of date practices that I think should be upgraded. Some of these directly relate to the hireability of masters students in the private sector, and I voiced this at our faculty meeting expecting other faculty members to be happy with my proposed changes to both the general curriculum, but also my courses. I teach advanced methods that are directly applicable to research, to give context.

I was shocked to find that colleagues were not only opposed, but overly negative. The rationale was that their personal research would never require the 'upgraded' topics and that they might have to teach older, out of date, methods to their students if I made these changes. My director, who is wonderful and on my side, reminded them that we are training candidates for the job market, but it was met with a lot of shitty comments and general negativity. I should say that it wasn't everyone, but a decent majority held this view.

Has anyone experienced this? I am torn as I am pretenure and am generally a likeable person. In no way do I want my colleagues to dislike me, but I feel as though the success of my students in their careers is most important...

No idea how to handle this. Posted partially a rant, but if anyone has advice I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Sorry about formatting - on mobile. Mostly a vent but also curious to hear how you'd approach this

2 year Masters program - courses and proposal first year, research in second year.

One student submits their lit review, essay for another course, and thesis proposal... while marking I discovered they probably used AI for the whole thing. The references are totally fabricated, articles don't even exist etc. Even the scale items in their proposL are made up and don't match the published scale (seriously!! 🤦🏻‍♀️)

I worked closely with this student and they always talked about how much work they've been putting in and how excited they are to do their research. And somehow thought they would get away with this - like do they really not know they can't base a Masters project on fabricated references?! They didn't even think to check the content produced by AI???

They don't know that we know (yet) but academic integrity office will be in contact this week. It'll likely just be a slap on the wrist and resubmit 🙄

The student really wants me as a supervisor for their project next year. I had previously said yes but have now changed my mind. I know that might be harsh but they flat out LIED to my face this whole semester about the research, reading papers, how much work was going into the literature review.

maybe I should give a second chance, as that's our institution's approach to a first or AI "offense". But I don't really care why they cheated - it's the lying to my face that is the deal-breaker. I can't trust them anymore. My colleagues similarly don't want to supervise them. (I think they should be exited from the program as they're clearly not cut out for a Masters...)

Rant over. What would you do? I'm stuck between anger/upset at the student and guilt that I feel so angry. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and get over it, but I feel like I'll just be skeptical of their work if I do supervise them.

Hello fellow professors - Would anyone be comfortable sharing experiences with and strategies for discovery interviews for suspected contract cheating?

I collect in-class writing samples throughout the semester to help establish each students writing “voice.” I just come across an essay that looks highly suspicious. Should I just be upfront and let the student know my suspicions in a meeting or is it more appropriate to ask questions about the content and writing process? If the latter, what are some strategies to avoid being too confrontational and accusatory?

Thank you.

Me: Posts a detailed assignment sheet to the LMS as well as the rubric I will be using to grade them so they can see it in advance.

Also Me: Passes back graded rubrics with approximately two paragraphs of feedback each as well as a peer review.

Student who underperformed: Can you tell me what you’re really “looking for” on this?

I just can’t…

Student complained to the dean about how bad I was and how his grade was suffering because of me. Meanwhile, the student stopped doing work 4 weeks ago. I was a little scared because I do have a lot of preps and I'm honestly not doing my best work. However, his lack of work was clear and the dean had my back. They're still conducting the investigation to make sure that I'm doing my job, but I am really happy with the way it's being handled.

Just a vent to people who will understand. It’s kind of long so please forgive me.  

TLDR: I teach an online class and this past week, I’ve had 2 students try to bullshit me with regard to exams.  

1. A student emails me to say that our LMS did not show any upcoming assignments so they were unable to see when their exam was due but they contacted IT and IT fixed it (this becomes important later on). This is regarding an exam that was due 5 freaking weeks ago. 5 weeks ago! Now, that’s not really an excuse because there is still a syllabus that has all the due dates for assignments but ok, I can see how that’s an issue that still needs to be fixed.

However, I emailed the entire class at the start of the week about the exam. I emailed them the morning of the exam to remind them to complete it. I emailed them shortly after the exam to inform the entire class of the average. This student did not contact me at all. In addition, I checked the LMS report that tells me when a student accesses or interacts with the course and assignments and I saw that the student did try to access the exam the day after the exam was due.  

Whenever students come at me like this, I treat it like it’s a big deal. OMG, if this happened to you, it might have happened to other people. I need to bring it up to the department, IT, and the LMS. Send me all the info and documentation you have on it. So, in a non-accusatory fashion, I brought up all this information. I also said “ok, show me your ticket with IT and we can discuss a retake option.” Now, we all know that if you contact IT, there is almost always a ticket. That’s how they track the performance of the people who work there. Even before I sent it, I knew they would say they don’t have a ticket, but they cannot say that I did not give them a fair shake based on the information they provided me.  

Of course they don’t have a ticket. But they admitted to not really focusing and paying attention and eventually took accountability for their not finishing the test.  

I still didn’t let them take the exam but, alright, at least you see the BS isn’t working with me.  

2. The second exam is this week. I leave these exams open on the LMS from Wednesday through Thursday. I emailed the class on Monday to say “hey everyone, don’t forget your exam, it’s this week.” On Tuesday a student emails me to say “OMG, I missed the exam can you re-open it for me.” I said “no worries, the exam is not open until tomorrow anyway.” They respond in the affirmative.

On Friday, they email me to say “I tried to open the exam but it wouldn’t open for me.” Now, once again, I immediately checked the access report. I see that they opened the exam link on Thursday in the wee hours of the morning but did not take it. Then they tried to open it several times on Friday but were unable to get in. I bring this up to the student and similarly say “ok, start a ticket with IT, this is important. Once they confirm and diagnose the issue, I will allow a retake.” I have also asked this student point blank “to be clear, are you saying that during the open exam period from X time to Y time, the exam was closed for you?” And they have yet to respond directly to that part of my message.  

This is so exhausting. I work at a university that has a high first-gen population and the administration is always getting on us to be flexible and understanding of student needs. But my thing is, I cannot tolerate the lying. If you emailed me to say “Professor, I am sorry, I missed the exam, it’s my fault, may I have an option to retake?” I’m far more likely to be understanding than if you try to make up a fucking story that’s easily verifiable.

I can't go into too much detail but I had a uniquely tough week that included battling with both students and admin (separate issues). I'm confident I'm doing the right thing and my colleagues and dept chair support me, but I've been angry all week. It's affecting my mood at home and souring the time I spend with my friends and family. I knew, going into this position, that these types of conflicts would happen and then I get extremely angry when they do. I love my job but I need to figure out a way to leave the stress at work.

I'm a frequent lurker but haven't posted before! I teach literature at a SLAC. Currently teaching an upper-level course with 19 students. I tend to lead structured discussions with a little lecture and oocasional videos mixed in to give context. Most of class is things like freewriting followed by a round robin, think-pair-share, having students put write keywords on the board or, small group discussions where each group has a slightly different question and then we come back together. In my experience, this structured increases discussion participation so it's not the same 5 students talking all the time. However, on a check in survey, a number of students complained that class tends to be "too structured" and "too hand holdy." One student said it feels too high school. That said, an equal number of students commented on liking the structured nature of the class, especially things like free writing and small groups because it helps them gsther their thoughts. I'm torn about how to address this, or if I even should address it. Thoughts?

So as I've said before, it's my very first time teaching this semester as a PHD Candidate. I'm now a hell of a lot more comfortable interacting with students, giving lecture, and other basic stuff now that I'm three months in.

I teach in a computer lab with a desk and two aisles of computers, and a white board. I never knew how to judge the degree to which students would pay attention. I mean I know they're in front of a computer, so they can just be on their phones/Google whilst I talk and I'd be none the wiser. But this week, I did something out of the ordinary, and I don't know if anybody else has done this or something similar.

Two of my students were talking about their papers (boring variable operationalization stuff for stats). I asked them questions about it, but then what I did is instead of lecturing up front, I walked to very back of the room and leaned against the wall. The students continued to talk, and others began to organically ask clarifying questions about their specific project. I let them talk since it was good discussion, only interjecting occasionally. The discussion got a little broader, but i noticed that it was substantially more student led compared to the case when I'm just jabberyackin at them.

I noticed also that it did a few things: unlike when I'm up front, if I'm right behind them talking, they feel the need to turn around and face me instead of looking straight ahead. While they weren't turned to me the whole time, I have a feeling they paid more attention then, compared to if I just stood up front. I would occasionally write things on the board, and then I'd return to where I was standing. I felt like I could see everyone, but I don't know, I think I'll do this (or at least walk about the classroom more often), since the second lecture this week felt like it went a lot better than usual. Does anyone have other strange lecture tricks that just seem to have worked, sometimes?

I'm (what Americans call) an adjunct professor teaching classes in English literature to accompany lectures given by the permanent staff. My students have been told now what their final essays are, and are starting to prepare for them.

I've thought about recording some small videos to upload to Youtube to help students think through how they might use the text to answer the essay questions. The idea would be that I introduce the question at the start, then go through the video highlighting some key angles to the question and how we can use the source text to answer it.

Obviously it'd be too much to essentially model answering the essay questions itself, but do you think it would be ethnically OK for me to make some videos modeling how to answer adjacent questions?

For example, instead of "How does X text promote a sense of optimism for the future?", my video would be answering "Discuss characters' attitudes towards the present in X text".

I have had 4 students over the last couple weeks out of my ~500 student cohort tell me they have had a concussion recently. None of them are in sports. Is this the new medical excuse trend on TikTok? Or are students just randomly falling in their day-to-day life? Anyone else noticed this?

Hello all!

I have recently come across a position that is much better suited for my interests and also pays better.

I am a tenured professor at my current institution and the new position is for an assistant professor.

Any tips/suggestions for applying to such a position?

Thanks!

I just saw an ad for an AI tool to assist with writing feedback during grading. With the number of papers we're getting written by AI, and now professors using AI to help with the grading, how long will it be before essays become a completely closed AI loop with everything being written by, and graded by, computers? I really hate the current timeline.

I'm content at my Potemkin R1 uni. Sure, the city isn't great, it's a red state, the administration is clueless, some students can be apathetic, and the salary could be better. So, every now and then, I take a glance at the job market.

Oh, wow. Super Ivy is hiring in my field! Exciting! But then it hits me. Yes, Scott, their graduate students are great. But at Super Ivy, some of the undergrads I'll be dealing with will be Wealthy, Hopelessly Entitled, Elite Legacy Students (WHEELS). What if I end up with a Trump or a Bush in my class?

Any Ivy prof here who can chime in? How do you handle the WHEELS?

and I'm pissed again. Kid (*not DE) got a zero on his 1st essay for using a quote from the story that was not in the story. Obviously, ChatGPT made up the quote and he didn't bother to check it. Unsurprisingly, the student didn't read my feedback which explained why he got a zero. In the current essay, he said an article from NatGeo claimed that invasive species contributed to wildfires. There is no mention of invasive species in the article. Another zero. Our crappy LMS tracks whether students read feedback. Any guesses on if he read mine?

If I got a zero, not a low grade, a ZERO, in undergrad, I'd be all up in office hours asking WTF. Nothing.

If they don't care, I don't care.

I teach Data Visualization using Tableau as part of a Data Analytics program. I had one of my students ask me if I could give her some Case Studies that were a bit more challenging. She wants to increase her skills, use them as portfolio pieces, and work toward her honors degree.

Love this kind of interactions.

I don't really know what I want to get out of this post but I had the most awkward meal of my adult life. We both recognized each other, acknowledged the fact out loud and got on with dinner without another mention.

I don't know about them but I was uncomfortable and left an unreasonably large tip.

Before anyone asks, no they're not doing great.

One of my wife’s (also an academic, in science) colleague was invited to speak at a somewhat niche but highly prestigious conference. The list of speakers was published online, and a day later they got an email, from an account that sounds like the very conference organizer with the conference logo, asking them to pay $1,800 in conference fee.

(they got suspicious and contacted the conference organizers directly, who confirmed that the normal conference cost is about half that, and for speakers it is not only waived but also paid a travel stipend)

It’s just hearsay after all, but it’s the first I’ve ever heard of something like this targeting specifically academics, so thought I would pass it along. Has anyone else heard about or encountered this kind of phishing attempts?

Tried to make it sound like they were told to not walk... the letter (receipt) from the doctor told them to take aspirin and wear a boot.

The student said, in the email, “It would be difficult to attend in person for the next few weeks”... ”so I’d appreciate any accommodations you are able to provide”

There is a pattern, too. The week before they had “diarrhea” and sent the assignment hoping I’d accept it. Like that shit will phase me. Lol.

I've seen a couple people here share this before, but I'm having a hard time tracking it down. Have any of you made a work sheet or something similar that requires students with low exam scores to reflect on their test performance and study habits, and then meet with you to discuss it?

I'm in a lucky position where most of my students still give a shit about their education, but I have a cluster in one class that is falling further and further behind and I want to have a productive conversation with them about what's going on.

Any resources you have to share for such a reflection activity would be great!