<p>D2 has classes with online components and special software required. Often it doesn’t work properly or the software has glitches. It affects the whole class and the professor makes allowances.</p>
<p>D3 has a class that is completely online. I have found that there is often more room for misunderstanding of expectations in this format. For example: The syllabus says CH 12 work is due on Friday. However, if you go to the site, it skips from CH 11 to CH 13. So you know that normally you have an assignment due…do you skip to CH 13 and do the assignment? What if you didn’t check and were going by the syllabus and waited until the last day and haven’t even LOOKED at CH 13 because the Syllabus said CH 12!? So now you have to cram to cover CH 13 and hopefully do the assignment in time? Or did he skip a week? Then you email the prof, and he doesn’t respond - meanwhile the clock is ticking…</p>
<p>Just for an example. Hehehehehe</p>
<p>Needless to say I made her do CH 13 - just in case.</p>
<p>Of course there is a priority list. But there are large IT departments at each college that should make it a fairly high priority within the department. And it should be an important part of the whole school vision/planning/management plan. But it should be an infrastructure priority.</p>
<p>I can’t think of how I would choose IT over another thing, if that is what you are asking.</p>
<p>Oh, and I don’t think technology will ever be perfect. But “known” glitches, poor coverage, and frequent outages should not be acceptable either.</p>
<p>You are correct, of course. But the OP did not say that this was the umpteenth time this happened. First time shame on technology, second time shame on the user…to update an old phrase!! </p>
<p>I am not getting the feeling that this is a kid that always pushes deadlines. But how many of us don’t push deadlines at some point?</p>
<p>And if it was known that two students can’t log into the same computer to take a test, that should have been disclosed to the class multiple times to assure they knew that info before it was a problem. We are more than 1/2 way through the semester, and this has not happened to this student before. I am assuming that this is not the first quiz online, but could be wrong. She did not have issues prior to this, or I doubt that the OP would have even bothered to post it. </p>
<p>Hopefully, the student has figured out how to keep this from happening again. But I would be really upset if I were her, and I would continue to address the issue. She needs to determine how the “0” is going to affect her grade and if it is worth the effort.</p>
<p>I decided for something different, to bring this issue up at our family dinner tonight. Among the responses was something that I do not believe has been mentioned thus far. Your D should file suit against the person who used her computer without her permission, and then use that as leverage to negotiate with the professor. In fact, every member of my family was most upset about the other person using your daughter’s computer, than anything else, because had this person not used your daughter’s computer, presumably she would have been able to complete the quiz by the deadline.</p>
<p>Lol! It was her best friend, using it to check her own grades. It was probably with my Ds permission but the lovely lady forgot to log off. She is too sweet to sue.</p>
<p>Interesting development. After receiving a “mean” email form the professor (whatever that means) my D decided to drop it. BUT heres the thing, she had class today and suddenly this professor is giving quizzes IN CLASS rather than online. Hmmm.</p>
<p>I am currently finishing a degree 31 years after earning a bachelor’s degree. It has been my experience that professors very clearly detail their expectations and deadlines for online aspects of their classes. Many of my classes have either online tests or quizzes or online discussion submissions in addition to the in class tests and quizzes. Deadlines are clearly detailed in the syllabi and in every case there are no excuses accepted for late submission. It is the expectation that the student will plan ahead, consider possible scenarios in which a glitch could arise, and submit the work on time. Students have grown up with computers and know that technical difficulties happen. OP’s child is fortunate that it was just a quiz.</p>
<p>Imagine the deadline was 7pm, and the test had to be submitted by putting a paper quiz in the instructor’s mailbox. Student begins test at 6pm, finishes at 6:45, and puts paper in mailbox as requested. University staff screw up, and take the quiz out of the mailbox and throw it in the recycling. Student’s grade drops because of missing quiz.</p>
<p>Fair? I think not.</p>
<p>I am normally more than ready to criticise American undergraduates. I think they’re whiney, entitled, and have been given an inflated view of their own opinions. Nevertheless, in this case I think the student is in the right.</p>
<p>Another real-life scenario: Bids for the renovation of a church are due at 2 pm on a given day. No exceptions. The contractor with the lowest bid puts his proposal in the US mail three days before it’s due (it’s only going cross the state of Maine). It doesn’t arrive in time, but shows up the next day. From the post mark, it’s obvious he mailed it when he said he did. What happened? He lost the job. Whether it’s “fair” or not doesn’t matter in a lot of cases - rules are rules.</p>
<p>He was an idiot for not having used FedEx or UPS. If he was serious about the bid he wouldn’t have used regular mail with no “guaranteed” or signature required delivery. That is also not of good analogy because the contractor chose HIS form of delivery and he chose a bad one, he went cheap. What we are talking about here is the professor chose the only form of taking the exam and he needs to own it.</p>
<p>I am in sales. We have periodic sales promotions. It doesn’t matter why you are late submitting the application - if you are late you don’t earn the bonus. Period. That’s life. Best to get used to it early.</p>
<p>This made me smile! If you go over to the College Admissions Forum, there is a thread entitled “Teacher is a Let Down”. Students who are applying ED are lamenting that their teachers have waited until the very last minute to submit their letters of recommendation. Some have had to go to their guidance counselors to get some movement.</p>
<p>One major issue with the above, unless college staff is exceedingly incompetent to the point of meriting termination or willfully ignoring common sense that mailboxes aren’t normal places to look for recyclables, the above isn’t very likely to happen. </p>
<p>Back in undergrad, I had several papers/take home exams where I had to submit the exam into the Prof’s mailbox by a fixed deadline like BEFORE 5:30 pm of the due date. Considering all the possible snafus which may come up within the last hour, the last thing I’d even think about doing was to START the exam within the last hour and half before the deadline. </p>
<p>Especially considering time will be taken getting to the building, proceeding to the department secretary/staff, having him/her receive my submission and place the required timestamp on it, and him/her placing it into the Prof’s mailbox.</p>
<p>At worst, I tried finishing up the exam/paper with 1-2 hours to spare so I had an excess buffer of time to submit the thing and not get caught up in the frantic drama of procrastinators or last-minuters rushing to get to the office within the last 15 minutes.</p>
<p>I do not think this is an apt analogy. I think a closer analogy is the student has all week to go to office and go at the last minute and the office is closed with a sign … “in the restroom be back in a minute” … and they get back at 7:01. This was a hiccup that was quite fixable with time to fix it … but the time squish eliminated the ability to fix the problem.</p>
<p>Again, we are really debating two different issues. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Did she break a rule by starting it at 6:00 pm if the deadline was 7? No. If the bug in the system hadn’t existed she would have submitted it on time and all would be well.</p></li>
<li><p>Was she wise to wait until 6, taking a chance that everything would go perfectly? No, of course not.</p></li>
</ol>