<p>Not sure I see the problem with her having seen the quiz - the online quiz must work on the honor system anyway. They could be sitting in front of the screen with their books open, right? </p>
<p>If he is not going to let her re-take it, then he should count her next quiz twice, or drop this quiz grade altogether. To my way of thinking, the responsibility for IT failures should not rest with students in any scenario. He chose the method of administration (I am sure there was some convenience involved for him), so if the method fails, for even one student, then he should be flexible with remediation.</p>
<p>HM- no, the prof should do what the prof thinks is best and justifiable. And, per any specs stated in the syllabus or related to this test. What her dept has found acceptable. Not what you or I think is best.</p>
<p>For the record, though OP’s D chose to take the test in the hour, I do feel the glitch was beyond her control and perhaps (perhaps) merits consideration. But, I don’t think that the prof is obliged. </p>
<p>Also, understand that it’s the developing culture to use email, online testing, online submission of papers or digital management tools. Not necessarily that that some prof just took it upon herself to test this way.</p>
<p>That’s just how it is. Professors always state that when taking online exams/quizzes to be prepared and ready for moments like that where computer freezes, browser quits and/or blackboard has a problem. They ALWAYS advise you do not wait until last minute bc of such possible issues arise because they will not be willing to go out of there way<br>
I was in a similar situation and my browser quit on me, but I knew there was nothing I could do because I waited until the last minute anyway. </p>
<p>Of course the prof will do as she sees fit - that is a given. But the OP asked for opinions, did he not? I am also well aware that online testing is becoming more common. But I would submit that it is not the norm for students to bear the brunt of IT glitches.</p>
<p>Not necessarily from what I’ve seen from friends who are Profs/TAs or recent/current undergrads. </p>
<p>All of their syllabi have a statement to the effect that students are expected to account for possible technical issues or other manifestations of Murphy’s law when allocating time to complete online assignments/exams. </p>
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<p>It also places the instructor in a serious bind…especially if there was only one or a tiny minority of students who waited to the last minute and had issues as a result of Murphy’s law rearing its ugly head. </p>
<p>What about fairness for the majority of the students who managed to plan ahead well enough to finish the exam/assignment well before the deadline? I wouldn’t be surprised if some/all of them start complaining about how procrastinators or those who didn’t plan well ended up getting “special undeserved treatment”. </p>
<p>After all, Profs/TAs are responsible for ensuring grading/academic standards are fair for ALL students in the class.</p>
<p>I think the decision here should be one that would reflect whatever decision would be made in a similar real-life/in-the-flesh situation: </p>
<p>What if the prof had directed the students to take a quiz in the TAs office and posted hours when TAs were available to proctor the quiz? For the sake of argument, let’s say prof tells students TAs are available M-Sat from 9am-7pm. Student shows up at 6pm Saturday to do a 45 minute quiz BUT the proctor on duty gets an emergency phone call shortly after 6, kicks student out of the building, locks the doors and leaves. Student doesn’t get to turn in the test/quiz. </p>
<p>Personal emergencies happen all the time. Would you expect the prof to make an exception in this case?</p>
<p>This is silly. The professor created an environment where some students acting in compliance with rules there were told were screwed. Can the professor do that? Sure, they’re the professor. Would this be considered good service in any other setting? Of 'course not. </p>
<p>This is not akin to not getting court documents in on time, it’s akin to being told that court documents by the clerk (or some authority figure) are due by 5pm, you go turn them in at 4:45, and it turns out the clerk was wrong and they were actually due at 4. Can’t really do anything about it, but it’s hardly “fair.” That’s just silly.</p>
<p>At 7, though, the quizzes were in and presumably the answers known to students. I agree it’s not fair but does the professor now need to write a new quiz? And if a new quiz was written, would it be of equal difficulty? It’s sort of a conundrum for both parties – student and teacher. But agree student is losing out here maybe a tad more.</p>
<p>Well, thank you everyone. I guess my initial advice to her was sound. I told her to go speak to her in person (although I don’t know how she’ll manage that since she has classes during her office hours) and take responsibility for waiting until the last minute. Maybe ask the IT person to email the prof and explain that the glitch was ongoing and see if that matters.</p>
<p>Once she does that, whatever the decision is…move on. It’s only one class. She will learn from the experience.</p>
<p>It is a shame that your D gets penalized for sharing her computer with the other student so that they were able to take the quiz, but by doing so, she got locked out and missed the deadline. How many of us believe that an hour is plenty of time to take the quiz? She had proper time management and she allocated that hour for the quiz. </p>
<p>That said, the only worries I would have in challenging this are the syllabus and the policy it states about computer assignments and the fact that “multiple log ins” on the same computer that may have caused it to shut down. If your D is going to need the IT dept to back her up, they may state it was because there are multiple log-ins on the same computer. Your D’s professor may (wrongly) conclude that your D was checking the work of the other student. I guess the easy answer there would be to verify the time that the other student submitted the test.</p>
<p>My D had a similar terrible computer glitch - well, more than a glitch - her computer CRASHED during pre-lim week. She lost everything. Notes, papers, etc. How did it crash? She accidentally spilled water on it. It was less than a quarter cup. She had left her water bottle at home (the day before while she was on a break) and she used a glass just this once - and it spilled and shorted out her semi-brand new computer. When she called, I thought someone had died. We had to scramble to get her a new computer and to try and retrieve all of her old info. It was a nightmare.</p>
<p>She went to a few professors and TA’s to explain that a few hw assignments might be late and to get notes lost, etc., but guess what, it really does not matter! While they sympathize, they really can’t do much about it. There is a big IT page at each college that states that students should be backing up all work with external modems, etc. </p>
<p>Moral of the story: Know your professor’s IT policy, your school’s IT policy, back up all your work in triplicate and don’t share your computer EVER, EVER, EVER.</p>
<p>Cormom, thanks.
She didn’t let someone use her computer to take the quiz. Someone had logged onto their own acct (could have been to check email, assignment, etc. for ANY class) using her computer without her knowledge or without her realizing that they never logged off. The program is designed to NOT allow you to log in if another acct is open. it should send a message saying to log out of the other acct and try again. That didn’t happen. The program allowed her to open her acct with the other acct open (not an open quiz, just an acct). It allowed her to nearly finish the quiz before recognizing that two accts were open on the same computer (again, not quizzes, just accts). Then it logged her out when she was almost done with the quiz.<br>
IT acknowledged that the issue has been ongoing and advised her to contact the professor and even gave her name to give to the professor so that the professor would understand that it was a legitimate IT problem.</p>
<p>There is nothing in the syllabus about multiple log ins because, normally, it would be impossible for two people to be logged in at the same time.</p>
<p>Regardless, she will survive and learn form this.</p>
<p>Ok! I understand now! She should talk to whoever will listen to resolve this as she did try and turn in the work before the deadline and she did contact the professor before the deadline, so technically she was not late despite the “gray” area of what “late” is. She may have to miss another class, or part of it, to go to the professor but things may get resolved with this direct approach. </p>
<p>Good luck to her. I hope it gets resolved in her favor.</p>
<p>Romani,
I don’t know if she knew if someone used her computer but when she went to open the acct, she did not know that someone else had an acct open on her computer. If the program was working properly she wouldn’t have been able to open her acct until the other closed.
Not sure if there is anything in the syllabus about technical issues. I will ask her. I was responding to Cormom when I replied that there is nothing in the syllabus about multiple log ins.</p>
<p>Is it that strange to allow someone to use your computer?</p>
<p>No, not strange at all, but strange to not know what someone is doing or whether or not they’re even using it IMO. I shelled out over a grand for my computer so you’d bet I’d want to know what someone is doing on it.</p>
<p>How does someone use her computer with out her knowledge? Doesn’t she have a password setting on her computer than minimally, with minutes of inactivity one would have to log in? I have that on my computers and 99% of the time I am the only one using them. Even at when turning on the computer, one has to log on. If she does not have her computer set up to do this, I would recommend that she do so.</p>
<p>A couple of questions that might be useful to consider, assuming that your daughter will be speaking to the professor tomorrow or later in the week:
Did the professor realize that the student began to work on the quiz at 6:00? The student contacted the professor at 6:50 to say that she had been logged off the system. In her initial communication with the professor, was it clear that she had started the quiz well before 6:50? If I thought a student was trying to take a quiz that took 45+ minutes in the last 10 minutes before it was due, I would not have much sympathy, although in a typical case I am a pushover.
Was the other student who used the computer in the same class? If no, great!<br>
If the other student was in the class, what was the other student doing on the daughter’s computer? I understand that the software has many uses, but taking the quiz is among them. If the other student was in the class, had the other student completed the quiz on his/her own computer earlier on?
If two students were logged in simultaneously on the same computer, and they were both taking a quiz in the same course, having logged in under their own accounts, would they be able to see each other’s answers? What if one had submitted the quiz and the other had not–could the submitted answers still be examined? After a student has submitted the quiz, is it scored immediately, and are the correct answers reported to the student?</p>
<p>You see where I am going here. I believe that your daughter did not know that the other student had not logged out. It may be that the other student is not in the same class. Even if the other student was taking the quiz, I believe that your daughter did not know that, and wasn’t using it in any way. This seems like a pretty hokey computer system (I have known a few of those). But you don’t want your daughter to accidentally open a total can of worms with her request.</p>
<p>QuantMech,
You ask some good questions. I will ask her if she knows who had used it and why. You have a good point that it may open a can of worms, especially if the professor is annoyed with her. I cannot imagine that it would be so glitchy as to have two quizzes open at once but it would be good to know if that was a possibility so false accusations aren’t made.</p>
<p>You also have a good point that my D needs to explain that she was nearly finished with the quiz when it shut down. If the professor thinks she was just starting it at 6:50…well. I would certainly be rolling my eyes if i were the professor.</p>
<p>Also need to speak to her about letting others use her computer. She is one of those kids who just loans things to everyone. Can’t tell you the boots, jackets, dresses, etc that have gone missing.</p>