I there, I’m new to this site! I’ve never filed a complaint against anybody before in my entire life, but I feel as though I’m in a situation where I have to. I’m taking an online computer programming class where the professor bases 60% of your grade on 3 Exams. Unlike literally ANY online class I’ve previously taken, he expects you to take this exam at a fixed time at 9 at night, and submit it within an hour and a half. He will not accept it a second late and if the exam isn’t in by the time he wants he will give you a zero. I feel this is unfair, but there are no rules against doing so, HOWEVER he has provided misleading information about both of the exams. The first being the submission deadline being 10:30 PM, while he’d stated elsewhere that it was 10:35 PM and on the second exam he specifically stated that their would be 1 short answer question on the exam and there were 10. I’ve no proof for the former, but had the foresight to take a screenshot of the latter. This professor also offered an opportunity to retake the first test, but posted this information in a fashion that nobody would receive notification of it and he also stated within this offer that he would not accept any phone calls or emails on the matter and that you had to report to his office on a given date. This is directly contradictory of his communication policy in which he stated with no provisions otherwise that he can be contacted by phone and email. I can likely prove all of this accept for the fist case of the misleading due date.
So were you able to meet with the professor at the suggested time to discuss your grade? The first step in contesting your grade is to communicate with the professor. Here, it seems like there was an uncertain deadline and you could present your evidence of this (although at the end you said you had no evidence of this). I’m not sure how a 1.5 hour exam could consist of one short answer question – isn’t a short answer often just a couple of sentences? If the professor is unwilling to communicate about the uncertain deadline, then you would speak to the academic advisor or the department head.
I did attempt to contact him the day after the fact since he obviously wouldn’t be taking office calls at 10:35 at night, but he never responded. As I said although his communication policy stated otherwise he publicly said he would not take any calls on the matter. Since I wasn’t notified of the meeting in a manner where I’d actually see this without looking on a part of the coarse page I (or anybody else I suspect) would normally be looking I didn’t know that this was offered until literally almost a month later. Also, the exam also had 40 multiple choice questions and short answer i this case can potentially mean write a whole mock program (and some of the questions were nearly this).
To be honest, I don’t really think so, but others may have different opinions. I do think you should make every effort to contact your professor and discuss the issue before taking it further.
For one thing, don’t compare this class to other online classes. That is not a basis for any argument. It doesn’t matter what other classes do. This professor can do whatever he wants.
Not accepting a late exam isn’t unreasonable. It’s to simulate putting your pen down when time is called during a live proctored exam. I’ve had professors who gave zeroes if you kept writing after time is called.
For the submission deadline, did you contact him ahead of time about the conflicting times? Times can change for many different reasons (typo or accident, the time changed for whatever reason, etc). If the time of submission affected your grade, did you contact the professor afterwards about the conflict in times? If he didn’t respond to your email, did you send a follow-up email or try to contact him in person? Have other students had this trouble with contacting him?
In terms of how many questions were on the exam–this is the exact reason that many professors don’t like to say how many questions are going to be on an exam. Students freak out when things change. This can always change. Just because your professor says one thing on the exam doesn’t mean that they can’t change their mind or rewrite the exam or add questions to the exam. There’s no complaint to make about that. It is what it is. You’ll know better for the next exam. It’s only unfair if you received a different exam than all of the other students.
In terms of announcements about the test, now you know that you should be checking that area of the online posting board. Lesson learned. Did you try contacting your professor about this (in person, by email, by phone, whatever your professor wants)? It’s possible he was doing this in response to comments from other students or in response to the poor exam grades, so he was giving students a second chance. He may have said he didn’t want any emails or phone calls about it because he was inundated with them and decided he’d just give everyone a make-up exam if they wanted one. It’s possible that you might not check that part of the online site, but that others might. It’s also possible that your professor doesn’t know that students don’t regularly check this part of the site. He might think it’s the responsibility of the students to regularly check the site, in addition to their email.
In my opinion, you don’t really have any reason to make a formal complaint about your professor. I don’t see what good it would do. These are all valid things to put on like a course or professor evaluation, but I don’t personally think that any of this is reason to make a formal complaint. If you have made every possible attempt to contact your professor and he’s just completely unreachable, then you can take it up higher, but I wouldn’t do that until you’ve exhausted all options with your professor first. There’s no reason to burn bridges if you don’t have to.
By the way, if you’re failing/have a dangerously low grade, it may be worth it to take a W for the semester and retake the class.
You already have very good advice in previous two posts. I do find it strange that an online instructor would require students to come to campus. Is that a course requirement?
The syllabus is typically a binding contract between you and the professor - read it carefully because that will hold more weight than all other “complaints.” You can certainly speak with the Department Chair or Vice Provost and present the facts. The very best that might happen is you would have your fees refunded when you take a “W” (depends on school). Is it worth the hassle?
The only thing I really find strange here is that it’s at a fixed time of 9 pm. That’s crazy. The last thing I want to do at 9 o’clock most nights is take an exam. I could understand having a fixed time to take exams if it’s at a reasonable time with a bit of flexibility, but this is a bit bizarre.
@NotForEveryone: I took an online math course back in community college where we had to come to campus two times: the first time for class orientation, and second time to take the final exam.
All requirements for scheduling & taking a proctored exam should be explained in the syllabus or Week #1 information. Not providing these dates/times/places is definitely a problem. In future courses, make sure you read the syllabus and understand the test schedule. If you don’t like it, switch to another section with another instructor right away.
Is it 9pm in the time zone where the course is offered? That’s nuts!
^ 9 pm seems late but the professor might be trying to pick a time that works for everyone. Anything before 6 pm could conflict with regular courses. Then there are night classes/labs, meal times and working students to consider.