Taking a class for a hobby where the professor has cancelled class several times for various reasons (only meets twice a week). In addition, cancelled once by weather. This is not a problem for me personally (not really a paying customer, hobby and all that), but for the other students in the course it seems like at some point they are not getting their money’s worth.
This has also happened in previous courses with said professor.
At what point would you begin to feel that repeatedly cancelled lectures were depriving your student of the education you/they are paying for? Or is this more normal than what I have personally done?
It largely comes down to whether there are legit reasons. For weak reasons, 1-2 is fine; almost all students are actually quite happy for missing 1 or maybe 2 meetings. But if it is more than that, having no substitute, and without an understanding from the administrator, it can be a big issue at a well-run university.
It’s pretty common and is fine when scheduled in advance. Sometimes the professor has to attend a conference, etc. and they put the absences in the Syllabus. Usually they arrange a fill-in. If the prof is cancelling class with no notice for any reason but illness/family emergency, it is a big problem.
Other than cases where the weather forces the school to close, that magic number for me is 1.
At my college, instructors are required to make alternate arrangements (find a guest lecturer, reschedule the lecture). In some extremely unusual circumstances (e.g. 11/9/2016) profs did cancel class, or turned the class into a discussion of the events of the prior day, but that was a one off.
Back in the Stone Age, I had a professor who was in his tenure year. I have no idea what happened to him…but he randomly started cancelling classes…usually at the last minute. Oddly, he would show up and give us tests…based on NO class lectures. Several of us complained to the department chairperson. We were all honors/deans list students…not slackers…and this prof was not doing his job.
Bottom line…he was gone after that term.
If the professor is not showing up at classes…you need to speak to the department chairperson.
I think it’s rare for a professor to miss more than one or two days of classes in a semester, unless there’s a chronic illness of some kind. Professors know how to schedule their research travel during vacation and intercession periods. On occasion, a family emergency can happen. And on occasion they must travel to professional meetings or conferences, in which case they will try to put that information into the course syllabus or notify students on-line.
I don’t recall ever canceling a class for illness. Even when my parents passed away I didn’t miss any teaching days.
When I was a department chair, I never heard any student complaints about professors missing classes. It is possible that the professors announced some class cancellations that I wasn’t informed about.
Depending on the size of the class, rescheduling could be impractical. I certainly don’t have a backup person who would be able to take over in the event of a sudden absence for illness or something. What does your college do in the event that neither of these options is possible?
I had a prof in law school who cancelled the class at least 3 times for funerals. I guess his church held funerals at 10 am on Fridays. I also remember him giving a lecture on Opening Day and since so many students missed class, he repeated the lecture the next class period. I felt this was disrespectful to those of us who hadn’t skipped class.
Personally, I’ve never had it happen. Many classes that are MWF classes are actually listed in the catalog as MW(F) where F is at the instructor’s discretion. So a student cannot schedule a class at that time, and the missed class could be slotted in then. For other classes where rescheduling will not work for everybody, the professor can reschedule the lecture and have it recorded for later viewing. For intro foreign language classes, which generally meet daily, the instructor is required to have a backup. I suppose if it were a last minute emergency and no other options were available, the head TA would be called in for service.
Definitely contact the departmental chairperson! This is a breach of contract between the students and the school and between the teacher and the school.
This is a source of irritation at top law schools. A lot of the professors are big shots and miss class because they are being interviewed on CNN, testifying as an expert in some huge case, have an oral argument, etc. Students are inconvenienced by makeup classes on Friday afternoons or during reading period.
Larry Tribe’s disciples (like me) took much pride in the fact that despite all of his outside work, the only time in his 50-year teaching career that he cancelled class to do a Supreme Court argument was for the first round in Bush v. Gore.
A friend who worked as an adjunct social science lecturer at one of the local public colleges while pursuing his PhD had a sudden family emergency which required him to leave the country on less than a day’s notice.
Even then, he managed to arrange a substitute…yours truly to cover that class. It was also fortunate that he had such a good working relationship with the chair that he accepted me, sight unseen, to act as the substitute lecturer.
End result, class wasn’t canceled and a critical part of the Western Civ course…the chapter on the Roman Empire ended up getting covered. More surprisingly was hearing from my adjunct friend that they liked my lecture to the point of asking him to bring me back next time he needed a sub.
But if it is more than that, having no substitute, and without an understanding from the administrator, it can be a big issue at a well-run university.