What are they thinking????

This has been a frustrating week. Technology and I haven’t been getting along at all and while I’m not one to give in to any piece of software, I’m ready to say “uncle” and give up the fight. I am having a bad case of spring fever which I get every year about this time when the hint of spring is in the air and the sun and warm weather are calling me outside. But what really put me over the top this week are the students, my students and my program’s students. What are they thinking? Or are they????

From the “You just can’t make this stuff up” file:

• An email from a student who is enrolled in a spring 2 course who hasn’t been in class yet “Oh…I didn’t realize I was in this class (now three weeks into it). Can I make up all the work?” And you've been where all this time???


• A student grousing about test questions: “I want you to speak with your boss and have them hire me to QA the test questions.” Yea, right…let me get my checkbook.


• From a student who turned in a six sentence file for an assignment requiring a thoughtful one page observation: “How come I don’t get any points for my assignments? You don’t help me. I’m going to speak with your dean!” This is in spite of the fact the instructor gives extensive feedback and an opportunity to resend revised homework for a week after due date.


• From one of my students who contacted the Help Desk the afternoon of the day the assignment was due: “The Help Desk wasn’t helpful. They didn’t explain the homework to me.” Yes, we'll work on their customer service skills.


• Another of my students who has not submitted any assignments (spring2) yet…her explanation as to why: “My first computer broke. The screen went black so I bought another computer. It doesn’t work either.” Sure hope you saved the receipt!

One of the unwritten duties in the chair job description is to be a virtual therapist for your faculty. I encourage my instructors to alert me to any potential student problem along the way, big or small, whether it turns into an issue or not. I tell my faculty to document any issues throughout the semester just in case we need it later. Usually we don’t but those times we’ve needed documentation, it was handy.

I think we need to advocate for a Spring Break for CCCOnline! I sure could use one about now.