Nearly a year ago, I "dedicated" myself to adding more posts to this blog. I also, rather foolishly, started another blog last July. Then, I got sick. Well, as you adjuncts know, one of the problems with getting sick is that there is no place in your life for illness. You have no sick leave. You don't get paid if you don't teach. You will get poor reviews if you teach poorly, are late grading, or don't challenge your students enough. And if you miss class too often, you may find yourself being asked to miss class....permanently.
I'm luckier than most adjuncts, in that a fair number of my classes are conducted online, and I have a husband of 42 years who is semi-retired (not by choice) and who has the time to do everything from laundry to cooking to chauffeuring, and lugging my books for me when I can't. Others are not so lucky, and I feel for them.
My health issue is one involving my thyroid. Weird symptoms left in in pain and thoroughly fatigued last summer and through the fall (when I taught 10 courses). I'd seen the doctor. As most people over a "certain age," I have my problems (allergies, fibromyalgia, poor posture from carrying tons of books and papers, etc) so when I started to have neck pain, shoulder pain, fatigue, etc, no one gave it much though, including me. Hey, I'm one stubborn Polish kid. I'm driven by stubbornness. It's gotten me where I am (which my husband doesn't agree is always the best place). I got through finals in December and found myself suffering the very next day from the Norovirus that one of my lovely students opted to pass on to me.
Now, I haven't had a "stomach bug" in......30 years? I just don't get sick that way, but sick I was - scary sick, as my husband put it - for nearly a week. I lost a ton of weight, had muscle cramps from dehydration, and completely dismissed Christmas. My husband came down with the "bug" too, but he had the 24-hour version and was back up on his feet taking care of me in no time. Somehow, I managed to complete grading of finals and research papers and get my grades in on time. Don't ask me how because I just don't remember.
New Year's Day came, and while I was on the phone to my cousin in Florida, I developed a pain around my jaw on the right side. The pain was furiously intense and spread quickly to my chest, back, other side of my neck, into my face, throat. I couldn't move, couldn't talk. My husband found ice, heating pads, Advil, Tylenol, you name it. Finally after about 45 minutes, I felt like I would live (No, stubborn Polish woman would never call an ambulance. It was probably only a swollen gland).
The long and short of it is that I did see a doctor, another doctor, a third doctor, had numerous tests, left a ton of blood at the lab, and found out that I have Graves Disease, and thyroiditis (the really painful kind) which I've probably had since last summer. I'm now on medication (including steroids that have had the effect of making me look and feel like a balloon) and finally, I'm starting to feel human. I can actually do my own laundry (if I take it slowly) and have put the serious pain killers away, although not too far out of reach.
I don't remember going back and starting the semester right after Martin Luther King Day. I had three day classes and four online classes to teach. My husband drove me, carried my books, made sure I had thermos jugs full of hot water for tea (the only thing that gave me any relief quickly), and rested with me the three times I needed to stop between the car and the building about 100 feet away. I really don't remember much of the first half of the semester; I was truly in survival mode - sleeping in the recliner (I couldn't lie on my neck), taking pain killers at the proper time, working in short spurts, and filling my time with a lot of bad TV and movies. I was living life moment to moment at times.
My students were wonderful. I don't remember what I told them the first day of class, but I did tell them I was sick, and that I hoped they would forgive me if I had to temporarily walk out of the room. I assured them I would not die, even though at times I thought I would and probably looked like it. As I received information, I passed it on to my students, not for sympathy, but so that they would know that they were my first priority, and that despite my illness, I would do my best to keep them on track. I excused absences for sick students, expanded office hours, forgave deadlines when students had problems. In other words, we started to work together in understanding that life interferes with what we have to do.
Yes, I'm aware that when students go out into the big wide world, they will have to meet deadlines, cope with illnesses, deaths in the family, financial difficulties, broken down cars, etc. But I was reminded by my own illness that there are some times when we can't just meet the demands everyone else puts on us. The world has become a cold and unforgiving place. We risk life and limb driving through blizzards in minimum-wage jobs. We drag our sick selves to desk jobs when we could probably work from home (while also infecting everyone else around us). And we have lost our sympathy for those around us who are sick. Not every illness is cancer (Yes, we still show great sympathy for our friends with cancer), but other illnesses, many of them internal and unseen, can badly derail us.
I'm eternally grateful for students in class and online who encouraged me, inquired about me, and forgave me for some late grades and missed items. I also made sure that my administrative overseers were aware of exactly what was going on with me and how I was accommodating my students. They, too, were extremely supportive.
So, maybe now, I can keep my promise, and get back to this blog.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
The Busy Adjunct's Life
You can see that I've been....absent. Unfortunately, such is the lot of the adjunct. The teaching takes over the life and there is nothing left. I've decided to change the name of this blog from The Adjunct Life (which I thought was quite appropriate since life does seem to be an off and on thing) to The World of the Adjunct Professor in hopes that some out there will actually find it. And I'm rededicating myself to actually adding to this blog from time to time. Hope you'll come and join me.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Adjuncts are Expendable
Adjuncts are expendable commodities. When an adjunct is used up or begins to be problematic, s/he is relieved of duties and another adjunct moves in to fill up the empty spot. An adjunct becomes problematic by 1) pointing out problems within a course or department or 2) is brought to the attention of the administration for any reason or 3) fails to meet standards measured by student evaluations. So what's an adjunct to do? Here are some tips.
First, never point out a problem with a course, department head, or anything in the department. No matter what problems arise in your course, handle them yourself with a smile. This may mean giving out good grades for bad work, extending deadlines because of student laziness, or apologizing to your students for not teaching the class the way they want to have it taught as well as changing your methods to meet their requirements and expectations. Remember, you are a professional. There is no problem you cannot fix somehow. If college level pedagogical practices don't work, reach down to what you would use in high school, junior high....oh, heck. Try kindergarten. After all, the students are paying the tuition and thus your salary (puny as it might be), so give them what they want.
Expanding on this first point, I want you to be sure that you never complain about or to your department head. By all means, never admit you have been sick, dealing with a personal issue, or overwhelmed. Do not seek help or adivce. You are supposed to know everything; that is why they hired you. If you find your department head to be incompetent, don't complain to administration. Accept it as part of the way things are. The better the professor, the less that professor wants the job of department head. Most PhD's don't want the added burden of administrative tasks. They don't want to schedule courses, staff them, and (heaven forbid) deal with adjuncts. Chances are the person who has the job took it for the extra money involved and the smaller teaching load. Remember too, that any problems you experience add to the woes of the beleaguered department head. Your department head doesn't want those woes, so the easiest way to get rid of them is to get rid of the adjunct who brings them to his/her attention.
2) Administration is not your friend. I'm not sure they are anyone's friend, but they certainly aren't there to make the adjunct's life better. You belong to your department head, and the only time your name should come to the attention of administration is if you have been unanimously voted to be adjunct of the year, or if one hundred students are lined up at the registrar's office clamoring to take just one more course with you. Unfortunately, when a student or a parent of a student (Those helicopter parents are still hovering.) has any kind of a problem, the complaint will go directly to admnistration - usually a dean. Most of the time the complaint is not valid and easily cleared up. Case in point is the mother of a student who complained that I had failed her daughter's research paper without cause. I had in my posession a paper that was half the length, had no citations or bibliography, and was poorly written. I gave the student the benefit of the doubt and asked her to upload the final version rather than the "draft" she must have "mistakenly uploaded." No other paper was uploaded. Case closed. Still and all, this was a "problem" for the administrator who had been contacted. Just like a person who has been wrongly accused of something like child molestation, I'm wrong, even when I'm not.
Additionally, you don't want to complain to administration about your department head. Chances are they know exactly how incompetent your department head is, but since no one else wants the job.....
3) If you are on the "hit" list, all evaluations will be "problematic." It doesn't matter that the aggregate value of your evaluations is a 4.55 out of 5.00; if your deparmtent head says, they are problematic, rest assured they are. Of course, don't expect anyone to tell you why they are problematic or what the minimum score is for your school or department. When all else fails, your evaluation scores will be enough to make sure that your name is not on the next semester schedule. Chances are, the scores are problematic because you did something listed in 1) or 2) above.
All of the above creates a serious problem. Adjuncts are now appeasing students even when they shouldn't; they are participating in grade inflation; they are dropping their standards regarding all methods of student participation and performace. An adjunct who is concerned primarily with operaing under the radar cannot be a good teacher. An adjunct who does not feel that the department head is providing understanding help and support has nowhere to turn when a legitimate problem arises.
It's bad enough that in many educational institutions, adjuncts are made to feel as if they don't really belong. They have no offices and carry everything around with them (including laptops to the bathroom, so they won't be stolen), and often are left out of the loop regarding important information that is routinely sent to full-time faculty. Adjuncts rarely know the full-time professors and have no one to talk to, never mind seek advice from, regarding students or other school related issues.
Adjuncts teach well over 50% of the nation's courses. If we all decided to not teach for only one semester, we could seriously cripple most educational insitutions. Yet we are considered expendable.
First, never point out a problem with a course, department head, or anything in the department. No matter what problems arise in your course, handle them yourself with a smile. This may mean giving out good grades for bad work, extending deadlines because of student laziness, or apologizing to your students for not teaching the class the way they want to have it taught as well as changing your methods to meet their requirements and expectations. Remember, you are a professional. There is no problem you cannot fix somehow. If college level pedagogical practices don't work, reach down to what you would use in high school, junior high....oh, heck. Try kindergarten. After all, the students are paying the tuition and thus your salary (puny as it might be), so give them what they want.
Expanding on this first point, I want you to be sure that you never complain about or to your department head. By all means, never admit you have been sick, dealing with a personal issue, or overwhelmed. Do not seek help or adivce. You are supposed to know everything; that is why they hired you. If you find your department head to be incompetent, don't complain to administration. Accept it as part of the way things are. The better the professor, the less that professor wants the job of department head. Most PhD's don't want the added burden of administrative tasks. They don't want to schedule courses, staff them, and (heaven forbid) deal with adjuncts. Chances are the person who has the job took it for the extra money involved and the smaller teaching load. Remember too, that any problems you experience add to the woes of the beleaguered department head. Your department head doesn't want those woes, so the easiest way to get rid of them is to get rid of the adjunct who brings them to his/her attention.
2) Administration is not your friend. I'm not sure they are anyone's friend, but they certainly aren't there to make the adjunct's life better. You belong to your department head, and the only time your name should come to the attention of administration is if you have been unanimously voted to be adjunct of the year, or if one hundred students are lined up at the registrar's office clamoring to take just one more course with you. Unfortunately, when a student or a parent of a student (Those helicopter parents are still hovering.) has any kind of a problem, the complaint will go directly to admnistration - usually a dean. Most of the time the complaint is not valid and easily cleared up. Case in point is the mother of a student who complained that I had failed her daughter's research paper without cause. I had in my posession a paper that was half the length, had no citations or bibliography, and was poorly written. I gave the student the benefit of the doubt and asked her to upload the final version rather than the "draft" she must have "mistakenly uploaded." No other paper was uploaded. Case closed. Still and all, this was a "problem" for the administrator who had been contacted. Just like a person who has been wrongly accused of something like child molestation, I'm wrong, even when I'm not.
Additionally, you don't want to complain to administration about your department head. Chances are they know exactly how incompetent your department head is, but since no one else wants the job.....
3) If you are on the "hit" list, all evaluations will be "problematic." It doesn't matter that the aggregate value of your evaluations is a 4.55 out of 5.00; if your deparmtent head says, they are problematic, rest assured they are. Of course, don't expect anyone to tell you why they are problematic or what the minimum score is for your school or department. When all else fails, your evaluation scores will be enough to make sure that your name is not on the next semester schedule. Chances are, the scores are problematic because you did something listed in 1) or 2) above.
All of the above creates a serious problem. Adjuncts are now appeasing students even when they shouldn't; they are participating in grade inflation; they are dropping their standards regarding all methods of student participation and performace. An adjunct who is concerned primarily with operaing under the radar cannot be a good teacher. An adjunct who does not feel that the department head is providing understanding help and support has nowhere to turn when a legitimate problem arises.
It's bad enough that in many educational institutions, adjuncts are made to feel as if they don't really belong. They have no offices and carry everything around with them (including laptops to the bathroom, so they won't be stolen), and often are left out of the loop regarding important information that is routinely sent to full-time faculty. Adjuncts rarely know the full-time professors and have no one to talk to, never mind seek advice from, regarding students or other school related issues.
Adjuncts teach well over 50% of the nation's courses. If we all decided to not teach for only one semester, we could seriously cripple most educational insitutions. Yet we are considered expendable.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
I would really appreciate it...
OK, I'm surprising myself here - two posts in two days - but this one is worth my time.
In my creative writing course, I assigned a scaffolding task. Students were to take a poem and use each line as an inspiration for a similar line of their own. This is a good way to get someone to write a first poem or to inspire a more advanced writer to try something a little different. The responses I received were quite good, and some students really enjoyed the assignment, but then there was the student I will call Dennis.
On the bottom of Dennis's response was the following "This was a stupid assignment. I picked the shortest poem just to get it over with. I do not nor have I ever liked poetry. I would appreciate it if you would refrain from giving us poetry assignments in this course."
Of course, I immediately replied to Dennis that the name of the course was CREATIVE WRITING and that the course did include poetry writing as well as short story writing. I pointed out that we did offer a course in creative non-fiction if that was more to his liking and that he could drop my course if he didn't like the contents.
What I really wanted to say was:
Dear Dennis,
Thank you for giving me a direction in which to take this course. I do so want to accommodate you as an individual, and I'm sure you know that every course here at _________ College offers the student the chance to design it as s/he sees fit. It is certainly a waste of time to attempt to present you with material in which you are not interested, and no students should have to do stupid assignments. Obviously, you have some better suggestions for assignments, and I can't wait to hear them.
I also want to thank you for reminding me that my graduate work and the student loans I incurred were all for nothing, since you, as a student, can see right through me as a teacher and have me pegged as just another stupid idiot trying to rob you of your precrious video game playing time. Please forgive me.
As a thank you, I'm awarding you the big fat A you probably want. No need to come to class; I can see that you are far too intelligent for that. Good luck. You are the student we all dream about.
OK, it's out of my systerm. I think I'll add some more poetry assignments and see what "Dennis" puts down on his evaluation. (see previous post).
In my creative writing course, I assigned a scaffolding task. Students were to take a poem and use each line as an inspiration for a similar line of their own. This is a good way to get someone to write a first poem or to inspire a more advanced writer to try something a little different. The responses I received were quite good, and some students really enjoyed the assignment, but then there was the student I will call Dennis.
On the bottom of Dennis's response was the following "This was a stupid assignment. I picked the shortest poem just to get it over with. I do not nor have I ever liked poetry. I would appreciate it if you would refrain from giving us poetry assignments in this course."
Of course, I immediately replied to Dennis that the name of the course was CREATIVE WRITING and that the course did include poetry writing as well as short story writing. I pointed out that we did offer a course in creative non-fiction if that was more to his liking and that he could drop my course if he didn't like the contents.
What I really wanted to say was:
Dear Dennis,
Thank you for giving me a direction in which to take this course. I do so want to accommodate you as an individual, and I'm sure you know that every course here at _________ College offers the student the chance to design it as s/he sees fit. It is certainly a waste of time to attempt to present you with material in which you are not interested, and no students should have to do stupid assignments. Obviously, you have some better suggestions for assignments, and I can't wait to hear them.
I also want to thank you for reminding me that my graduate work and the student loans I incurred were all for nothing, since you, as a student, can see right through me as a teacher and have me pegged as just another stupid idiot trying to rob you of your precrious video game playing time. Please forgive me.
As a thank you, I'm awarding you the big fat A you probably want. No need to come to class; I can see that you are far too intelligent for that. Good luck. You are the student we all dream about.
OK, it's out of my systerm. I think I'll add some more poetry assignments and see what "Dennis" puts down on his evaluation. (see previous post).
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Student Evaluations
Which administrative idiot thought up the concept of student evaluations? OK, the general idea is fine - give the students a chance to say a few words about the classes they are taking and the professors who teach them. After all, there are (sad to say) some professors out there who are dull and boring because, frankly, they are dull people who are bored to death with what they teach.
But hasn't administration caught on to the fact that students now see evaluations as ways to "punish" professors? At the end of the last semester, I heard one girl comment as she passed my desk. "He (referring to some poor unnamed prof) shouldn't have told me I couldn't do the assignment over. Now I'm going to give him a crappy evaluation." Her friend replied, "I'll write a bad one too." I felt sorry for the guy (whoever it was) because I know students have done to to a lot of professors - including me.
Students see themselves as consumers. They don't hesitate to tell you what they want when they want it, and if you don't give it to them.....well, you'll know it when the evaluations come back to you. For the full-time tenured professor, bad evaluations are probably just lunch laughs, but for the adjunct, it can mean the difference between teaching that course again, or never teaching it as long as you live. And there's nothing you can do.
Ignore the bad evaluations, and your department head thinks you don't care. Bring it up, and you look guilty as hell. You can't get out of this gracefully. Try to explain that the students ganged up on you because you gave them all bad grades on a group project, and you look like the bully throwing the poor hard-working students under the big, bad bus. When those innocent looking students didn't just throw YOU under the bus, they got in and drove it themselves. You can feel the bruises from the tires, but your department head doesn't see them.
Student evaluations are playing right into grade inflation. Be a buddy; cut the students all sorts of slack; laugh off late, shoddy, and missing assignments and give them nothing lower than a B, and you've got them writing a glowing (maybe) evaluation. But when you read those evaluations, you know you sold out to a system that values the students' input over your ethics, education, and integrity. It's sad, isn't it?
But hasn't administration caught on to the fact that students now see evaluations as ways to "punish" professors? At the end of the last semester, I heard one girl comment as she passed my desk. "He (referring to some poor unnamed prof) shouldn't have told me I couldn't do the assignment over. Now I'm going to give him a crappy evaluation." Her friend replied, "I'll write a bad one too." I felt sorry for the guy (whoever it was) because I know students have done to to a lot of professors - including me.
Students see themselves as consumers. They don't hesitate to tell you what they want when they want it, and if you don't give it to them.....well, you'll know it when the evaluations come back to you. For the full-time tenured professor, bad evaluations are probably just lunch laughs, but for the adjunct, it can mean the difference between teaching that course again, or never teaching it as long as you live. And there's nothing you can do.
Ignore the bad evaluations, and your department head thinks you don't care. Bring it up, and you look guilty as hell. You can't get out of this gracefully. Try to explain that the students ganged up on you because you gave them all bad grades on a group project, and you look like the bully throwing the poor hard-working students under the big, bad bus. When those innocent looking students didn't just throw YOU under the bus, they got in and drove it themselves. You can feel the bruises from the tires, but your department head doesn't see them.
Student evaluations are playing right into grade inflation. Be a buddy; cut the students all sorts of slack; laugh off late, shoddy, and missing assignments and give them nothing lower than a B, and you've got them writing a glowing (maybe) evaluation. But when you read those evaluations, you know you sold out to a system that values the students' input over your ethics, education, and integrity. It's sad, isn't it?
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Mid-Term Grades
I know that administrations feel that by giving a student a mid-term grade, that student will understand where s/he is on the learning curve of the course and adjust his/her efforts accordingly. What administrations don't understand is that often we professors do not structure courses so that half of the material has been completed or properly evaluated. What's worse, is that often mid-term grades are a quick run through of skill assignments or quizzes that, in the end, account for only 20-30% of the final grade. This is hardly indicative of a student's standing, nor is it very helpful.
As a matter of face, mid-term grades can either discourage a student who thinks that the grade is one that can't be raised sufficiently prior to the semester's end or can give a student a false sense of accomplishment that s/he will do as well on the harder independent assignments that are to follow.
For adjuncts, compiling mid-term grades is an unnecessary drain on resources. Hours are spent in a rush to provide the most accurate picture for the student, even when we know it's not that accurate. I'd rather have a student come up to me and ask, "how am I doing, and what can I change to do better?" because this will allow me to better guide the student through the remainder of the course.
In my opinion, mid-term grades are an outdated practice. Administrators may have a need to track at this time, and concerned parents who have their student's permission to check on such thing, may feel that this is a good way to make sure their investment is actually performing in classes, but pedagogically, it serves little or no purpose. Students don't take them seriously, and, frankly, neither do too many professors.
As a matter of face, mid-term grades can either discourage a student who thinks that the grade is one that can't be raised sufficiently prior to the semester's end or can give a student a false sense of accomplishment that s/he will do as well on the harder independent assignments that are to follow.
For adjuncts, compiling mid-term grades is an unnecessary drain on resources. Hours are spent in a rush to provide the most accurate picture for the student, even when we know it's not that accurate. I'd rather have a student come up to me and ask, "how am I doing, and what can I change to do better?" because this will allow me to better guide the student through the remainder of the course.
In my opinion, mid-term grades are an outdated practice. Administrators may have a need to track at this time, and concerned parents who have their student's permission to check on such thing, may feel that this is a good way to make sure their investment is actually performing in classes, but pedagogically, it serves little or no purpose. Students don't take them seriously, and, frankly, neither do too many professors.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Technology. Sometimes it's more trouble than it's worth.
The three schools in which I teach use Blackboard as a course management and delivery system. I've been using Blackboard for nearly ten years, having been introduced to it when I first started teaching as an adjunct at UNH. Over the years, Blackboard has evolved by adding more features and refining the ones already there. Blackboard has been a boon to the distance learning world in that it allows students to access assignments, engage in discussion forums and real time chat, e-mail their fellow students without looking up individual addresses, access their grades, and upload assignments. In addition, students can take tests and quizzes online and use a number of peripheral learning tools if made available by their schools and their professors.
Blackboard is also a useful tool for use in traditional classes, since it allows the class to continue if the professor is ill or the schools closes for snow, helps to make the campus greener by allowing students to receive assignment handouts and deliver assignments without the use of paper or printer, and allows for the speedy delivery of announcements. All this is wonderful but....
It doesn't alwasy work. As the technology increases, so do the problems. Blackboard tech support has told us that it is not work with Firefox, and, indeed, last year that was the problem. Students uploading with Firefox would get error messages that told them to upload a valid file, which is what they were trying to do. Students attempting to take quizzes would have half the page blanked out, or they would get kicked out altogether. This year, students using Internet Explorer are getting the same message. They can't seem to find a browser that works with Blackboard.
IT staff at the schools is telling us that students should change docx files to doc files. Why? No one had a problem with docx file last year? Now we are told that students are trying to upload documents with long and complex names, but somehow assign1.docx doesn't seem long or complex to me, and I don't see any unsual characters there either.
The end result is that instead of uploading assignments to the assignment section, students are dumping everything into digital dropbox. Now for the uninitiated, let me explain. Uploading directly through the assignment area places the student's document right into the grade center. Open. Read. Grade. Write comments. Done. One stop and all the material is there until the end of the course. Digital dropbox is one big dumping ground. Files are uploaded and listed, and often you have to open each file to find the right one from the right student. If you keep the files through the semester, the list just grows longer and longer, and if you want to erase them, you must erase them one by one. In short, it's an archaic, slow, pain-in-the-rear way of handling documents, and one that is rumored to be deleted in future versions of Blackboard.
In addition, if you teach multiple sections of the same class, you must upload your material to each section separately. So what time am I saving? Distance learning courses are getting to be a major time hog, and the frustration that comes from a long list of students complaining that their files won't load, and they don't want to be penalized is time consuming, frustrating, and defeating of the entire purpose: to deliver quality educational materials quickly and efficiently.
So my question is this? Why can't a software system used by schools and colleges all over the country figure out how to co-exist with the various popular browsers and accept student documents with ease? Maybe we should just all go back to collecting papers.
Blackboard is also a useful tool for use in traditional classes, since it allows the class to continue if the professor is ill or the schools closes for snow, helps to make the campus greener by allowing students to receive assignment handouts and deliver assignments without the use of paper or printer, and allows for the speedy delivery of announcements. All this is wonderful but....
It doesn't alwasy work. As the technology increases, so do the problems. Blackboard tech support has told us that it is not work with Firefox, and, indeed, last year that was the problem. Students uploading with Firefox would get error messages that told them to upload a valid file, which is what they were trying to do. Students attempting to take quizzes would have half the page blanked out, or they would get kicked out altogether. This year, students using Internet Explorer are getting the same message. They can't seem to find a browser that works with Blackboard.
IT staff at the schools is telling us that students should change docx files to doc files. Why? No one had a problem with docx file last year? Now we are told that students are trying to upload documents with long and complex names, but somehow assign1.docx doesn't seem long or complex to me, and I don't see any unsual characters there either.
The end result is that instead of uploading assignments to the assignment section, students are dumping everything into digital dropbox. Now for the uninitiated, let me explain. Uploading directly through the assignment area places the student's document right into the grade center. Open. Read. Grade. Write comments. Done. One stop and all the material is there until the end of the course. Digital dropbox is one big dumping ground. Files are uploaded and listed, and often you have to open each file to find the right one from the right student. If you keep the files through the semester, the list just grows longer and longer, and if you want to erase them, you must erase them one by one. In short, it's an archaic, slow, pain-in-the-rear way of handling documents, and one that is rumored to be deleted in future versions of Blackboard.
In addition, if you teach multiple sections of the same class, you must upload your material to each section separately. So what time am I saving? Distance learning courses are getting to be a major time hog, and the frustration that comes from a long list of students complaining that their files won't load, and they don't want to be penalized is time consuming, frustrating, and defeating of the entire purpose: to deliver quality educational materials quickly and efficiently.
So my question is this? Why can't a software system used by schools and colleges all over the country figure out how to co-exist with the various popular browsers and accept student documents with ease? Maybe we should just all go back to collecting papers.
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