Frustrated with prof (long, but please respond)

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Frustrated with prof (long, but please respond)

by SC Teacher No More

Jul 12, 2011

Would anyone have another recommendation for this situation?

DD is in her first semester as a transfer to our local 4- year university. Her current class is an internship and one assignment was to create a PowerPoint describing the internship. DD completed the PowerPoint and sent it to her professor before the deadline. The following week, she finds two e-mail messages from him that state (1) He couldn't open her PowerPoint and she had 48 hours to re- submit and (2) Since she hadn't responded during the 48 hours he was docking her late points for the assignment. She didn't see his e-mail since she was working her internship, which has very long hours (10:00 AM until 11:00 PM being typical).

She immediately contacted him via e-mail (it was after 11:00 pm on a Friday night, thus no phone call to his office) and re-submitted her PowerPoint, but she had to use her Yahoo account since the e-mail server was down. Within two days he responds that he received her second subm...See MoreWould anyone have another recommendation for this situation?

DD is in her first semester as a transfer to our local 4- year university. Her current class is an internship and one assignment was to create a PowerPoint describing the internship. DD completed the PowerPoint and sent it to her professor before the deadline. The following week, she finds two e-mail messages from him that state (1) He couldn't open her PowerPoint and she had 48 hours to re- submit and (2) Since she hadn't responded during the 48 hours he was docking her late points for the assignment. She didn't see his e-mail since she was working her internship, which has very long hours (10:00 AM until 11:00 PM being typical).

She immediately contacted him via e-mail (it was after 11:00 pm on a Friday night, thus no phone call to his office) and re-submitted her PowerPoint, but she had to use her Yahoo account since the e-mail server was down. Within two days he responds that he received her second submission and that it was "on point" but he was still docking her 12 points leaving her with a 48/60.

I encouraged her to write him and ask that he reconsider, explaining that she submitted the presentation before the deadline, she submitted the exact same presentation via her personal e-mail, and that she had only gone two days without checking her e-mail as she was participating in her internship. She had checked for a response Wednesday morning before leaving for her long days (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) that week. She has been working some days as long as 12 hours as an event planning assistant, without pay, for this internship. The professor answers that it is her problem to fix her e-mail and that there is a lab at school open from 8-5 for students. I called (because my daughter is currently driving to a neighboring state for an assingment with her internship) and spoke with two IT representatives as the University who confirmed my belief that the e-mail situation is completely outside of our hands and even the university's hands, it would be a Microsoft or cable provider issue.

Ok, my first problem with this scenario is that he couldn't open her PowerPoint presentation. That seems to be a technical issue on his side. My second problem is that he doesn't understand that the e-mail is maintained by Microsoft and we have no control over it. By his own admission, this same problem occured with 10 other students.

Do I suggest DD try anything else? She will have to have this same professor (unless he retires) for her second required internship next summer. DD is so upset since she is really working hard to get a 3.5 GPA so she'll hopefully be eligible for some more schlarship money. What she receives currently is not quite enough to cover tuition and books, plus she has to pay her car insurance and obviously isn't making anything during her internship which will end just before the next semester begins.

Helpful advice would be appreciated.

Comment

(5)

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Sspil There are some professors out there that are extremely harsh with deadlines. Typically it's because he/she has been burned by students trying to "get around" deadlines one too many times. As a professor I can tell you that making exceptions to your policy for select students only leads to trouble.

Honestly there is not much you can do. He ...See MoreThere are some professors out there that are extremely harsh with deadlines. Typically it's because he/she has been burned by students trying to "get around" deadlines one too many times. As a professor I can tell you that making exceptions to your policy for select students only leads to trouble.

Honestly there is not much you can do. He did give her two days to rectify the problem which is more than fair. If your daughter is submitting work online that means that this class relies heavily on electronic communication. Your daughter should be checking her email at least once a day. I know she's working hard, but honestly it takes 5 minutes to check email. That is her responsibility.

My advice to you is to step back and remove yourself from the situation. Your daughter is in college and she needs to learn to navigate these issues for herself. It is only one assignment and it's an 80%. It's unlikely it will seriously affect her grade if she does well on other assignments for the internship. Chalk it up to a lesson learned on her part. One day she may have a demanding, even unreasonable boss and she will know better how to deal with it.

7/12/11, SC Teacher No More wrote: > Would anyone have another recommendation for this > situation? > > DD is in her first semester as a transfer to our local 4- > year university. Her current class is an internship and > one assignment was to create a PowerPoint describing the > internship. DD completed the PowerPoint and sent it to her > professor before the deadline. The following week, she > finds two e-mail messages from him that state (1) He > couldn't open her PowerPoint and she had 48 hours to re- > submit and (2) Since she hadn't responded during the 48 > hours he was docking her late points for the assignment. > She didn't see his e-mail since she was working her > internship, which has very long hours (10:00 AM until 11:00 > PM being typical). > > She immediately contacted him via e-mail (it was after > 11:00 pm on a Friday night, thus no phone call to his > office) and re-submitted her PowerPoint, but she had to use > her Yahoo account since the e-mail server was down. Within > two days he responds that he received her second submission > and that it was "on point" but he was still docking her 12 > points leaving her with a 48/60. > > I encouraged her to write him and ask that he reconsider, > explaining that she submitted the presentation before the > deadline, she submitted the exact same presentation via her > personal e-mail, and that she had only gone two days > without checking her e-mail as she was participating in her > internship. She had checked for a response Wednesday > morning before leaving for her long days (Wednesday, > Thursday and Friday) that week. She has been working some > days as long as 12 hours as an event planning assistant, > without pay, for this internship. The professor answers > that it is her problem to fix her e-mail and that there is > a lab at school open from 8-5 for students. I called > (because my daughter is currently driving to a neighboring > state for an assingment with her internship) and spoke with > two IT representatives as the University who confirmed my > belief that the e-mail situation is completely outside of > our hands and even the university's hands, it would be a > Microsoft or cable provider issue. > > Ok, my first problem with this scenario is that he couldn't > open her PowerPoint presentation. That seems to be a > technical issue on his side. My second problem is that he > doesn't understand that the e-mail is maintained by > Microsoft and we have no control over it. By his own > admission, this same problem occured with 10 other > students. > > Do I suggest DD try anything else? She will have to have > this same professor (unless he retires) for her second > required internship next summer. DD is so upset since she > is really working hard to get a 3.5 GPA so she'll hopefully > be eligible for some more schlarship money. What she > receives currently is not quite enough to cover tuition and > books, plus she has to pay her car insurance and obviously > isn't making anything during her internship which will end > just before the next semester begins. > > Helpful advice would be appreciated.

Jul 13, 2011

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marjoryt robably the instructor is following policy stated in the syllabus. At this point, it's going to be more effort than it's worth to continually pursue the missing points. She's obsessing over the points and may even be putting the rest of the course at risk. One B grade won't destroy a good course average, and it won't destroy a good GPA.

S...See More

Jul 15, 2011

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Mom to Three Hi,

My husband is on the other side using technology as much as possible in his engineering classes, and he has found that students can have problems submitting their work by using the wrong server or not submitting it from a computer on the correct system. And, it is so true that with a computer based assignment that you just don't know w...See More

Jul 18, 2011

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SC Teacher No More DD, with the urging of her internship director, has contacted the Dean of her department. The Dean has advised her to keep her e-mail correspondence and if she does not make an "A" in the class, they will proceed from there. They (the internship director and Dean) both agree that it is unreasonable to deduct 20% of the assignment's grade for it bei...See More

Aug 12, 2011

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Pil Wow, if I was that professor, I would not be happy with you or your daughter. I hope the second internship went well (if it went at all).

On 8/12/11, SC Teacher No More wrote: > DD, with the urging of her internship director, has contacted the Dean > of her department. The Dean has advised her to keep her e-mail > correspondence a...See More