frustration with classes

[cookderosa]

Ugh.

So, I've spent the morning emailing the advisor (as "my son" because they can't communicate with parents of course, nevermind he's a minor) and it is true that at the bottom of the first page of the syllabus it says "instructor reserves the right to require proctoring."  So, there we go.  Silly me for assuming they'd have the technology in place to proctor remotely.  Anyway, the rub is that this is a course required for his certificate, and they won't take a transfer from another CC in my state- so frustrating. This is course #5 of 6.   I'm 99% sure I'm dropping it (cough, I mean "he's dropping it") because the course opened for this week and she wants a proctored quiz again. So these aren't even EXAMS they are weekly quizzes.  She thinks he's going to campus 8 more times?  The first 4 were online - but she's apparently changed her mind for at least these....she won't reveal whether or not the others will be in person or online because apparently revealing that would compromise something... like the integrity of her very important 100 level course.  <eye roll>  Colleges are always so surprised at their retention rate, gosh, I wonder why?  <heavy scarcasm>

So they are requiring on-campus proctoring for a distance ed class? Sounds like an oxymoron. Makes no sense.

I know Jenny, it's so strange. It's everyone, not just my son, but they totally sprung this on the students.

[rlw74]

How far from campus is he? Is it possible he could go and take several quizzes on the same day? The visiting campus thing is such an outdated format. Those kind of classes used to be called hybrid classes where you take most your work online but had to go in to take the proctored exams. If it's truly online it shouldn't require any trips to campus. And if it does, they should label the course as a hybrid, (or whatever terminology they want to use), so you know what you are getting into ahead of time.

[dfrecore]

I would have a real problem with this. First, like rlw74 said, you should know up front whether you'll be required to visit the campus for any reason. Second, CA is a very large state - if I was to take an online course at a college here, it could be up to a 12-14 hour drive to get to that campus! Really, the point of it being online is for my convenience, and to require me to make a trip somewhere without notice, takes away the convenience.

[davewill]

Eight visits to campus for an "online" course is utterly ridiculous. If I could go to campus that often, I could have taken a regular course. Not specifying it in advance (and being unwilling to commit on future quizzes) is just adding insult to injury. I'd go straight to the dean.

[cookderosa]

Eight visits to campus for an "online" course is utterly ridiculous. If I could go to campus that often, I could have taken a regular course. Not specifying it in advance (and being unwilling to commit on future quizzes) is just adding insult to injury. I'd go straight to the dean.

An issue is that it's my son who is a student, not me, so while I did craft the emails, technically they don't have to talk to me. There is also a mid-level advisor for high school students, and I (as my son) sent her an email yesterday. SHE JUST CALLED ME which I'm glad for, but this just goes to show that they don't even know that they aren't supposed to do that (FERPA and all....). We had a nice and very long chat- over 20 minutes. She asked what my son was willing to do (answer: go to our local campus testing center for mid term and final but not weekly quizzes) and before she withdrew him she wanted to talk to his teacher. His dual enrollment advisor, bless her heart, is probably 70 years old and a very sweet lady - uninformed, but sweet, and I do sincerely believe she wants to keep my son enrolled. His teacher, otoh, is all about trying to snare the students in a technicality, which is exactly the kind of teacher I hate.... I'll report back. I should hear later today.

[StoicJ]

I think you shouldn´t have to wait until the syllabus comes out to know if a class is online or not

[cookderosa]

I think you shouldn´t have to wait until the syllabus comes out to know if a class is online or not

Her awesome amazing fantastic course is 100% read the text and answer quizzes / fourm. There is no instruction AT ALL. No videos, no lectures/lessons. Essentially phoning it in, so why this is a sticking point is confusing. There are 12 quizzes and the first 5 (maybe 6?) were online. It's a policy she started now - but I didn't hear back from the advisor, we'll see how this goes.

[cardiacclep]

Yeah....we are still in the dark ages with online and traditional old ways colliding. CLEP is way better as you have complete control. Some online classes I have taken through traditional schools have been hit or miss. I still think many traditional professors tend to resent their obligation to online courses. Love the snarky one or two words in the grading with it being past due for grading by three weeks. We pay a premium for degrees, the aggregate of courses, to procure jobs etc. The ROI on individual courses are appallingly low and frustratingly slow. I rant on this too much but I really hope the edu-revolution comes to fruition and disrupts this outdated and over price model. I love things like the online masters MOOCs coming out of GA Tech and U of Illinois. I feel the tide is turning for the better and disruptive models accelerate the process. In the future a student-centric model will thrive is my hope. Nothing worse than being utterly confused as to what an incompetent or spiteful professor wants day to day. Hopefully, you get clarity on this matter.

[cookderosa]

Update: his advisor has been great and we've figured out what's going on. The teacher apparently caught a couple of students cheating and so she's taken care of them and switched all future quizzes to take place on campus. We are several hours from the campus, and there is a campus just down the road, but my campus apparently doesn't have the right software, so he *can* go to one that's only about 45 min away, but it would have to happen each week for 8 weeks. I was ok doing it once or twice, even for a final, but not 8 times. (not to mention paying to park, etc....) So,, the school has decided to waive the residency requirement of this course and let my son take it at one of our other CCs to transfer back in for his certificate. He has a tuition waiver, so the only losses here will be he has to "redo" the first 2 months of this class again, I'll have to buy a different textbook, and he'll have to take a summer class. Annoying but not a deal breaker.

[jsd]

Not ideal but better than the alternative. Glad you were able to get it resolved!