i think for the first offense, you should just dock 50%. the next time, go for the ZERO. just me, i am a big softee.

Re: Re: Had to give a 0 to a few students - Am I a prick or what?
 

+1

You are obliged to honor the syllabus. In truth, it was your error not accepting the work that was offered.

My advice? Grade the two papers and fail the third.

Re: Had to give a 0 to a few students - Am I a prick or what?
 

Me? Go get the papers, guys: talk about high noon! If they have the goods in time, grade them; if not, simple.

Well, use your best judgement. I know that anyone in a serious discussion would insist that they be judged on merit, and merit alone. In fairness, however, I would agree that prior knowledge of their completion of the project, coupled with your admitted sylabus error, places the onus on you to honor their projects (the two who approached you early), and accept them at full credit, even late. As for the "diversity" issue, it would be premature, and unfair to assume that they would rely on that as a defense. It just wouldn't be a surprise nowadays.

Are you going to drop the kids off at the inlaws Thursday?
:D :D :D

I think it was a little harsh but sometimes that life. I would wait, if they come to you and plead thier case with the assignement in hand I would let them hand in the work, perhaps at a reduced grade. Life is built on rules and guidelines, but sometimes negociation can work wonders. give them a chance. For the third guy, forget it.

Actually, the more I think about it, the 2 students that had their assignment ready pursuant to the deadline in the sylibus should receive additional credit for following the sylibus.

Everyone but the two students who did not have the assignment due pursuant to the published schedule can't seem to follow written directions. I would think that would be a bad thing for engineers, sales reps or maint technician. :)

I had a professor back at Mizzou that lowered my grade on a paper for being 1 minute late to class to turn in the assignment and another who lowered my grade due to poor photocopying. My printer on my Apple IIe was not working properly so I had to literally 'cut and paste' it together and get it photocopied.

Guess the year - I was using an Apple IIe?

The sylibus was on the site the students use - I pointed out certain errors and made sure evryone understood that the sylibus did contain some mistakes - all agreed. rom what I could tell, all the other students had their work as well the day the sylibus said it was due. All were given instructions to hang on to it and turn it in the following week.

In life and in jobs - things change and one must adapt.

Engineering class?

well, was it specified in the syllabus when exactly it was due? Beginning of class? End of class? I was very specific in my syllabi. "Take home" work was due at a specified hour. No ifs, ands or buts. For instance my biochem class required web sites as part of the grade (http://fry.annenberg.edu/proteins/). It was clearly stated that at 5:00pm on a certain date, ftp upload would be shut down. It was their responsibility to make sure that everything was there and that it worked.

For papers, I would usually specify beginning or end of class. If you didn't specify, I would have sent them back to their living quarters and told them to bring it in by the end of class. Take-home exams were always due at the beginning of class. If someone was late to class I would accept it as the extra time wasn't going to do them any good...they were either unlimited time/open book exams or open book with a time limit. Either way if they were trying to finish right before class odds are they weren't going to get much of a grade anyway...

And yes, the exams were frickin' hard. Questions they had never seen before. That's why they were open book/open notes. Memorization means little to me...being able to synthesize knowledge from facts is however important.

You need to come to my neck of the woods. We get a lot of hot farm girls who went away to college and want to stay close to home...

Technical Writing & Professional Presentations - it is a requirement for all math, science and engineering students. I didn't set the rules up - that is the sr. profs duty. The sylibus' error was pointed out and agreed upon. Thestudents also knew that deadlines were kept. The students (all) have to read and sign a code of ethics of sorts which states very simply that deadlines are set by the profs and have to be honored.

I had a roommate in college who had a long term paper all finished and sitting in his backpack, waiting to be turned in on Monday. Another roommate's parents accidentally packed up this guy's backpack while helping their son move on the weekend. By the time the rightful owner discovered what had happened, it was Sunday night. Professor bought the story and gave him a few days to borrow a car and drive out to Lancaster, PA to retrieve the backpack. True story. This was before email and laptops.

Yes, I think you're being a prick with the two that had it done! If I had worked hard and finished the assignment EARLY and TRIED to turn it in but you wouldn't accept it, then you gave me friggin' ZERO later, I'd report your ass to the dean.

Yes, those guys made a small mistake, but so did you. Is this the marine corps, where you need to screw people over a couple minutes?

You should have told them as long as they had it in by midnight, they'd be fine. Particularly since you KNEW they had it done already.

Glad I never had a college prof like you...

ianc

Okay, close enough. I think I had to take that class. Ive seen Engineering professors do a lot more damage to college careers over smaller mistakes. Of course, its unfair. So is life. Engineering professors were unfair pompus pricks when I graduated BSEE in '00 and, Id be a little salty if I learned that they had made my degree easier to achieve in such a short period of time.

BTW, as far as the last comments go, I had plenty of professors that were a lot harder on their students than you seem to be, and Im really grateful for it.

Sure it is, particularly in unavoidable things; like when some idiot rear ends you, or you get cancer.

This was completely understandable. Life doesn't have to be all bad, unless people make it so.

Look at Lube's sig: "Do good things". Do you think his actions reflected that?

ianc

I dont care what his signature says. I have no sympathy for any of three people who forgot to bring their assignments to class. They will either fight through this and get a B for class, or they wont. Maybe the 3rd guy will drop the class, change his major to medicine, and cure cancer twenty years from now as a result of his mistake today. Either way, they are all less likely to make the same boneheaded mistake in the future.

What is good for the student? To let them get by or adhere to the school policy and an agreed policy that each signed on for.

ianc - I understnd your point and I do appriciate your point of view. The thing that pains me is that the chair is real strict about assignments. It has not been said but implied that my arse would be on line if I did not enforce the deadline policies. So, do I risk my gig for a couple kids that "forgot" their assignments? What about the other students who handed it in on time? Is it fair to them?

1982?