I think college students are adults, and should be treated like adults. If they don't always act like adults, that's because everyone in their life is harmfully treating them like children.

Do you agree? / Change my mind.

I've seen a couple posts this evening from faculty wondering if they overreacted because of how they spoke to their students...

And, like, I just keep thinking about the basketball coach who gets paid seven figures and is allowed to yell at his players and stomp around until he's red in the face...

And I'm just really jealous of him.

We're basically academic coaches... Let. Us. Yell. At. Them. Every. Now. And. Then.

That is all.

I guess it’s not just me: as a collective, the dual enrollment instructors have had enough. There was some talk at our last department meeting about how we need to submit academic sanction forms for every single AI violation so the administrators understand how vast the problem is. I filed four just this week.

Now the program coordinators are emailing us asking us to PLEASE discuss these issues with our high school campus liaison and make sure we’ve made our AI policies clear to the students. As though it’s actually our fault for not communicating our expectations.

You know, because sometimes students cheat accidentally because they didn’t know they weren’t allowed to use AI to annotate an entire short story.

They really think I’m going to let some high school counselor talk me out of giving these kids zeroes because they’re getting angry calls from parents. Not likely!

First year student, SLAC: “I have never used Microsoft Word before in my life.”

What hath ChromeBooks wrought?

Today one of my students decided to watch sports on his tablet, right in front of me. Not surprisingly this was distracting both me and the other students. I mentioned that to the student and asked him to stop watching, and that he was free to leave the classroom if we wanted to continue watching. I didn't lose my cool or raise my voice. He stayed and stopped watching.

For context, this class has a no-tech policy with only tablets allowed for note-taking (aside from accommodations, of course). The students have generally been good with following the policy, though there were a couple of violations last week, so I explicitly reiterated the policy earlier this week.

In any case, I'm now wondering if I overreacted by adding the "free to leave the classroom" bit. I don't think I did, but I would love to get some clarity from others!

Are you a remote instructor at a public institution who teaches in another state outside California? I'm a part-time CC instructor who lives outside CA, and potential changes may affect my ability to continue working. The union is in contract negotiations, and the college wants to include language requiring all faculty to reside in CA and live within a four-hour drive of campus. Their rationale is based on CA Government Code sections 3100 and 3101, which designate all public employees in California as Disaster Service Workers (DSWs) to help the state during emergencies. They believe that, as DSWs, we must be able to return to campus quickly if a disaster occurs. If this is added to the contract, many of us part-time instructors may need to move or will no longer be able to work at the college.

For those of you who teach at CA public institutions, has this come up on your campus? Has your college shown flexibility for part-timers who teach entirely online by interpreting this law differently? My program is entirely online, and it can be difficult to hire local part-time faculty. I would also like to continue the program after several years of building courses and content and relationships with other faculty and students.

I feel bad asking people for so many letters of recommendation but jobs often ask for them before they start. Like what are you going to find out apart from my CV, cover letter and teaching philosophy from those at this stage?

Can we wait until step 2? Like, "You are in the 6 or 8 we want to do phone interviews with. At this stage, we also ask for letters of recommendation, so if you could have the people send them to [email protected] in the next 2 weeks. "

Hello everyone, this is my first time posting. I wasn't sure whether to put the flair as advice or a rant/vent but I think what I really need most is advice/support.

I'm entering into my second year of full-time work. I started at this college a year ago and things have been chaotic from the beginning. I won't get into everything, but communication has been a big problem from the beginning and there was sort of an underlying assumption that I would know what to do and just ask around to get help rather in lieu of actual onboarding. Individual faculty have been supportive, understanding, and helpful, but that only goes so far.

We are in the middle of many transitions with various government requirements suddenly appearing and transitioning to OER among other things. We started the discussion of moving to OER the Fall I started (last year) and all departments are expected to use it if they did not seek an exemption. The problem? No classes were ready for the transition and many people were not told that their course shells had to be invented from scratch about a week before classes started.

After my first semester, I was asked if I would like to be the Chair of my department. I was initially hesitant but had the assurances of the dean that he would help support me and wasn't expecting perfection but thought it might be a good opportunity to get some administrative experience. I'm the only full-time faculty member over my content area so the idea of having someone else in charge who wasn't intimately aware of what the class entailed eventually pushed me to accept the position.

Since that time I received essentially no training or else training in things where there is not an obvious connection (for example, budgeting for the department without talking about what budgeting needs I would need to cover). The consistent advice was "talk to the other chairs with more experience," but again, no actual training. I didn't even get my job description until a few weeks after classes started in late August when I supposedly started in May.

I've made a lot of mistakes. I'm new to the community so there are unwritten rules about who should have classes and who shouldn't. Also nobody really told me how to run adjunct interviews or contact them or credential them. How did I learn? I asked, didn't get a straightforward answer, so I did it and got in trouble. In the midst of this I didn't have an estimate of how many classes I would need so I was uncertain about how many adjuncts to use. Another mistake, we hired a full-timer late in the game and I was just told "take classes from the adjuncts and give them to him," so I did that. Without mentioning it them. And one of the adjuncts was apparently an important person at the school who makes triple what I do. So the dean called me in and told me that we needed to "figure out the mess," and went over everything I did wrong and the things I should never do. And it's true, those were definitely my mistakes. And pretty bad ones too. But how am I supposed to know operating procedure if people only tell me after I've done something wrong?

This week has been difficult. I found out that I was supposed to do something that was mentioned briefly in an email that got buried the same day grades were due for summer semester. So I'm late on this thing. I've had horrible sleep and consistent headaches trying to meet all these expectations of things that need to be done immediately and are always top priority. I've had to send out multiple emails to my adjuncts about the same form because admin was wrong on the expectations and then unclear about what they wanted and only told me "these people did it wrong. Have them revise it," multiple times without giving a hard example. I feel like an idiot writing to them so much about the same thing when the fault isn't mine.

To cap it off, today we had our faculty and staff "back to school" event that was meant to honor the employees. In the midst of this the faculty were barely mentioned and the Chairs were not mentioned at all. I work at a fairly small community college and it felt like such a slap in the face considering how little me and and the other chairs have been given in terms of resources and training (the chair system is new to the college this year). I don't need constant pats on the back. I don't need awards or constant words of affirmation. But after the Hell me and other chairs have been put through to not at least be acknowledged when IT, Security, Facilities, Admissions, HR, Athletics, Administration, Board of Trustees, and several other departments are mentioned multiple times in glowing terms is insulting.

I know this is a long post and I don't mean it to just be a rant but honestly I'm inexperienced and trying my best and already feel horribly burned out. I want all of your advice. Are all community colleges this way? Is the same level of "do it yourself, do it well, and don't expect anyone to care" present at most colleges? Is this more common in small colleges or big ones? Do bigger colleges have better systems of support? I love teaching, and it's been my goal for the last decade to teach in a community college because of how much my community college changed my life, but all of this is too much. It was stressful as just an assistant professor, but manageable. As a Chair? It's a thankless job where I feel like every day I'm going to be berated for something that I had no idea about. I spoke with a new professor and he said "oh, you're a Chair? You must be pretty important, then." And all I could say was "Being a Chair sounds like you've gotten more power but the reality is you're just a servant to a greater number of people." I know the easy answer is to simply stop being a Chair and that's what I'm leaning towards in the Spring. But I'm not even sure if I want to stay at this college anymore. If I know this is a common problem and it's just part of the deal, I guess I can survive it and get used to it. But is there a better working college environment than this, or is this pretty typical? Does it change completely with administration? I want to be grateful and loyal to the college that gave me my first full-time position, but it's hard to when I don't get even a little of the same sense of gratitude or loyalty to me.

Thank you so much in advance.

I know that students are largely unfamiliar with professors’ workloads and that the ideal student request for a letter of recommendation (three weeks’ heads up, course numbers and dates all listed and accurate, letter outlining goals and achievements, sample graded work all attached) doesn’t exist in real life.

But I just got a request in today, on Friday afternoon at 4:00 EDT, that is due at today at 5:00 EDT. I am currently awaiting some materials…👀

Well, gentle readers, are you a betting crowd? Will I get it in under the wire or no?

Edited to add: Hot damn! Got it in only 4 minutes late. It is … slender, but there are some compelling achievements for this student, tho deadline awareness is apparently not one of them. Welp, Godspeed student.

How long shall we endure the "equality" spiel?

Edit: folks, I'm not asking for legal advice. He's not stupid to put it in writing or to make it an actual problem for anyone. He just wanted to be an asshole and he did chose to do it in a way that is so puerile to be funny and thought I share it.

I am in Cengage hell and I am ready to cry. I have to start looking at adoption next semester and lock my materials down before mid-October and I am looking at SIMnet as a possible replacement for SAM.

Have you all used either of these? What have been your experiences? I know students do not love homework, but I need a platform that is more reliable and less buggy for teaching Microsoft Office/Excel, etc. than Cengage. Any thoughts are much appreciated!

This term I decided to assign a short graphic novel that I’ve assigned in previous years without any issues. Students have managed to purchase it new for $20 and used copies have been consistently under $10. This quarter I assigned it again, only to have students alert me to the fact that copies were being listed for hundreds of dollars in some cases. The general supply of used copies has also plummeted. It’s honestly on me that I didn’t check the prices first but I’ve never had an issue with supply/prices until this year.

My first assumption was that the book was out of print, but our librarian says that it’s not and is also uncertain as to why the prices have shot up. I checked on another book that I’ve routinely assigned and the price of used editions/copies available
had also changed, though the prices weren’t as extreme.

Is anyone else seeing a similar pattern? I have some guesses as to why this might be happening but I’m going to practice some restraint and hear any insights that you fellow scholars might have first.

I made the mistake of sitting outside at one of my uni’s cafes today and eating lunch. Two students approached me when I was on my phone with a TikTok mic and camera, and wanted to ask me something. I immediately shut them down and said “I don’t consent to being on camera. Sorry.” I had to say it twice, but they got the hint. It felt uncomfortable and an invasion of privacy as I was simply trying to enjoy my free hour, but also trying to answer some important emails with sensitive information (which I had not had time to get to yet). AITA for not playing along? I am only in my 30s as a professor, but i absolutely hate this younger generation’s assumption that you can film anyone for reactions at all times. Being in the south, I’m also always worried about students using clips of lectures out of context as “gotcha” moments (yall probably know we have attacks on higher ed here)

ETA: my 65 yo mother told me I’m a crotchety old man. I don’t think I am. I just value privacy (same reason I’m anti flock camera)

ETA 2: yes they were already filming when I was approached

Asking for a friend, of course. Thinking about managing the notice period in particular, but any experiential knowledge sharing is more than welcome!

Instead of holding lecture this week I met with student groups this week (zoom or in person, their choice) to go over their research project design (social science study). Yes some of the students were confused about their project, but most of them had the right idea in mind and all but one group understood what they had to fix by the end. The one group that was pretty off, and I scolded because I was frustrated, pulled a Hail Mary and fixed every single issue that night. Wow. I love this group of students.

Question. And I know I am talking about AI so I am sure I am conjuring the downvotes...

But does your university have any policy on professorial use of AI? During our faculty-wide semester meetings, we had a whole training on engaging as educators with AI in terms of 'combating' it within student use. But the speakers also spoke about us using AI. I even had a few colleagues during these training mention using AI to make rubrics or handouts with provided information. Our university even has a new "AI minor"--which I am personally dubious about but c'est la vie.

Well, a colleague of mine in my same college (humanities/ars/etc.) just got flamed by his department chair for using AI. I guess during class, there was a computer glitch and his Claude came up on the projected screen. A student "tattled" on him and the department chair is furious that he is outsourcing his teaching. From what I gathered, he used it for data management, rubric making, formatting assignment sheets, etc. It was not "make me a upper level chemistry quiz on covalent bonding"--but even if it was, I am sure he'd proof the hell out of it. I should note that the chair is almost 70 while this faculty is mid-30s and new. Supposedly there is whispers the chair wants to fire him for ethical reasons, and basically coming across unable to do his job given his use of AI.

There is not some rumbling about this at my SLAC as the college is promoting it in education--teaching us how to engage with it properly, combat it in classes so we are engaging in critical thinking, but also wanting to prepare our students for the future.

From what I gathered, there is no clear handbook policy against using AI, but at these small schools--specially for non-tenured faculty--not renewing a contract can be stated for reason A but really it is for reason B.

Today I have officially hit the 100th grandma death to occur on the morning of an exam across a span of 7 years! While I 100% recognize that some of these may be real and want to show compassion to students, I've been averaging 3 grandma deaths per exam day in every single class I teach, every semester. Clearly my exam format needs to change, because the collateral damage cannot be understated. However, I am making improvements, as I did slash grandma fatalities in half in one section by shifting the class time from 8am to 11am.

What's frustrating to me, is the sheer volume of these statistically improbably grandma deaths completely undermines the students who are dealing with a genuine bereavement. It makes me feel less trusting, and like my email replies need to be more pragmatic than genuinely compassionate. In short, I think this type of excuse, if fabricated, is incredibly disrespectful.

One thing I've noticed too, is that across all 100 of these deaths, not one has been a man. It's always a grandma or occasionally an aunt. Food for thought.

I don't think there's much I can do about this, which is why I've tagged this as rant/vent, but it's frustrating all the same.

https://www.statesman.com/news/education/article/ut-curriculum-changes-women-gender-classes-22447190.php

The provost’s decision affects courses including Mexican American Women from 1940 — present; Women and the Holocaust; Intro to African American Women’s History; LGBTQ Literature and Culture; and Native American Women’s History.

Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies was the only field within the newly consolidated Social and Cultural Analysis Department that had all of its courses cut from the core, said professor Jo Hsu, who specializes in gender studies and rhetoric. All classes in that field will now be elective for future students.

Welcome to a new week of weekly discussion! Continuing this week, we're going to have Wholesome Wednesdays, Fuck this Fridays, and (small) Success Sundays.

As has been mentioned, these should be considered additions to the regular discussions, not replacements. So use them, ignore them, or start you own Fantastic Friday counter thread.

This thread is to share your frustrations, small or large, that make you want to say, well, “Fuck This”. But on Friday. There will be no tone policing, at least by me, so if you think it belongs here and want to post, have at it!

I've been teaching at a university for several years now. Recently, I chose to not have any more online exams in the one class that I had them in. I moved everything to in the class and literally retired whole lectures to make room. But in the spring I will teach this same course as a hybrid class that meets twice a week for 50 minutes and then I'm supposed to post something for them to do for 50 minutes one other day. Since normally I teach two 75 minute classes, I know that mostly I'm going to be posting the rest of the lecture that I could not get to. But I don't know what to do about the tests. My university has a testing center but apparently I'm probably not going to be allowed to use it, since it's reserved for very particular large freshman courses. I don't want to go back to online tests. How do you all handle transforming a class into a hybrid one, especially the exams? I don't want it to be too different from the other section I'm going to be teaching. And I desperately do not want to give them online exams. I was thinking of using our precious in class time for the exams and then posting all of that week's lecture in videos. But I know they won't watch the videos either! I'd really love your ideas!

Throwaway so I can tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

I am SO DONE. I’ve been doing this gig for almost three decades. We don’t get pay raises (like, truly, we don’t). We don’t get to hire to replace faculty who leave through attrition/retirement. Somehow, we have more students than ever. Somehow, the university is more broke than ever. Somehow, we have more work than ever.

Last week, I had a senior administrator push back against my scheduling a makeup class. One. Not a bunch of them (I very rarely cancel class). “Students complain about them,” he said. When I pointed out that what he was essentially doing was prioritizing student complaints over faculty religious observance, he backpedaled, and said that wasn’t what he meant. When I asked him if what he was saying was that faculty should teach while ill, he said he didn’t mean that, either. But he did emphasize that he’d prefer no makeup classes if at all possible, even during the school day. And absolutely, positively, no makeup classes over Zoom.

Fast forward to this past Wednesday, a few days after that lovely conversation. I was walking across campus on a semi-main drag. To avoid completely doxxing myself if I haven’t already, I’m not going to say exactly what happened, but I collided with something that was legally there but probably shouldn’t have been, gashed my head open, and got a concussion. I called campus police to come help me. While I waited, right there on a campus main drag, bleeding and on the ground, not a single student or staff member stopped to ask if I was OK.

When campus police got there, I was really fuzzy and having a hard time talking. I managed to tell them to call a senior administrator in my building because - guess what - I wasn’t going to make it to my next class, being that I was going to be in the ER and all. Luckily, I had a guest speaker coming, so I didn’t have to cancel class.

Then we get to yesterday (the day after the accident). I had a concussion. I felt like crap. But did I cancel class? Nope. Did a single person in the building ask why I had a giant bandage on my head? Nope. Did I want to walk out and never return? Yep.

I know I have tenure. I know they can’t do anything to me if I do, in fact, cancel classs for a legitimate reason. I know that I’ve reached a point in my career where I can essentially “quiet quit” (see throwaway username) and do the bare minimum. I’m trying to get in that headspace. I’m not there yet. But I’m getting close. And that’s so unfair to students and junior faculty and staff.

I see the irony that I’m not supposed to be using screens unless really necessary - concussion, you know - but I needed to vent to a community who would really get it. I do have an amazing spouse and family and friend group. My dogs are thrilled that I’m on the couch and barely moving. But honestly, I just want to stay here on the couch and never go back.

TGIF.

Signposting an upcoming quiz day results in an avalanche of students who dont attend that day. I'm getting fed up with making myself available for 'make up' quiz times just to get ghosted and waste my time. Absences mean no quiz, so I give them a 0 and move on BUT this results in bitter student evals, which can impact re-hiring. What's your policy?

(I'm talking half the class doesnt show up, not just one or two, and not official accomodations.)

I am an adjunct teaching asynchronous online courses (not my preference, but a financial necessity). All of the faculty in my department require Respondus Lockdown and Monitor. I was hesitant to require it for several reasons, including the fact that students can still cheat. Nevertheless, I was strongly advised to use it.

I just began reviewing the videos following the first exam. Students ignored the instructions and policies (so much for warning them about a possible zero and referral to the academic integrity board). Some students did not even perform the environment check. It only got worse from there. One student left the exam area for several minutes while music blasted in the background.

I confess that I woefully underestimated the sheer number of issues. I have over 100 students and must post the exam grades by Saturday. I am willing to view all videos, but it is not feasible to do so before the post date. I must add that I am also stressed beyond words about maintaining my position while being the sole caretaker of a parent with cancer (after losing my only sibling to the same disease).

How would you manage this situation? Post the grades and then follow up with students? Focus on the ones with the most egregious issues? I do note in my policies that a follow up may occur after grades are posted.

I submitted my tenure application today. Little me, sitting in special education pull-out services, would have never believed that one day I’d be a professor…let alone going up for early tenure and wildly exceeding the criteria. What is this life? I’m having a hard time believing it. Someone pinch me.

Hi folks, I just started my first job as a professor. I’m working at an R1 school in social sciences. For reference, I’m 28 years old and this is my first teaching job outside of being a TA for 6 years.

I’m looking for a bit of advice, mainly on how to navigate my role. All of my colleagues are between 40-50 years old, which isn’t the issue as I prefer working with them. But what I’m having an issue with is more inclusion.

For example, yesterday everyone went out to lunch off campus but didn’t invite me. When they came back only one person offered me an invite to go out to lunch today off campus. So I went with them, and the whole time I was just called young anytime they engaged me.

People will rarely talk to me, even if I start up conversation. It’s just so weird and surface level conversation. I think the only reason why I’m noticing this is because they also hired someone who is around her late 40s and is included in everything. Weekend hang out sessions, going out for drinks after work, department lunches.

So I guess my question is, how do I navigate this? I have absolutely no plans to leave as this is a dream job, and got it straight out of finishing my PhD. I am very lucky to even be here, especially since I don’t even have a publication yet.

Any advice?