posted
I'm currently going to school online. I had two papers that I had to post last week, and today the prof's messaging me saying that he can view my documents but not print them out. Ummm....and what do you want me to do about it? Oh, he wants me to call tech support. Just as I suspected, the tech rep tells me, if he can see the doc but not print it he's the one who needs to call in. Duh.
So, I've posted him a nice message saying I changed the font just in case (even though its the same font I used on my papers from the week before that he didn't have a problem printing) and that tech says if he can view the document but not print the problem is probably with the printer setup not the file.
I didn't really need to spend 20 minutes of my day on the phone with tech support to tell him that you understand, but this way I have a reference number proving I called like he wanted me to. Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
I don't really understand why he needs to print out my paper to grade it, but you know, I'm not the prof.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Hey, I was really well behaved about this you know. I mean, when I saw the message telling me to contact support my first instinct was to totally be like "what for, you are the one having the problem?" But I didn't. After all, I only have to get through this week, and next week, and then this class is over, and my next class in January is Math, so no papers.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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My professors are pretty tolerant of technological problems, up until the point where the computer replaces the dog in responsibility for eating homework.
Posts: 959 | Registered: Oct 2005
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Oh yeah, and here's another annoyance. One of those papers was turned in last Friday night. Why are you only discovering that you can't print it today?
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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I think it has to do with his browser. The classroom wasn't working correctly today when the professor was trying to print my paper. Since he said he could view it, I'm assuming he didn't actually download the paper and save it to his hard drive. That being the case, maybe the browser was sending bad info to his printer while the classroom was messed up. But still, why are you telling me to call support. It's not working on your end, shouldn't you call support, and then if they tell you they need to speak to me, tell me to call in? Why are you assuming it's my issue.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Not necessarily. He can always tell you that since he can't print it out you need to bring in a hard copy. And you'll have to. He's the professor, you're the student - there is a significant power differential.
As to why he's printing them out - I hate editing online and suspect I'll feel the same way about grading.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I always tell students they can email me lab reports or anything other written up, and the time its in my inbox is when it was turned in, but it will not be graded until I get a hard copy. *shrugs* maybe thats evil, but I really can't stand grading without putting marks on a paper.
Posts: 4112 | Registered: May 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Belle: As to why he's printing them out - I hate editing online and suspect I'll feel the same way about grading.
Yeah I know; I could never get a good photocopy of my monitor where you can actually see the red pen markings...
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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There's a lot of reasons why hardcopies are preferred. With emailed papers, you run the risk of the artifact being graded not appearing "genuine" - could someone not claim that the professor changed the wording of the paper because he/she didn't like the student? How do you prove it was done? How do you prove it wasn't?
For a project I did, I had to interview several professors about online classes, and got their feedback. They said they were often subject to a barrage of re-submits, students claiming "Oh, I sent you the wrong one...this is the one that has my corrections...ignore the first one and grade this one" They felt that it opened up a whole can of worms as to the authenticity of the piece actually meant to be graded. One had a student file a complaint with the dean's office that the professor had "graded the wrong paper" that he had actually submitted one that was corrected but the professor insisted on grading the older one.
Some of the educational software like Blackboard and WebCT (which I think are now all owned by the same company) are better because they have a submit function, and only one copy can be submitted and it is automatically time stamped when submitted. I think you can even set it to not accept late assignments. But, you still run into students who call you and ask you to delete their assignment so they can re-submit. The submission of work online leads some people to believe it's not "final" it's still in progress and they can contine to tweak it.
And, you do run into compatibility issues and profs not able to read your paper or the formatting getting screwed up...it can be a problem. If I taught a completely online class I'd find a way to make it work, of course. But, unless school policy demands I do otherwise, when I begin teaching I will not accept emailed papers.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
I work with Blackboard from the admin end, and I just have to say that Blackboard is an absolutely rotten piece of software. The programmers who wrote it had to have had the collective IQ of a Rhesus Monkey! It's admin back end SUCKS. It regularly chokes in things it should be able to easily handle. There are very few features that allow for easy management of courses or users. And automating it's a pain in the arse because every thing is so bloody obscured and clumsy.
I'm also a student who has to use blackboard and in that capacity I despise the way it tracks every users every second of use. Teachers using Blackboard can litterly see every little thing their students do on Blackboard and how long they spend doing it. I do not approve of the big brother nature of this. I'm sorry, but I don't want the teacher to know if I only spent five minutes perusing the resources the teacher placed their. If I don't find them helpful that's my business and I'll have the teacher grade any consequences of that five minutes, rather than the five minutes itself thank-you-very-much! And if it has no consequences then clearly there's nothing wrong with me ignoring those resources, they weren't helpful anyway!
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Belle: Not necessarily. He can always tell you that since he can't print it out you need to bring in a hard copy. And you'll have to. He's the professor, you're the student - there is a significant power differential.
As to why he's printing them out - I hate editing online and suspect I'll feel the same way about grading.
Maybe he would if this were regular on campus college, but its online school. I never appear on campus ever. So he'd have a hard time making me bring him a hard copy.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Doesn't matter, Rivka. We're on the latest version of Blackboard and it does indeed suck all kinds of eggs.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I haven't used it much (I'm neither an instructor nor a student), but it seems like I get fewer complaints since we upgraded.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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*nod* It's more stable. It's still an administrative pain, though. They fixed a lot of the client issues, but managing it is still a bear.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: It's still an administrative pain, though.
Fortunately for me, not my problem.
Anyway, that sentence could be used to describe at least a dozen things about my job. What's one more?
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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