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Five College Success Tips You Don’t Have To Take
Back-to-school advice is ramping up all over the place. There are some fabulous tips out there and others that I quite frankly find worrisome. I thought I’d knock out a quick post to respond to five of them: 5. Figure out what topics are important to your profs because those topics end up on tests. I find it very hard to believe that a freshman, or even seasoned college students, can decipher what information is “important” to a prof in the confines of an hour-long (or even longer!) lecture. If you asked me to pick out the most important material within my hour-long lesson, I would say, “If it wasn’t important, I wouldn’t be...
Read MoreIf Your Prof Sends a Cryptic Message, You Deserve a Translation
(On the heels of the recent grade dispute posts, another e-mail arrived with a student question about a failing grade. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough details yet to adequately present this situation, but one piece concerned me. I’ll focus on that part now and elaborate on the specifics once I have further information). “I do not plan to fail anyone. That’s all I’ll say.” This was a response that a student apparently received from a professor, via e-mail, when asked why they failed their course and if there is anything they can do about it. Haven’t we all been on the giving or receiving end of this type of communication? When...
Read MoreWhat You Can Learn From My Advice to the Student Petitioning the ‘Grade Tank’
(Not my usual blogging day, but if you saw last Friday’s post, you already know that the student whose grade tanked is going to petition. Just coming into this unexpected series? Start here and continue here and here. I’m continuing this discussion through one more post because I believe other students could face a similar issue and the add-on advice (that I provided via e-mail) is important to share. What I told the student is universal, not only when challenging a grade, but if you ever have to stand up for yourself. I have had to take this advice, myself. Read on…) Okay, before I get to it, two quick things… First, I promise to update everyone...
Read MoreThe Latest “Grade Tank” Update, Big #STNT News & Exercise Improving Grades
A quick series of Friday updates (because you know I’ve been totally enjoying these this summer!). It has been one heck of an exciting week on many levels: -For those who have been following the student whose grade tanked, here is the latest (I’m going to paraphrase. You can see the full comment on the last post): “I met with the Dean face to face today. He will allow me to file a Final Grade Review because there “may be a chance of grade mistake,” as he put it. He also told me his secretary was incorrect in telling me that the same people who did not help me in the informal process would be the ones deciding my grade in the formal process. The next...
Read More“I feel completely powerless.” More From The Student Whose Grade Tanked.
(I didn’t properly message my stay-cation of last week. I apologize about that! Back to business here, and revisiting the post about the student whose term ended and received a grade that he was not expecting because the prof changed the grade standards. Based on a follow-up comment that just came in, we’re continuing that conversation now. I encourage everyone to please weigh in for encouragement or feedback!) Here were some Twitter comments from the last post: Kathryn Siranosian (@corpwriters said): This happened to my son, too! “The class had too many As” on the final (including his). Samra Bufkins MJ, APR (@Samjb said): No! That can’t...
Read MoreStudent Question: The Prof Changed the Grade Structure After Class Ended–My Grade Tanked!
A troubling question just came in and I am hoping that my colleagues in higher ed will respond with your thoughts. Here goes… First, the question: “My professor changed the syllabus after the class was over. He said the lab was worth 300 out of 850 in the syllabus, then after the class was over he changed the lab to 170 out of 720 because the average lab score was a 96% and he wanted to lower grades. This dropped me from a C to a D+ and now I’m not passing and will have to re-take the course. Also, right after the exams he told the class that he was adding 5 points to test 1 and a few points to test 2 because scores were low and then after the...
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A tenured professor of Communication Studies helps students correctly--not cluelessly--speak/deal with those who teach them.
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