Posts Tagged "changing the syllabus"

Another Grade Dispute: When an A Isn’t Really an A

Posted by on Aug 13, 2012 in Communicating with Professors, General, General College Success/Responses to Other College Entities | 0 comments

Here we go again! Remember the grade dispute that turned into a four-part series? How could you forget, right? Well, another interesting write-in, this time from a student at a major university. A different situation and for the sake of anonymity, I’m going to heavily paraphrase, but keep the general theme. One other note: At the end of this piece, I found an interesting link written by an attorney about “legally sound syllabi.” Very interesting! Are you ready? Let’s go…) Before I start with this student’s situation, I want to make a huge plea to all students reading this blog. Whether you are just starting college or you are knee-deep...

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What You Can Learn From My Advice to the Student Petitioning the ‘Grade Tank’

Posted by on Jul 30, 2012 in Communicating with Professors, General | 6 comments

(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...

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“I feel completely powerless.” More From The Student Whose Grade Tanked.

Posted by on Jul 24, 2012 in Communicating with Professors, General | 28 comments

(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...

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Student Question: The Prof Changed the Grade Structure After Class Ended–My Grade Tanked!

Posted by on Jul 12, 2012 in Communicating with Professors, General | 7 comments

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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