question for the board about turning in final grades - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Jan 12, 2006

question for the board about turning in final grades

Date: Jan 12, 2006

Not in my college.

Date: Jan 12, 2006

The college mentioned above is business.

Date: Jan 12, 2006

Note that the emails are forwarded, they originated in the registrar's office

Date: Jan 12, 2006

Does the registrar's office check up to see if they all get forwarded to faculty or could the intermediary just roundfile them all?

Date: Jan 13, 2006

First there were complaints about lack of communication. Now there are complaints about too much communication. Make up your minds.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

One notification would have been plenty. There is no explanation for the lack of judgment shown in that situation.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

It is interesting that people from colleges other than business are popping in to say that getting these e-mails in common practice in their colleges. I think that's because it is not a common practice elsewhere. Just another example of the passive aggressive leadership style that rules the CoB.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Dante's Administrators wrote:

It is interesting that people from colleges other than business are popping in to say that getting these e-mails in common practice in their colleges. I think that's because it is not a common practice elsewhere. Just another example of the passive aggressive leadership style that rules the CoB.

Please read "are popping in" as "aren't popping in" instead. Sorry.

Date: Jan 14, 2006

Dante's, I think you may be on to something.

Date: Jan 15, 2006

If it bothers you that your name is "passively aggressively" distributed to everyone by an administrator who notes that you haven't posted your grades, then post the

grades. Your students, more than anyone else, will appreciate it. So will their parents.

Of course, if you haven't assigned any grades until the final & have to administer a 376 question final with 12 essays, and your grading formula involves factorial analysis of variance, refer to the nearest mirror to find out where the problem actually lies.

Date: Jan 15, 2006

Invictus wrote:

If it bothers you that your name is "passively aggressively" distributed to everyone by an administrator who notes that you haven't posted your grades, then post the grades. Your students, more than anyone else, will appreciate it. So will their parents. Of course, if you haven't assigned any grades until the final & have to administer a 376 question final with 12 essays, and your grading formula involves factorial analysis of variance, refer to the nearest mirror to find out where the problem actually lies.

O.K. O.K. man. Don't bug me. I'll get around to it when I return from the golf course.

Date: Jan 15, 2006

Isn't it the case that if an instructor misses the final grades posting deadline, all the students are assigned an "F" by default until a change of grade form is completed for each and every student? Now, wouldn't that be a nightmare for all involved, especially if one teaches in Stout Hall. A real incentive to get things done on time.

I remember early in my USM career (way before SOAR), running to the registrar's office with the old paper grade form in hand to beat the deadline and a colleague yelling "run, Forest, run!".

Although SOAR is clunky and counter-intuitive [self service--learning managment--home--build community--huh?], submitting grades online is such a convenience.

My non-controversial two cents. Thanks.

Date: Jan 15, 2006

qwerty wrote:

Although SOAR is clunky and counter-intuitive [self service--learning managment--home--build community--huh?], submitting grades online is such a convenience.

And if the clubhouse at the golf course has wireless Internet access submitting grades online is really convenient.

Date: Jan 15, 2006

Invictus, you seem to be talking out of school here, or else you're sarcasm is lost on me. First, a piece of information. According to Harold Doty, Dean of the CoB, the CoB was the only college to have a perfect record of grades in on time for the past two semesters (text of email can be posted if necessary). My guess is that CoB faculty want to get their grades in on time, even when they are not being harassed by administrators to do so. Last semester, the situation went like this. Finals Week began on Thursday (12/15) and ended the following Wednesday (12/21) with grades due on Thursday (12/22). Suppose your finals are Tuesday (12/20) and Wednesday (12/21) with the last one being late afternoon on that Wednesday (this is not an unrealistic scenario). Does it make sense to harass professors who haven't even given their finals yet? Administrators have made it abundantly clear that finals are to be given only during the assigned exam period and not before. If you're going to forward the reminder emails, then one at the midpoint of finals week should be sufficient. Since finals week began on Thursday (12/15), is there really any point in beginning such emailing Friday (12/16)? Let us also understand that an email was circulated prior to finals week underlining the importance of getting grades in on time so that those in the records offices would not have to work on Christmas Eve. My guess is that nobody wants to be the one who is guilty of making staffers work through a holiday. In review; The CoB gets its grades in on time with great regularity. Who wants to be the bad guy that makes staff work on a holiday? There is a written policy of no early final exams. Yet, CoB profs get a list of those with no grades submitted without taking into account the prof's finals schedule.

By the way, the feelings of parents are inconsequential to whether or not I post my grades. Under U.S. law (as you well know, I am sure) our students' parents have no rights or consideration with regard to student grades. And, as another by the way, where are all the CoALers, CoSTers, CoEPers, and CoHers with reports of these same emails? It seems that the college with the historically perfect record is the only one that gets daily email floggings.

Date: Jan 15, 2006

qwerty wrote:

submitting grades online is such a convenience.

Registering for classes online is also convenient. But I miss the old days when everybody convened on the basketball floor for the social event of the year. It brought the campus together like nothing else has ever done.

Date: Jan 15, 2006

*** wrote:
According to Harold Doty, Dean of the CoB, the CoB was the only college to have a perfect record of grades in on time for the past two semesters

Holy Moley. Are they awarding a prize for being first? I thought that merit disappered as a reward on this campus several semesters ago.

Date: Jan 15, 2006

Oldie Goldie wrote:

qwerty wrote: submitting grades online is such a convenience. Registering for classes online is also convenient. But I miss the old days when everybody convened on the basketball floor for the social event of the year. It brought the campus together like nothing else has ever done.

Registration in Reed Green. Who else remembers the orange class cards?

Date: Jan 15, 2006

Googler wrote:

Who else remembers the orange class cards?

I do.

Date: Jan 15, 2006

ah--orange cards. and when a student dropped a course before the deadline, they had to go to the professor and get their orange card back. i knew one person who thought that as a practical joke professors should randomly attach orange cards to the first exam they handed back to students.

Date: Jan 15, 2006

*** wrote:

By the way, the feelings of parents are inconsequential to whether or not I post my grades. Under U.S. law (as you well know, I am sure) our students' parents have no rights or consideration with regard to student grades

You are correct that parents don't have any legal "rights" with respect to student grades. But I assure you that the majority of your traditional undergraduate students have at least some portion of their tuition & fees paid by their parents. My own offspring knows that if I am unable to access her web services account (at another university) & view grade reports, she will be unable to access my bank account.

So maybe you need to revisit your attitude about students' parents a little. And more than that, you selectively ignored my statement that students appreciate receiving their grades in a timely fashion. That's the group that counts, anyway.

<SARCASM>Oh, sorry, I forgot. The group that counts is obviously faculty. I apologize to the sponsors of this board for my forgetfulness.</SARCASM>

Date: Jan 15, 2006

Dude, I don't know what your problem is, but it must have something to do with something other than this thread.

I share your attitude with respect to those students whose parents foot the bill. However, that type of student is increasingly less and less present on the USM campus. At any rate, I have no beef with your suggestion here, just that parents are not (and should not be) a primary concern.

I did not selectively ignore your mention of students. There is nothing to discuss here. Students are obviously the reason most of us are in this business. I want them to get their grades as soon as possible, which is why I oppose the "grades for evaluations" program at USM.

Your final statement (labeled sarcasm) perplexes me. I would very much appreciate a straightforward, non-sarcastic explanation. As is, I am wondering if someone else has hijacked your moniker.

Finally, it is very strange to me that one who has been stable and thoughtful for so long would jump into a discussion such as this apparently armed with few facts and then blast away blindly.

Date: Jan 15, 2006

I am a little puzzled at Invictus' response as well.

Date: Jan 15, 2006

Invictus,

Maybe I should clarify here. Nobody is saying that grades shouldn't be turned in on time (or earlier). All that is being said is it is annoying when, in the middle of grading exams, one receives multiple "you don't have your grades in" emails. It is even more annoying when you get that email but haven't even gotten the opportunity to give an exam.

The issue is not whether or not grades should be reported in a timely manner. The issue is whether or not the CoB is the only college in which administrators show little restraint in cracking the whip.

Date: Jan 15, 2006

*** wrote:

The issue is not whether or not grades should be reported in a timely manner. The issue is whether or not the CoB is the only college in which administrators show little restraint in cracking the whip.

While I'm probably too unstable to be following-up here, I'll refer upthread to the statement that Doty was merely forwarding a report from the registrar's office. Whether this was intentional "passive aggressive" whip cracking, simple laziness, or just a misguided attempt to get information out to faculty is something I can't answer. Does he frequently forward other college-wide reports to faculty?

I apologize for anything I said that was offensive.

Date: Jan 15, 2006

To that point, I suggest that since there have been no other reports of such emails from other colleges, we can rule laziness out. Laziness would be not to forward them on to faculty. Crossing laziness of the list leaves us with either "passive aggressive" whip cracking or a misguided attempt to get information out to faculty. One of these could be interpreted as a punitive measure while the other could be interpreted as an act of incompetence. Either way, the act itself has no true benefit.

Date: Jan 15, 2006

This is one of the most overblown complaints that I have read on this board.

Do you really think hitting forward is hard to do? That it is cracking a whip?

So let's try to understand this. The registrars office sends an email to the dean's office of people who have not turned in grades. Someone in the office gets the email and has two choices: take the time to write each individual faculty member on the list or forward the the college list serve. <SARCASM>Wow, we can definitely rule laziness out.</SARCASM>

Of all of the things that you could be complaining about at USM...

Date: Jan 15, 2006

manova wrote:

This is one of the most overblown complaints that I have read on this board. Do you really think hitting forward is hard to do? That it is cracking a whip? So let's try to understand this. The registrars office sends an email to the dean's office of people who have not turned in grades. Someone in the office gets the email and has two choices: take the time to write each individual faculty member on the list or forward the the college list serve. <SARCASM>Wow, we can definitely rule laziness out.</SARCASM> Of all of the things that you could be complaining about at USM...

Why isn't this email from the registrar being forwarded in the other 4 colleges?

Date: Jan 15, 2006

underwire wrote:

Why isn't this email from the registrar being forwarded in the other 4 colleges?

Figure that two of them don't care who's posted grades & who hasn't, one of them doesn't know how to use e-mail at all, and the remaining one doesn't hasn't figured out what "forward" means. Lord help you all when the deans discover BCC's.

Date: Jan 15, 2006

two types of memos were being circulated. one was a general "get your grades in on time and here's how to do it" memo from the registrar. i received forwarded versions of it multiple times from my chair and direct versions from other sources (i'm in coal). the other was the "dunning notice" also from the registrar. i heard about it, knew administrators (like deans and chairs) who received it, but was never forwarded one of these.