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Incompetent teacher, what to do?
Rhino
TheRhinLOLRegistered User regular
TheRhinLOLRegistered User regular
My teacher is fairly in incompetent. I'm taking a hybrid course, which is half online and half offline. The online stuff she really sucks at. I could go on a big rant of what she has (or hasn't done), but lets just say she runs the online part like a monkey. I've tried talking to her but she keeps getting really defense "well, that's what the IT told me so that's the way I'm doing it" and "it's not my problem if you have technical issues submitting your grades" [which actually, she is the one that caused the technical issue in the first place].
A lot of energy is just going into fighting her and the online system. In stead of studying I'm having to keep going back and forth with her on very simple things.
I feel like the course is more dramatic bullshit instead of learning the material. I feel if I sat down and learned it on my own I would be far better off then learning it in this environment.
This is at a CC. What recourse do I have? There isn't any class I could transfer in and if I drop I lose the tuition.
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I wouldn't worry about it too much and make sure you aren't coming off as superior
If there are technical issues, talk to the department or the online support staff.
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one of many examples. We submit grades into a 'grade box' online. But she has to manually open it and it has an automated close date.
Generally we are suppose to have a week to submit our homework, but she keeps forgetting to open it. Last week she opened it an hour before it closed, so a lot of students weren't able to submit their work (11 pm at night, closed at midnight). She gave them all incompletes because "technical problems aren't my problems" even though it was her that failed to open the box on time. It's states in the syllabubs that we have a week to submit homework.
Another example, she submited the homework in a compressed jpg format. No one could read it. But since it was a "technical problem" she gave everyone incomplete. Her reply was "I did it according to IT instructions, not my problem, take it up with IT if you can't figured it out". I emailed IT and they were like "yea, she needs to use png or stop using compression on jpgs". I forward that to her and she disagreed, stating she had an email from IT from 2 years saying to do it that way and that is "how I've always done it". It's a blurry mess.
So instead of studying we are trying to figure this shit out.
I missed the above, and if that's the case, then you need you contact IT and let them know that she's not getting it done.
The bottom line is that if it's a problem, enough students will get behind it being a problem. If no one submits work because it was unreadable, then there's an issue. If you're worried about the kids who go last minute and get locked out, you can work around that. You never get a bump in grade by pointing out a superior's mistakes.
If you want to talk to someone, talk to Student Services (Student Affairs, at most places). Reslife can also act a 3rd party to facilitate if it's that sort of school.
If you have a week to turn it in, and at the beginning of that time period, the "box" isn't open, e-mail her and tell her it needs to be open. I can't imagine how you could possibly have been made unaware of this unless you were turning it in at the last minute?
If you can't read the homework, tell her. Take it to her office. Show her the problem. No one, no one, is so incompetent that they would tell you to where to stick it and that it's not their problem when it's right in front of their nose. Ask her to directly email you the .jpeg that she's using. If that doesn't work, keep copies of all correspondence and take it to someone above her in the department.
Yes, it's called a grade box. But yes, it's a homework box. You upload your homework. She reviews it and then posts a grade for it. It'll also show your cumulative grade for the class and other stats in regards to your performance.
I emailed her at start of week, she replied "Sounds like a technical problem and technical problems are not my problems". I forwarded to campus IT they said "we can't open it, she has to open it with her id." (apparently IT and her have a long long history). I forward that to her and her and IT go back and forth a bunch (with me awkwardly CCed). IT basically telling her she needs to click a button and her refusing to even try it (very defensively) saying that she had already clicked it last week and didn't need to click it this week. It ended with director of IT said he would stop by her office and I never heard anything else from her on it till it opened 1 hour before close (on a holiday weekend no less).
There was a thread about 20 replies long asking her to open it. She locked the thread half way though the week without reply.
There was a thread about 60 replies (175 total students in the class, so about a third posted in that thread and probably a lot via email too). I wasn't the only one having problems or letting her know it didn't work. That 60 post thread, she locked it and replied " It was fine before I put it into the computer, therefore it's a computer problem and technical problems aren't my problems. Contact IT".
Another kid made a new thread on the subject and posted an email from IT basically saying she was doing it wrong. It wasn't even a mean or rude thread, it was "this is what IT said, can you try uploading it like that?". About 4 other students replied before she locked it and gave them all 0 for class participation for disturbing the "class room".
From what I gather, she is an old person and refuses/hates computers. Her and IT also apparently have some type of long standing feud. Just bring up her name to the IT guys gets very deep sighs and painful expressions.
I dunno, that was just my first thought, maybe people have other ideas. Obviously the class is getting screwed here, and since the IT department has already tried to get her to fix things, I don't think they'll be able to solve your problem with her, the way things are right now. It's possible that if they were convinced to spend the clearly MOMENTOUS time and effort to go to her office and retrain her in the use of the platform, they might get her to change her behavior that way, but it's questionable at best. You probably need to go up the chain a bit. Regardless of anything, this is a really terrible situation for you and the other students, and I hope it gets resolved (even if it's simply by her accidentally fixing her problems with the system through dumb luck).
You're best course of action is to go speak to the dean of the department (or other administrator above her) and make a formal complaint. Do this in person and bring all evidence with you. That jpg speaks volumes about what you're dealing with. When I went and spoke to the dean I made sure to mention that I was not learning what I needed from the class, how it would leave me unprepared for my future classes in that field, and how I was definitely not getting what I had paid good money for. Also encourage your classmates to go in and make similar complaints.
I know making complaints feels like you're just whining but it can get things done. In my case the teacher was removed and we got a great new teacher who basically was able to cover the whole semesters worth of material in the half semester we had left.
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You need to print out the appropriate e-mails, including the homework .jpegs, and make an APPOINTMENT with the dean of whatever department / school this class is for (guessing Math?)
Meet with that individual tell them what is going on (unfair incomplete assignments / failure to allow appropriate time to log your homework / whatever other failures you have).
The important thing is to do this EARLY and get your complaints in EARLY because if you have to appeal a grade after the semester you need a paper trail to back yourself up. If possible, get the other members of this class to do it as well.
A direct quote from my mother, "He needs to protect himself and his grade."
EDIT: From me: Don't try and 'suck this up' and 'work through' it as suggested above. It looks like you are not even being given an opportunity to succeed. Clearly that homework is impossible to complete, in fact, I imagine if you printed that off and handed it to her, she couldn't solve it either. Get your evidence, make an appointment with the dean and complain. If you don't, you're going to be on your own when you get a shitty grade and didn't say anything all semester.
And like others have said, if 1-2 student comes to the office, then it could be a minor issue....if 10-15 or more come by IN PERSON (not email), they'll get to the bottom of it. Rally people to make their own appointments.
If she gives you crap or it continues to be a problem, begin BCC'ing her department head, and continue to conduct yourself in the same manner. Instruct other students to do the same.
If you make an earnest attempt to submit an assignment before the due date and are marked down despite that, you have a case with the department head.
Also remember to note all of that when you fill out the course survey in a couple of months.
I don't know if this holds true for community college though.
but they're listening to every word I say
I agree with everyone saying you should talk with the dean. When I was having "issues" with the registrar's office at my CC (they were not giving me credit for a class I'd taken, for really stupid reasons), the dean came through and fixed things. I hope you have a dean who is just as helpful.
When you talk to the dean, be calm. Or, failing that, upset but not angry. Like, the "I'm so upset about these unfair grades, I am on the verge of tears" kind of upset, not "I can't believe what an IDIOT my teacher is, WHAT A MORON" kind of upset, if you know what I mean. The dean will be able to see for him or herself that the teacher is an idiot, it is pretty self-evident.
If the message board threads are still available (the ones where students asked for help and she locked them--and ESPECIALLY the one where she gave students 0s for participation for "disrupting the board") then print them out to show the dean.
Good luck! I hope you come back and report how it went, I must admit I'm curious about this trainwreck of a teacher.
It may be a little late for this because you've already antagonized her and she's probably feeling really defensive, but I'd have said if it hits the night before the deadline, or better yet, 2 nights before the deadline then you could e-mail it to her, print it out, and the next day go to hand it to her, then just say, "Hey, I finished the homework and e-mailed you a copy because I was having trouble with the submission system, and I wanted to make sure you had it on time. Here's also a paper copy just in case, thanks!"
For the unreadable homework, does she have office hours? One option would be to print out a copy of the problem, go to her office hours, and say, "I was having some trouble with the homework this week, could we go over it a little bit together?"
I know this doesn't resolve the problem and things, but it's sort of a way of covering your own ass and trying to put her in a better frame of mind because to her, instead of everyone complaining and her getting defensive, it's more of a "I'm being a good student and trying to learn the material and I'm willing to work for it, won't you please help me?" deal.
If what the OP has said is true (and it sounds like it is) then this teacher forfeited her right to courtesy when she gave students '0's for disrupting the discussion board.
She needs to be reprimanded by a superior, and removed from the course.
DO NOT EXAGGERATE ANYTHING when talking to the Dean or her supervisor, no emotional appeals - just the facts. If the submission window didn't open until an hour before, but did not shut until several days later is a very different thing than it only being open for an hour. Especially as it's then your word against hers as to whether you were warned, and she will likely have people who handed in hard copies.
Also, start handing in hard copies as well. Put them in the internal post or something.