Needy Students

[AdminAssistant]

gaaaahhhhh....

Okay, the professor for one of the classes I TA uses Blackboard a LOT. Blackboard is a course management software used by every university I've ever had experience with. It's like a webpage for your classes, and had discussion boards, online journals, a Gradebook, and a way to post assignments, web links, files, etc. Most of the stuff works just fine, but the Gradebook is a pain in the ass.

So, for this class, the students just took their first quiz. Which I then had to grade and enter into the Gradebook. Saturday morning I get an e-mail from a student, saying that the Gradebook wasn't working. Blackboard had just undergone an upgrade, so I told her that it might be leftover wonkiness. She e-mails again later, saying it still doesn't work. I forward it to the professor. I mean, I don't know much about Blackboard, it's the weekend, there's not a whole hell of a lot that can be done.

Last night, I get another e-mail, "Well, can't you just e-mail me my grade?" Seriously? Already? We're already playing the "I need my grade nooooowwww" game? It's one quiz. And NO, like every other teacher in the US, I cannot e-mail grades or other confidential information. It's called FERPA. I'm not going to risk losing my job and being booted out of the program so that you can know what you made on one little quiz.

Sheesh

[Fashion Lad!]

Gotta say, I love needy students. Why? Because they pay me a lot of money to figure out their "computer problems". I really like money.

[Greenday]

Hm, I don't get why people are so excited to get grades. I mean, you want to know if you did well, but damn, give it a rest. Especially when it's a big class like 75+ people. When the teacher has multiple classes of this size, why would you expect quizzes graded within like an hour?

[guywithashovel]

In the past, when I've taken quizzes and tests, I was usually able to guess pretty well at how I did on them. If they knew most or all of the stuff on the quiz (or didn't know it), then they should already have a pretty good idea of what their grade is.

[TehShush]

I suppose I fall under the needy category a bit... I do try to keep it to myself though, I would want to influence a teacher's decision on whether or not I deserve a good grade (and while I'm not knocking teachers in general, I do know that there are some that give them a bad rep when it comes to grades).

I would like to say that some kids have a reason for being needy. I need to keep my GPA up as high as possible for admission to the honors club in my community college, and subsequent bonus stuff when I transfer over to the local university.

Also, as a student who struggled with school as a child, I always feel so anxious about my current grades. I worry that I will start slipping, and each A is a huge encouragement to stay on the right track, so I will ask the teacher when he or she thinks they will be posted (even immediately after I turn my paper in).

I do hope your students realize that they only need to ask once, as any more is a bother to the teacher. Good luck with that class, and hopefully you won't run into that situation a lot more.

[AdminAssistant]

Well, what happened is that I hadn't set all the parameters for the Gradebook thingy correctly. (Have I mentioned that Blackboard can be a giant pain in the ass?) But the professor for the course was finally able to fix it.

Trust me, I worry about grades, too. If I slip too far, I'll lose my job. Yikes. Fact is, the professor of the class is also the Artistic Director of our theatre and has just published a book. I also TA for a different class, not to mention my own coursework and the show I'll be in rehearsal for in a few weeks. I try to make sure things are graded and available pretty quickly, but I got stuff to do, man.

And I'm really really glad that the other class I TA for does not have a Blackboard site. Yay!

Of course, the student in question had nothing to worry about. And I don't mind her reporting the problem with the Blackboard Gradebook. But, honestly, who ever ever EVER e-mails grades? Can't be done. That gets really tiresome. I may ask the professor to announce in class tomorrow that neither of us are allowed by federal law to do that.

[violetyoshi]

Does your school have a Student Handbook? Perhaps it should be stated in there, that teachers are not allowed to e-mail grades. Then if a student asks you about it, you can give them the "You didn't read the Student Handbook...did you?"

[AdminAssistant]

Does your school have a Student Handbook?

Yes, there is a Handbook with all kinds of regulations online that nobody ever bothers to read. Honestly, the Handbook is a legal monstrosity (my school is a very large R-1 Research Institution), so I really can't blame them for not pouring over the entire thing. I haven't really poured over the grad student handbook; they put TA's through a training course to make sure we know procedures for emergencies, academic misconduct, sexual harrassment, etc. I just can't believe the student hadn't come across that before. Maybe other teachers have e-mailed grades - it's certainly easier to do that. But federal privacy laws are something that I don't think you should mess with.

ETA: I'm pretty sure that students are handed a FERPA form that states all of that stuff each year, but we know how well they all keep track of paperwork. It's the same law that protects contact information and prevents parents from accessing student's grades.