College offers puppies and coloring books to deal with finals stress

[kamik86]

No.

And I hit college in 1994. Of course we knew some people wouldn't make it. But it was never presented as a weeding out.

It was for me in 2004 when I got to college. That part of it is the school did need to weed out those that shouldn't make it. I think they should go the other way and exlain that the first year is the hardest for another reason...

I was talking to some friends I play online games with and a few are heading to college and nervous about it soon. Those of us that have been through it all told them that if they aren't happy with their first semester or first year GPAs and think that it is just going to get harder that it isn't true. Yes the classes you take later are higher level but grades tend to rise for most students during college. I know my final GPA was much higher then my first semester one.

I knew students that contemplated quitting when they barely passed that first semester because its only going to get harder and they couldn't handle it. Those that stayed where all glad they did as their grades got better when they no longer had to take classes on their weaknesses.

Your first year students take maybe 2-3 classes for their choosen major and alot of gen ed requirements. The students that are strong in math and sciences generally have to get through the required english classes that year. The students that are strong in arts and language classes have to get through math and science courses that year.

By the time you get to your junior and senior years your done with those gen ed requirements and your taking harder classes but the ones you enjoy. I was taking almost strictly computer science classes and related topics (discrete mathematics, user interface design, project planning etc) by then.

 

[3Gsandme]

It was for me in 2004 when I got to college. That part of it is the school did need to weed out those that shouldn't make it. I think they should go the other way and exlain that the first year is the hardest for another reason...

I was talking to some friends I play online games with and a few are heading to college and nervous about it soon. Those of us that have been through it all told them that if they aren't happy with their first semester or first year GPAs and think that it is just going to get harder that it isn't true. Yes the classes you take later are higher level but grades tend to rise for most students during college. I know my final GPA was much higher then my first semester one.

I knew students that contemplated quitting when they barely passed that first semester because its only going to get harder and they couldn't handle it. Those that stayed where all glad they did as their grades got better when they no longer had to take classes on their weaknesses.

Your first year students take maybe 2-3 classes for their choosen major and alot of gen ed requirements. The students that are strong in math and sciences generally have to get through the required english classes that year. The students that are strong in arts and language classes have to get through math and science courses that year.

By the time you get to your junior and senior years your done with those gen ed requirements and your taking harder classes but the ones you enjoy. I was taking almost strictly computer science classes and related topics (discrete mathematics, user interface design, project planning etc) by then.

That's an interesting point and it's very true. Although, I will tell you my John Donne seminar was...hard. It was really hard. Give me Bio at a 200 level all day.

 

[Erzengel]

I commuted to school which was about 30 minutes away. I went to school full time for Engineering. I also had a part/full time job 15 minutes in the opposite direction from my house so 45 minutes away from school. In between I had to do my school work, socialize and sleep when I could. I barely did anything at my university that wasn't about school No time for fraternities or societies, etc. Because I didn't do well in one class, I had to drop it and I went from 4 years to 4 1/2 years. By senior year I was already interning for Engineering.

School wasn't paid for either. I took out loans that I had to pay off like 6 years after school.

So, it's hard for me to have sympathy for "some" college kids because I would have liked to gone away to school, not have to pay for it, not have to work, and go to parties. I know that's not everyone's college experience but it certainly wasn't mine.

I could have used some therapy puppies/kitties sessions.

 

[mjkacmom]

You didn't get the "look to your left, now look to your right" speech at freshman orientation?

I graduated almost 30 years ago, never had that speech. Colleges try very hard to have high graduation rates, they want students to succeed.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I think it's not just the puppy & coloring books - though that's part of it. It's that it plays to the whole "safe space" thing, especially since this was done specifically as a finals "de-stressing" thing. Look, college is supposed to be hard. It's supposed to be stressful. It's supposed to be a real achievement when you finish. And not everyone is supposed to make it through. We've all known people in our professional lives who are highly educated, but just cannot function in a real job. And you wonder, "how on earth did YOU get through college?". Well, here ya go.

Now, I know I enjoyed the fun things we had on campus. I hope my kids have some fun in college, and puppies would rate pretty high up there. So, I'm not totally opposed to the idea. But, the way it was presented, and the timing certainly had me doing a major eye roll.

OK, I am by no means an expert, but this is how I understand "safes spaces" and it doesn't seem to me like those of you who are so negative about them on this thread have vthe same understanding.


My own home is a "safe space" In MY home, the place where I live, I know that others living here will not attack me for my gender, my sexuality, my ethnicity, my religion. I can control who gets to live here and make sure that inside my own home I am able to be safely who I am wihtout fear of physical attacks or verbal ones about my core self.
While my child is living on campus, and cannot choose roomates, or who they share a bathroom with, etc---I think it is totally and completely appropriate that everyone living in those dorms understand that the space MUST be safe for all---that sexual harrassment, verbal and physical attacks are simply not appropriate there. Period. Afterall, most campuses require Frehsmen to live on campus; how would it be OK to require someone to LIVE in a situation there they are constantly berated for who they are, or in fear for their safety? This isn't about basic roomate disagreements, but about serious harrassment.

I also understand that often campuses have "safe spaces" for students who are part of marginailized groups to get together and discuss issues relating to being a part of that group without fear or reprisal for simply being who they are. So, for example, gay or trans students who are not out to the general public would be assured that being "out" in that space is a secret which will be kept, and that they will not be ridiculed for being who they are, or a muslim student could be assured that in that space no one would refer to them as a "terrorist" simply beucase of their religion, etc. Mostly, from what I understsand, these "spaces" are offices, generally ones set up for support and help for various groups (a women's resource center, a campus ministries office, etc)---and these types of offices have been around since at least my days in school 20+ years ago--they just didn't happen to be called "safe spaces" but they served the same purpose by providing information and support for students in those groups, and also a place for those students to speak opnely about their issues without fear.

I get the feeling many on hear think "safe spaces" means that classes cannot discuss various ideas, or debate, or that free speech is stifled throughout campus, etc--which, so far as I udnerstand it, is not the point at all.

 

[TheConsciousness]

Just wanted to remind everyone what this new wave of "safe spaces" are:

Safe spaces started when a student group met weekly to discuss their experiences with sexual assault and traumatic experience.
A group of students got wind that students of the LGBTQ community were attending these events and decided to harass the members by busting in with signs that were very close to what you see on the Westboro Baptist Church signs.
The school then appointed people to watch the doors to the meetings, and thus the rebels got angry and called them 'safe spaces'.
Members of the meeting decided to adopt the term 'safe space' and the rebels told the media that universities around the world were setting up safe spaces.

It's all about perspective.

Hit the nail on the head.

 

[mjkacmom]

I commuted to school which was about 30 minutes away. I went to school full time for Engineering. I also had a part/full time job 15 minutes in the opposite direction from my house so 45 minutes away from school. In between I had to do my school work, socialize and sleep when I could. I barely did anything at my university that wasn't about school No time for fraternities or societies, etc. Because I didn't do well in one class, I had to drop it and I went from 4 years to 4 1/2 years. By senior year I was already interning for Engineering.

School wasn't paid for either. I took out loans that I had to pay off like 6 years after school.

So, it's hard for me to have sympathy for "some" college kids because I would have liked to gone away to school, not have to pay for it, not have to work, and go to parties. I know that's not everyone's college experience but it certainly wasn't mine.

I could have used some therapy puppies/kitties sessions.

You chose not to pay for that experience. Dd20 chose to live off campus this year, and is missing out on meals made for her, bathrooms cleaned for her, and fun stuff like this. She did have 2 years of that, but now she's saving money, has her own bedroom (plus 4 roommates), and has an escape from 24/7 college.

You didn't get (or pay for) the away at college experience. You also never experienced how stressful it is to be permanently surrounded by stressed college students in very close quarters. I remember how blissful it could be to come home for the weekend.

 

[Erzengel]

You chose not to pay for that experience. Dd20 chose to live off campus this year, and is missing out on meals made for her, bathrooms cleaned for her, and fun stuff like this. She did have 2 years of that, but now she's saving money, has her own bedroom (plus 4 roommates), and has an escape from 24/7 college.

You didn't get (or pay for) the away at college experience. You also never experienced how stressful it is to be permanently surrounded by stressed college students in very close quarters. I remember how blissful it could be to come home for the weekend.

Working 40 hours a week along with full time school was stressful. My weekends were working. So the rare breaks that I got were a few hours after work to spend with friends or in between classes to sleep in the library.

 

[kamik86]

I think the safe spaces terms started being negative when some students took them to far and you got those articles. This one with puppies and coloring books (the puppies all they provided was space and frankly coloring books are cheap we aren't talking a huge expensive outlay here)

However I read one where a school was requiring that teachers have certain topics on rubrics marked as trigger topics in classes and that they couldn't penalize a student that said it was a trigger topic from not going to class. That is taking safe spaces too far. Saying a class room is a safe space where the entire class has to discuss the issue of homosexuality and its view in culture in an antropology class without attacking fellow students is good. Telling some students they can skip that class because they don't want to deal with that topic is not. If they didn't want to have to talk about societal issues they needed to not take that class.

As with all things some students tried to go to far with the safe spaces and demand things that are unreasonable, Some schools started to give in to those demands and got push back, and this distorted a good idea into something the public now villainizes.

 

[Magpie]

So, it's hard for me to have sympathy for "some" college kids because I would have liked to gone away to school, not have to pay for it, not have to work, and go to parties. I know that's not everyone's college experience but it certainly wasn't mine.

I could have used some therapy puppies/kitties sessions.

It's true. There's actually been studies showing that a person's willingness to be sympathetic decreases when they've gone through hard times themselves.

"Our research shows that people who have gone through difficult experiences tend to be the harshest critics of those who are struggling or unable to cope. In this case, another old line is perhaps more applicable: familiarity breeds contempt." (http://qz.com/452497/great-bosses-have-empathy-but-not-for-everyone/)

But, I'd think it should be the opposite. Why wouldn't we embrace the idea of other people enjoying a better experience than we did?

Give them puppies! Give them colouring books! Spare them some of the stress we endured!

After all, it's not like they won't be stressed out anyway. Just a little less.

I don't want to maintain (or heaven forbid increase) the amount of unhappiness in the world. I want to see it decrease.

 

[3Gsandme]

I don't want to maintain (or heaven forbid increase) the amount of unhappiness in the world. I want to see it decrease.

This is it. In a nutshell.

 

[kamik86]

It's true. There's actually been studies showing that a person's willingness to be sympathetic decreases when they've gone through hard times themselves.

"Our research shows that people who have gone through difficult experiences tend to be the harshest critics of those who are struggling or unable to cope. In this case, another old line is perhaps more applicable: familiarity breeds contempt." (http://qz.com/452497/great-bosses-have-empathy-but-not-for-everyone/)

But, I'd think it should be the opposite. Why wouldn't we embrace the idea of other people enjoying a better experience than we did?

Give them puppies! Give them colouring books! Spare them some of the stress we endured!

After all, it's not like they won't be stressed out anyway. Just a little less.

I don't want to maintain (or heaven forbid increase) the amount of unhappiness in the world. I want to see it decrease.

I agree with this as long as its done correctly.

Give them the oppurtunities to play with puppies (as long as it doesn't stress the puppies) and coloring books is great.

Just make sure it doesnt' get to things like:

• Make the classes easier
• Grade easier
• Lower expectations of what the students learn/if they come to class/etc
• Give extensions for poor planning when the student is stressed at the end

I think its fine if schools keep expectations they same and then suggest ways to cope and make it easier for students to use those options.

I don't think its ok if they make classes easier. School should be stressful, because work and life WILL be. If schools want to help students learn to cope that is great. Just don't make it so they don't have to cope.

 

[Magpie]

I agree with this as long as its done correctly.

Give them the oppurtunities to play with puppies (as long as it doesn't stress the puppies) and coloring books is great.

Just make sure it doesnt' get to things like:

• Make the classes easier
• Grade easier
• Lower expectations of what the students learn/if they come to class/etc
• Give extensions for poor planning when the student is stressed at the end

I think its fine if schools keep expectations they same and then suggest ways to cope and make it easier for students to use those options.

I don't think its ok if they make classes easier. School should be stressful, because work and life WILL be. If schools want to help students learn to cope that is great. Just don't make it so they don't have to cope.

I don't think anyone in this thread is arguing that we should lower academic standards. We're talking about puppies and colouring books here.

That said, I really do think it should be no one's business but the student's whether they come to class. I've always thought keeping attendance was a bit ridiculous at this level. Students should be responsible for their own learning. Present the material. If they're not there to learn it, then it'll show on the final exam. And if they still get good grades, despite skipping all your lectures... then clearly you need to rethink how much educational value you're actually delivering in-class.

Also, I must confess, way back in the early nineties, I DID get quite a few extensions for poor planning. And for procrastination. And for being generally disorganized. How? I just asked. Nicely. Professors generally want to see their students succeed, and I took ridiculous advantage of their generous natures.

I don't think it should be policy, but students have been getting extensions for poor planning since pretty much the beginning of time. That whole "look left, look right" thing? It's bull. Most schools aren't trying to make you fail, in order to ensure that only the strongest advance. They're actually just trying to educate you.

(For the record, my mum is a university prof who has taught all over the world. I grew up in campus housing. Oh, and my mum takes attendance. )

 

[Liberty Belle]

It's true. There's actually been studies showing that a person's willingness to be sympathetic decreases when they've gone through hard times themselves.

"Our research shows that people who have gone through difficult experiences tend to be the harshest critics of those who are struggling or unable to cope. In this case, another old line is perhaps more applicable: familiarity breeds contempt." (http://qz.com/452497/great-bosses-have-empathy-but-not-for-everyone/)

But, I'd think it should be the opposite. Why wouldn't we embrace the idea of other people enjoying a better experience than we did?

Give them puppies! Give them colouring books! Spare them some of the stress we endured!

After all, it's not like they won't be stressed out anyway. Just a little less.

I don't want to maintain (or heaven forbid increase) the amount of unhappiness in the world. I want to see it decrease.

Then, yet again, I'm the oddball, because it is the opposite for me.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I graduated almost 30 years ago, never had that speech. Colleges try very hard to have high graduation rates, they want students to succeed.

I got the speech LOL 1985

 

[kamik86]

I don't think anyone in this thread is arguing that we should lower academic standards. We're talking about puppies and colouring books here.

That said, I really do think it should be no one's business but the student's whether they come to class. I've always thought keeping attendance was a bit ridiculous at this level. Students should be responsible for their own learning. Present the material. If they're not there to learn it, then it'll show on the final exam. And if they still get good grades, despite skipping all your lectures... then clearly you need to rethink how much educational value you're actually delivering in-class.

Also, I must confess, way back in the early nineties, I DID get quite a few extensions for poor planning. And for procrastination. And for being generally disorganized. How? I just asked. Nicely. Professors generally want to see their students succeed, and I took ridiculous advantage of their generous natures.

I don't think it should be policy, but students have been getting extensions for poor planning since pretty much the beginning of time. That whole "look left, look right" thing? It's bull. Most schools aren't trying to make you fail, in order to ensure that only the strongest advance. They're actually just trying to educate you.

(For the record, my mum is a university prof who has taught all over the world. I grew up in campus housing. Oh, and my mum takes attendance. )

I think you misunderstood my point. I don't think lower standards and professors giving extensions for poor planning are new. I do however think they are the things that shouldn't be done. I think some colleges do that way to much yet the ones that you hear about on the internet and people complain about are puppies and coloring books. I much rather colleges provide the puppies and coloring books.

As for not docking for not attending it honestly depends on the class. In this case the school was pushing for students to be able to skip whole topics they deemed trigger topics which included assignments on those topics without docking grades.

This is why I think docking a student for just not attending is ok in some classes:

1. Some classes are discussion based. Much of your grade is the discussions and opinions you discuss in class. If thoses classes hadn't made attendance mandatory we would have had to write all those opinions and had more papers so I much preferred this way.
2. Frankly work is somewhat attendance based. I am expected to show up to meetings and am not allowed to skip all meetings even I do my assignments. So if some classes are mandatory, even if that is just that the test is at X time and will not be given at any other time without a doctor's note is ok.

The idea that schools want you to fail is bull you are right but I think some schools in order to keep graduation rates are making classes too easy. They are giving too many second chances. I know I had some professors like that, where you could get away with almost anything because they didn't want to fail you.

I had two marking period (my school had trimesters not normal semesters) class that was supposed to be one big project you start and end with the same group. This was a newer program and my project had a student that was the first person ever to do so little work during that senior project that he failed the class. He was obviously cheating on his time reports we were all supposed to keep to make it look like we did more work and produced almost no results. However he was given another chance. Why because the school never thought about what to do in that situation. The classes are only offered once a year so it would have pushed his graudation back an entire year so the whole group of us had to attend meetings with the department head and the student advisor to make a contract that if he didn't fulfill the second quarter he would fail. So not only did the school coddle him they made more work for the rest of us. These are the students that frankly should fail and have to retake the class even if that is a year later.

I think the reason a degree means something is that it means that the person went though and successfully completed the work that is requried by that school. A school that gives too many chances are going to graduate people that don't deserve their degree and that will hurt the reputation of the school just as much as if they have too high of a failure rate. Schools shouldn't be trying to make students fail but they do need to be willing to fail students when that is what they earned.

 

[luvsJack]

I am curious, can the student borrow the dog for the job interview? Man, that can be stressful? Or how about the first time they have conflict with a co-worker? Wait...I have an idea!

CoddledKids.com!

"Kids, have a stressful job? A pending deadline? What about that annoying co-worker who constantly stresses you out? Fear not! We at CoddledKids.com will use our new drone service to deliver a dog straight to your office desk! Please note that large breed dogs will have a surcharge due to their size and difficulty in delivering via drone."

Why exactly do you have such an issue with it?

We have been learning stress management for YEARS in the workplace. This is just a form of stress management.

When we were on the MSU campus a few days ago, they had puppies. They were from the local shelter and they were "loaning" the dogs to students for a day. So the dogs were taken on walks, played with, cuddled and petted. The students looked like they were have a great time and so did the dogs. Looked like a win-win to me. And no the dogs did not go to class or in the buildings at all.

DD's campus did a fun run, a tree decorating party, and some other stuff that just got their mind off of studying for a bit. Not so very different than most healthy adults do in their every day lives.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Working 40 hours a week along with full time school was stressful. My weekends were working. So the rare breaks that I got were a few hours after work to spend with friends or in between classes to sleep in the library.

I've almost run the gamut

Full time student at home
Full time student on campus
Full time student off campus (apartment)
Part time student, full time employee

By far, the on campus experience was the least stressful for me.

 

[Magpie]

I think you misunderstood my point. I don't think lower standards and professors giving extensions for poor planning are new. I do however think they are the things that shouldn't be done. I think some colleges do that way to much yet the ones that you hear about on the internet and people complain about are puppies and coloring books. I much rather colleges provide the puppies and coloring books.

As for not docking for not attending it honestly depends on the class. In this case the school was pushing for students to be able to skip whole topics they deemed trigger topics which included assignments on those topics without docking grades.

This is why I think docking a student for just not attending is ok in some classes:

1. Some classes are discussion based. Much of your grade is the discussions and opinions you discuss in class. If thoses classes hadn't made attendance mandatory we would have had to write all those opinions and had more papers so I much preferred this way.
2. Frankly work is somewhat attendance based. I am expected to show up to meetings and am not allowed to skip all meetings even I do my assignments. So if some classes are mandatory, even if that is just that the test is at X time and will not be given at any other time without a doctor's note is ok.

The idea that schools want you to fail is bull you are right but I think some schools in order to keep graduation rates are making classes too easy. They are giving too many second chances. I know I had some professors like that, where you could get away with almost anything because they didn't want to fail you.

I had two marking period (my school had trimesters not normal semesters) class that was supposed to be one big project you start and end with the same group. This was a newer program and my project had a student that was the first person ever to do so little work during that senior project that he failed the class. He was obviously cheating on his time reports we were all supposed to keep to make it look like we did more work and produced almost no results. However he was given another chance. Why because the school never thought about what to do in that situation. The classes are only offered once a year so it would have pushed his graudation back an entire year so the whole group of us had to attend meetings with the department head and the student advisor to make a contract that if he didn't fulfill the second quarter he would fail. So not only did the school coddle him they made more work for the rest of us. These are the students that frankly should fail and have to retake the class even if that is a year later.

I think the reason a degree means something is that it means that the person went though and successfully completed the work that is requried by that school. A school that gives too many chances are going to graduate people that don't deserve their degree and that will hurt the reputation of the school just as much as if they have too high of a failure rate. Schools shouldn't be trying to make students fail but they do need to be willing to fail students when that is what they earned.

I agree that standards shouldn't be lowered. I agree that some subjects benefit from classroom participation, and in fact, I think profs should make it so that it's to your advantage to be present for all your classes. When being in the class doesn't make a difference... that's a failure on the prof's part, and simply taking marks away for being absent doesn't fix the problem.

I don't believe, however, that standards in higher education are being lowered in any systematic way across the board. Nor has there been some huge culture change in colleges and universities.

Some profs have always been touchy-feely sensitive types, to a ridiculous degree. Some profs have always been hard-nosed and demanding, to a ridiculous degree. For the past forty-plus years, I've been listening to teachers complain about "kids these days". Somehow the present generation is NEVER as literate, disciplined, conscientious, etc, as the previous generation was, no matter what generation we're talking about.

I am sorry your school let you and your classmates down, with regards to the student you had to work with. It shouldn't have mattered that you were supposed to "start and end with the same group". Obviously that isn't possible in every circumstance (I mean, what if one of your group members had died?). That they didn't have any plan to deal with that eventuality is evidence of appallingly poor planning on the administration's part.

Also, every institution should have very clear standards, when it comes to dealing with cheating, and I'm actually shocked yours didn't. I had a job in high school checking my mother's student papers for plagiarism (in the bad old days before it was all computerized). If you were found to have committed Academic Fraud, the consequences were very clear, ranging from the lowest - a written warning and a zero on your paper - to the highest - cancellation or revocation of your degree, diploma or certificate.

And, by the way, that policy still stands today and is still being enforced, in that university and in others I have known.

(And, of course, just so we don't get totally off topic - none of this has anything to do with stress management, puppies, colouring books or even safe spaces.)

 

[kamik86]

I agree that standards shouldn't be lowered. I agree that some subjects benefit from classroom participation, and in fact, I think profs should make it so that it's to your advantage to be present for all your classes. When being in the class doesn't make a difference... that's a failure on the prof's part, and simply taking marks away for being absent doesn't fix the problem.

I don't believe, however, that standards in higher education are being lowered in any systematic way across the board. Nor has there been some huge culture change in colleges and universities.

Some profs have always been touchy-feely sensitive types, to a ridiculous degree. Some profs have always been hard-nosed and demanding, to a ridiculous degree. For the past forty-plus years, I've been listening to teachers complain about "kids these days". Somehow the present generation is NEVER as literate, disciplined, conscientious, etc, as the previous generation was, no matter what generation we're talking about.

I am sorry your school let you and your classmates down, with regards to the student you had to work with. It shouldn't have mattered that you were supposed to "start and end with the same group". Obviously that isn't possible in every circumstance (I mean, what if one of your group members had died?). That they didn't have any plan to deal with that eventuality is evidence of appallingly poor planning on the administration's part.

Also, every institution should have very clear standards, when it comes to dealing with cheating, and I'm actually shocked yours didn't. I had a job in high school checking my mother's student papers for plagiarism (in the bad old days before it was all computerized). If you were found to have committed Academic Fraud, the consequences were very clear, ranging from the lowest - a written warning and a zero on your paper - to the highest - cancellation or revocation of your degree, diploma or certificate.

And, by the way, that policy still stands today and is still being enforced, in that university and in others I have known.

(And, of course, just so we don't get totally off topic - none of this has anything to do with stress management, puppies, colouring books or even safe spaces.)

Yeah I know some students now that go to that school (they have internships where I work) and I wonder if things like this project and the complications of having a "class" that is really two classes helped drive them to go to a semester system finally. They had been talking about it the whole time I was there for other reasons but it finally got pushed through shortly after I left.

For that class it was bad enough that he did this with the first quarter, but if you had a student to that in the second quarter after passing the first class what then? You couldn't make him take the first class he paid for and passed over again but it would be incredibly unfair to others to make another group take him and catch him up to speed. Which means he would likely not know enough to even have the oppurtunity to pass if taking the class again -if I was a student with a group that had worked on a project for 3 months and knew it well I wouldn't want to let the new guy do anything but documentation and busy work because he would probably just get in the way, espeically if I knew the reason he was being forced into the group is that he already let down another team I would assume he would do the same to us.

Now due to being a semester school the senior project is slightly shorter but it is all in one full semester, it is one class.

As for plagerism type things our school had those regulations too even in software engineering (although in ours reusing open source code was fine we were just expected to site it, I definitely did a project where 1/3 of the code base was an open source plug in I found and I still got an A. My presentation and my readme talked to the use of this plugin for all reporting functions) however apparently they didn't think that extended to what was basically time card fraud (he would say he spent 6 hours in meetings in a week where no one else reported more then 3 and we had meeting minutes available to the advisor that showed the start and end times to our meetings.)