Question for college instructors

[just4today]

Why is it that most instructors are very rigid about deadlines, but they don't seem to have any sense of urgency about grading students' work and providing feedback? How is it acceptable that students must turn in 4 essays over the course of a month without their instructor even having the decency to provide them with immediate feedback so that they can make necessary adjustments and corrections if they are doing something incorrectly?

The double standards that exist in academia are very frustrating.

 

[bballmom56]

My DH is a college professor. He has 120 students. He has many committees on which he must serve at his college. He has advising duties for his students. He must attend college events. He communicates with students almost 24/7 - he has been online with them today as he is every weekend. He must prepare for classes and prepare exams for those classes (even though he may teach the same class each year, he will prepare new lectures and exams.)

Each paper takes about 20 minutes for him to read, make comments and grade.

Please be aware that your professors are not being lazy or procrastinating. You do not see half of what they have to do.

I have often wished my DH had a 9-5 job. I would see him a lot more often and we could actually do things.

 

[just4today]

My DH is a college professor. He has 120 students. He has many committees on which he must serve at his college. He has advising duties for his students. He must attend college events. He communicates with students almost 24/7 - he has been online with them today as he is every weekend. He must prepare for classes and prepare exams for those classes (even though he may teach the same class each year, he will prepare new lectures and exams.)

Each paper takes about 20 minutes for him to read, make comments and grade.

Please be aware that your professors are not being lazy or procrastinating. You do not see half of what they have to do.

I have often wished my DH had a 9-5 job. I would see him a lot more often and we could actually do things.

I understand that. Guess what? I'm a working adult too, and I have a family, and I am taking two graduate level classes at once. We're all busy. In my opinion, if I have to adhere to deadlines, the instructor should as well.

 

[MushyMushy]

I guess I was always very lucky. In the 6 years of undergrad and graduate school, I always got papers back within the week and also had no problems getting extensions on the deadlines when I needed them.

Is this just one professor or several?

 

[happygirl]

I understand that. Guess what? I'm a working adult too, and I have a family, and I am taking two graduate level classes at once. We're all busy. In my opinion, if I have to adhere to deadlines, the instructor should as well.

I have never had a professor give a paper back?

I always worked under the asusmption that I worked under there schedule, they didn't work under mine

 

[just4today]

I have never had a professor give a paper back?

The work is submitted electronically via Blackboard. The instructor grades it and posts a grade. There is a place where the instructor can also add in remarks/feedback so that the student is aware of strengths and weaknesses with the submission.

And to bballmom56 - I didn't mean to seem like I'm jumping down your throat. I do understand the pressures of being responsible for so many students while also attending meetings and preparing for classes. However, I think it is to the instructor to manage these activities and give grades/feedback in an appropriate timeframe. If he or she is unable to do that, it's time to scale back the course load.

 

[happygirl]

The work is submitted electronically via Blackboard. The instructor grades it and posts a grade. There is a place where the instructor can also add in remarks/feedback so that the student is aware of strengths and weaknesses with the submission.

And to bballmom56 - I didn't mean to seem like I'm jumping down your throat. I do understand the pressures of being responsible for so many students while also attending meetings and preparing for classes. However, I think it is to the instructor to manage these activities and give grades/feedback in an appropriate timeframe. If he or she is unable to do that, it's time to scale back the course load.

I take online class that what I'm saying they never give papers back, There is a grade and nothing else. I guess if you had any question can Email them

 

[just4today]

I take online class that what I'm saying they never give papers back, There is a grade and nothing else. I guess if you had any question can Email them

Let me put this another way:

I am complaining because the grades are still not posted after a month. Does that make sense?

 

[Flight]

Some professors are there for their research and teaching is secondary.

 

[happygirl]

Let me put this another way:

I am complaining because the grades are still not posted after a month. Does that make sense?

LOL I have had teacher take all almost all semester to grade papers. So I emailed a her and said as long as she had them done by the end of the semester she was doing good.

I hope you hear something back soon

 

[bballmom56]

And to bballmom56 - I didn't mean to seem like I'm jumping down your throat. I do understand the pressures of being responsible for so many students while also attending meetings and preparing for classes. However, I think it is to the instructor to manage these activities and give grades/feedback in an appropriate timeframe. If he or she is unable to do that, it's time to scale back the course load.

ummm, he can't scale back the course load - there is a minimum requirement for full time faculty. The college is adding more students to all classes adding to the workload. He used to have 20 students per class. He now has 30-40.

BTW, he did his entire undergrad, 2 master's and PhD programs on a part time basis while working full time (many times with mandatory overtime) while supporting a family. He is entirely familiar with a heavy workload.

 

[mom2grace]

Are you complaining about me?!

I agree with bballmom56, we have more students, more responsibilities, less time.

Also, I try not to release grades until all of the assignments are in, so that's another week since I allow 1 additional week late, with 10% off. These are for online courses. I must say, for my face-to-face courses, I stick to a strict 2 week return time, and aim for that for online as well.

It's simply not an equal relationship!

 

[mom2grace]

The college is adding more students to all classes adding to the workload. He used to have 20 students per class. He now has 30-40.

So, if he can grade a paper in 20 minutes, that would take 10 hours if he only had 30 students, 13+ for 40. My guess is that you don't spend 10 hours writing a paper!

 

[KandD]

Oh my gosh I sooo know what you mean!! My professor told us that grades were due by Wednesday but yet she still hasn't graded our final papers (so of course our final grades aren't in). I don't understand...unless she had the date wrong.

ETA: In allll of my years of undergrad and grad work this is the first time I have really had a problem with how long a prof. has taken to grade papers. I am sure years ago there might have been more that I don't recall but I have had this prof. two semesters in a row and she really takes a long time to grade things.

 

[MushyMushy]

I take online class that what I'm saying they never give papers back, There is a grade and nothing else. I guess if you had any question can Email them

Why wouldn't you get your papers back with comments written on them? I have never ever just received a grade for a paper. My degree is in English, so I've written way more than my fair share, too.

 

[happygirl]

Why wouldn't you get your papers back with comments written on them? I have never ever just received a grade for a paper. My degree is in English, so I've written way more than my fair share, too.

I take my classes online, All I get is a grade. I guess If I wanted to I could email them

 

[MushyMushy]

I take my classes online, All I get is a grade. I guess If I wanted to I could email them

That's still not really the norm. I've taken classes online and my husband got his entire degree online but we still both got our entire papers back with comments.

I'm not meaning to grill you, I just thought it was unusual to put all that work into a paper and not get comments on it!

 

[PlaneJoy1]

I just finished my Master's online this week. I understand where you are coming from. When I attended classes 'face-to-face', prof's seemed to get things back to us in a decent time frame. I guess because they actually had to 'answer' to us in class.

My experience online has been totally different. The prof's don't have the same sense of timeliness. Very few grades were given with 10 days of the deadline. Though my courses are done, I've only got one (of four) final grades. There is still work not graded in almost every class.

I have found that many of the prof's are full-time teachers (my program is in education) and they are teaching these classes for additional income. One of my colleagues just started her doctoral degree and has a professor from her master's degree.... the difference is these two programs are through two different universities. It seems that there are at least some prof's doubling up and teaching in at least two different programs. Probably to make ends meet.

I feel your frustration! I've finally got to where if its turned in - then I don't worry about it. I can't control what's happening on the other end.

Good luck!

 

[Ceila]

In my experience, it really depends on the professor. My undergrad degree was at a traditional college, but my graduate work is completely online. I have had professors who are timely in getting grades back in both, and I have had professors who seemed to take a very long time in both. As a working mom in grad school, I have a much greater appreciation of the time professors have to put into a course than I did when I was an undergrad.

As for comments on papers, the grading system my school uses includes a "comment" function when grades are submitted. Most professors take advantage of it.

 

[tasha99]

I've had teachers who were relaxed about deadlines--just this term I was able to put off a couple of papers for one class till finals week. I think most of my professors are aware of how ridiculous the schedule for my program is--I was in class 19 hours per week last term, and 9 would have been considered full time for grad school. It's just like that--they could easily make it a 3 year degree, but most people would rather be swamped and get done in 2.

I do understand the complaint, though. I think 2 weeks is a reasonable wait for a paper, but I had to wait 6 for one this term. It was ridiculous, but what can you do?

(And to the person who said it doesn't take 10 hours to write a paper, I think 10 hours is pretty typical. I even underestimated the difficulty of one paper a few weeks ago and ended up having to stay up all night writing. That was a 16 hour paper. I was crazy-tired at school the next day, but it was worth it in the long run.)