Question for college instructors

[shellybaxter]

I've completed two degrees online and I've never had a course where I didn't get feedback from the instructor. Some have been great about returning quickly - others not so much. I learned more from the instructors that gave timely feedback. I am not a students that calls for extra help - I get my feedback from the grading process.

 

[RitaZ.]

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.

That's unacceptable. Does that professor have a TA?

 

[just4today]

I don't know if these instructors have TAs because both classes are online. This is the 4th school I've attended and have had the same experience at all of them. I've had the occasional instructor who was really good about getting things graded and the scores posted, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

As I said previously, I do understand about the workload and the difficulty of keeping up, but that doesn't excuse it. We all have duties we are expected to keep up with. When we don't, there are consequences. There don't seem to be any consequences for college instructors as long as they get the final grades turned in. Sure, I could make comments in my course review, but that's after the fact and I'm betting it has very little impact.

It is very frustrating for me, as an equally-busy person, to put in a lot of effort to write a paper, get it turned in on time, then wait weeks, even months sometimes, to get a grade. Then, at the very end of the course, you get weeks' worth of grades all posted at once and it's painfully obvious the instructor never even read your work, or probably just glanced over it to make sure you didn't make any glaring mistakes. Tell me how that's learning on my part. I could probably write complete nonsense and as long as I turn it in on time and it looks nice, I'd get a good grade on it because the instructor is just too swamped to take any time to actually read it and provide feedback.

My point here is that there should be rules for both sides. If I have to meet deadlines in turning in my work, the instructor should have to meet deadlines in grading it. I think 2-3 weeks after an assignment is submitted is a reasonable amount of time to wait; 4 or more weeks is not. If the instructor cannot adhere to those rules, then he/she should not impose deadlines on the students either. The student should have until the end of the course, or close to it, to submit the work since that's probably when the instructor is going to look at it anyway.

 

[barkley]

one thing that's available at some colleges is the ability to find out what criteria a specific department puts on their teaching staff regarding student work (turn around time on giving back, when grades have to be posted...).

i learned this when i was getting a degree and myself and several classmates were talking one day and discovered we were all having the same issues with the instructor we shared. he required weekly papers but then would'nt return them for weeks on end (long before on-line grades or blackboard so you were reliant strictly on what the prof. shared with you grade wise up until report cards came out) at which time you'de find out he had marked you down for something on the first paper-and then marked you down moreso for the same error on subsequent papers because you supposedly had'nt 'learned' when he'd brought it to you attention on the first paper (which you had JUST gotten back with all the rest).

in discussing the situation all of us realized that we had encountered the same 'not my problem' attitude with the professor in meeting with him, so we made a group appointment with the advisor for the department he was in. when we met with the advisor she was very upset to learn of the situation and gave us each a copy of the department's standards for submitted work and grading (on the professor's part). apparantly our coming forward initiated a conference with the professor who denied having done this, but the department could'nt believe that was so when they had the group of us, in different sessions of the course all saying we'de had the same experiences. an internal investigation was launched and it was found that the prof. had a longstanding history of this practice which was in direct violation of not only the department's standards but the university's (we later heard through the grapevine that it called some past final grades into question-esp. when there was a glaring difference in a student's normal gpa and what they had received from that prof.).

it never hurts to ask.

 

[taylor1293]

To the OP, I'm sorry it's taking so long and it's so frustrating. There really is no excuse for a professor not to have your paper graded, with comments, within 1-2 weeks.

I guess I was fortunate for undergrad and graduate school. My professors gave out clearly defined rubrics. Papers were graded and returned with comments in a timely manner. I expected no less of an online class than one that was face-to-face.

Additionally, if I'm paying thousands of dollars in tuition, I have high expectations from the university that I am attending.

 

[just4today]

at which time you'de find out he had marked you down for something on the first paper-and then marked you down moreso for the same error on subsequent papers because you supposedly had'nt 'learned' when he'd brought it to you attention on the first paper (which you had JUST gotten back with all the rest)

Exactly. That is completely unfair and does nothing to help me learn, which is the whole point.

Additionally, if I'm paying thousands of dollars in tuition, I have high expectations from the university that I am attending.

Another excellent point. I am adult who is paying a great deal of money for the service that the college is providing me. I expect to get something for my money - an education. Feedback from my instructor is a vital part of that.

 

[pigletgirl]

Because they have to make a deadline!

It has taken some of my prof's a month or so to get a graded paper back. They also have lives, but we did eventually get it back. You just have to patient.

Just think about it. You have 1 paper to write and they can have 50+ to read, think through and grade. It's a much bigger task than what you had.

Relax!!

If you have a problem, talk to them.......

 

[just4today]

Because they have to make a deadline!

It has taken some of my prof's a month or so to get a graded paper back. They also have lives, but we did eventually get it back. You just have to patient.

Just think about it. You have 1 paper to write and they can have 50+ to read, think through and grade. It's a much bigger task than what you had.

Relax!!

If you have a problem, talk to them.......

I have thought about it I understand that reading 50+ papers takes a long time. Instructors should be given a reasonable amount of time to do that. The disagreement seems to be in how to define "reasonable." And, as I mentioned previously, I also work and have family responsibilities. Just because we are not working on the same tasks does not mean I am not just as busy as my instructors are. Does that make sense?

And I am relaxed. I am, so far, getting A's in both classes, at least as far as I can tell; it's hard to know for sure when so many grades are missing

 

[ladycollector]

I deal with similar problems. What drives me the most nuts is one of my professors developed his own online homework program, and this homework takes about 12 hours a week to complete, and is due on Sunday.

Well, several weeks now, the program has gone down/had problems and he has no phone number for us to access him, and does not respond to emails. So then we get hit the next week with TWENTY FOUR hours (I am not exagerating- this is cost accounting.) worth of homework and quizzes because his crappy program broke down and he was too lazy to check the website/deal with it.

So frustrating - glad its finally over.

 

[LoraJ]

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

I take classes online too and I have gotten some kind of feedback on my papers most of the time. Some instructors sent me back my paper via email with highlights, notes and comments on them. Others had comments in the grade book. I think just one instructor did not do that and it was frustrating. But I was getting A+'s so perhaps she didn't feel she needed to give me feedback. Most of them gave me my grade within a week, others took two weeks.

When I attended actual classes 20 years ago, we never had to turn in papers for my larger classes. I am guessing because they would never have time to grade that many papers. We just had quizzes. I only had papers in the smaller classes.

 

[barkley]

i understand that professors have other professional obligations and committments outside the actual classes they teach, as well as personal/family lives. i don't, however, think that can be used to excuse or explain a professor failing to timely grade and return assignments that are assigned with the purpose of being a part of the learning process. it's one thing if the prof. is up front and tells you that papers won't be returned at all or may be held and returned en mass toward the course's end, it's another when the assignments are a logical progression in learning and the feedback on what you've submitted directly contributes to learning/success in the course OR a prof. has said up front that papers will be returned on a certain schedual (dh has a couple profs. like this-papers have a strict deadline b/c prof. grades/returns at following week's class in order to reveiw deficiencies he/she has detected, clarify areas...).

teaching is a very specialized career but it isn't exempt from the same expectations other careers carry-that the duties of the job are carried out professionaly, and while there are the occasional personal/family issues that might require time away from one's job it is'nt a basis for routinely not completing your duties. if it's not family or personal issues, and one's job has so many obligations that not all of them can realisticly completed in the time that's given-that's a different issue that the employee has to deal with their employer on, the 'client' they are providing goods or services for should'nt be disadvantaged (and think esp. so with college education where lack of necessary information in order to gain the knowledge from/successfully complete a course can result in issues for years to come with subsequent courses that build one on top of the other).