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If this thread is legit, which I am not sure of, it is strong evidence why a tenure system is needed in higher education to maintain standards. If I had a problem with tardiness and instituted a policy to curb it and the administration didn't like it, I would tell them to pound sand, provided I was not in violation of a university policy.
The administration wants to make money, and they often don't look beyond the next budget year. Principles of shared governance give checks and balances that are better for the long term interests of the students and the institution.
I sometimes wonder if an OP's question is legit but it didn't cross my mind on this one. I pictured an idealistic new part-time evening adjunct Instructor at a local Community College in Business Management who felt her students were not meeting her expectations. I didn't find the scenario hard to believe at all. I think, however, that she is picking the wrong battle to fight.
I'm assuming you are a chemistry professor at a university and I'm curious how you deal with late students.
My experience is what instructors put in there syllabus and what they enforce are usually different. My experience over 40 years and three degrees is I can only think of one instructor who actually got irritated with students arriving late. I've seen more irritation with electronic devices. One instructor took a student's cell phone until the end of class and another would insist that students put laptops/tablets away during class.
I'm assuming you are a chemistry professor at a university and I'm curious how you deal with late students.
Most of my students are pre-professional health oriented majors, and they rarely show up late for class. When they do, I know there is a very good reason and that it is probably something beyond their control. The disruption is minimal, and I generally even help them make up missed material in my office hours after class.
The only time I had trouble with tardiness it was when I taught a non-majors 'Chemistry in Society' type course in the summer at 8:00 AM. I didn't have a big problem with late students briefly interrupting my lectures, but when we started doing student presentations I made a rule that they could not enter while someone else was presenting, and the content of the student presentations was on the test. The rationale for this was that I get paid to teach and to deal with a 5 second interruption, but since the students were being graded on their presentation, anything that breaks their concentration is a big problem.
After a number of students made a serious stink about me locking the door and not letting any one in after 10 minutes after the start time I have got nothing but push back from the administration. They say the students are our consumers/customers and they can come in to class any time they want. So if I want to continue working there, I have to surrender! The late comers and the lazy students who don't care, win.
Most of my students are pre-professional health oriented majors, and they rarely show up late for class. When they do, I know there is a very good reason and that it is probably something beyond their control. The disruption is minimal, and I generally even help them make up missed material in my office hours after class.
The only time I had trouble with tardiness it was when I taught a non-majors 'Chemistry in Society' type course in the summer at 8:00 AM. I didn't have a big problem with late students briefly interrupting my lectures, but when we started doing student presentations I made a rule that they could not enter while someone else was presenting, and the content of the student presentations was on the test. The rationale for this was that I get paid to teach and to deal with a 5 second interruption, but since the students were being graded on their presentation, anything that breaks their concentration is a big problem.
This was similar to Pecha-Kucha during my International Management class.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HumanNature
After a number of students made a serious stink about me locking the door and not letting any one in after 10 minutes after the start time I have got nothing but push back from the administration. They say the students are our consumers/customers and they can come in to class any time they want. So if I want to continue working there, I have to surrender! The late comers and the lazy students who don't care, win.
If you think you are right (which you are to an extent) I would not surrender. Personally, the students are customers but like at a restaurant, one customer being disruptive can cause issues to others. I suggest finding a school that has the same view. It isn't hard to find that.
After a number of students made a serious stink about me locking the door and not letting any one in after 10 minutes after the start time I have got nothing but push back from the administration. They say the students are our consumers/customers and they can come in to class any time they want. So if I want to continue working there, I have to surrender! The late comers and the lazy students who don't care, win.
I don't know how every institution is organized, but at every place I have ever seen there is no expectation that a faculty member, particularly a part time faculty member, would have to butt heads with the administrators. That is what your department head is for. Does your dean micromanage individual classrooms? I don't know how a college that operates the way you describe it could obtain accreditation. The only problem that I could imagine is if you are in some way infringing on students with disabilities, in which case I think that they would be forced to very clearly articulate the policy, the rationale, and the authority by which they are infringing on your teaching freedom.
After a number of students made a serious stink about me locking the door and not letting any one in after 10 minutes after the start time I have got nothing but push back from the administration. They say the students are our consumers/customers and they can come in to class any time they want. So if I want to continue working there, I have to surrender! The late comers and the lazy students who don't care, win.
What about the other suggestions given in this thread, such as giving some sort of quiz in the first part of each class?
Then again you might not be able to do that if it is not in the original syllabus but I imagine there is no reason why you couldn't, as also suggested, give extra credit points through quiz type questions, available only in the first 10 minutes of class?
Put a couple of extra credit questions up on the board with instructions to students to write down the answers and turn them in immediately and erase the questions after X minutes. If someone isn't there in time to answer, oh well. Everyone else gets bonus points on their final grade or added to a test.
This way you aren't taking something away from the latecomers, but offering incentive to those who are there on time.
I had a professor do something similar though his extra credit opportunities were sometimes offered in the beginning of class, sometimes in the middle, and sometimes in the end, to discourage leaving early or spending half of class out in the hall on the phone. He would call your name and assign you an extra credit question, then you had so many days to answer it and post the answer online on a discussion board. Someone who attended every day and was on time and didn't leave early could potentially rack up some serious points to be used on the next test, enough to bring it up a letter grade or more!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chemistry_Guy
I don't know how every institution is organized, but at every place I have ever seen there is no expectation that a faculty member, particularly a part time faculty member, would have to butt heads with the administrators. That is what your department head is for. Does your dean micromanage individual classrooms? I don't know how a college that operates the way you describe it could obtain accreditation. The only problem that I could imagine is if you are in some way infringing on students with disabilities, in which case I think that they would be forced to very clearly articulate the policy, the rationale, and the authority by which they are infringing on your teaching freedom.
Yes, like I mentioned before, I had a professor last semester that locked that door every single day at 3:35. Class was at 3:30. He started the day's quiz at 3:35 and all total the quizzes made up 20% of the grade. I never got locked out and I was usually early but one day I barely made it -- there were three sets of double doors on each side of the room (big lecture hall) and I squeezed in as the TA was locking the next to the last set! Whew!
They say the students are our consumers/customers and they can come in to class any time they want.
The Administration is correct. It IS a for-profit business that serves the economic and financial interest of the college's stakeholders--upper administrators and anyone else who has a well-paid, cushy job. Today, higher education is no longer about education.
All that really matters is that the tuition dollars and state/federal aid keep pouring in. Whether or not society has a real economic need for more college graduates and whether or not we are educating people for non-existent job positions is of no concern to the stakeholders.
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