for more on online classes

I have way too much happening right now, but I will get to my post on online class discussions. For now, though, Sleepycat has some great observations.

inconsiderate

This is a personal vent. My husband worked two double shifts in a row, Friday and Saturday, because he only has two shift managers and they both asked off. Today he was supposed to go in at 4:00 p.m. He had to go in at 11:00 a.m. because at the time the restaurant was supposed to open, no manager was in sight. Just didn't show. I had been looking through recipes all week to put together a special meal for Father's Day, which is not so easy because my husband is picky. I cooked steak for the first time ever. I made a red wine marinade. Rebekah and I decorated cupcakes yesterday. But he missed it all. We had enough time to get up, take pictures of the girls with Daddy, and get happy about spending half a day together--we have to get excited about half a day--and then he had to leave and I'd already started cooking. Can't stop in the middle. My gift is wasted. It's in the refrigerator. It was good when I ate it alone at lunch, but day-old steak is not a special meal. And grilled potatoes that simply can't be reheated. And I ate three cupcakes. He had none. I've been depressed all day.

I'm more upset because this is not just a consequence of the job that takes too many hours. Someone did this to us. He had asked off for the weekend but in order to avoid using vacation time, opted for Friday and Saturday rather than Sunday. And then he didn't show up on Sunday and is not answering his phone or returning phone calls. Maybe something bad happened. I doubt it. It is more likely that he decided it was more important to be off work, so he just didn't go in. This happens a lot. And my husband is always the one who has to cover because he's the boss. So fire him, right? Sure, but then my husband has to work his 40 hours a week. Doesn't help the situation. It wasn't like this where we lived before. And there's only one more week left in this place, so maybe the new place will be better. My husband will be driving an hour every day until our house is ready, but he is happy to do it at this point.

Why do some people refuse to consider the consequences that their actions have for others? If this was an isolated incident, I wouldn't still be sad. But it happens all the time. And I am left alone. Today I am taking it personally.

summer class

Thanks for keeping up with me even though blogging has become sparse. Lots of life things are happening. And thank you for the great comments on my last post. I took your advice to heart while I was grading my first set of papers from the summer class.
This class is going quite well. The online discussion are great and the students are really interacting with each other. I thought that the online interaction would be better in the hybrid class last spring because they saw each other in person once a week, but actually the online interactions in this class are much better. I'm thinking about the possible reasons for that so I can keep improving my online classes. But I'll have to get to that later--baby is impatiently calling me.

love me or hate me

I got course evaluations from last semester, and there is no middle ground. They love me or hate. I got more good reviews than bad, but the bad ones were really bad. And the good ones were really good. It's weird. Several of them wrote that this was their favorite class, that they absolutely loved it, lots of exclamation points and capital letters. But one student wrote that my comments on her paper made her feel stupid and destroyed any confidence she had in writing. She (I'm guessing about who it was) suggested that I write, "This is good but you need to make improvements here," instead of just pointing out all the bad parts. Another student said he learned nothing at all and that it was three hours of tuition thrown out the window. Harsh. Some of them mentioned that they didn't realize the class would have so much online work when they registered. I have remedied that problem for summer and fall, and the online component is listed in the course schedule. (But there will be some who still don't get it.)

It's not easy trying to figure out what to do with class evaluations every semester. This one is particularly difficult because the responses are so polar. Was it really that good AND that bad? I think that I can soften up my comments on papers. Students always think I grade too hard, but my colleagues get that comment a lot, too. And many teachers inflate grades, which affects students' expectations. I am confident in my grading, but I'm going to look back on the comments I wrote on student papers and consider the tone. Maybe I'll see something in hindsight.

A few questions for the blogosphere:
Is it important to find good things to say about every student paper, even if it is seriously flawed?
How do I deal with evaluations that are so polarized?
Should I pay to check myself out on Pick-a-Prof or will that do more harm than good?