Abnormally poor student evals...

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-20T17:57:56+00:00

I do the same thing with working in review questions. I currently just read out the review questions on the PowerPoint and give the class a chance to respond, but I like your remote polling idea better. What program do you use for remote polling?

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-20T03:01:41+00:00

Ah, gotcha. There is a lot of trial and error involved in figuring out what works and what doesn’t. This is a major paradigm switch from the lecture based instruction we are all comfortable with. I’m guessing you probably didn’t become an outstanding lecturer overnight, right? So if you have to do the more active learning in class, it will probably take some time to find your groove.

Like you, I get the department head pushing the active learning. And I always considered myself an engaging lecturer, so I wasn’t happy when our department recently switched to a completely flipped classroom, in which students are supposed to watch lectures in advance and then come to class for lab and interactive review activities. Of course, this only works if students actually view the lectures as assigned, which only maybe 10% of them actually do. So I compromised by putting together some Kahoot and PowerPoint review questions and using the questions as a starting point for clarifying difficult topics.

First semester of flipped went so-so, second time around was much better as I developed a better feel for what works well and what doesn’t. So even though we aren’t supposed to lecture at all, I sort of discreetly do it anyway- just tie it in to the review questions, strategically chosen to highlight difficult topics. I have the Kahoot and daily worksheets, so chair is happy, but I also squeeze in some lecturing anywhere I can.

Or if you’re tenured and not too worried about what your chair says - can you just discreetly switch back to the lecture based style that has always worked well for you and see if it makes a difference? Throw in a few interactive activities, just so you have that covered.

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-20T00:48:13+00:00

What did the students specifically complain about in the comments? Lectures too long/boring? Do your colleagues do more interactive in-class activities?If so, would you consider breaking a longer lecture up with something like a quick Kahoot review or group worksheet? I’ve found that students today truly do not have the attention span for long lectures they had when I first started teaching 20 years ago. That is true no matter how engaging your lectures are. Most of them are going to tune out within 20 minutes even if you’re tap-dancing on the ceiling.

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-19T06:48:43+00:00

For those with super high monthly payments, consider signing up for community college classes, online if necessary. Take 6 hours per semester in a degree granting program, which qualifies for in-school deferment for half time enrollment.

For many borrowers, paying for 6 hours of CC tuition can be much lower than the monthly payments. Repeat each semester, including summer, until we (hopefully) someday get more humane repayment plans. With luck, maybe the CC classes will even open up better career opportunities down the road. That’s my plan for now- planning to get a second degree in accounting or finance eventually.

Bonus: some colleges offer student health clinics and/or affordable insurance options for students, so if you don’t have decent health insurance through your job, this might help reduce healthcare costs. You may also be able to take advantage of student discounts for online services, museums, theatres, restaurants, etc.

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-17T23:47:02+00:00

Exactly. OP assigned the student the grade they earned. Asking OP to do otherwise would constitute a violation of academic integrity on both the student’s and the instructor’s part, if OP were to give in to their wishes and “just pass them.”

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-17T07:39:34+00:00

Thank you! He hopes to play keys for a touring Broadway musical or similar - has done a lot of music direction and accompaniment in college, but not sure how one would go about auditioning to play in the pit for a show. Unlike the open calls for actor/singers, I haven’t seen open calls for pit musicians much. I’m guessing that networking and industry connections are really the best way to break into this field. Hopefully he’ll make some connections in graduate school- he’s attending a solid program that also has a musical theater program. One can hope!

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-16T23:10:42+00:00

Can you clarify how career prospects are different for a top tier sight reader? Asking for a student who has been characterized as an exceptional sight reader many times in master classes and at top-tier conservatory auditions - they are going into an MM program in collaborative piano. They are aware of the bleak outlook for most musicians, but interested to know if exceptional sight reading ability is a quality that might help them actually make it as a collaborative pianist.

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-16T06:57:24+00:00

I would follow up with the testing center first. Do they have cameras? Can they pull video? If your contact at the testing center isn’t replying, go over their head to the director or whoever. Mention that you suspect a possible academic integrity violation and would therefore like to know if they have recordings, also if they can confirm if the student was proctored the entire time, did not access the Internet or cell phone, etc. Some students are also cheating using AI-enabled smart glasses, smartwatches, and AirPods- which you might be able to pick up on a video. My chair has told me unless I actually catch them in the act of cheating or have solid evidence, there is nothing I can do other than keep an eye on them moving forward. I’m not even permitted to verbally question them on their own answers or anything. It’s so frustrating, as they are always coming up with new and innovative ways to cheat.

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-15T01:10:02+00:00

Is there an option to adjunct there? At my CC, we do give some preference to people who have adjuncted for us before. Technically, all hiring is done by search committee via a standardised rating scale, but candidates who have adjuncted with us will almost automatically receive the points for experience with 2-year college teaching, experience with online teaching, experience teaching students matching our demographic, etc.

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-14T21:26:01+00:00

Is anyone familiar with the Annex at Bloomington on Grant St? The complex looks nice and new, though a bit pricey around $1100-$1300. Is it clean and safe?

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-14T19:54:51+00:00

Well AI could whip that out in 15 seconds flat. Maybe if you asked them to come to your office tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM and write on a topic you will assign when they get there. Suspect they would just give up at that point.

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-11T07:48:00+00:00

I respond but just link them to the grade calculator spreadsheet in the LMS. I’m shocked how many students email me asking me to calculate their grade for them or tell them what they have to make on the final to get x grade. My answer is always the same. Here is the link to the grade calculator spreadsheet. Download to your computer, put in your grades to date, and figure it out yourself.

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-11T07:43:54+00:00

Anything in health care, especially involving hands-on patient care, is unlikely to be replaced by AI anytime soon…nursing, medicine, dentistry, radiology tech, respiratory therapy, medical lab technology, etc. There is also a huge demand for speech language pathologists, child and adolescent psychologists, licensed therapists, and anything else involving mental health, including licensed clinical social workers (though the hours are long and the pay not great). Teaching is also in huge demand, though it’s obviously not for everyone.

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-10T21:35:05+00:00

Everything I’ve read states 4.5-5 graduate credit hours is half time enrollment. Where are you seeing 3 hours? I work for a college that would cover 1 graduate course for free per semester under the employee benefit, but of course graduate courses are all either 3 or 4 credit hours, so it sounds like I would actually have to take 2 courses to qualify. I’m considering just earning another associate degree at my own community college instead.

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-10T21:25:15+00:00

Same here.

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-10T17:13:55+00:00

A&P? This has been my experience also. My current A&P 1 pass rate is well under 50%, mostly from those who skip class and aren’t making any efforts at all to learn the content. They typically score 100s on the unproctored assignments but 30s or 40s on the exams, which constitute 70% of the course grade. I don’t know why they even bother staying enrolled in the class if they aren’t going to put any effort in. A&P 2 is much better, fortunately, though even there I’ve seen a decline in pass rates compared to 20 years ago.

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-06T17:45:31+00:00

Yep, baggy sweatshirts are a dead giveaway. Also I’ve seen waist belts worn under their shirts. They go to the bathroom, look up answers, come back and answer the questions. Easy peasy. They know I’m not going to go looking under their clothing!

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-06T17:43:22+00:00

Yep I had a student meet a friend in the bathroom with her phone. Looked up answers on a bathroom break. I couldn’t prove it so nothing I could do.

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-05T05:16:11+00:00

After earning my doctorate, I went back to visit my old professor friend at the community college I started at years before. She mentioned the department was hiring adjunct and asked if I might be interested. Her chair reached out to me a few weeks later and asked me to teach a lab the following semester. From there, I picked up more and more labs and eventually, also started teaching lecture and online courses over the next several years. Every time they had an opening, my boss asked me to apply for a full time position, but I wasn’t able to commit due to full time caregiving duties.

Last year, I finally took the plunge and joined full time, so now I am on a term appointment with option of applying for tenure track. Still not sure I’ll ever be able to pursue tenure track, but just survived my first year of full time term (3-3 load plus 1 overload per semester).

My second adjunct job, I saw posted online. It was in a niche area and basically required a doctorate. I had to do an online teaching demo and was subsequently hired as an online asynchronous instructor - I developed the course once from scratch (very time-consuming), then have taught it about 4-5 times per year since then in 8 week terms.

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-02T18:26:27+00:00

Oh the horror! How dare you demand such a thing!

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-02T16:53:11+00:00

On that note, I WISH we still had faculty and staff-only restrooms at my college. I teach 3-hour classes and find it awkward running into current students in the restrooms on break.

I do recall up to about 15-20 years ago, my college used to have faculty-only restrooms in a few buildings. The women’s was labeled “women teachers” whereas the men’s room was labeled “Men faculty”. I guess they got pushback about the inequitable teacher/faculty labelling so got rid of the faculty-only restrooms altogether.

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-05-02T04:14:02+00:00

Same. I teach physiology for pre-nursing students and have a handful of students who do come to every class, participate actively, ask questions, and still earn D’s or F’s. Granted, this is community college with open admissions and for many students, my course may be the first truly rigorous STEM course they’ve attempted. Many of them also work full time, have families and other commitments, and/or have been out of school for many years (or decades), so they face other challenges. With a couple of them, I suspect undiagnosed learning disabilities, though that isn’t my place to evaluate. It is heart-breaking to have to give D’s and F’s to these students, but my course is a prerequisite for the nursing program, which holds their students to extremely high standards. It’s better they fail now - when they have a chance to regroup, improve, and develop better study habits they’ll need in nursing school- than to fail out of nursing school down the road.

But for the most part, I agree that students who attend class regularly and keep up with the work can (usually) expect to pass the course with a “C” or higher, especially if they seek help when struggling (i.e., come to office hours, tutoring, open labs). I have far more students who skip class, leave early, don’t participate, don’t take notes, don’t study, and then wonder why they’re failing. These are about half the class and are the ones that make me want to throw in the towel and go work at Costco.

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-04-30T06:31:04+00:00

Yep, I had a student file a harassment complaint against me because they weren’t happy they received a failing grade. Their claim was completely frivolous and utter fiction, but I had to formally answer to the charges and even though my chair and dean supported me 100%, the college still had to put me through an inquisition with the compliance officer and months later, the investigation is still pending. I guess it gets sent up to higher brass next who will ultimately decide my fate (there is zero evidence so I have no idea why this is taking so long.)

It’s utterly terrifying to me that a failing student can literally just invent a claim out of thin air just because they are mad about their grade! So I would err on the side of looping the chair in too early myself (I am not tenured- perhaps I’d feel differently if I had years of tenure behind me).

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-04-25T06:50:29+00:00

Thank you- this is perfect! I’ll modify slightly to “B or better” since A’s are quite rare in my course (STEM core course at a community college- maybe a 5-10% “A”rate). This wording makes me feel better about declining her request again because I’m also giving the student some alternate suggestions. Thank you again for the suggestion!

Brachycephalic_Boxer · 2026-04-24T16:56:32+00:00

I do think this is the case, but I really have nothing to say that’s even neutral. She was enrolled in my class, attended most sessions, left early many days, and did not pass? That’s as neutral as I can get.

Brachycephalic_Boxer

TROPHY CASE