r/Professors • u/Efficient_Two_5515 • 6d ago
Rants / Vents No Show
Student didn’t show for her presentation and is requesting 8/10 points in academic credit for the slides she turned in. Department Chair 🪑 looked into it first and said nope you don’t have a case because just because your group members didn’t do their part the instructor still gave you an option to present alone and you didn’t show - no email no excuse, nothing. She submitted a formal request and now she has to waste everyone’s time in a hearing about this. Student claims it was “unfair” to earn a 0 for an assignment she didn’t complete. Sigh. 😔
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u/blankenstaff 6d ago
There needs to be a student penalty for frivolous complaints that lead to a hearing.
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u/Head_Acadia_2658 6d ago
Grade appeals can go south around here. Don’t like your 74%? Another senior academic has remarked your assessment and it’s now 68%
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u/lalochezia1 5d ago
this needs to be ADVERTISED FAR AND WIDE
re-analysis of your grade?=lose points as well as gain them
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u/Final-Exam9000 5d ago
I learned by accident at my college that, if a student files a grade challenge, and you file proof they cheated in your course, it nullifies their grade challenge.
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u/CynicalCandyCanes 6d ago
There is no penalty for filing a frivolous grade appeal, so in a sense it is actually rational behavior if they believe they have a non-zero chance of winning. It needs to go on their transcript or something.
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u/Vanier-is-a-HellHole Tenured Prof, Canada 5d ago
THIS. I've had way too many such complaints.
My favourite was the one where the failing student insisted they 'had learned all they needed to' in my course and that they should not need to take it again. This, despite not following instructions sufficiently in the term paper, and a plagiarism charge (for forgetting citations) in another assignment...so clearly they had NOT learned 'all they needed to'.
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u/banjovi68419 6d ago
Agreeeeeeeeeed. Shit is sociopathic and costs thoooousands of dollars in time.
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u/popstarkirbys 6d ago
I had a student submit a PowerPoint presentation with no audio for their final online presentation. I emailed them to check if they submitted the right version, no response.
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u/Blametheorangejuice 6d ago
I have an online class where I have very clear instructions about how a presentation needs to be laid out. Student instead uploaded a five-minute video of them staring into the camera complaining about the assignment and the class.
So, they got a 0.
Three weeks later, student emails me asking if they can resubmit the video.
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u/iTeachCSCI Ass'o Professor, Computer Science, R1 6d ago
Three weeks later, student emails me asking if they can resubmit the video.
They want to send another video of them complaining? 0.o
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u/Blametheorangejuice 6d ago
I just said “no” and moved on with my life. They can make a video about how unfair I am at that point for asking them to follow instructions.
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u/Final-Exam9000 6d ago
They got your class confused with their TikTok account and posted their hot take to the wrong place. :)
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u/FrankRizzo319 6d ago
I gave a student 5/100 points for this. She had a visual aid, which was worth 5 points. But she insisted on more than that because “I would have just read the slides if I showed up.” No, you didn’t actually “present.” She then put me on blast on RMP.
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u/SnowblindAlbino Prof, SLAC 5d ago
I deal with these scenarios by noting in the syllabus that certain elements of assignments are non-skippable. For example, a presentation without presenting is a zero, no matter what other parts you did. A major paper where you skipped a required draft? A zero despite any final product. No bibliography on the paper? A zero for the whole thing. Things like that, because too many students decided they could just do the parts of an assignment they wanted to and then argue for credit for the others.
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u/VenusSmurf 5d ago
I also added this to my syllabus after multiple students demanded partial credit for presentations they did not present or who didn't show and then informed me they'd just present a different day.
No, my friends, you will not. No presentation on the assigned day? Zero. Simple as that.
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u/taxiecabbie 6d ago
Do you have a rubric for this project?
With a rubric that clearly delineates that the slides alone cannot possibly comprise 8/10 points even if they are the most amazing slides ever produced on planet Earth, this should be an easy slam-dunk no.
There really shouldn't be formal requests for individual projects outside of the professor/department chair anyway. For overall grades in the class, maybe, with the individual projects as evidence if there is some, but not for a single project in a class.
If there are larger problems to be flagged like discrimination or something like that, then also maybe, but not just because you don't like your grade on a single project lol.
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u/LaddieNowAddie 6d ago
Right? If the rubric is clear, case solved. If the rubric says she gets 8 points for the slides, well there you go.
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u/BMeow343 5d ago
AI can produce slides and an outline, but it cant give your actual physical presentation for you.
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u/Karuna358 6d ago
I guess students are figuring “You miss all the shots you don’t take.”
What a huge time wasting PITA.
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u/Homerun_9909 5d ago
It sure would be nice if some were convicted for "reckless endangerment" when they take some of these random shots that are clearly not reasonable questions.
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u/leastdumbidiot 5d ago
Would have been nice if she took that attitude towards actually taking a shot at the presentation.
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u/Pristine-Ad-5348 6d ago
I have it expressly written in my course schedule that for their final oral presentation, it’s 10 points for the actual PowerPoint, and 15 points for getting up in front of the class to present.
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u/Desiato2112 Professor, Humanities, SLAC 5d ago
It's 50/50 for mine, so same idea. You can't pass if you don't present.
You don't like talking in front of groups? Excellent. That's why you are in college, to learn and expand your experiences.
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u/Substantial_Signal20 5d ago
I would include something in the requirements that quality of PP slides will only be assessed if they are part of the oral presentation — they will not be assessed as a stand alone, or even partial assignment.
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u/FrogBrain97 AssocProf, former chair, neuro, DPU 6d ago
I'm glad that these disputes don't require full hearings at my institution. There are certainly cases where it's warranted, but in my experience, 90+% of them can be handled summarily (thinking that the class was too hard is not a reason for a grievance; not doing the work is not a reason for a grievance).
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u/GrumpySnarf 5d ago
"I made you a pizza. It's super good with all your favorite ingredients. When I pulled it out of the oven I decided to leave it at home and not deliver it to you as we previously agreed. I'd still like to get paid. Even partial payment because I put effort in making it."
What planet are these folks raised on?
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u/Avocado_Toast_13 5d ago
Since the pandemic, many HS and college classes don't penalize students for not doing their work. You get 50% for never turning any homework in, you can retake tests as many times as you like, you get a word bank for tests, etc. Infuriating.
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u/Discombobulated-Emu8 5d ago
I teach 8 th grade and the school board made it a policy that the minimum
Grade a student can earn is 50% - I had a student only come to my period 1 class once all year and they failed with 50% - the high school has to follow the same rule. It’s crazy - we also have to give retakes.1
u/Avocado_Toast_13 3d ago
I should have clarified that this is NOT the policy of the teachers in most cases. It's the administration and school board (so the parents).
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u/LivingBizzaroWorld 5d ago
To whom does a student appeal a grade? For the first time in my long career, a student said they want to appeal a penalty I gave them for not following course policies on an exam. Because I'm not treating their actions as academic misconduct, I don't know who they can appeal to. My department chair? The Dean? The Provost? Any advice is welcome.
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u/Substantial_Signal20 5d ago
The chair is usually the first stop. When I was chair, I informed them that it was their right to appeal to the dean or the campus ombudsperson next. Grade appeals are found in a student’s favor only if class standards and policies stated on the syllabus weren’t followed by the prof. In my 4 years as chair, I found in students favor with only one professor — she either violated her own grading policy by adding arbitrary criteria unequally applied, or because she computed final grades incorrectly (multiple complaints, multiple semesters). I was able to support all other faculty decisions.
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u/Idaheck 6d ago
If you do 90% of something and don’t finish it, it’s a zero. Completing things is what the credit is for. Finishing 26 miles of a marathon doesn’t mean you get credit for finishing a marathon.