I have three kids of my own in college right now and the issue of how distracted students are by technology has been a common topic around our house since the advent of social media (IM, texting, Facebook, etc.). In particular, my oldest daughter seemed to be on FB or texting every minute and always procrastinated getting her school work done. Unlike the parents described in the article, we never let her skip school work or even miss due dates, which led to more than a few disagreements and nights where she had to stay up until the wee hours of the morning. It seems to have paid off because she got straight A’s in high school, earned an academic scholarship to college, and is scheduled to graduate on time (Yea!!) this spring with her bachelors and masters degrees earned concurrently. The moral of the story is that even severely social media-addicted teens can do well in school if they put in the effort and parents stay involved to make sure they keep up with their school work.
I haven’t used an FAQ because I’ve been teaching f2f classes but I’m thinking I’ll add one even to those classes. I use my syllabus to try to address everything that I think will come up but some students don’t read it, or reread it, so the questions that seem to come up during the semester, which I’ll be adding to my FAQ, include:
Q. My student aid/loan didn’t come in yet; when do I have to buy the book?
A. Students need to complete the readings and assignments from the book starting the very first week. There is a copy of the textbook on reserve in the library for those who haven’t purchased their own copy yet but it’s best to buy your own as soon as possible. If you don’t have the book yet, the publisher also has a free two-week trial period for the e-book and sign up information is under “Getting Started” on Blackboard.
Q. I have an older edition of the textbook. May I use that instead of buying the new edition? Money’s really tight.
A. If you already have the previous edition, you don’t have to buy a new hard copy but you will still have to purchase access to the publisher’s online suite of tools, which is used for completing homework assignments online.
Q. I didn’t get my homework turned in online because (insert excuse here). May I turn it in late and still get credit?
A. Homework may be turned in late for partial credit, with a point reduction of 10% for every day late. It’s important to complete all the assignments in order to understand the course material and do well on the exams. The homework also counts 15% of your course grade so it’s important to submit the homework on time to get maximum points and earn the best grade you can. I drop the lowest homework score so missing just one shouldn’t hurt your homework grade.
Q. The website doesn’t show that I completed the assignment. Why?
A. Your assignment isn’t graded until you click “Submit.” If you submitted it on time and it still doesn’t appear, please let me know and I’ll see if I can see it. If not, you may need to contact the publisher’s help desk, which you can do online or via telephone (see syllabus for contact info).
Q. Is there anything I can do for extra credit?
A. I usually don’t offer extra credit, but if I do it will be near the end of the semester and I will offer it to the entire class.
