The Boston Marathon bombing caught Northeastern students in the middle of finals (this was the day the city was in lock down ). The university managed to reschedule all of the finals which were supposed to happen that day to be fitted in on other days -without extending the finals period (don’t want to mess with student travel plans)
My daughter had a presentation scheduled for the day after the bombing -the teacher cancelled class that day (teacher had a friend who had been injured) and rescheduled the speech for the Friday - then Friday the city was in lockdown. The teacher offered to try and fit in another day (would let her presnt to just the teacher since there was no class) or just let the grade stand as it was - my daughter chose to keep the grade she already had (not sure what the other kids who had been bumped chose to do).
This is an unfortunate situation and I feel for the students, but one thing I really don’t agree with is the idea that every student gets a 100 on the exam. That is a terrible idea as a) it devalues the work some students have put into studying and b) does not reflect any useful indication of whether the students have mastered the material. The “give them all an A” response smacks of a consumerist attitude toward education.
Professors do get sick, etc. during finals but usually a colleague can administer the exam.
I am a professor who still had bad dreams about missing a class; being late; a switched room; etc. I had a dream this summer in which I fell asleep during a break in the middle of a 3 hour class and the students had to come and wake me up:)
Not a professor but every once in awhile I have the dream where I can’t find room final is in, show up late or I have to take a final for a class I never went to, etc. Very anxiety producing!
U of Colorado is closed today because of snow. Online finals go on as scheduled, the rest will need to be rescheduled. If a university can do it for the entire campus, one prof can do it for one class
I still have that dream occasionally. I think it’s an interesting one, because has that ever actually happened to anybody anywhere? Why aren’t we just dreaming that we showed up for the test on the wrong day?
When I was in elementary school, we were required to wear dresses/skirts/jumpers. I wore jumpers frequently and my mother would buy me blouse-slips to wear underneath. Only a few of you will know what that is. I used to dream that I got to school and took my coat off only to discover that I was only wearing my blouse-slilp and had forgotten my jumper. My elementary school mind had that as being equivalent to being naked in a stadium at this point in my life - high anxiety!!
Before I started teaching, my anxiety dream was that my university called and said they were revoking my degree because I dropped an (unnecessary for graduation) English lit class during my last semester. I always woke up while arguing with them that it was okay to have dropped the class. But life changes and now it is the fear of forgetting to go to class, particularly on a test day! I wonder what my retirement anxiety dream will be
I don’t think I’ve ever had those types of dreams (but I don’t tend to dream anyway…) but I asked Mr R and he had a recurring dream that he was enrolled in a math class and didn’t know it until the last week of class.
@twoinanddone
CU is closed today due to a foot of snow, but here is what they’ve told students (it is finals week):
The CU-Boulder campus is closed today, Dec. 15. The campus is closed to non-essential personnel.
All on-campus finals on Tuesday, Dec. 15 have been cancelled.
For those students whose finals were cancelled, grades can be based on work-to-date in the course. Faculty may also develop online exams, take-home exams or other take-home assignments to be completed this semester. Faculty are urged to use these other alternatives where possible to replace canceled exams, however, a make-up in-person exam is not an option for an exam canceled today.
Online exams and assignments will proceed as planned. Other non-digital coursework, papers and projects assigned to be completed during finals and that can be completed should be submitted once campus is open.
Final exams are expected to happen as scheduled on Wednesday, Dec. 16. All campus efforts are directed towards a normal schedule on Wednesday, and all affected parties (students, staff and faculty) should plan for possible extended commute times and winter weather driving. A decision on the status of campus will be announced by 5:30 a.m.
I don’t think a professor can make an “honest mistake” like this at my university. Possibly, of course, he could have an illness or other emergency. But a mistake? Usually the scheduled time of final exams is posted online, at the beginning of the semester, for every class. It’s usually in the course syllabus, along with the times of other scheduled exams. If this was an adjunct, then this was likely his last appointment at that university.
