-
Russell Mickler, Principal Consultant, has over 17 years of professional experience leading and managing IT organizations.
Why I Return Papers at Zero
Written on February 1, 2007
Leave a Comment
|
This came from a question from a DeVry student, asking why her papers have been returned at zero, and whereas she explained that she’s never received anything less than an A in her program.
***
Good questions. Allow me to play devil’s advocate.
[Student], are you saying that you and others are incapable of improving your writing style, mechanics, use of citation, argument, presentation? That there’s nothing more for you to learn here? Maybe what you’re saying is that mediocrity is expected? That every instructor you visit should be exactly the same and grade to a lowest common denominator of expectation? Is mediocrity and a lack of pressure for improvement something you want out of your college program, [Student]?
[Student], I subscribe to none of these ideas.I return papers at zero because, often, I simply cannot grade them. If I cannot validate a student’s source, for example, and adequately examine how the student used that source in the context of their own discussion, I simply cannot grade it. Without intext method for citation, for example, I cannot distinguish a student’s work from their sources, and it’s just impossible to grade. That is why citation method exists.
I return papers at zero because, often, students borrow a lot of what they want to say from 3rd parties. This isn’t your fault, really – it’s our fault, as instructors, in your secondary and post-secondary education system, to spend time with you to explain the problems of authority, paraphrasing, plagiarism, and so on. This is such a huge issue in academics right now because accredation boards are literally saying to universities: you must enforce better writing and study habits to eliminate these problems of citation or we will pull your right to confer a degree. The last thing you ever want to see, [Student], is like what happened to ITT here in Oregon, or the University of Phoenix, where their accredation board yanked their right to confer degrees because their rigor to similar 4 year academic institutions was questionable. There must be equity in excellerated and regular programs; there must be equity in onground and online programs. As an instructor for both online and onground institutions for ten years, I take a vested interest in your education because it represents my future (grin). If online universities are questioned by the market because it’s _value_ as compared to an onground institution (where the standards you’re seeing in me are the norm), then I won’t be teaching much online (grin).
I return papers at zero because, often, other instructors pass by teaching opportunities to instruct better method on concepts like citation. I think you can do better. If it takes a zero to motivate you to do better, so be it. [Student], what I find is that the student will come back, ask good questions, and learn from the experience. Study habits can be improved; methods can be improved; style can be improved; argument can be improved. Those who believe they require no improvement will often not come back to me for clarification or assistance because they feel they’ve nothing else to learn, and I’m just a crackpot (grin), or, they try to report me to the authorities. In ten plus years doing this, I’ve always been celebrated in my dedication to student achievement; I’ve never, not once, been repremanded… although, I likely get some of the lowest approval scores in the surveys (grin). I guess I feel I’m not here to win a popularity contest and just let everything slide. I’m here to be your instructor and give you the best education on the subject I can. Usually my boss or advisor tend to agree with me.
[Student], I have flunked hundreds of students. I work for seven online university systems; I teach graduate and undergraduate tech curriculum for three onground public and private universities. If I did not flunk a single student, or question how a student could do better on their deliverables, then you should question the value of me as an instructor, your program, your degree, and the money you’ve spent thus far.
If you want to blow your mind, do a couple of Google searches on online education, plagiarism, and accredation bodies. Last year, CEC (Career Education Corporation) got slammed by 20/20. The last thing you ever want to see, [Student], is for 90-percent of the student body in your program to be 4.0 students – that’s not a typical scoring distribution – and colleges are being shut down. Imagine opening up the paper one morning to find that DeVry was not accredited or its accredation was suspended after it’s review. These are serious challenges for online universities, and you should really question your program and previous instructors if you’ve never – ever – scored below an A on even papers, [Student]. That’s not useful.
I hope I’ve answered your questions – please feel free to call me if I can be of further assistance.