A reader who teaches online classes left a comment that I now cannot find (I tried!), asking if I could share exactly what has been so frustrating for me at my BSN school. She’s wanting to know so that she can give her students a less aggravating experience.
So, for her and for anyone else interested, here is what is making me want to tear my hair out.
(This is going to be an uncharacteristically rant-y post, so stop now if that’s not your thing.)
There are always errors in the syllabus/learning management system/course materials
Every freaking class I have taken at this school has had multiple typos or just plain wrong information.
For instance, in one spot it might say that the assignment requires two cited resources, and then elsewhere it says you need five.
Due dates are left from other semesters (a December due date in a summer class, for example).
The submission instructions will say to submit a draft, but in another spot in Blackboard, it says you are just supposed to submit a final paper, not a draft.
This drives me crazy. I want to follow the instructions, but when the instructions are all over the place and they contradict each other, I don’t even know what I am supposed to be doing. I have wasted so much time searching for information and emailing professors to try to get answers.
Also, if students are expected to submit error-free work, the professors should deliver an error-free course.
Course materials are hopelessly out of date
One of my classes had a link (broken, of course) that said it had been added in 2007. My friends, that is 19 years ago. College materials should be updated MORE OFTEN THAN EVERY NINETEEN YEARS.
As a reminder, here is what Zoe looked like in 2007. That was a long time ago. 😉
Very often, the syllabi I get are five to ten years old. Really? You had nothing new to add in a decade?
One class had us design a group project using a Microsoft product called Sway that has a one-star rating, and that basically nobody uses (as far as I can tell from my searches on the topic). It’s a terrible, clunky, non-user-friendly product, and I have no idea why in the world a college would use that instead of PowerPoint.
Course instructors seem never to have looked at their online course
For instance, in each class, there is a Q&A board where we are supposed to leave course questions, and the professor is supposed to reply within 24 houors.
In my first several classes, I tried that, and it was just crickets. So then I learned to email the professor at the start of the course to ask if they use the Q&A board. One time I did that, and the professor said, “There is no Q&A board.”
So I sent her a screenshot because there most certainly was a Q&A board. Sigh.
I’m not a college professor, but I know there’s a way to look at a student view of Blackboard, and I wish my professors would do that.
Some professors grade slowly in accelerated classes
In a semester-long class, I understand that speedy grading is not such a high priority.
But in an eight-week class, it is! How can I incorporate feedback when grading is a week or two behind?
And when there’s a project that is due in parts (outline, then draft), the delay in grading is even worse. How can you write a draft if the professor hasn’t even approved your outline?
Links for purchases are wrong
This is a school issue, not a professor issue, but I accidentally bought the wrong book for my last class because no one had added the right link.
And when I bought my background check, there was an old link for 2023/2024 (not labeled as such; it just said “Fall”), so I paid $120 to get into the wrong background check cohort and now my dates are all wrong.
Whyyyy is that link even there? It seems like they should be updated every single year.
Almost no one seems to be trying to stop AI use
I saw rampant AI use in the discussion boards at this school, and with the exception of one professor, no one seemed to be trying to stop it. In fact, I am 99% sure one of my professors was using AI to respond to our discussion posts.
When I have to read AI slop discussion posts and then produce some sort of response, I want to bang my head against a wall. And the same goes for the bland AI responses people leave on my posts. There’s a pile of words there, but they are basically meaningless, and I’m supposed to produce a sensible response.
It also makes me feel frustrated at the injustice; it is unfair that people who use AI are getting through the classes just as well as those of us who do not use AI.
Feedback is generic
As I mentioned, one professor seemed to be using AI to give responses to our work. Either that, or she is extremely bland, and I don’t think that’s it, because she sounds way different in her emails.
In another class, the professor was leaving exactly the same feedback on everyone’s work, and I know this because I talked to other classmates. The corrections she was telling me to make made absolutely no sense; it was like she was giving generic corrections and they quite obviously did not apply to my work. I emailed to ask for clarification on this, and she didn’t get back to me until after the due date, at which point I had just submitted my paper as-is.
I work hard on my submissions, and it is frustrating to realize the professor has possibly not even taken the time to read what I wrote. It is also very frustrating to get no email response until after a due date, especially when I am always working ahead. It’s not like I’m ever emailing last-minute.
I AM trying to give feedback
I have filled out student feedback forms in every single class, delineating my concerns. And of course, the professors themselves have heard from me plenty of times because I have needed clarification plenty of times. So, I’m doing my best to make my voice heard.
Still, this seems to be an institutional problem, and I’m not sure my feedback is going to change anything. But at least I tried, and at least I am almost done.
I will never, ever, ever take another class at this school, and I have advised other nurses on my floor against it. I’ve also let the continuing education director at my hospital know about my experience so that she can help other students avoid taking this path. This whole process has been unecessarily difficult, and I don’t wish it on anyone else!
Annnnnd that’s the end of my ranting. If you made it this far, well, now you know why my BSN attitude is terrible. 😉
Source: www.thefrugalgirl.com…