Timeline for How to reply to students' emails that show anger about their mark?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 15, 2023 at 11:32 | comment | added | coffee_into_plots | I would add a final point: look up whoever is responsible for resolving an escalated staff/student disputes and, if a student email crosses the threshold from "angry" to "threatening and/or abusive" language, write a brief factual response about the grade and cc the relevant person or office when sending it. You should not need to fear your students. | |
| Jan 27, 2021 at 18:25 | comment | added | SnakeDoc | @BobBrown Challenge Accepted. | |
| Jan 27, 2021 at 13:54 | comment | added | xLeitix | @Lewian Yes and no. I also am certainly not fishing for additional complaints, but if a student is abstractly expressing dissatisfaction with their grade asking what exactly they are dissatisfied with actually speeds up the process. | |
| Jan 27, 2021 at 11:19 | comment | added | Christian Hennig | I generally agree with this answer, except point 4. I'd advise to avoid asking questions to the students in responses; I'd state my reasons and then implicitly communicate that the matter is closed for me. I'd never encourage them to keep on discussing. (Of course some will do that anyway, but...) | |
| Jan 25, 2021 at 14:13 | comment | added | Bob Brown | @EdwardOn the first day of the semester my students had the formula by which their final grade would be calculated. They had graded work, except the final exam, returned. The course management system kept all grades, including the final exam. So, the student could absolutely know whether one point would make a difference, and if a student with a grade of C were one point away from a B on a potentially arguable question, I'd give the student the point. | |
| Jan 25, 2021 at 9:01 | comment | added | ObscureOwl | This is good advice, but I think one key piece is missing: having a good grading framework. A good framework allows you to stick to the facts and stay objective as they advised, because there actually are facts to stick to. You can just point out "you got question X wrong, costing you Y points." | |
| Jan 25, 2021 at 7:15 | comment | added | xLeitix | @OwenReynolds I used to do this as well, but after getting sucked multiple times into heated nonsense debates that didn't actually move the discussion forward in any way I decided that it's better to force a more deliberate pace on these debates. And, frankly, having to mull for a few hours over whether their explanation mark riddled email was indeed a great idea can be a healthy educational experience for some students. | |
| Jan 25, 2021 at 7:00 | comment | added | xLeitix | @BCLC at least in Sweden there would be no legal basis for this. Also, it would arguably make these discussions even worse, since then a subjective "I felt like I did better than a 3" would be all that students could go by. | |
| Jan 25, 2021 at 6:08 | comment | added | BCLC | is it possible that 1st world universities don't have like a particular procedure in the 1st place? well my 3rd world university did and does, but apparently some 1st world universities don't even let students see how their papers were graded why don't we just not let students see how their papers were graded... academia.stackexchange.com/questions/144597/… | |
| Jan 25, 2021 at 6:06 | comment | added | BCLC | why don't we just not let students see how their papers were graded? academia.stackexchange.com/questions/144597/… | |
| Jan 24, 2021 at 23:27 | comment | added | Owen Reynolds | About speed, I answer these quickly since 1) otherwise I'll forget, and 2) I don't want the student to worry "ohmygod -- I can't believe I sent an obscentity-ridden tirade. I'm so screwed". A short "here are your scores" also says that I understand and am not angry. | |
| Jan 24, 2021 at 23:11 | comment | added | user3482749 | @Edward That seems to be an issue with your university, not a general one. Our students receive precise percentage and raw marks, so can tell precisely how many extra marks would make a difference to their grade. | |
| Jan 24, 2021 at 22:42 | comment | added | Edward | @BobBrown Sure, but recognize it might just be a nice way of saying "I'm still marking this wrong." There's no way for me to know if it could have made a difference. I had a professor tell me this after agreeing my answer was right, just so he didn't have to go correct the grade! Could it have made a difference? I don't know. The only info I got at the semester end was "B". | |
| Jan 24, 2021 at 20:33 | comment | added | Kimball | Also, when it seemed like it might be a problem, I have implemented a regrade request limit, e.g., 2 requests per student per term. | |
| Jan 24, 2021 at 17:47 | comment | added | Bob Brown | In some cases I have replied like this: "If, at the end of the semester, you believe one additional point on this exam will change your semester grade, please let me know and I'll look at it again." No student has ever taken me up on that. | |
| Jan 24, 2021 at 12:44 | vote | accept | Anonymous | ||
| Jan 24, 2021 at 12:38 | history | answered | xLeitix | CC BY-SA 4.0 |