Why do you enroll someone into an online program who does not have a computer and who does not have basic computer skills beyond turning the computer on and clicking on the big blue “E” that is on the desktop?
28 replies (most recent on top)
243, even a basic skills test to determine if they need some remedial classes would have been great. Many are not advanced enough for an introductory course.
We should go back to students signing attestations of high school diplomas or GED instead of POG and we could really get some asses in class. Now that is like the good old days of admissions. No HS diploma, no problem.
CCI's business model is "asses in classes." Therefore, CCI hires enrollment reps to do just that, no matter what. Think of the slimy, pre 2007 mortgage industry...now you have an accurate picture of a CCI enrollment rep.
010, I am going to ride it out until the end as well as accept other offers. This whole situation is a joke that is not funny, but I will slightly snicker as I keep cashing my checks.
This is one of the reasons (although there are many others) that we are in the hot seat. In order for colleges to continue to receive federal funding, they are required to graduate a certain percentage of the people they enroll. Cannot graduate students when they were never real students to begin with. Admissions enrolls a lot of people that have no business in anyone's college, however, it is not their fault. They need to eat too and they are trying to keep a job.
Really 009? I start day 1 with 32 students in class, by week 12 I have at most 20 students if I am luck (usually less), and I am lucky if 10 pass. And this is with a lenient late policy that allows students to submit work all term with a very minimal deduction. Did I mention that we also have videos in the class that shows the students exactly how to complete the assignment that is due (step by step)? How do you fail a fail proof class? If is easy when you do not even have a GED. If you had difficulty passing the 5th grade how on earth can you succeed in college? If real students enroll then we all win.
009, we are bitching because the pretend students that you enroll cannot read, cannot write, cannot use a computer and cannot comprehend. We, the instructors, DO lose our jobs because we fail to retain these incompetent folks that you enroll so F off! You are not keeping us with a job. Get your damn head out of the sand!
037: it is a PERFECT analogy. Another - you can't teach a pig to sing. Waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
35010: Moot* point. And also, your experience must be an anomaly, because there are countless instructors who have had the same experience of students not having their laptops until late before this term. Students don't get their books until 4 weeks into the term either. The fact is, admissions reps dont screen students for preparedness. Students should have to sign something saying that they have constant and atrong internwt access. Many of them do not, yet are still cpressured into signing up. And it's not just in introductory courses; I have taught an upper level course for nearly five years and every term, every TIME, students are ill-prepared. I have students who are in their 3rd semester that don't know what the word "submit" or "upload" means. Each student is responsible for his/her fate, but it's disheartening as an instructor when we are forced to try to rehabilitate students that simply are not ready for college. Perhaps this is a bad analogy, but you can't polish a turd.
I taught a crime scene photography class and I had students tell me they did not know they needed a camera for the class (several would just cut and paste photos from the Internet and turn them in as their own work). As far as student retention, I just stopped Skyping and doing my Talisma entries when I was spending more time on outreach than teaching. Most would never answer their phones or just hang up when I identified myself as their instructor. I told my PD that it is my job to educate and mentor the students who want to learn, not to try to get the deadbeats who are only wanting to collect their stipend to show up for class.
009, this job ending is the best thing that ever happened to me. It sucked. I am glad it's over. You have NO idea what kind of nonsense we have to deal with, thanks to you guys.
001, I teach THE introductory class. Never had a problem with computers. Have had multiple textbook issues every term. Until this term, no computer issues. Besides, they can go to their local library or use a friends. Maybe that's what they do instead of tell me. I've never until this term, had a student complaint about computers not coming. I've had students have technical problems, but none missing. That point is mute anyway. Students who aren't going to class won't go whether I beg them or not. I've taught in many other schools and have never seen such widespread indifference to education and $30G in loans as this place. I refuse to take retention personally and buy into this nonsense. I failed more students in my first term here than in all 10
years of teaching prior. But none of it matters. I'm not waiting for the ship to sink. I've got another offer and am taking it.
They seem to have the basic skills to fill out an online application. If we do not enroll, you teachers will be out of a job sooner than December. Quit your bitching.
It starts with the fact that the market has changed. As the economy improved, there are fewer quality individuals looking to go to school. There are still (nearly) as many schools as before, competing for a shrinking pool of new students. The performance goals for admissions, however, either remained unchanged or incresed. The net is that admissions is left to enroll a higher percentage of less desireable students, creating a mess for everyone else (instructors, Career Services, etc.). I don't blame the admissions reps - I blame the executive idiots who failed to adjust to a shifting market or to implement and adhere to admissions standards. .
Face, this is the same question I keep asking when administrators send pestering emails each week about outreach and retention.
Ok then why do we enroll students who cannot read, write, and not really all there to begin with? You can tell when someone is not right in the head. It is sad to see students who you know full and well will not be able to pass the courses but for some odd reason admissions think they can just throw any person in to seats and say "Ok Instructors it’s all you to make sure they stay in the class for at least one week so I can get my numbers." What happened to testing in the beginning to make sure they are suitable for this program? That’s right, people just throw the test out the window and not pay attention to what the scores are really telling you. Remember asses in classes.
34990, you must not teach an introductory course. When you teach one of the introductory courses or first course in a student's program, it happens OFTEN. I have never taught a term or a class where there were less that 5 students that emailed me to tell me they did not yet have a computer. I get these emails from Week 1 all the way to Week 7 of the course (In EVERY class and EVERY term).
It's all about $$$&. Students get some. College gets some. Everybody's happy until they aren't. Then it's somebody else's fault. Cry me a river. I don't feel sorry for anyone.
If a student has no computer skills, then he or she should be responsible for learning them himself. Students are all adults. It's their choice to go to college or not. It's not the responsibility of the instructor to pre screen students. We have no ability or control over who we are assigned. But to try to take responsibility away from the adult student is ludicrous. It makes me mad. They aren't hapless victims of some evil plan. They want the stipend. They want money. They have to come to class in order to get it.
CCI schools are all closing. They'll be announcing teach outs soon. So what does any of this matter?
986, teachers have ZERO control over students lives or whether they have a computer. Why are teachers being blamed because students don't have computers. Instructors have control over only the class. I've never had students not have a computer in five years.
985, that's not been true. I teach online. That issue happened now that company is tanking. I've never had a student not have a laptop before this term. So you can't say that as if it's been a problem historically.
I worked for a school where admissions representatives had to adequately screen the people that they admitted to the school and if they did not appear as if they would complete the program, they were told that they were not a good fit for the school. As an admissions rep for this school I must say that we sadly have to stoop to alt time lows just to keep a job until a better job comes along.
The question should be “why aren’t admission reps held responsible for the people that they enroll/admit”? As an online instructor, I am expected to retain a person who has no computer, no computer skills and does not show up for class after getting the excess funds check. This is ludicrous.
34983 I agree. The problem is that instructors get disciplined and let go not behind bad teaching but because of retention. It is hard to retain a student who can barely get on the Internet. Never have I heard of a college (except this one) enroll a student into an online program knowing that they do not have a working computer and Internet and NEVER have I heard of an online school (except this one) who enrolls people that do not even have at minimum a GED. This is fact.
Laptops do not get shipped to students until well after class starts (generally week 6). So that's 6 weeks that the student is not doing work for a 12 week class. For the mini term the laptops do not get shipped until the end of week 3, but there are only 6 weeks of that class. Some students never receive a laptop. Enroll them with the laptop prior to class start!
Why would you sign up for online college if you don't know how to type? We are talking about adults, right? It's an adult's own responsibility to take control of his or her own life. If I choose not to stop at a stop light, I don't blame the pice for not making the yellow light too short. Grow up. I am soooo sick of adult student as the victim crap. Students take out these loans because of the stipends. They are just as greedy as CCI.
Laptops are included as part of the tuition package.