In addition, we live in a small town so you know what that means. If I wrote in my blog that Johnny asked Tommy for a pencil, it would get around town that Johnny asked Tommy for his penis. See how just a little typo can ruin a kid's and a teacher's life?? As a rule, LB stays away from specific incidents in the classroom.
Now generalizations??? I'm all over them. Scenarios?!? Well, they are just case studies in human behavior. Hypotheticals?! Why an absolute necessity in research. Consider today's post a case study in parenting.
Meet Beulah, a beautiful, hugely successful, online teacher to some very lucky high school students in Wyoming. Over all, Beulah has been very pleased with her students. As a group they are hard-working and very conscientious. This semester's students are an especially bright group of teens with one exception. Stuart Cummings.
Stuart is enrolled in the course for the third time, and is apparently wanting to take it again in the fall. Stuart, no novice to the online classroom, was MIA for the first two weeks of the six week course. After several failed attempts at contacting him, Beulah is finally contacted by Stuart's father via email regarding Stuart's progress.
Beulah gives Stuart's dad the run down. He hasn't logged on in 13 days. He hasn't opened any of the files. He won't answer my phone calls. He won't respond to my emails. However, he still has time to finish the work. He's a great kid. I love, love, LOVE him! Positives are added to kinda soften the blow. Dad immediately forwards the report to Stuart and his mother.
Stuart tells dad that the system is incorrect. Mom agrees with Stuart. Dad forwards all the ensuing emails to Beulah who assures Dad that while a system error is unlikely, anything is possible. Dad calls Stuart and 3-ways Beulah to get to the bottom of it.
Stuart, who sounds extremely humble and quite sincere, continues to proclaim his innocence. Yes, ma'am. I've been working! I swear! Cross my heart and hope to die! Beulah lets him off the hook in front of Dad, but tells Stuart that he has to submit the work in order for it to be graded.
Fast forward two more weeks, Stuart has done three assignments. Three of three hundred. With only two more weeks remaining. Beulah and Dad are frantic. Stuart?!? Cool as a cucumber.
The system is lying on me. It must be because I'm working on a different computer. I submitted all my work. The internet ate it. I swear, I swear! Pinky promise!
Obviously out of sheer desperation, Dad continues to entertain Stuart. Beulah, being a very clever reformed underachiever herself, wants to rip Stuart's head off! Even more, Beulah wants to beat Dad over the head with a big stick in hopes that it will knock some sense into him.
Instead, Beulah asked Stuart to send the assignments as an attachment via personal email. No system needed. If you submit the work, I will give you credit manually. No biggie. As she predicted, Beulah did not receive the assignments in email.
Beulah knows Stuart cannot send work that he has not completed. She is always one step ahead of Stuart. She knows that the every student has a unique log in and can access the system from any computer that has internet access. Furthermore, the system logs the sign-on information every time a student accesses it. Additionally, Beulah can "impersonate" the student and kind of spy on him which is exactly what she did.
Beulah spied on Stuart. She logged into the system as him. Contrary to Stuart's statements regarding his steadfast work ethic, Beulah can see that Stuart hasn't even finished the first section. The only assignments completed are those which have been successfully submitted. All three of them. Fact.
This clever little system will not let Stuart even see the instructions to the next unit until he completes all the assignments in the first. Stuart cannot even see the title of the 2nd unit until he completes the first and takes the exam. It's just not possible. Unlike a text book, a student cannot navigate through the material freely.
BUSTED!
Beulah delivered this information to Dad today.
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Parents, what is the answer here? What do you think Dad should do next? What about Beulah? What about Stuart? Even if he doesn't successfully complete the course, will he become the next governor of Wyoming? President of the United States? Or just a cheap, used car salesman?
