I have long lamented that literally every accommodation letter I receive includes time and a half (if not double time) on exams. I have found that in addition to that, all of my new accommodations include the ability to record lectures. It says in the plan that students are required to notify me when they are recording. Not a single student has ever told me they would be recording on any given day, yet they all have a full catalog of classroom recordings from my lectures. I am frustrated that the accommodations office is again using the path of least resistance one size fits all model of giving everybody the same thing, but I am also bothered by the fact that the students don't even keep up their end of the plan by disclosing their recordings. What does our disabilities coordinator even do? It must be nice to collect a paycheck and not not have to work to individualize anything. I find it fascinating that all disabilities under the sun are remedied with the same accommodations. I've even had a deaf student who was given time and a half for written exams.

About 1/3 of my students come to my early morning class regularly. We've got an in-class exam coming up. How problematic would it be if I only verbally reminded students of the exam? It was previously announced and clearly shown on the schedule. Of course this is to make a point, and could backfire WRT having to deal with a slew of doctor's notes and other such headaches.

Hey!

What are y'all's thoughts on ending class early?

I did so on Monday as I ran out of information. I feel like I am adding too much to my lectures on the designated lecture day, but I trimmed too much.

And then today I ended early (~10 minutes) because of a similar fashion and some videos I was going to show on YouTube stopped working.

I feel a little guilty, but I have gone over a bit lately...

Received an email from a student who said she sent me a previous email but I "didn't respond." Instead, I "answered all her questions in an announcement to the class, which was emailed too." She has now decided that my course "is not a good fit and she will drop it." She was passing, incidentally, but I guess that wasn't good enough.

I also had words with an advisee who expressed outrage that his professors were responding to his calls with texts, emails or class announcements. HE expected phone calls because HE made phone calls and liked using the telephone. I clarified that it wasn't that his professors weren't responding at all as he insisted. It was that they weren't responding in the way HE wanted.

I suppose that instead of being considered a customer service representative, we are now supposed to be personal concierges or like those celebrity personal assistants. What next? Am I going to be expected to carry their luggage?

Hey Fam,

I was just informed by one of my students that our next class midterm exam falls on the release date of GTA VI.

They were wondering if I could change it.

Type of 5 in the chat if you think we’re cooked.

Title says it all. I am a non-US faculty in a college in the US. I am also one of the few international faculty members here. Many international students come to my office hours, talk about their lives, and end up crying. They talk about their stress, anxiety, and loneliness. They miss their home and family. They tell me they are worried about what will happen to them after they graduate, after they lose their student visa status. One student had a panic attack in my office while talking (I had to carry the student to EMS).

I feel terrible for these students. They have no one to talk to except for me. And all I can tell them is to seek counseling services and other campus resources. At the same time this is really affecting me negatively. I guess I am lost — how do I be an empathetic human being without carrying the emotional burden?

I'm teaching an online, first year class. Most of my students are working adults, so it's been a decent bunch, with the exception of one student who is starting to drive me a little nuts. He has come to office hours regularly every week, but his questions are not oriented around content; he's fixated on minutiae.

Three weeks ago, it was which font he should use to produce a document because I had offered a choice of 3 in keeping with the more relaxed standards we have for formatting. Two weeks ago, it was that I had asked them to do online annotation of a document, and they needed to consistently pin or highlight certain types of information, and he couldn't decide which to do. Last night, it was that they're working on adding to a document, and I asked them to "as you add on, please show what you've added on by changing the font color, changing the font, making what you add bold, or highlighting what you add." Again, he couldn't decide which one was the "right" one to do.

I have checked, and he does not have any accommodation request. I did see that he is repeating classes he took last year (and failed) but switched to almost entirely online. He did say something in a much earlier office hours that he was taking online classes because he hoped that meant teachers wouldn't yell at him so much for asking questions.

I have tried, "which one would you prefer?" and "what do you like best?" and "what looks best to you?" I have tried, "it's important that you make decisions like this on your own so that you can take ownership" and "you need to be able to do this because other instructors are not going to make the decisions for you." I have moved on to, "I need you to make a decision right now and stick with it," and "I'm not going to make a decision for you. You pick and tell me what you're going to do." He'll pick, then waffle, then be unable to get the work done because of these little things.

I suspect there's a need for accommodation, but I can't suggest that.

The thing is: if I just tell him, then he produces the work and it's decent, passing work that should move him forward in his education.

But I know that going through this weekly is not helping him.

An admin in the provost's office of my school--the one who "resolves" faculty issues, lamented that faculty don't see ADA accommodations as opportunities and instead complain about having to help disabled students. If you had the opportunity to meet with such an administrator, what would you say?

I have so many students this semester with “car issues” that have resulted in a handful missing class. They’re starting to blow up my emails with this constant issue and I’m just at a loss now. Their grades won’t be affected too much as long as they do all of the online work but I’m hesitant to share that because I feel like it might encourage them to just keep missing class or making any efforts to show up. Like take an Uber/Lyft or public transit? Our community also has a bus line that runs throughout the city and even outside of city limits to accommodate these students but mine don’t seem to even try to use that option despite it being free!

Back in my day we made every effort to show up, rather than blowing up our professors with emails of our struggles that are starting to seem more like excuses for not coming in at all. Any feedback on how to approach this?

Hello co teachers,

I've tasked my students to submit an essay and there's one trend that keeps appearing. There's an unusual amount of bold letters and statements. I know a bold text signify their importance but it's the first time I've seen students use this style of writing, and worringly a number of student's submissions are like this.

I would like a genuine and honest opinion, have you seen this in your class as well? Should I be concerned that my students are using AI in creating their paper?

Your insights would be most fruitful, thank you!

I've commented here many times about the strange accommodations requests other people have received, and I finally got one myself.

I was told that any assignments on paper can't be graded with a red pen, and that I can't provide any feedback that the student might perceive as negative, as they find it traumatizing.

I'm flabbergasted. I don't grade with red pen, but it's absolutely my right to do so. I'm not going to tell a student that every word they write is utter perfection.

The email was written by AI and the student said that his ADHD makes it "difficult to keep up with deadlines," and "having some flexibility would help me stay on track." He also wanted to know why he couldn't submit his assignment that was due two days ago.

This is an online asynchronous course. It's also an accelerated course. So like...no. There IS no extra time.

What he didn't send me: an official accommodations request form.

Also, it's 2026. We all have ADHD.

If your university has or is considering posting a response to Compact 2.0 (see here: https://www.aaup.org/sites/default/files/2026-08/Compact_2_response.pdf ), are the faculty being involved in this and how?

I didn't expect this to happen in a graduate course, but someone asked for an early final because somebody is injured in their family and there are religiously nice dates for their own wedding in November.

My final is in mid-December. They are asking to take final before Thanksgiving week.

What do you suggest? My syllabus says no makeup for personal trips and asks documentation for makeup exam. Is it okay to ask for documentation for family injury?

I would appreciate any advice. Thank you.

Somehow my algorithm dropped me off there and my gasts are flabbered.

It’s called cheatonlineproctor (intentionally not tagging it) and it’s just post after post about trying to cheat on exams.

I’m just so tired of this crap. I’m sure it’s not even the only one.

Anyway, just wanted to share it for everyone’s awareness.

Update: they banned me lol

It’s Week 10. 8 of my 24 dual-enrolled students are failing. The withdrawal date is 2 days away. I’ve emailed them, I’ve emailed their counselors. Many times. Lots of emails. No replies.

Normally I’d say fine, fail the class, enjoy yourself. But dual-enrolled students are different because their high school credits and college acceptances (and free college credits) are at risk. This means that in December I’m due for panicked emails and, worst-case scenario, counselors picking over my syllabus trying to find places I’ve been unfair and complaining to the program coordinators.

But I am holding the line! There will be NO make-ups and absolutely NO extra credit. But please withdraw, guys. Just withdraw. Respectfully, get the hell off my roster.

By the way, the counselors don’t want these kids to withdraw because then they have to find something to do with them for the rest of the semester. Whole setup is reeeeal stupid.

I'm getting students giving me paragraphs about their grief or anxiety or even just absolutely unhinged medical information. I hate to kick them when they are down but I absolutely don't need to be reading this, I have my own shit to process.

On the one hand, they are still so young and don't really understand a lot of social rules that I consider normal. On the other hand, they are mostly dumping this on me to improve their grade, not because they don't have access to therapists or support services.

What are y'all doing?

It had never even occurred to me that I may need to tell students that they need to do what assignments require in order to, say, get passing grades on those assignments. 2026 is full of surprises.

I teach in community colleges so I serve a very different demographic than many of you, which can make classroom management hard. I have high school students, those who just graduated, those that are coming back, and even retirees. The high schoolers and those that just graduated need to learn consequences and deadlines so I have to be a little more strict with them. But this all means that sometimes, when I send out reminders like "hey, you haven't been in class for a little while" or "you missed a big in-class assignment", I get some pretty heartbreaking responses back from students that already know that deadlines and staying on top of things is important.

In two different classes, I got an email from A students who are thinking about dropping my class. One is apparently struggling with sobriety and got kicked out of his homeless shelter for helping to break up an incident and the other has become a caretaker for aging parents who have both taken a turn for the worst. I had a student come up to me last night to turn in his work before leaving before class started due to bad side-effects to new meds. Last semester, an A student who was still in high school lost her mom with no warning. I have a pretty good bullshit meter so I know the difference between this and another "dead grandparent" story.

And all this is happening while I'm finding out that long-time adjuncts are being fired by lack of re-hiring as a form of union busting at our school after the Long Beach ruling on field trips and time out of the classroom.

I guess I'm just throwing this out because sometimes our jobs are really hard and it feels like we don't get to talk about it. It is difficult to balance the compassion and empathy when some students are honest and others are just trying to take advantage, especially when there is so much going on in our personal lives as well. But today my heart is breaking for my students who honestly, I can't help in the way I wish I could. They want to be in my class, they are good students, but they have to be good people instead.

Grading exams. Easiest question taken straight from a video we watched in class, talked about, read poems about... I showed them interdisciplinary connections between literature and history. They helped me shape the question about this very topic on the exam for extra credit....

More than half still failed the question...

Cooked.

My students are presenting today, right?

They are a group of about 50 and none of them study the same career / major.

The one doing the introduction goes: “we are the people you can see the names there on the screen and myself”.

and I’m like “who are they and who are you? Use your names. It’s a courtesy here in the classroom and tomorrow when you are at work, giving a speech or presentation at a wide range where you go to work, unless a small knitted group”.

Is anyone else confused by the constant use of headphones 24/7 by so many students?

I'm a young enough professor that I remember the first iPods and people carrying their music with them everywhere, but it seems like a relatively new thing that students simply never take their headphones off, ever, unless told directly, and even then they do it begrudgingly, or even outright refuse.

Is it a coping mechanism? Are they just incapable of disconnecting from social media and this is their best way to hide the fact that they're using it in class? Are they listening to music?

I absolutely understand some students using them for focus and attention and neurodivergent students needing to wear them, but I've never gotten an accommodation request to allow students to to wear headphones.

I see students continuing to wear headphones while holding full conversations, and while supposedly working on in class projects, and all manner of classroom activities, where I would have thought that they'd have been a hindrance.

I've seen students pull their hoodies up to hide them or pull their hair over them to hide them., anything other than take them out and actually engage in class.

It's not all students, but it seems to be a lot more lately.

I am nearing the end of my first full year as a professor after graduating with my PhD last year. I was naive and thought it would simply be a multiple of what my TA duties were like. Unfortunately, it is much worse. Now that I am the primary instead of just a TA, the floodgates have been unleashed upon me.

I had no clue how whiny and entitled all these students are. They can’t do anything for themselves and need their hand held to do even the simplest things. They refuse to take any initiative or accountability for their own actions or grades. I make announcements in class about upcoming assignments, post them in Canvas (and on the calendar) and send email reminders 2 days before the due date. I still have students complaining to my superiors that I’m allegedly not giving enough notice about assignments. These students are the ones that don’t show up for class and refuse to check their emails/Canvas. My department head knows this and tells me not to worry, but the little brats go ABOVE the department head all the way to the provost to complain. The provost always sides with the students. The university system is a joke. It’s basically a big for-profit machine whose only purpose is to incentivize students to enroll rather than actually teach them.

Then, the students are brutal in their course evals. It’s soul-crushing. I pour my heart out every day to try to get them to learn, but it doesn’t matter. If they don’t like their grade they can’t admit any fault of their own and make up BS about me in the evals. Mind you, the good students all give me glowing reviews, but that doesn’t matter apparently. The squeaky wheels get the grease. By no means do I think I’m the best professor there is. This isn’t an ego thing. This is about them flat out lying about me because they remember that I didn’t excuse one of their absences or wouldn’t extend an assignment deadline for them. I don’t know what to do. This year has been very eye-opening for me. I think I should just start letting students get away with whatever they want so I can be popular, because popular professors are the ones that get the best evals and get promoted. I’m so dismayed that this is what’s become of our education system. I’m even more concerned about what the future holds. As bad as I think I have it, I’ve seen true nightmare fuel from stories shared by our elementary/middle school comrades. I don’t know if I want to be around when that generation hits college age.

I try to tell myself almost continuously to be grateful to have this job. I spend all day in a cushioned chair, in air conditioned rooms, tapping my fingers back and forth. And in theory, it should be amazing: I'm supposed to be able to sit around all day thinking & talking about whatever I want to. And it's among the most stable jobs in the workforce right now. And I get paid pretty well to do it. And that's why there are 400 applicants for every one of these jobs, and I somehow got one.

But I think the biggest reason why I can't manage to convince myself of that is because I'm a constant ball of frustration and irritation all the time, because like 95% of the job now is...endless, meaningless frustrations. As opposed to sitting in a meadow somewhere with the sun on my face thinking about the world & trying to understand it better, all I do is deal with bullshit hoop-jumping that doesn't help anyone, that it's someone else's job to do, etc. And rather than deal with any of that, no one who leads the institutions dealing the bullshit care about addressing it, even though they very much could.

So, instead, I spend my days...haggling with students over late assignments. Trying to sleuth whether or not they know the material or AI does. Trying to police whether my staff are actually producing the 40 hours worth of work I'm paying them for or staring at TikTok all day. Doing all of the dumb work a PI should never be doing because I can't fire anyone, and trying will be more work for me. Trying to accomplish anything in our research management systems. Trying to guess a journal's submission requirements before I submit something, only to find out there are 500 unwritten rules that you only find out about after you submit & they kick it back to you. Fighting with slimy reviewers who clearly don't know your space at all. Trying to buy a computer that a sponsor gave my university money to buy for me. Reporting all of my sources of support down to the 0.01 calendar month. Repeating the same study protocol info in 10 different fields to 10 different groups who all say they need to review & approve of what we're doing. Helping my university earn piles of money so they can immediately burn it on hiring more "support" people whose job it is to make up new shit for me to do, rather than actually help with any of the things I have to do.

God I'm so burnt out.