Rant; I've been sick emails

littlefriend

Rant, Anyone else getting emails looking for information from other classmates?
I've had 3 in the last week and replied to all of them with some pretty helpful information..not one of them has said thanks. Does anyone else think this is incredibly rude or am I just old?

delta_bravo

I wouldnt reply. I never did in those emails. If you are sick you can apply for extenuating circumstances or contact the lecturer for assistance. They are usually liars that never bothered their hole to show up to the lectures. Your exam will be graded on a curve so the more help you give them will possible effect your result.

Chet T16

I wish they'd restrict the sending of mass emails to lecturers and class reps only.

bnt

I've been working on the assumption that the lecturers can see any email I send through Blackboard. So I'd be a bit careful about saying anything that looks like I was looking for a shortcut on an assignment. :cool:

HavingCrack

I never reply, they're just liars who didn't turn up for class. To be honest it's not suprising these sort of people wouldn't thank you.

maxxie

send them back pictures of their aul ones asleep naked in your bed :pac:

RandomName2

delta_bravo wrote: »

I wouldnt reply. I never did in those emails. If you are sick you can apply for extenuating circumstances or contact the lecturer for assistance. They are usually liars that never bothered their hole to show up to the lectures. Your exam will be graded on a curve so the more help you give them will possible effect your result.

You're a bundle of laughs.

littlefriend

delta_bravo wrote: »

I wouldnt reply. I never did in those emails. If you are sick you can apply for extenuating circumstances or contact the lecturer for assistance.

Yeah I always reckon they are chancing their arm but end up feeling guilty if I ignore them! I was sick for a good bit last year and when I came back I was overwhelmed by everything I had to catch up on so I do know what it is like to be in that position. That said, I never sent around begging emails.

Jesica Fletcher

I've replied to a few and not one word of thanks in reply. In fairness, chancing your arm that some of those strangers in that class you evidently never went to will reply with useful information and advice is ok, but don't be so ignorant as not to give them due thanks

delta_bravo

bnt wrote: »

I've been working on the assumption that the lecturers can see any email I send through Blackboard. So I'd be a bit careful about saying anything that looks like I was looking for a shortcut on an assignment. :cool:

They can. They can view loads of stats about your usage of the system, when you viewed course notes, how many times etc. If you send an email to the entire class it also gets sent to anyone that is part of the module i.e. instructors, lecturers. That is unless you specify who you want to send it to.

RandomName2 wrote: »

You're a bundle of laughs.

Ah I'm a fairly amiable fellow but I feel it is unfair for people to take advantage out of students who put the effort into making notes and attending lectures. I even remember getting an email off a guy offering €25 for someones notes.


Fail to prepare.........

littlefriend

delta_bravo wrote: »

I even remember getting an email off a guy offering €25 for someones notes.

Seriously? That is hilarious! Cringing for him.

delta_bravo

littlefriend wrote: »

Seriously? That is hilarious! Cringing for him.

Yeah it was called Geopolitics. 2nd year geography module and there were no notes on blackboard so you had to show up.

Pierce_1991

I never replied to them till recently, replied giving helpful info and didn't get any word of thanks, I think thats really rude, not that difficult to take the time to say cheers after I've taken the time to write out info the guy should know already

On the thing about being graded on a curve, I've heard stories that I really aren't true but was wondering had anyone heard this. My friend does Psychology and said that people just tear out pages of journals and throw them away when they're done with them so the classmates can't use them...I mean, I really hope that this doesn't happen, I think its incredible people would potentially ruin someone else's grade in order to look better, has anyone heard anything about this?

gbee

littlefriend wrote: »

Does anyone else think this is incredibly rude or am I just old?

You're just old. Look, if a reply to an email is only to say thanks, that's a waste of resources.

And, it's never ending. He says thanks, you say thanks, he says ........... you could add a script to force a reply in email if you're really annoyed about this.

Pandoras Twist

Pierce_1991 wrote: »

My friend does Psychology and said that people just tear out pages of journals and throw them away when they're done with them so the classmates can't use them...I mean, I really hope that this doesn't happen, I think its incredible people would potentially ruin someone else's grade in order to look better, has anyone heard anything about this?

Happens all the time in Law, particularly in Trinity College. Tear out the pages with useful cases in them in the library books so no one else can use them

TheVoodoo

Yup, unfortunately it does happen. Many times i'v found whole sections missing from books and journals.. if someone is that desperate to do well, maybe they should just focus on studying..

Pierce_1991

Thats just really disgraceful that someone would do that, I always feel bad if I have a useful book out of the library for a bit longer than I need it. I'd love to give someone a smack if I saw them doing that

errlloyd

Pandoras Twist wrote: »

Happens all the time in Law, particularly in Trinity College. Tear out the pages with useful cases in them in the library books so no one else can use them

Never happens in Trinity Law, thats a myth. It happens in the Kings Inn however all the time, because the Kings Inn only gives two firsts a year I believe.

Tea-a-Maria

Pandoras Twist wrote: »

Happens all the time in Law, particularly in Trinity College. Tear out the pages with useful cases in them in the library books so no one else can use them

Christ,have these people never heard of photocopiers!?

Pierce_1991

Tea-a-Maria wrote: »

Christ,have these people never heard of photocopiers!?

Its not about getting the pages for themselves, they use the cases and stuff, then tear out the pages so that no one else can use them...it then makes their work look much better

TimeToShine

delta_bravo wrote: »

I wouldnt reply. I never did in those emails. If you are sick you can apply for extenuating circumstances or contact the lecturer for assistance. They are usually liars that never bothered their hole to show up to the lectures. Your exam will be graded on a curve so the more help you give them will possible effect your result.

Are you serious? Does that bell curve sh*t apply in college as well? That's f*cking ridiculous.

SarcasticFairy

errlloyd wrote: »

Never happens in Trinity Law, thats a myth. It happens in the Kings Inn however all the time, because the Kings Inn only gives two firsts a year I believe.

It does happen in Trinity! I know a couple of people doing law there who have complained about it a lot

parker kent

TimeToShine wrote: »

Are you serious? Does that bell curve sh*t apply in college as well? That's f*cking ridiculous.

Not in UCD but it happens in some universities. Some lecturers may informally operate under a system of only awarding a certain amount of 1sts and 2.1s, but it is rare enough. It is used in other countries much more than Ireland.

mikemac

Happens in NUIG. And yes that bell curve applies

Sometimes people get the key library textbooks and hide them elsewhere so nobody can find them or make use of them.
In a big library it might be a few days before the staff have located it on the wrong shelf

delta_bravo

A bell curve does apply to most modules. The co-ordinator doesn't want everyone to end up getting A grades or F grades otherwise they would be in serious trouble.

The Leaving Cert grades generally follow a bell curve also. You hardly ever see outside of 9-11% of candidates getting an A.

parker kent

delta_bravo wrote: »

A bell curve does apply to most modules. The co-ordinator doesn't want everyone to end up getting A grades or F grades otherwise they would be in serious trouble.

The Leaving Cert grades generally follow a bell curve also. You hardly ever see outside of 9-11% of candidates getting an A.

That's why I say an informal curve. It is the lecturers prerogative whether they use it or not. Some lecturers in UCD are happy to give out as many As as possible, others only give out a certain amount. There is no rhyme nor reason to how much or how often it is applied. A lecturer just deciding that they will only give out a handful of 1sts is very different to how a formally acknowledged bell curve is implemented. The lecturers have much more freedom in UCD than one that works with a bell curve.

I got one of these the other day in one of my history modules. What a fail. Even worse is all the notes are on blackboard.

Ficheall

How many of you have marked, or know first-hand of people marking exams on a bell-curve?
Statistically speaking the scores are going to be normally distributed, regardless of whether the markers are for some strange reason trying to fit scores into a bell-curve.

More often than not examiners try to give as many marks as possible.


OT - Why not send them back the wrong info?

doly

Ficheall, I think you are right about examiners preferring to give the best marks possible and that is why we have just been told, in Political Geog, that our marks are going to be boosted because the results of the mid-term MCQ were so bad - statistically a very strange bell curve.

OP, do you think it might be a little unfair on everyone else who attends the lectures for you to be aiding and abetting those who don't bother? You need to harden your heart. There was one mass e-mail last year from someone looking for notes for a Geog exam, but it had been a continuous assessment with no exam - a pretty impressive level of uninvolvement.

littlefriend

doly wrote: »

OP, do you think it might be a little unfair on everyone else who attends the lectures for you to be aiding and abetting those who don't bother?QUOTE]

Actually, I never thought about it that way and I think you are right.
I was originally sympathetic or giving people the benefit of the doubt because I missed about a month of both semesters last year due to illness. (That was legitimate though and I caught up on stuff by going to lecturers and getting grinds etc)

RandomName2

delta_bravo wrote: »

A bell curve does apply to most modules. The co-ordinator doesn't want everyone to end up getting A grades or F grades otherwise they would be in serious trouble.

The Leaving Cert grades generally follow a bell curve also. You hardly ever see outside of 9-11% of candidates getting an A.

The only concrete evidence I have about the system (albeit in a very narrow section of UCD Arts) bucks this idea and one module/ course might return a far higher average than another module/ course. Apparently Evening Students do better. Go figure.

I intensely dislike the idea from a student's perspective. Remove people's pens before exams, wreak library books, steal notes, wreak others' laptops: it's the way to guarantee a good grade! It's mostly a rubbish concept that you can only do well if others do badly: there is no reason not to work together. Hobbes' State of Nature applies.