Student calls because she has not received an email from her instructor that she should have. I ask why she thinks she should have an email. Her answer was that the instructor was supposed to email her the syllabus. I explain that this is something instructors usually put on their Blackboard course site for students and I I ask the student if she has checked her Blackboard account.
After much talking back and forth and student telling me that she cannot even access her account I inquire about which browser she is using and advise that the recommended browser would be Mozilla Firefox. Of course the student does not have this browser and does not want to download it despite me telling her it works the best with our site. Student advises she prefers to use Internet Explorer and I advise that we do not recommend that one at all as she will have issues. Student says it is what she always uses.
Finally get her logged into her account and ask her to click on her Blackboard. Student tells me that it says 'unauthorized user'. I tell her this is typically a response when student is not enrolled in class and ask if she is certain she is enrolled. Her response is "Yes, they enrolled me". I ask who they are and she provides two names that I am not familiar with and says "They told me I was enrolled:.
I ask student if she herself ever logged into her account and clicked on the enrollment process and actually enrolled in the course. Student says "No - they told me I am enrolled". I advise student to go to the My Account section and see what courses it says she is enrolled in. After much prompting of what to do student says that it says she has no classes. She then says "What does that mean?" I tell her "It means you are not enrolled in a class".
Student continues to insist that 'they' enrolled her and she is enrolled. I advise that we do not show her as enrolled in a class and if she really thinks she is that perhaps she should go to campus to make certain everything is in order as summer classes start in two weeks. Student continues to insist that 'they' enrolled her and she is enrolled. She does not want to go to campus but the class fills up quickly and she needs to get into the course.
Twenty minutes later student is still insisting that she does not want to go to campus but needs in the course and 'they' enrolled her. At this point I realize that we will probably have numerous calls from her throughout the coming semester.
Next day I receive a call from a student saying that he did not realize if his financial aid was not in place that he would be dropped from the class for not paying. He says "No one told me that". I advise that as he is enrolling in class before he can ever get to site to look at the available classes he has a page telling him in RED letters that he must read and acknowledge before it will allow him to continue. That page tells him that he has one hour after enrolling to set up a payment plan of some sort. He is not allowed to go any farther until he marks that as acknowledged.
Student says "Well no one told me that and I was dropped from the course and the course is now closed what are you going to do?" I advise that there is nothing I can do - if the course is closed that means it is closed and he cannot enroll in it. Student insists that something must be done because he did not know he had to pay for the course and now it's closed and he wants in. I continue to advise that there is nothing I can do. If he wants he may go to campus and talk to Enrollment Services but most likely they will not be able to do anything if the course is already full and showing as closed
Oh, trust me, this was not what the student wanted to hear at all. The next words out of his mouth were, "So you want me to just give up?" No, I did not say that at all, I said that if the course is full there is nothing we can do for you. There are no spots available for the class. If you enrolled in the class and did not set up your payment option plan as you had to acknowledge that you understood then you were dropped. The course has since filled up and is no longer available for registration. There is nothing I can do for you.
Student says, "So the machine makes all the decisions then and you want me to give up." No what I actually want would be for you to take a few lessons in responsibility and common courtesy.
And then the mother who calls because she wants questions answered about her sons account. I ask if he is available for me to speak to. She says no but it's okay because she has a FERPA agreement on file giving her permission to talk about his account. I politely explain that unfortunately over the phone I cannot verify her identity and will need to speak to her son. She then says, "So that paper is no good at all then?" "No ma'am the paper is valid IF you go to a campus where your identity can be verified. Over the phone there is no one who will be able to speak to you regarding your son's account."
After some discussion the mother asks if she can have her son on a three-way call. I advise that yes - as long as we can speak to him and verify then we can discuss his account. She said, "Then can you put a note in his account that it's okay to speak to me over the phone?" Again - NO we cannot verify your identity over the phone. We will always have to speak to him regarding his account. Her response was "Well, I will be doing everything anyway he knows nothing and doesn't even know what questions to ask."
Perhaps you should make a list of the questions 'you' want answered so that when he calls he knows what to say, Or better yet -- let him be the adult and take care of his own business! We refer to these parents as 'helicopter parents'.
Okay - rant over for the day but if this is what the start of Summer semester is like I do not look forward to Fall Semester. Think I better take a big carafe of coffee to work with me tomorrow
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