Grading delays

[impasta]

I agree that it's a bit unreasonable to expect students to wait 10+ days for grading or for milestones to be affirmed when grading/affirmation is supposed to be within 72 hours. If they've changed the 72 hour aspect, they should inform students.

Exactly! The 72hr turnaround has not changed, it just isn't being enforced. It baffles me how several people just shrug this off because the YourPace tuition is relatively cheap, or make excuses for certain professors being "so busy" lol. UMPI is failing students in a very important aspect of the program. The coursework itself is absolutely easy enough to complete 10-12 classes in one term or even half a term. 

14 days and counting...

[MichaelDoesMarketing]

This is why I'm taking Professor Zaborney's classes hahaha...his turn around time is basically same day. I submitted my final for one of his classes and it was almost graded by the time I hit submit ?

[Duneranger]

I agree that it's a bit unreasonable to expect students to wait 10+ days for grading or for milestones to be affirmed when grading/affirmation is supposed to be within 72 hours. If they've changed the 72 hour aspect, they should inform students.

Exactly! The 72hr turnaround has not changed, it just isn't being enforced. It baffles me how several people just shrug this off because the YourPace tuition is relatively cheap, or make excuses for certain professors being "so busy" lol. UMPI is failing students in a very important aspect of the program. The coursework itself is absolutely easy enough to complete 10-12 classes in one term or even half a term. 

14 days and counting...

I agree that they should reverse the policy and be more transparent. No issues with that.

UMPI is a state school that took education which used to be 4+ years and thousands and thousands of dollars and narrowed it down to pennies and 4 months or less of work. From life experience, I have learned to not bite the hand that feeds or makes waves over relatively inconsequential things (like getting an entire BA in a month or two). I don't think sending emails over and over is helpful, they didn't forget. I imagine bright space and higher online enrollment numbers into certain majors having a backlog at a college that is little bigger than a high school.

If certain majors and profs are overburdened, they should do enrollment quotas each term. This is no different than many college programs. I think that's reasonable. Maybe they bit off more than they can chew given the insanely quick route to degree completion and minimal cost required. Regardless, being transparent is better than silence. I imagine if they put caps on admission, people would then bitch about that.

There is always the option to transfer if you can find a school that's quicker.

[ss20ts]

Exactly! The 72hr turnaround has not changed, it just isn't being enforced. It baffles me how several people just shrug this off because the YourPace tuition is relatively cheap, or make excuses for certain professors being "so busy" lol. UMPI is failing students in a very important aspect of the program. The coursework itself is absolutely easy enough to complete 10-12 classes in one term or even half a term. 

14 days and counting...

I learned to shrug it off because there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't change it. Sure, I could complain, but that didn't change anything. After awhile, you learn to refocus your energy and work on things you can have an impact on. This program has grown in ways they didn't anticipate. They had no idea that this chick (me) was going to come along and share on a forum how amazing the program was and that bachelor's degrees were really possible for almost everyone today. It spread far beyond this forum.

The fact remains that it is a very small school - around 1100 on campus students and well over 400 YourPace students. It was over 400 students like 2 years ago and it's grown since then. The move to Brightspace is going to have some bumps in the road. We all knew that. There are now multiple professors for several classes which is awesome! When I started in Fall 2020, there was 1 main professor for the business courses. I had her for 8 out of 12 courses! I learned a lot about patience during that time. 

Even large schools have delays. WGU has a 3 day rule for the evaluators, but at the end of the month it's normally 5-7 days. Nothing you can do about it. We just got an email in the College of IT that the evaluators will be unavailable for 5 days as they are all attending a conference. Yup, we complained on Facebook, but there's nothing else we can do except just accept the fact and move on. Life is all about adapting.

[DolceDolce]

Yes ... there are some grading delays with some professors. I've seen as many as 3 professors teach the same subject and the progress and milestone feedback is at varying speeds. The number of classes you can successfully take will also depend on which classes they are, and if you are in the mindset of "Cs get degrees" of are you "striving for academic honors". BLS degrees allows for more electives, which also aids in the speed. I just had a friend exit the BA program which saved her from 3 nightmare classes. Another friend in the BA Management and Leadership program just submitted a 35-page final exam in Accounting with Stacey Emery.

Regarding unlocking classes, some people on FB posted being able to unlock a class over a long weekend, while a milestone, not Final was stuck in limbo.

For people that are focused on speed, I do encourage everyone to try and make the most out of UMPI, and enjoy the opportunity and experience. It's a great institution and their goal is to provide a quality education. We should be proud that UMPI is taking steps to ensure that education is allowed at a pretty fast paced while still promoting an excellent education. You want UMPI to be able to uphold the integrity of the degree and the school. The fact that professors grade their work personally is another excellent reason to have UMPI. Direct feedback from the professor - many students in larger schools do not have the benefit.

Also, for every person who has a terrible experience with UMPI, 10 more will have a positive experience. It really is very subjective according to many variables. I have screenshots of one professor allowing a student to resubmit a draft final because she misunderstood the directions. Personal attention and allowances like that you will be hard-pressed to find at other online institutions.

While it seems collectively UMPI has had some changes with the move to Brightspace, I feel gratitude that UMPI has a generous YourPace program, that doesn't make you take course sequentially, but rather in tandem.

UMPI's overall intentions are not to "slow people down." The program has been gaining a 10-15% YOY enrollment increase, and this Fall Term, some professors have had to help other professors by also adding a class to their schedule. The move to Brightspace was primarily to allow for more flexibility in updating courses, to keep information relevant and for today's body of knowledge and standards; it also allows for each professor to modify part of it such as quizzes; and allows for easier exchange of information. It was never enlisted to purposely slow students down.

[Duneranger]

Yes ... there are some grading delays with some professors.  I've seen as many as 3 professors teach the same subject and the progress and milestone feedback is at varying speeds.  The number of classes you can successfully take will also depend on which classes they are, and if you are in the mindset of "Cs get degrees" of are you "striving for academic honors".  BLS degrees allows for more electives, which also aids in the speed.  I just had a friend exit the BA program which saved her from 3 nightmare classes.  Another friend in the BA Management and Leadership program just submitted a 35-page final exam in Accounting with Stacey Emery.  

Regarding unlocking classes, some people on FB posted being able to unlock a class over a long weekend, while a milestone, not Final was stuck in limbo.

For people that are focused on speed, I do encourage everyone to try and make the most out of UMPI, and enjoy the opportunity and experience.  It's a great institution and their goal is to provide a quality education.  We should be proud that UMPI is taking steps to ensure that education is allowed at a pretty fast paced while still promoting an excellent education.  You want UMPI to be able to uphold the integrity of the degree and the school. The fact that professors grade their work personally is another excellent reason to have UMPI.  Direct feedback from the professor - many students in larger schools do not have the benefit.

Also, for every person who has a terrible experience with UMPI, 10 more will have a positive experience.  It really is very subjective according to many variables.  I have screenshots of one professor allowing a student to resubmit a draft final because she misunderstood the directions.  Personal attention and allowances like that you will be hard-pressed to find at other online institutions.

While it seems collectively UMPI has had some changes with the move to Brightspace, I feel gratitude that UMPI has a generous YourPace program, that doesn't make you take course sequentially, but rather in tandem.

UMPI's overall intentions are not to "slow people down."  The program has been gaining a 10-15% YOY enrollment increase, and this Fall Term, some professors have had to help other professors by also adding a class to their schedule.  The move to Brightspace was primarily to allow for more flexibility in updating courses, to keep information relevant and for today's body of knowledge and standards; it also allows for each professor to modify part of it such as quizzes; and allows for easier exchange of information.  It was never enlisted to purposely slow students down.

Totally. This is a rational and reasonable take.

[JobaJoba]

I have completed 10 classes this term and am in my 11th right now. Four of my courses have been delayed. I have been very frusrated with the delays as well. They are not holding professors accountable. Brightspace is clearly a mess right now, and I have audited three of the courses with siginifcant changes. Advice to those struggling with delays:

1. Email the professor before the 72 hours are up, kindly letting them know the deadline is approaching and you wanted to make sure they got the notification. This helped.

2. Cody, your academic support contact, is also busy being a professor of his own course. He is very slow getting back at times, and this is supposed to be his area, not Jessica's. All he has the ability to do when you bring a 72 hour delay to his attention is email the professor as well. Obviously, this is not helpful if you have already emailed. Complete this step to check the box.

3. Next, call the school operator and kindly ask to speak to the professor of the course you are taking. They will not be able to connect you, as the school doesn't have the remote professors cell numbers. You will likely be connected with another professor in that department, which actually worked well for me once, or with Director Susan Chang, who oversees the whole program. When Susan gets involved, things suddenly get done. But you better have exhausted all previous steps before you try to talk to her. But I hope this helps!

Also, don't take Business 489. It is awful and has 14 Milestones! I am worried I may take them the rest of the term to grade it!

[tsgreer]

I have completed 10 classes this term and am in my 11th right now. Four of my courses have been delayed. I have been very frusrated with the delays as well. They are not holding professors accountable. Brightspace is clearly a mess right now, and I have audited three of the courses with siginifcant changes. Advice to those struggling with delays:

1. Email the professor before the 72 hours are up, kindly letting them know the deadline is approaching and you wanted to make sure they got the notification. This helped.

2. Cody, your academic support contact, is also busy being a professor of his own course. He is very slow getting back at times, and this is supposed to be his area, not Jessica's. All he has the ability to do when you bring a 72 hour delay to his attention is email the professor as well. Obviously, this is not helpful if you have already emailed. Complete this step to check the box.

3. Next, call the school operator and kindly ask to speak to the professor of the course you are taking. They will not be able to connect you, as the school doesn't have the remote professors cell numbers. You will likely be connected with another professor in that department, which actually worked well for me once, or with Director Susan Chang, who oversees the whole program. When Susan gets involved, things suddenly get done. But you better have exhausted all previous steps before you try to talk to her. But I hope this helps!

Also, don't take Business 489. It is awful and has 14 Milestones! I am worried I may take them the rest of the term to grade it!

Brah, I gotta know: How are you doing these courses so fast?! Brightspace has def changed up things and has made for more difficult classes for me, but even my reading assignments are taking a long time. 

Are you just skipping the material and just going straight to the milestones? I've had to read 7 chapters (long chapters!) for my class so far, and watch multiple videos. Which is fine, because it is college, but how in the world are you all getting thru it so fast?! lol

[DolceDolce]

UPDATE FOR CONTEXT
:
The class that Impasta was referring to, the Professor took 12 days to grade for her fiancee, but only 3 days for my friend - they were both graded on Saturday by the same Professor. This shows a certain level of timing and luck getting into the grading slot near when the Professor is going to be grading. Of couse, I don't approve of, nor advocate that professor's take 12 days, but since it was the start of the Fall 1 Term, it's "possible" that the professor was waiting until she had enough submittals to sit down and carve out a day for grading. My friend was submitted hers "closer to the time when the professor would be grading" which made her experience much easier.

I do believe the Dean is hearing from a lot of students right now. lol I call it Angry Discord - many people on Discord are having an issue with UMPI right now. I woudn't attribute this though as a problem with Brightspace, but more about professor time management.

Now there have been some small problems with Brightspace, such as my friend couldn't take her Final as the system had her locked out of it erroneously, and she's encountered about 3 or more problems. Couldn't get past a quiz, because the quiz only gave her 1 attempt, when you were supposed to get 4, etc. Everything got worked out within about 8 hours, so you do need to have another GoTo class on hand in case you do have a delay. The only issue I have is my professor recorded his videos without a mic so I have my speakers on the highest volume and I have to hush the household (the 2 cats) while I try to listen to it. LOL

I do emphathize with everyone's experience that is negative though, but just wanted to give some context to that one Professor!

---

I have completed 10 classes this term and am in my 11th right now. Four of my courses have been delayed. I have been very frusrated with the delays as well. They are not holding professors accountable. Brightspace is clearly a mess right now, and I have audited three of the courses with siginifcant changes. Advice to those struggling with delays:

1. Email the professor before the 72 hours are up, kindly letting them know the deadline is approaching and you wanted to make sure they got the notification. This helped.

2. Cody, your academic support contact, is also busy being a professor of his own course. He is very slow getting back at times, and this is supposed to be his area, not Jessica's. All he has the ability to do when you bring a 72 hour delay to his attention is email the professor as well. Obviously, this is not helpful if you have already emailed. Complete this step to check the box.

3. Next, call the school operator and kindly ask to speak to the professor of the course you are taking. They will not be able to connect you, as the school doesn't have the remote professors cell numbers. You will likely be connected with another professor in that department, which actually worked well for me once, or with Director Susan Chang, who oversees the whole program. When Susan gets involved, things suddenly get done. But you better have exhausted all previous steps before you try to talk to her. But I hope this helps!

Also, don't take Business 489. It is awful and has 14 Milestones! I am worried I may take them the rest of the term to grade it!

Brah, I gotta know: How are you doing these courses so fast?! Brightspace has def changed up things and has made for more difficult classes for me, but even my reading assignments are taking a long time. 

Are you just skipping the material and just going straight to the milestones? I've had to read 7 chapters (long chapters!) for my class so far, and watch multiple videos. Which is fine, because it is college, but how in the world are you all getting thru it so fast?! lol

I know someone who is doing all her assignments at one time versus trickling them.  Not sure which class but that is what she has done so far.

[bjcheung77]

Good luck on your future courses, hopefully other professors are more understanding and prompt on completing their grading of your courses. It would really hamper progress if they delay their grading or scoring of your classes...Hope for the best! Prepare your other courses if you have access to them...