Having opened my email box today, I discovered a message from the library informing me that I had been charged £6 fine for not attending a training session at the library on finding Ph.D. dissertations and theses. Well, I did not mean to miss it but somehow had not entered the information about it in my planner and just forgot about it. It's probably not necessary to say that I was upset both about having missed a useful training session and about having been fined too. I wrote an apologetic letter to the library explaining the situation and at the moment of writing this entry I do not know what they will tell me, but this is just another example of the importance of playing by the rules.
Let's take one more. This time about the assignment submission rules. The deadlines are set on particular dates and TIMES (!), missing which will result in your work being downgraded by 5% of the total grade on the first day, a further 5% on the next day still. In the end, you can be failed on the assignment all together. To add to it, you will be also penalised for writing less or more than the word limit allows, i.e., going about 300 words either way on an assignment with a 3,000 word limit. And this is, of course, not to mention the requirements you have to meet when completing the assignment itself starting from answering the question you were asked or formulated yourself to answer and finishing with correct referencing.
I am quite curious to hear your opinions about the applicability of such rules on the Russian soil. What I'd like to learn is what kinds of rules are observed in your institutions, whether they are observed strictly and at all times and whether it is necessary to be strict about it.
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Feel I should share with you how the story with the fine for not attending a library workshop finished. I called the libarary to find out if they could waive the fine. Having listened to my explanation of the situation, the librarian told me that the infromation about the cancellation policy is part of the form you have to fill out to sign up for a library workshop. I had done it online and did not pay attention to this information. My fault (! ), of course. Anyway, she reduced the amount of fine I have to pay by half. However, yesterday I also wrote a message to the person who had sent me the message about the fine. Can you imagine that I've just received an answer from her sying they are excusing me all together for the first time but ask me to be more attentive in the future? I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are rules and exceptions to them. In this case, they accepted my explanation. But, of course, I will make sure it won't happen in the future again. Still, I have a general impression that rules and regulations are observed somewhat better here than back home.
However, I might disagree with me. I remember having a long discussion with my adult students in Novosibirsk about whether the British or the Russian are more law-abiding, and my students insisted that the British are not better at observing the rules and regulations than us. Actually, something that I increasingly notice in students (at least the ones that I teach) is their quite negative attitude to any form of criticism of things in Russia or our approach to them. More than that they tend not to accept any kinds of unfavourable comparisons. At the same time, many do not see their future on Russian soil.
I often think about this mismatch and would really appreciate if we had a discussion of this issue if you are interested.
Добрый день, Наталья! Рада снова Вас видеть!
Штраф за непосещённое занятие – это очень необычно для нас. Хорошо, что всё благополучно закончилось.
Строгие дедлайны у нас в университете тоже бывают. Например, я знаю, что некоторые преподаватели, которые принимают задания в оболочке Moodle, ставят конкретную дату сдачи, после которой уже невозможно что-либо добавить в виртуальную среду. Говорят, что это очень дисциплинирует. :)
Здравствуйте, Наталья и Ольга!
Очень интересная ситуация, спасибо, Наталья, что поделились. Я про штраф за не посещение семинара тоже слышу впервые.
Я, честно говоря, больше верю в пряник, чем в кнут. Если штрафовать за пропущенные занятия, то можно совсем остаться без студентов, не говоря уже о мотивации. Дисциплина - это хорошо, особенно когда дедлайны оправданы, но мне всегда легче соблюдать правила, когда я знаю, что в конце меня ждет что-то приятное. :-)
Dear Olga and Olga--:))
First, let me clarify the situation with the session I did not attend. It was not a regular class but a study skills seminar offered by the library to all those interested. They enjoy great popularity with the students and fill up really quickly. You can't imagine how quickly! 30 minutes after I got the emal with the information about the workshops all the first semester sessions were full! If to borrow Olga's carrot and stick metaphor, the university sees these free workshops as a carrot. As for the stick, you know:)
I do not believe in "sticks" very much, at least at the university level because there we deal with more mature students (or often not that mature but...). I believe more in encouraging the students and letting the acquire some tools to become independent learners in the end. And, of course, when you know there will be a reward in the end provides you with stronger motivation. But when you say "a reward", reward in what sense do you mean? A good grade, some word of appraisal from the teacher, both or something else all together?
How would you change the policy against non-attendance I described if you could?
Hello, Olga--
Great to hear from you!
Have I understood correctly from your message that you think that being overly strictly is not a good idea? Do you think it is a cultural phenomenon more than something else? Why do you think we are more tolerant to such situations? I mean situations when students miss the deadlines, for example. I'm quite concerned about them because by the nature of the course that I teach students' failure to submit their works on time will result in me spending almost all my time outside the univrsity reading and commenting on my students' papers.
Hi Natalia,
I think non attendance in general and missing deadlines is quite natural and you need to be tolerant to the situation. I mean, inevitably someone will not turn up for the workshop for very good reasons etc. You need to be flexible and understanding but firm.
I think if i was interested in everyone attending the event, I would arrange reminders because people do forget, don't they? Well, I do sometimes :-)
In general motivation is a very important issue. Ensure your workshop is relevant to the needs of your audience and they will be there!
I did mean reward in a very general sense. Sometimes a public appraisal is a very good reward for students, sometimes a good grade, sometimes a bar of chocolate :-) Good teachers are really inventive and can think of various things.
I wonder if anyone else has any offers of what could be a good reward for a student? Did you try anything that really worked? Can you share your experience here?
Thanks,
Olga
Hi, Olga--
Thanks for the comments and a question. I think something that we should consider in this discussion is the role of culture. What you have described is a more common approach in Russia. While in Britain and more generally in other western cultures that are more individualistic there is a stronger focus on personal responsibility. If to take the example we have been discussing, then I think it is seen from the point of view of 'who is interested' in getting what we have to offer. From this it follows that the one who is interested is responsible for making sure s/he does what was planned. It does make it sound rather inflexible, but if to take how the story ended they considered my circumstances.
You also asked what can be a good reward for a student. I think it depends on the student to a certain extent. For some a word of praise is good enough, while for others some more material things work such as different materials and resources connected with their interests or specialization. For more ambitious still participating in professionally-oriented events such as seminars or conferences can be treated as a reward. And then if they win, it becomes even more rewarding. I've actually enumerated quite ordinary things, not at all original, but my point is that knowing their students well teachers can find ways of letting their students feel proud of what they have achieved.
Does it make any sense?
Natalya