After a quarter of a century teaching part-time for higher education, mostly at College of Southern Nevada (CSN) and almost exclusively IS101 Introduction to Information Systems, the twenty sixth (26) year commences.
Toward the end of last semester, I learned about 'ghost students' and realized I had one on my roster. It seems CSN is not alone in experiencing this:
To mitigate this, CSN implemented a new policy this semester where (for an in-person course) a student must attend the at least one class session during the first week and (for an online course) a student must complete at least one assignment during the first week. I wonder if/how many ghost students may be on my roster this semester.
Since yesterday morning, I have been individually reaching out to each of the twenty two (22) students. Over half of the students have replied to me and over half of them have participated in a quick WebEx meeting with me. I am excited to meet the rest before our first class session :-)
Another source of excitement is that this is the first semester in years, there is no change in IS101 curriculum or rubric from the Digital Literacy program director. This leaves me more time and energy to implement my own tweaks and updates ^_^
Though the first classroom meeting is nine days from now, the Fall 2024 semester officially begins in four days. Let the second quarter of a century begin!
