To: Maria Enrico, Chairperson, Modern Languages, Antonio Perez, President, BMCC, and Eda Henao, Deputy Chairperson, Modern Languages
BMCC Language Department: Learn to Communicate!
Urge the BMCC Language department to communicate with professors and students about delays, technical issues, full cost of programs, textbooks AND access codes. If our grades are to depend on an unreliable computer system in conjunction with an expensive, buggy and mediocre learning program, we must know how these outside issues, unnecessarily inflicted upon us, will effect our grades and we demand better options to gain a valuable learning experience that some of us are paying out of pocket for.
Why is this important?
We, the students of Italian 101, section 015 have the following grievances:
The cost of the textbook was disclosed, that being said, the access codes were not included in all textbooks (sealed without one), cornering many students into relying on purchasing the access code online at over 50% the cost of the almost $200 textbook. This access code allows for one semester of access to a very buggy learning program that will have to be purchased again next semester, making this financial entrapment.
The Access code grants access to a less than useful interface that students have not even been able to use to the fullest of it’s miniscule capabilities due to an incompatibility issue with the school computers that the language department should have rectified prior to the beginning of the semester. Many students are familiar with the necessity to check for compatibility prior to installing/using a computer program/site for one's own personal use, so this great lapse in judgment, reminiscent of the Cuny First debacle, along with a failure to communicate the issue and the steps being taken to rectify it, give the impression of disrespect, rudeness and a general disregard for students that are serious about their academic careers.
As students, and individuals who have or have not been through careers prior to returning to school, we have also noticed the obvious disregard for the professors who are doing their best to try to deal with this despite the lack of support from the language department. Some of us have been seen to do more to assist the professors than the Language Department has cared to do, Including and not limited to:
1. Giving the professors a run down of the materials needed to carry out their jobs
2. Explaining whom is responsible for providing students with a syllabus
3. Providing adequate Tech support
4. Carrying out necessary troubleshooting when a program or system requires rectification
5. COMMUNICATING the acknowledgement any of the above mentioned issues (or any other issue that may effect our student careers) and are working towards fixing it.
(Thank you to all the students that offered their help, free of charge, despite that not being your responsibility and the fact that someone else is getting paid to do that…)
The failure to communicate has also created a lapse in time that the students cannot regain. While many of us wanted to give this course a chance, it will now be costly for us to drop the course. This is not how the students should be rewarded for their patience with the language department.
We, the students demand better communication from the Language department (the irony is flabbergasting!) and viable options to assist us in making the best choice for our academic careers.
The cost of the textbook was disclosed, that being said, the access codes were not included in all textbooks (sealed without one), cornering many students into relying on purchasing the access code online at over 50% the cost of the almost $200 textbook. This access code allows for one semester of access to a very buggy learning program that will have to be purchased again next semester, making this financial entrapment.
The Access code grants access to a less than useful interface that students have not even been able to use to the fullest of it’s miniscule capabilities due to an incompatibility issue with the school computers that the language department should have rectified prior to the beginning of the semester. Many students are familiar with the necessity to check for compatibility prior to installing/using a computer program/site for one's own personal use, so this great lapse in judgment, reminiscent of the Cuny First debacle, along with a failure to communicate the issue and the steps being taken to rectify it, give the impression of disrespect, rudeness and a general disregard for students that are serious about their academic careers.
As students, and individuals who have or have not been through careers prior to returning to school, we have also noticed the obvious disregard for the professors who are doing their best to try to deal with this despite the lack of support from the language department. Some of us have been seen to do more to assist the professors than the Language Department has cared to do, Including and not limited to:
1. Giving the professors a run down of the materials needed to carry out their jobs
2. Explaining whom is responsible for providing students with a syllabus
3. Providing adequate Tech support
4. Carrying out necessary troubleshooting when a program or system requires rectification
5. COMMUNICATING the acknowledgement any of the above mentioned issues (or any other issue that may effect our student careers) and are working towards fixing it.
(Thank you to all the students that offered their help, free of charge, despite that not being your responsibility and the fact that someone else is getting paid to do that…)
The failure to communicate has also created a lapse in time that the students cannot regain. While many of us wanted to give this course a chance, it will now be costly for us to drop the course. This is not how the students should be rewarded for their patience with the language department.
We, the students demand better communication from the Language department (the irony is flabbergasting!) and viable options to assist us in making the best choice for our academic careers.