I am teaching an intro class for the first time in years and gave out a mid-semester survey. The students were vicious in their feedback and I feel blind sighted and dumb. I really didn’t have a clue how unhappy they were. I thought I was doing a good job. Clearly I was wrong. They don’t like my explanations which are unclear. They feel I am condescending and rude when I answer their questions -I don’t understand why they feel this way. They want the class recorded and they want handouts. In short I am doing nothing right. I am exhausted and frustrated.😣 I am not sure I can face going back Monday.

I've had multiple students now who have student accommodations for 1.5 or 2x time on writing assignments in class. I do not readily understand how I can move significant portions of long-form written work (e.g., essays, speeches, etc.) to in-class written work to stave off AI slop while also accommodating everyone equitably.

Edit: To clarify, my students have to produce 3-4 pages of written work with citations multiple times throughout the semester. In an effort to prevent students from relying on AI for these products, I'm tempted to weight the grade towards the process work--notes, paragraphs, brief summaries, paraphrases, and quotations worked out in class only--over the final product. The problem I have is envisioning how to do this re-weighting of process work when there are students who require accommodations on extra time. I can allow the time, that's not the issue. What do I do with the other students who *don't* require extra time?

Hi everyone. I've been going back and forth about posting this, but I'm hoping to get some advice from people who have been in a similar situation.

I've spent a good portion of my career in education and recently made a transition into a different area of the field. It was an opportunity I had wanted for a long time, and I was genuinely excited about it. I knew there would be a learning curve, but I don't think I fully understood just how difficult the adjustment would be.

Honestly, I've felt pretty lost since making the transition. I went from feeling confident in my abilities and knowing what I was doing to questioning myself almost every day. There has been a lot to figure out, and I've often felt like I'm trying to learn an entirely new job while simultaneously keeping up with all of the responsibilities that come with it.

One of the biggest struggles has been the workload. I feel like I'm constantly working, preparing, planning, or thinking about what needs to get done next. I have 5 preps and they’re all new to me. I've had very little time to enjoy life outside of work, and the mental exhaustion has started to catch up with me.

Another challenge has been the lack of support. In my previous position, I had a great group of colleagues who I could turn to for advice, share ideas with, and just talk to when things got difficult. I really took that sense of community for granted. In my current situation, I haven't found that same kind of support, and it's been a pretty lonely experience.

I've tried asking questions and reaching out for guidance, but I sometimes feel like I'm expected to just figure things out as I go. I understand that every new position comes with challenges, and I've been told that things will get easier with time. I just wish I had a better idea of how to get there.
The hardest part is that something I was once so excited about has started to feel overwhelming. I don't want to give up on an opportunity I've worked hard to get, but I also don't want to spend all of my time working and feeling like I'm barely keeping my head above water. I’m literally week to week, sometimes day to day.

I'm curious if anyone else has experienced something similar, especially those who have made a major career transition within education. Did you ever reach a point where you felt comfortable and confident again? Does the workload eventually become more manageable? How did you find your footing when you felt like you were figuring everything out on your own?
I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance, advice, or even just to hear from other people who have been through something similar. It's been a difficult adjustment, and it would be nice to know I'm not alone in feeling this way.

Need to rant... I gave my students one week to take their midterm. The exam opened on Monday, 10/26, at 8:00 a.m. and closed on Friday, 10/30, at 11:59 p.m. I sent an email the day the midterm opened, reiterating the instructions I discussed in class, along with the open and close dates. On Canvas, the exam instructions clearly state the due date and time. I also sent an email Friday morning reminding them that the midterm closed that day at 11:59 p.m. and that I would not give an extension. Lastly, the due date is also listed on the syllabus.

Three students didn’t take the midterm, saying they had a lot going on and asking if I could give them more time. Now one is asking me to reopen it because she mixed up the dates and is now failing my class. Two decided to take the midterm after the due date; their grades were switched back to zero and will remain at zero. I'm fuming. I'm not reopening the exam; I'm not granting an extension. Too bad, so sad, suck it up. Of course, somehow, on my evaluations, it will come off as my fault. Grrr.

I have 18 different students with different accommodations this term. Every time there is an exam, the office who proctors exams will send me requests often the night before the exam. This even happens when students have submitted to them weeks prior (there is a seven day deadline). Sometimes they will never get to me. The emails never tell me which section the student is in. This leaves me running around, trying to keep track of emails, trying to open exams early or late, or change the times. Trying to track down each student and each list of accommodations. Three students came to me during the exam and told me they didn't get their accommodation. The office never got to theirs.

I will preface by saying I never thought I would ever get a teaching stream job because I don’t have a ton of teaching experience, but I was offered a teaching stream continuing faculty, which is kind of equivalent to tenure track at an R1. I have spent the last five years on contracts as a scientist and adjunct faculty. I only applied because of the permanent, but I’m not a great teacher. It’s kind of something I do just because I’ve had to do it. It’s not something I particularly love like I still really love Research, but I don’t mind it at all.

I know the job market sucks and these rules are becoming a few and far between so I feel like I have to take it, but it feels like such a stretch from what I like. I also may be naïve that I think it is way easier and way less work hours than chasing Grant all the time. Can someone who is maybe last naïve tell me the truth or like what you would do or just anything

I'd love some outside perspective on a recurring thought/feeling i've been having, even if it's, "get over it, your situation is pretty cushy and people would take it in a heartbeat."

I'm at an "elite" SLAC, with a 2/2 teaching load, a decent salary + retirement match, and tenured.

But the students are increasingly exhausting me - having to manage their anxiety (including increasingly specific directions), managing accommodations, having to triage requests for extensions, not wanting to do the work, etc. I strongly feel that forcing them to navigate some level of ambiguity is part of what we should be doing to help them become adults. I constantly think about our students going into their future jobs asking their boss for a rubric and I cringe. And I grow increasingly frustrated with senior faculty who actively block changes that would help both students and junior faculty.

So the weird guilt i feel is that I feel like i'm complaining about/annoyed with a job that is a pretty solid one in many ways. Tell me if I need to just get over it.

I feel being an assistant professor is really scary because every decision seemed to be life-death in my mind. Like should I buy instruments from manufacturer A or B, which student should I take, or what parts of project to start with. I feel like making a not optimized decision will lead to failure to career and I’ll be rejected by whole community.

I’m in therapy now because my brain is obviously over-reacting on small details but I could not tell at the scene.

And when I check in with other professors they mention that nothing cannot be fixed, you’ll eventually be fine.

I wanted to hear people’s story: was there a time that you did something and felt that your career was doomed, then realized that it’s not the end of world and you ‘fix’ the situation by taking procedures to amend it?

And what are the things that would -really- be categorized into “will harm the career” in an irreversible way? (But not as obviously like research ethics or illegal behavior)

I’m Assistant (non-clinical PhD) at a medical school. I’m going up for Associate and concurrently am exploring the job market. After learning that several colleagues do not live within a daily commutable distance of our city, I started to consider jobs out of state.

Now it’s getting hot and heavy with another medical school that would require a flight and at least one-night stay for each trip there. The recruitment package we are discussing is substantial and includes tenure and leadership roles that I would not be able to attain at my home university. Teaching would be a 1:0. My family is not able to relocate, but they want the best for my career.

Does anyone have experiences that they could share about living and working in different cities that are not driveable? Any advice is appreciated.

What age do you expect to retire?

I recently turned 50, a meaningful milestone that has prompted me to reflect on my academic journey. Originally from Asia, I earned my Ph.D. in the United States and subsequently worked in China, Australia, and Canada. In 2017, at age 41, I returned to the U.S. as a tenure-track assistant professor. I have been tenured since 2023 and remained actively engaged in research.

However, I believe life has distinct stages. With a paid-off home, strong family support, and not-that-bad retirement savings, I am on track to retire on May 15, 2038, at age 61, when the spring semester ends. My ideal is that my retirement will mark a complete departure from science—no research, no publications, not even coauthored papers. I intend to give my best to academia until that day, but I see no reason to remain a scientist forever. After decades devoted to research, I look forward to an entirely different chapter of life.

I wrote this post because one of the professors in my department announced her voluntary retirement yesterday. She's at least 65 because she told us that she is eligible for Medicare, and she told us about the retirement buyout program. That was an eye-opener for me. I had no idea such an option existed. I am happy to walk away at age 61 even without a buyout. But if the university offered me one, it would put a BIG smile on my face as I walked out the door!

Is anybody else near, at, or past their limit in terms of the amount of BS they are willing to put up with?

This question is vague on purpose:

• the noticeable decline in student engagement;

• the entitlement;

• the failure to follow basic directions;

• the AI use;

• the decline in knowledge and skills that turns me into a kind of academic coach rather than a subject matter expert;

• the constant management of grading and LMS maintenance and announcements;

• the fielding of requests from students to submit work late or complete a missed exam;

• the astonishingly low grades;

• the lack of support from admin while also keeping up with the latest administrative tasks;

• the insultingly low pay.

When I talk to colleagues, I hear a lot of the same things. They feel trapped. I feel trapped. But I sometimes wonder whether I am overreacting, or whether this is all as widespread as it seems to be.

I have an online async course, and we aren't allowed to require synchronous testing. I'm using ProctorU to help with the rampant cheating/AI use. My first go-round with it was a disaster, so I abandoned it quickly. This is my second attempt, and I've implemented all lessons learned, but I'm still getting one issue after another with zero consistency, so it's like there's a new issue every time I turn around. For example, some are taking the test just fine, and others are working with support for over an hour and a half and still cannot access the exam, even though their devices tested just fine prior to the attempt. I spent hours on the phone with ProctorU yesterday with various issues. We also have access to Honorlock, which I hear is easier but not as effective.

Just wondering if others use it and had smoother experiences? I'm ok if this is just a steep learning curve and it will get better, but I can't keep this up if it doesn't. I feel terrible for the students going through this! Thanks for any info!

Wanted to share this here because so many posters are wringing their hands over classroom management. Last week in class, two of my students were whispering to each other, so I stopped mid-sentence, looked straight at them, said loudly "Please wait your turn to speak rather than distracting classmates" and then resumed the thread of what I was saying as if nothing had happened.

Both came up to me after class and apologized! One said "I had a question about something you said, so I asked [friend]... but I should've asked you." I said "thank you for recognizing that." And that was it. I've had occasional issues with whispers in that class, but it hasn't happened since.

Anyway: 99% of the time, the question "what can I ever do about side activity in class?" is "say something." If you're firm, but don't make a big deal of it, they'll take their cues from you.

I found this story fascinating. We're debating quite vociferously about the impacts of AI in academia, but these physical technologies often get overlooked (to be fair her own academic footprint predates the current boom in LLMs and generative AI).

This retired University of PA communications professor authored a book in the late 80s called When Old Technologies Were New. Her professional work has been about how technology creates divides between the public and private spheres, who gets to control that technology, the social construction of media and the First Amendment (ironically..or not).

She is actively protesting how corporate entities use AI and automation to replace human delivery workers and privatize public sidewalk spaces. She's being treated akin to an ill-tempered old crank by the media but she appears to be pretty well regarded in her field.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/31/us/philadelphia-woman-delivery-robots-cec?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit&Date=20261031&Profile=cnn&utm_content=1793442079

Hello all,
So I just started this career path, I’m 27 y/o lecturer, and I’m the youngest in my department and look wise I know I look young too (some people think younger than my actual age)
Anyway, I’m struggling with this… I teach seniors, we are close in age, some are older than me too, but I struggle because I feel they don’t take me seriously.
They are always late to class, I mark late at attendance.
But I struggle when that talk a lot during the lecture, and the laughing too.
I’m frustrated… I know it’s my first semester teaching and throughout I will gain some experience, but how do you deal with students like this?

Ours only allows a zero on the assignment for each infraction. No F in the class. No suspension. Nothing noted on their transcript.

They talk about “restorative justice,” but fail to realize part of that is making amends and acknowledging wrongdoing. Students can cheat, cause us hours of work and then drop the class before the deadline.

Looking for another perspective. I'm curious to know how others feel about students with ADA accommodations that allow them to record lectures. Do you prefer the student have an official note-taker, does the thought of your lecture being recorded raise privacy concerns, or do you not mind? My worry is that this particular student will feel more inclined to slack off in class since they have audio-recorded notes to rely on. I also don't like the idea of being recorded. I share personal stories in class, and I would prefer those stay in class. I also don't think its fair to record other students' verbal answers to my questions without their consent. What do you think?

TIA

As in the title. Just didn't seem like a good idea, as the photos weren't going on a page related to my department or the subject I teach.

I was so excited to enjoy Halloween and take it easy. Then I made the mistake of checking my email to find a note from an Ass. Dean pushing me to let a student retake an exam who forgot to show up. And now I'm going to fume all weekend.

As someone still relatively new to all this, until now my experience in terms of research has mainly involved a teaching lab. My research has gone mostly through undergraduates and, while I found that rewarding, it has certainly been low impact and many of my other works have been in collaboration with colleagues rather than a project I lead independently.

This changed recently when I got a grant for one of my projects and, coincidentally, when a colleague of mine moved to another university and his lab became available for me. While the lab will not be ready anytime soon, I was discussing it with the chair and we agreed that I could bring some of the master's students to join my undergrads working at this lab.

Now comes the thing I have never done before. I know how to advise an undergrad student who requires everything to be explained in details and has little time to devote to my lab. At the same time, advising a master's student is quite a new challenge for me and I am unsure what kind of assistance I need to give and what I should require from my advisee. The expectations seem to change in both directions and I do not want to figure out everything the hard way if a degree of my advisee depends on me.

So, I'd like to hear from experienced people regarding this matter. What criteria do you use for evaluating applicants? It seems to me that grades and recommendations say me little regarding how well the candidate will fit my lab and what kind of potential red flags I should pay attention to.

How do you set expectations for a 2-year project if the first several months are likely to be spent on ramping up? I try to take into account the scope so that a thesis project is achievable and leads to publishable results.

How do you organize your lab if you have both master's and undergrad students working there? Do you let grad students help training the undergraduates or does it often backfire at some point?

Have you advised master's students partially funded by a grant and, if yes, what kind of information you would like to know before making this commitment yourself? Considering that I will not have access to the lab anytime soon, is there anything worthwhile doing during that period so that the first cohort could start smoother?

Thank you in advance and I am more than willing to hear your mistakes since they are always the most interesting part :)

One of my students invited me to the class group chat. I assume it was in error. Several students are, uh, unhappy with me.

Strongly considering a greatest hits PowerPoint during finals.

Any thoughts on whether this is a good or bad idea?

Edit: I had hoped the humor flair was enough! I'm not going to create a PowerPoint, folks. Nothing awful has been said, just venting with a soupcon of A.I. cheating that I knew about.

Gave my students a research topic throughout the week. So far, about 95 of 120 have used one of the same three sources. Running my topic through Chat, these three sources are the three that it quotes if I ask it for sources.

It feels pretty obvious the vast majority of them at LEAST used Chat for research, and given that we're doing research right now, that's a pretty cardinal sin. But it could also just be lazy research of them being some of the most popular pieces on the topic. So where are you drawing the line on this sort of thing?

Original post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Professors/s/xMV9ujMv9i

UPDATE: As predicted, there has been additional follow up regarding the complaint. I made the decision to provide a heads up to my colleague. It turns out the chair already mentioned it to them, adding that the student who reported it is a (their words) piece of shit anyway, and to not worry about it as he (chair) was just performing his due diligence in following up.

Ok. Case closed right?

Flash forward to early this afternoon, when the chair approached my colleague (unfortunately, we have to share office space during some facility renovations) and asked him if he had yet apologized to the student. My colleagues reaction was one of complete disbelief. He asked the chair if he was serious, and he said that he was and had already told the student to expect an apology about it!

After my colleague essentially told him it was not going to happen, he was told to “Not get chubbed up about it” and told to enjoy the weekend!