Weekly Assignments: An Inconsistent Priority

[fxndomgeek]

Hello fellow members of the Potterworld community:

I am writing this post to propose a revaluation regarding weekly assignments.

Every week, the Academics team offers players a chance to earn additional Academic Credits through forum-submitted assignments. While these assignments are meant to be a regular weekly occurrence, their timing has been somewhat inconsistent. For example, it is currently Wednesday, March 20th, and the assignment for the week of March 17th has yet to have been posted; though Academics expects players to have submitted their assignments by the scheduled deadline every Sunday. Yet, we players are not allowed the intended, allotted time of a week to complete the assignment. As of the past month or so, the assignment isn't posted until later in the week, or until a player alerts a staff member, leaving us with limited time to complete said assignment! A bit unfair. I am requesting further consistency with the postings and/or leniency for us players.

Thank you for everyone's time for reading this post - please comment any questions, comments, and/or concerns you may have regarding this suggestion!

 

[oakyno]

I never really do weekly assignments but some of the few times I went to start I noticed it was an old prompt and was already well into the week. I’m betting it’s a lot to handle for staff to do consistently on a schedule, which is why I think your message about leniency for players is perfect. I know life happens for staff that sometimes schedules won’t be perfect, but it seems really fair to then give the allotted time to students as a makeup period when this happens.

 

[Chriss]

I can understand the frustrations that could come from this. As oakyno stated, it's most likely a lot to handle with everything else that the Academics Department does. We have to remember their perspective as well. We do not know the requirements for Jr./Sr. Professors, but we do know them for Class Helpers. Assuming that they are the same, this would mean that Professors are required to teach three classes a week. Before they can teach a class with a new lesson plan, I would assume that the Academics Lead or Academic Advisor would have to review and/or approve the lesson. This means there is a lot of planning and prep time for a singular note class. Professors most likely take more time, out of the regular amount of time they spend planning, to work on potential Weekly Assignments. Professors also assist in grading these assignments even if it wasn't their own Weekly Assignment. Assuming that it is the responsibility of the Academics Lead to approve and publish the Weekly Assignments on top of everything else they need to get done. We also have to understand that the Academics Lead sadly resigned from that position within the last month or two. This puts the entire "Class" side of the Academics Department on to the current Head of Academics. Not only do they now have to worry about the Weekly Assignments, but also other tasks: applications, interviews, training, promotions, feedback, and much more. Head Staff already have a lot of other responsibilities only and by adding on these other tasks, there will most likely be a task or two that had been overlooked. All staff positions are voluntary positions meaning that they are not able to force anyone to do anything. This is just my opinion on the matter.

 

[GreatLordOz]

My suggestion would be to retire assignments of the week and make it monthly assignments. You are given 4 prompts at the start of the month and you are free to complete any number of them by the end of the month. That reduces the likelyhood of assignments being posted late as it is only 1 time a month. Additionally, it allows players to devote all of that 1 month time to 1 assignment or split that time with the 4 assignments of the month if they choose to do all of them

 

[oakyno]

My suggestion would be to retire assignments of the week and make it monthly assignments. You are given 4 prompts at the start of the month and you are free to complete any number of them by the end of the month. That reduces the likelyhood of assignments being posted late as it is only 1 time a month. Additionally, it allows players to devote all of that 1 month time to 1 assignment or split that time with the 4 assignments of the month if they choose to do all of them

You know what, if this was the case I might actually do them since I would have more time to fit it into my schedule.