Important Lesson to Learn

Being an older, non-traditional student, I needed to have flexibility with my schedule; so I decided to take most of my classes online.

Online classes were much better for me because I was already disciplined to work from home with my job. It wasn’t a hard transition to take online classes and still meet deadlines and keep up with assignments.  However, one of my biggest mistakes was not understanding the difference between ACES email and Canvas email.

I had a strict Spanish teacher who would not accept late work no matter what.  We had a paper that we had to write, but we had to get her approval on the subject first.  Without her approval, she would not accept our work.  Well I emailed her through ACES and gave her my idea.  When I hadn’t heard back, I sent another email, and still no response.  With the due date getting closer, I went ahead and began working on my paper anyway so that I’d at least have it ready once she gave her approval.  I sent a third email and still didn’t get a response.  I finally just turned in the paper anyway.

I was shocked and angry when I received my grade for my paper.  Let me add that I missed out on a weekend trip with my family just to stay home and write this paper.  I received a ZERO!  She didn’t give me credit for the assignment because I didn’t get her approval.  I explained that I had emailed her several times.  Then she realized that I used my ACES email and didn’t go through Canvas.  I was so confused!  But I was also upset that she wouldn’t give me a break and realize it was a simple mistake and not that I didn’t do the work.  She stood by keeping the zero as my grade.  Five of us made that mistake, and we all received a zero.

From that point on, I have always used Canvas email for any communication between myself and professors or other students.  That was a huge lesson learned.  That one zero made me work really hard the rest of the semester, including extra credit.  I was able to get a high “B,” but I really should have had an “A” in that class.

By NVC Student Monica Lopez