Close Menu
The Baylor Lariat
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    Trending
    • Students react to emergency alert following campus lockdown
    • Baylor shelter-in-place lifted following police pursuit of robbery suspects
    • Baylor graduate charged after killing cats with pellet gun, hanging bodies over utility lines
    • Baylor Football’s Alex Foster dies at 18
    • Board of Regents confirms budget, renovations, new leadership in May meeting
    • How facilities responds to storms, flooding in campus buildings
    • Welcome Week leaders now paid in hopes of increasing numbers
    • 5 Baylor sports storylines to look forward to in 2025-26
    • About us
      • Spring 2025 Staff Page
      • Copyright Information
    • Contact
      • Contact Information
      • Letters to the Editor
      • Subscribe to The Morning Buzz
      • Department of Student Media
    • Employment
    • PDF Archives
    • RSS Feeds
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    The Baylor LariatThe Baylor Lariat
    Subscribe to the Morning Buzz
    Sunday, July 6
    • News
      • State and National News
        • State
        • National
      • Politics
        • 2025 Inauguration Page
        • Election Page
      • Homecoming Page
      • Baylor News
      • Waco Updates
      • Campus and Waco Crime
    • Arts & Life
      • Wedding Edition 2025
      • What to Do in Waco
      • Campus Culture
      • Indy and Belle
      • Sing 2025
      • Leisure and Travel
        • Leisure
        • Travel
          • Baylor in Ireland
      • Student Spotlight
      • Local Scene
        • Small Businesses
        • Social Media
      • Arts and Entertainment
        • Art
        • Fashion
        • Food
        • Literature
        • Music
        • Film and Television
    • Opinion
      • Editorials
      • Points of View
      • Lariat Letters
    • Sports
      • March Madness 2025
      • Football
      • Basketball
        • Men’s Basketball
        • Women’s Basketball
      • Soccer
      • Baseball
      • Softball
      • Volleyball
      • Equestrian
      • Cross Country and Track & Field
      • Acrobatics & Tumbling
      • Tennis
      • Golf
      • Pro Sports
      • Sports Takes
      • Club Sports
    • Lariat TV News
    • Multimedia
      • Video Features
      • Podcasts
        • Don’t Feed the Bears
      • Slideshows
    • Advertising
    The Baylor Lariat
    Home»Opinion»Editorials

    Editorial: Help me to help you

    webmasterBy webmasterFebruary 22, 2013 Editorials No Comments4 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    BlackboardComicStudents are expected to do their homework, attend class according to the attendance policy and keep ahead of their assignments and grades.

    To do so and keep track of our progress, we’ve been given Blackboard, our one-stop answers website. Professors can post syllabi and document students’ attendance and grades. This wonderful tool can help keep both students and teachers organized — so why doesn’t everyone use it?

    Both groups can benefit from this tool, but there are some members of both groups who fail to do so. Those who drop the ball in either group deserve blame.

    Professors, students need to monitor their progress. To this end, we need you to regularly post grades, attendance and other announcements on the website for us to see. It will also ensure that these things are being accurately recorded.

    For example, if you use a sign-in sheet to take attendance, it is possible that a student could attend class but forget to sign the sheet, or arrive late and miss it. Your records would not reflect the reality of your students’ attendance. What, then, is the recourse for that student? Due to Baylor’s attendance policy, missing class is not something to be taken lightly.

    Or assignments — many professors use a “you missed class, ask a friend for your assignments” philosophy. This is all very well and good — students should indeed stay on top of their assignments — but it begs the assumption that a student’s friends in class will be organized enough to know and understand the assignment’s parameters, which may not be the case. It also may be that a student has no friends in the class in the first place. This philosophy takes accountability out of the hands of the student and places it in a third party. This is bad for both students and professors. Instead, it is better to post to Blackboard.

    Students, being accountable for your grades, assignments and absences is your responsibility. Using this tool can help you keep track of all of those facets of your academic career.

    If you are a student and don’t keep track of your academic life, shame on you. You could contribute to the unwillingness of professors to post. It’s disheartening for anyone to see their hard work go to waste, and perhaps those who don’t have had a bumper crop of non-checker students. The person you’re hurting the most is yourself, however.

    There will come a time when we don’t have the convenience of Blackboard, when our bosses are disorganized and we reap the disadvantages of their messy desks and forgotten reminder memos. We will eventually have to learn to organize and orient ourselves to a work environment in which our tasks aren’t laid out for us.

    Take advantage of Blackboard while you can, and use the knowledge you gain in accepting accountability to deal with those challenges. When that day comes, you’ll wish you had a Blackboard. Why not make the best of it now?

    To those in either group who avoid Blackboard due to a distaste for technology, it’s time to face the 21 century. There is no excuse for you. If you don’t know how to use it, learn. It will make your life easier and not harder in the long run. You can’t escape technology forever.

    Professors expect students to be organized and aware — as they well should be. But advance preparation and organization is a two-way street. Professors must give students the tools they need to do so themselves by using Blackboard. Students must in turn use this tool to its fullest potential.

    webmaster

    Keep Reading

    Don’t believe myths about autism — reduce stigma by learning facts

    I never thought I’d miss my meal plan

    Violent predator catchers do more harm than good

    Lariat Letter: My pre-medical studies have shaped me into a better man

    It’s time to write more handwritten letters

    The end of the semester is just the beginning

    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Recent Posts
    • Students react to emergency alert following campus lockdown June 27, 2025
    • Baylor shelter-in-place lifted following police pursuit of robbery suspects June 26, 2025
    About

    The award-winning student newspaper of Baylor University since 1900.

    Articles, photos, and other works by staff of The Baylor Lariat are Copyright © Baylor® University. All rights reserved.

    Subscribe to the Morning Buzz

    Get the latest Lariat News by just Clicking Subscribe!

    Follow the Live Coverage
    Tweets by @bulariat

    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    • Featured
    • News
    • Sports
    • Opinion
    • Arts and Life
    © 2025 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.