Ahead of this year's Last Day of Classes celebration, The Chronicle's Ryan Zhang and Frances Beroset reached out to professors to find out how they approach LDOC when they have classes scheduled.
Connel Fullenkamp, professor of the practice in economics and director of undergraduate studies
"As far as I’m concerned, it’s a fairly normal last class day. This is my 17th LDOC, so I’ve generally had no problem executing that strategy. Duke grants its professors wide latitude in terms of their in-class policies, and professors are free to define what they consider to be unacceptable or disruptive behavior. My feeling is that I’ve never really had students who were what I considered to be excessively disruptive on LDOC. I’ve had some interesting things happen—one year when I was teaching Principles I had somebody streak. It was awesome. I mean, the guy was in Griffith and he only got like halfway down the stairs before he realized how far down it was to the bottom. So he turned around and got out as quickly as he could. It was really funny. I think this was more like a fraternity prank, but I thought it was hilarious. I guess I’m always surprised that my students don’t get quite as excited for what I call FallDOC. I always ask my students if they’re going to do anything special and they always look at me like I’m from Mars. You’d think they would do some hot chocolate-themed events or something, I don’t know."
Mine Cetinkaya-Rundel, assistant professor of the practice in statistical science and director of undergraduate studies
"The last day is often a final review. I try to make it a fun class. We play a Jeopardy game, there is quite a bit of shouting out of answers. It is all content-related, so it’s still worthwhile for those who choose to be there in terms of preparation for the final exam. But I purposefully don’t do a class where I anticipate them to be sitting and listening intently for 75 minutes. I’ve certainly had students who are eager to get up and get to partying, but no one who has been disruptive.
My guess is, if they’re in that state they’re just choosing not to come. Personally I don’t understand why if there is a party to be had, it’s not the day after the last day of classes but on the last day of classes—especially when we are told that if students are being disruptive, we should handle it ourselves. I think that’s quite a bit of responsibility to put on a faculty member.”
Rachel Kranton, James B. Duke professor of economics
"I know that students have a great day ahead of them, so I try to make sure that I finish what I need to do for the semester. I have a set of topics I need to get through, so I try to finish that well within time so that perhaps they can get out my class a bit earlier. My class ends at 1 p.m. I feel that they should still be coming to class at 1 in the afternoon. So I don’t think LDOC should start any earlier. I would prefer if it started more toward the evening so that everyone gets what they need before the end of the semester in their last classes, and then definitely go have fun!”
Dorian Canelas, assistant professor of the practice in chemistry
"I tend to use LDOC to review for the final exam in a fun way. This year, just like the past five years, we will be playing an Organic Chemistry 1 Jeopardy game that I designed. What could be more fun than playing team-based Jeopardy where the topics are all from Organic Chemistry? Nothing, that's what! It's a good review, and students seem to enjoy it. I haven't had any problems in recent years, and I appreciate that Duke students are serious about their studies and seize every opportunity to learn."
Clark Bray, associate professor of the practice of mathematics
“Last day of classes is always a lecture day for me. The attendance is usually very poor. My experience has been that for morning classes on LDOC, the attendance is okay. The later in the afternoon, the worse the attendance is. I usually try to have the new material completed before then, but that’s not always possible. In that case I have to lecture on new content. The thing about math classes is that the prerequisite structure is such that you really have to cover the material that’s listed. If you don’t cover all the material, then the students are not prepared for the next class. I really have to get it done.
I had a student one time who I was fairly certain was drunk. He asked a couple of silly questions, and we had a little fun with it, and we went on with other things. But I haven’t had any truly disruptive students. I’ve also had students come in dressed as a clown, wearing nothing but a speedo, different things like that. But they showed up! It’s not like we have a dress code here, so I guess it’s fine.
It is a university-scheduled class meeting day. And as much as I know students want to break out and have fun, I think the responsibility is partly on the students to make their own decisions as to how much they feel they can truly afford to miss their classes."
Michael Gustafson, associate professor of the practice of electrical and computer engineering
"For myself—I have for the past many, many years only ever taught Monday-Friday classes; the one recent semester I had a Monday-Wednesday schedule it turns out that the last day of class is usually a TBD in case of snow anyway. I have thus not had to figure out a class policy for a good long time. I will mention I generally stay home that day, simply because some students engage in activities which put them in a place where'd I'd prefer that not be my last memory of them before graduation or the summer..."
Michael Newcity, adjunct associate professor of linguistics
"I don’t cancel class, but I also am not going to artificially ramp up the importance and make it indispensable. I’m sure there will be more absences than usual. Last Friday I asked the students how many expected to be in class, and a number of hands were raised, so I said well, we’ll be doing business as normal. If no one had raised their hands I may very well have cancelled the class, but I certainly prefer not to do that."
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