One absolutely essential personality trait of a records person is the abhorrence of missing information. It’s no fun being the keeper of incomplete records. One tell-tale sign of a budding records person is the need to make lists and to be sure the lists are complete. I started making lists in grade school. I made lists of everything---books, records, outfits worn to school, cute boys who would never speak to me, my sister’s annoying habits, movie stars who were my REAL parents,---the lists were everywhere. I was an obsessive list maker and my mother, having obsessions of her own, probably still has all the lists in shoe boxes under my old bed.
I still make lots of lists. They are my security blanket. Imagine how excited I was to discover that Banner likes to make lists too! You are probably all aware of the infamous missing grade list. This is what prompts us to send you notes trying to get a grade for every student. (We records people hate to send out official transcripts, the ultimate list, with missing grade gaps). I addressed the need for a grade for every student in the last article on the November 21 withdrawal deadline date. It’s part of my No Student Left Ungraded campaign.
Another really fun list from Banner is the “F and W Grades with Missing Last Date of Attendance Information”. We call it “FAWGWMLDOAI” for short. This wonderful list tells us all the people who have submitted an “F” or “W” and forgot to input the last date of attendance. The Financial Aid Office has always needed this information and now that we have Banner we are able to collect it easily. The field for last date of attendance is on the class list form you use for grading. When you give a student an “F” or a “W” you just need to scoot across and input the last date of attendance. Should you, in a moment of madness, forget to input this important information, your name will appear on the FAWGWMLDOAI list and you will hear from us, ad nauseam, until we have the information.
People are still getting used to supplying this information so right now the daily list is pretty substantial. We have to contact each of you when you forget to input this date so it’s pretty tedious for us. We like to make and look at lists but we don’t necessarily want to WORK on the lists. You know how that goes. I have one item that has been on my list for decades, the lose weight item. It remains on the list and I just keep upping the amount of the goal. I love the list but I don’t really want to work on it. That’s how we feel about all our missing information lists. We’re quite pleased with a list of just a couple names.
Please remember the withdrawal deadline is Wednesday, November 21.
All faculty initiated withdrawals take place on line-no more bubble forms!
All students need a grade even if they haven’t been attending or have never attended. When you submit a “W” or “F” grade is sure to include the last date of attendance.
Hey, I made a list for you! I just cannot stop list making…
Deborah Benjamin
Registration and Records
11/20/2007 |