Failed first nursing course at UTA

[mwthread]

UTA was my first experience with online learning. Hesitant to start, I did a lot of research before I chose this program. Enrolling was easy and my academic advisor was great.

What I did not know was that they use academic coaches for the courses. I never heard back from the instructor once. The academic coach assigned to me was terrible and did not respond to emails for up to a week and then it was always vague.

The coursework seemed pretty straightforward and I did all the quizzes without problem. My problems began with the papers submitted with the assignments. First they didn't receive them and I got no reply from my coach about them. I emailed everyone I could about my work and no one would provide an answer to why my papers never received a grade. I ended up failing my first course because my papers were not graded. I submitted papers via email, blackboard several times using different internet browsers.

I got an email that this coach is no longer there, which is good, but now I am not sure if I want to try this class again. The said I have to repeat regardless. Has anyone else had this problem? I feel burned by this experience.

[LakeEmerald]

I have not had a similar experience at UTA, but it sounds like you ended up with a terrible coach. You sound articulate. It is reasonable to assume that the failure was the coach's and not yours. I would appeal this if you truly did your assignments and turned them in on time. Call and make an appointment to speak to your advisor (call the nursing department, I can't find the number right now), explain, and ask about an appeal or at least a free do-over. At the very least you deserve an explanation about what happened.

I have had a good experience with the school, but I have often wondered what would happen if I had a bad coach or advisor. Perhaps while you are trying to sort this out you can take another nursing course. You will likely have a different coach. Sorry you had such a rotten experience. I wish you the best in your journey.

[Milo_RN]

I have two classes to go and have never heard of this happening either. Some coaches do not get back in a timely manner, but at least all of my assignments were graded within a week at the latest in all of my classes. If you turn them into blackboard, there should be a record of it, as well as a time stamp on when you submitted it. If you turned your homework in, then it should be really easy to see when you turned it in. I would definitely appeal if I were you.

[iLOVEbees]

When you submit a paper, you can see instantly that it was received. Whenever I submitted anything, I always clicked on it afterwards and downloaded it to make sure it submitted properly. Only once did it not, and I think it was user error not a software problem. I emailed my coach and they reset it so I could resubmit.

Sorry to hear about your problem. It is not the norm. To be honest, it sounds like you thought you were submitting and actually didn't. I say this because there is no way to submit more than once. You said you submitted multiple times using different browsers, which is technically impossible. Once it is submitted, it will not allow you to submit a second time.

I suggest you do what I did above. I also suggest you go through the blackboard orientation video again and make sure you understand how blackboard works.

Don't let this problem get in the way of obtaining your BSN. Good luck!