Class Ideas

There's a few things I've noticed that could possibly help improve class attendance...

One... Some people have very busy lives... so, when a class gets started, it's really hard for everyone to have their students make it on time... and if they're late, they get House points taken off, which actually works against a lot of people since if they DON'T attend, they don't have to worry about losing House points...

My suggestion? Add a guideline (maybe in the Class Rules posts or somewhere very visible so that people can see it) that says characters can CHOOSE whether they want to be late or not. What could happen instead is that a character could just pretend like they've been in class ALL ALONG, taking notes or chatting with someone or whatever... So, they can just seamlessly drop into the roleplay of the classroom without drawing attention and getting class points deducted.

Second, maybe teachers could make classes a more regular thing? Like... Maybe twice a month? (One class every two weeks or so?)... The teachers could either choose a day to start class... or well... just allow it to happen whenever they can get to it so long as it's every two weeks...

And you know... at the end of the first week, regardless of whether the class is finished or not, they can start a new class...... The previous class can continue to be ongoing until the end of the month, if necessary, but no class should last longer than a month... Does that sound reasonable, perhaps? If a teacher is having problems with that schedule, like maybe they have something going on IRL that prevents them from making an RP post more than twice a week or something... then, going back to my NPC idea... someone should play a substitute teacher to take over for them.

About attendance... I noticed there is kind of an attendance policy in place, but it seems a little vague. Also, there doesn't seem to be that much of an incentive for students to go to classes (and I've noticed that there are some students who just don't seem to go to class regardless)... There's trying to use the House Points thing... and I think that's a good idea... House points should definitely be emphasized and ramped up and stuff, but I think there should be something additional...

Maybe there could be some sticks to add to it... besides revoking Hogsmeade privileges... For instance, if a student has more than three UNEXCUSED (excused would mean, OOC the player hasn't PMed the class teacher or an admin that they won't be able to roleplay because of life issues, rigorous school schedule, a test, being in the hospital, going to a friend's house, having a party, having computer issues, etc.... excused absences wouldn't count towards the total, and it would generally be regarded that the student WAS in class the whole time) absences for class per semester than they will be held back next year. Meaning they won't be able to advance to, for example, third year; they'd stay a second year (although, I also believe players should be given a choice as to whether they want to continue to advance... a year can be kind of short in RP time sometimes, and maybe some people would prefer being a certain year for another year or more. Besides that, there runs a risk of running out of first years, second years, etc.)...

In addition, they would be deprived of any kind of allowance or what have you they get from their parents for whatever (money... or maybe they'd even have a chunk from their bank account taken away or something; whatever you guys think is best) when the next school year starts... This wouldn't last the whole school year... it would only last the first semester... If their class attendance improves, then they will have their allowance/money reinstated.

Lastly, I was thinking about my threat NPC idea and how it could apply to classes, too. I was thinking maybe... once every couple of months or something, a teacher could have something dangerous in their class. Something that makes sense for that specific class...

So, for instance... In Defense Against the Dark Arts, maybe a teacher could bring in a boggart or something. In Charms, a charm goes wrong somehow... In Potions, maybe a potion explodes (chosen at random, of course... it wouldn't severely injure the student, of course; it'd probably just result in mild or moderate injury or something) or maybe some fumes or something make all the students become infatuated with each other or something. In Care of Magical Creatures, maybe a field trip to the Forbidden Forest where a particularly dangerous creature is encountered or you know, maybe someone gets majorly injured or something from a magical creature in class...

In Transfiguration, maybe a transfiguration goes horribly wrong like maybe an animal someone is transfiguring dies... could cause some drama for a character who is particularly sensitive and such...

It could make classes a lot more interesting, I think.... and hopefully, all of this could increase attendance in classes... give students more to do.

Lastly, I was just thinking about House Points... and I have a question.... What is the reward/what happens/etc. for the House that gets the most House points?

Righto. I think I'll stick with what I know, address each issue as I see them.

Attendance/Punishment for a lack thereof.

I think that the system you suggested is the best one possible - it's certainly the one I've adapted to my classes, but I believe that we'd be making a very strong move to make this the official view of PA for class attendance, as we'd all prefer for people to turn up late, rather than not turn up at all. Personally, I find that I prefer to give points out to anyone for attending, so that is something I'd also like others' opinions on?

Class regularity

Wholeheartedly agree. Ways we could do this is have the current class up as a sticky thread, then at the end of the two weeks, or w.e. period is chosen, the old class is un-stickied, then the new class is stickied. I personally think that we'd benefit having a break between classes, maybe a week between classes officially "ending" and the new one beginning. So, two weeks of class, break for a week, two weeks of class, break for a week.

The NPC teacher idea is something I'm opposed to - we have too much on our plate as it is I find, however, it'd be worthwhile looking into making the substitute teacher role actually mean something. Too many subs don't ever do anything, despite the fact that the classes sit inactive (Mostly)

Attendance... blah

Not sure what to do with House Points, in all honesty. People have too many characters in too many houses to have much of a house spirit (Prove me wrong people, prove me wrong) An emphasis in House points is desperately needed though, I agree. I'll talk to the Hoggies staff about it.

See in what you said there the issue of a separate timeline is introduced. Thusfar we've chosen to avoid that, simply because it's easier not to have one. that's the basis of it. It's also a lot easier to do christmas and halloween events... at Christmas and Halloween, though maybe it's time we rethought some of those ideas?

As for the punishments for a lack of attendance, we tried doing something along the lines of restricting character freedom, and it flopped - don't want to do it again sorry. Maybe IC detentions are the way to go, then we incorporate that with your NPC idea, and deduct a large amount of house points?

Allowance

We've looked at a stipend based sort of thing, and it's true that monetary restrictions are a great way of pulling them back, in theory... I need to see where the site stands on me jump starting that system before I commit to anything though.

Threat NPC

Great idea, I love it, we must use it. It would be fun to use it just out of the blue. You'd never know which classes would involve the exciting thing.

Reward
I don't know either. It's been a long time since the house points were maintained year round, I've found, and normally when the system falls apart, it doesn't come straight till the next IC year.


Now, to the rest of you. This is not a conversation between Howl and I, instead this is just a conversation we're having with you all. If you have an opinion on anything I've said here, or in any other threads, you're damned right I expect you to voice them. If you don't, we figure that the idea isn't popular, so we just drop it. If you like what's being said here, say it. If you hate it, tell us. If you think it's good, but one thing stands out that you would do in another manner, TELL US.

Or else I'll be sad