I teach a course that caters for Mac and Windows, you may have just planted a good idea in my future writing ideas! Thanks.
It’s now on my tickers list!
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The odds are if she’s submitting homework digitally, she’ll have to convert them to Microsoft Word format anyways. Pages, Keynote, and Numbers are not always a part of the standard university Mac OS image.
“I see your logic and reason and raise you ‘That’s the way I’ve always done it and I’m not changing now’ and tenure” 
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This is an excellent point actually.
My positive experiences with Citrix may well be due to the fact that I am connected to a well maintained and modern Citrix version running on very capable hardware. Depending on the performance and capacity of the setup at her university, UX may differ significantly.
If a student explains to me that she thinks it’s better to submit in PDF format for the reasons mentioned, I’m likely to give her suggestion some consideration.
If, on the other hand, she tells me she’s only going to submit in a format other than the one I’ve asked for, my response might well be, “I guess your work will be treated as late until you submit in the requested format.”
(FWIW, I’ve never actually done that, and I prefer PDFs in any case. But I got so tired of repeatedly getting Word or Pages documents when I’d asked for PDFs that I finally started having students submit their work via Google Forms. The forms are set up to reject any file that’s not a PDF.)
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I realize in retrospect that the suggested approach betrays my fatigue from getting Word documents in cases where immutability should be set at a higher standard.
Yes, an opening from the student should be made in reference to a better option (PDF) not as an ultimatum.
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JJW
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Why not just wait and see what she is actually going to need? Perhaps there is a viable workaround that may not be a problem for a resourceful young lady.
Perhaps the prof has a personal POV which is overriding any practicality. To take off points sounds rather outrageous.
Maybe another prof is teaching the course. (I don’t know if it is a large university.)
I’d encourage her to talk to whomever she feels comfortable with (eg other profs*, older students with her major).
You can always get her a PC at a later date, right? She’ll be working in the same /app program.
I would think the awesome Mac you purchased is a far superior machine than the vast majority of PC’s. And they are so user friendly. Since she’s not nerdy the Mac would be a better option. As a teacher, I can attest to the fact that the Mac teaches you skills as you go along that you may not be able to pick up as readily on a PC.
If the entire department is PC-oriented I suppose it would be a different story.
This is one course out of dozens of others in her college career.
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It looks like it is not the entre department saying that but rather one prof.
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Something else to keep in mind as you’re considering ways forward is that the shipping time for notebook computers can be surprisingly long these days.
I would also wait like @Katie suggested. The amount of books and equipment that I “needed” was sometimes vastly different than reality.
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If your campus uses Canvas, you can specify which file types you’ll accept.
This might be heavily discounted or free for students. Check with her IT department
Yes, it is the professor of this particular class who’s written the warning, but this particular class seems to be the one that teaches you how to use the software you’ll be using in later classes.
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We use Blackboard, which doesn’t have that option the last time I checked. I don’t use it much, other than to house a link to the Google site where the course really lives, and to keep copies of some files that students might need/want in alternate formats (Blackboard Ally is great for that).
The Google Form method has an additional advantage: I use PDFExpert for marking, and it can sync directly with Google Drive. So I never have to download or move anything.
It could very well be more work for the prof. They do run the gamut. It is unsettling that incoming freshmen are being threatened with having their grades lowered. A lot of them are scared enough as it is!
I don’t know all the facts. They remain to be seen (e.g., the work-arounds may be very doable). And she loves the machine.
She can likely gather more info by talking to people who have first-hand knowledge. Some of what goes into a syllabus can constitute someone’s creative writing anyway.
If the school is not even telling the kids that they need PC’s, she’s probably not the only freshman student to come to school with a new Mac.
I learned on a Mac and I was self-taught. Picking up using a PC afterwards was not difficult. But Macs are far more user friendly. I never wanted to hurl a Mac across a room!
She has a beautiful machine. She is going to be researching, writing papers and a host of other things during her college career. Those things are easier to do on a Mac which is a fine foundation.
Waiting a bit in order to best assess the situation does make sense.
In defence of the professor, a lot of these syllabus clauses come from previous exchanges like this:
Prof: This assignment requires you to use pivot tables to…
Student: I use a Mac and my version of Excel doesn’t support pivot tables.
Prof: The university has virtual desktops available as well as computer labs. You can do this assignment there.
Student: The syllabus said I need Excel. I have Excel on my Mac. It didn’t say anything about pivot tables. I’m going to the Chair/Dean/Provost!
Prof: sighs Fine, you can skip the assignment without penalty.
Prof: updates syllabus for next semester
(I used to work for an academic department and it was astounding how often things like that would happen.)
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LOL!!!
I totally can see it occurring! I thought of that as I was writing it. But I’m just trying to hopefully see that the young lady does not get saddled with a less than optimal computer, especially since she has an awe-inspiring one, if it is avoidable.
They are basically the same program, right? (I didn’t get the family Math gene! So I’m just double-checking).
I taught for decades. Parents expected us to keep the primary school students busy 24 hours a day. And they had to be writing.
Teacher: Pedro, tell your Mom she did a much better job on your homework last night. She got a D- this time!
Kid was a mope. Let Pedro mess up his own homework, lady! It probably would have been a higher grade. You have to give a kid credit for trying.
Gee, the handwriting was a dead giveaway. Not that she could write but she had better control to her scribbling.
And thanks!
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We do not have privy to the full picture. I hesitate to presume that this is a case of the students being threatened, especially not in an explicit manner. An equally valid alternative view is that students (especially incoming freshmen since you make this class rank specific) hear the words “points will be deducted …”, shut down from listening to (or lack comprehension skills to fully appreciate) instructions on how to avoid having points deducted, and then verbalize the commensurate anxiety that they feel using phrases such as I am anxious because I was threatened.
We could argue a lifetime on how faculty should go through the transition below as well as what students hear and comprehend along the way …
To Freshman: Here are the explicit instructions on how to do this assignment to the exact specifications needed. Here is where you have to go to do the assignment in the manner that is required for full credit. If you do all the steps exactly as documented using the approach given, you will get an A. For this assignment, I will deduct the specific points given in the list below if you do not do the specific steps in the list below
…
To Seniors: The assignment submission must be complete. Grades will be assigned based on metrics of correct, adequate, and proper. General examples of complete and incomplete assignments graded using these metrics are posted for you to review in advance. You are encouraged to visit me in my office hours with any questions.
The unfortunate aspects demonstrated by this example are that it shows how students learn to re-negotiate the terms on an assignment by going to (or simply threatening to go to) a higher authority and why faculty have to learn how to make a syllabus that has enough legal-speak to cover what they want to do without overstepping the bounds of what they are not allowed to do.
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JJW
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Dr J, I readily admitted that I am not privy to all the information and of course as true with much info, it can be subject to interpretation. My point was that perhaps it might be in the daughter’s best interest to wait until she can best ascertain what the situation actually is.
That was my focus. That was what I intended to say. I have a great deal of respect for teachers of any and all levels. I am one!
I was thinking aloud that perhaps this prof POV may not be representative of others in the girl’s chosen major. It sounds like a 100 level General Computer Intro course to Business perhaps. That’s all.
I am hardly accusing anyone of anything.
Because the freshman may be nervous and unsure of their environment it would be best to spell it out as succinctly as possible.
With upper class men you can assume background information, I’d surmise.
But competent educators do not need to resort to threats and it may not be what occurred at all. I’d have to read the text of the syllabus etc. etc. And as I said, we just don’t have enough of the facts.
There seems to be some interest in what was actually communicated to the students in this class. Definitely thinking there were no threats to the students - just honesty about what the course is about and how best to complete the assignments. Here’s a screenshot of the communication in question:
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