Professor Kiumi to Retire

Professor Kiumi to Retire

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Started
Petition to
University of Michigan-Dearborn

Why this petition matters

Started by Emily Cloke

I am a student at the University of Michigan Dearborn, I have had Kiumi Akingbehin as a professor for multiple classes including CIS 375, CIS 4951 (Capstone 1), and CIS 4952 (Capstone 2). In all classes, I have found Professor Kiumi struggle to not only teach the material needed to be successful in the course but struggle to communicate properly with students on the level required such as responding to emails or phone calls. In the transition between Professor Maxim teaching the first half of CIS 4951 Summer 2021 semester to professor Kiumi teaching the second half, professor Kiumi would not inform students on how to contact him if students had questions leaving students confused as to how classes would be organized. He shows a lack in technical competencies that are required to use the learning platform Canvas, to use Zoom for lectures, or even how to use Microsoft Word which can cause confusion and disorder during his lectures along with leaving students frustrated such as in CIS 375 when students had to show professor Kiumi how to use Microsoft Word to properly explain the material he was trying to teach. His lack of technical knowledge is concerning for a CIS professor teaching Capstone level courses this leads to students not gaining the proper education they hope to gain from the courses they register for such as in CIS 375. In CIS 4952, 4962, 4972, and 4982 he required students to print off 100-300 pages of documentation and turn in a CD copy of code for projects because he did not want to use canvas. Students had to ensure they had enough credit on their student accounts to print in the library along with not having a way to burn to a CD since most laptops do not have this function leaving students having to beg the professor to allow students to submit a USB stick. His lecturing is difficult to follow with the consideration that Professor Kiumi will repeat himself on many occurrences (up to 5 or more times) getting caught in what feels like a loop of the same information being spoken in the same exact manner using the same language for up to 30 minutes leading to important information being missed in the lecture or students not being able to ask their questions. Professor Kiumi with his lack of communication fails to inform students of changes in the course, expectations, rubric, or even class time leaving students confused about what is expected, and how they will be graded. For example in CIS 4952 (Fall 2021 Semester) students were left waiting in the classroom during finals week for over an hour unsure of when the class would start, so they could present their final demo presentation after student groups had already signed up for designated times to present, this creates chaos with students not knowing their grades and having little guidance. When the class did begin there was some confusion for students as to the order of the presentations and the professor showed a lack of focus, very obviously falling asleep during multiple student presentations including during CIS 4952 final demo presentations causing students to stress about what he had missed and how the presentations would be properly graded. Professor Kiumi also fails to follow University safety policies including not wearing a face covering while in University buildings during a time of increased cases of COVID when many people are being exposed. If he does not enforce this policy it can make it difficult to expect students to follow the policy that so desperately needs to be followed and enforced. Professor Kiumi has also failed to do the core requirement of a professor and that is to grade course work in a timely manner and provide feedback for learning development. Grades were supposed to be posted to the student's Dearborn portal on December 22nd and as of January 2nd grades were still not posted. As of December 22nd students had no grades or feedback on any of their coursework on canvas as well. Students have been left with the unknown on if they truly learned the material or where they stand with their grades along with students stressing about scholarships that they need their grades to be able to get the next semester's scholarship. These are all unneeded stressors that students do not need to be dealing with, the student's energy should be focused on learning material to receive the best education. This is why many students including myself feel that it is time professor Kiumi step down from his position in teaching and enjoy retirement. Supporting documentation for the claims has been provided.

61 have signed. Let’s get to 100!