Saturday, July 26, 2008
In response |10:13 PM| Mariko lowered the boom on me, in regards to teachers.
Mariko raises valid points on their high workload.
In my defense: I can, to an extent, understand the plight of a college teacher, the crushing workload, the low pay compared to the expectations, etc. However, the small amount of effort this particular teacher has put forth is striking. The lack of response to emails asking for clarification, the study guide/syllabus containing spelling errors and redundant sections, that same syllabus being vague in the extreme on points of focus followed by extremely specific tests, the nigh-random changing of his website, with those exams being poorly modified versions of weekly lecture class tests all point towards a low level of involvement in the online adaptation of his class.
Had I not already had a firm foundation in biology I would have done far worse in this class. The oceanography that I am taking this semester covers a great deal more material than the anthropology course. Yet, I am easily acing the oceanography class, desperately struggling with this other course. The material itself is interesting, and I am learning a great deal, but translating that to the tests is a nearly Sisyphean task.
Example: I took an exam because I had given up on trying to decode what the syllabus was telling me to focus on studying, to get a better idea of it. I had a feeling that , fitting with the rest of the effort shown in class preparation, the re-test would be identical to the first test. Thus I studied exactly the material covered in that exam. I was right, the exam was identical, yet I was only able to improve my grade to a B+ as the questions were so poorly worded. These weren't Anthropology questions, they were legal conundrums. Memorization of precise wording from the text was absolutely required.
Bitching and humorous postings on Craigslist aside, I do intend to do something positive and constructive following the course. I will write a polite, detailed email explaining what I saw as weaknesses not with the teacher, or the material, but its presentation in the context of an online course.
I'll wait until grades are issued, though.
In response |10:13 PM| Mariko lowered the boom on me, in regards to teachers.
Mariko raises valid points on their high workload.
In my defense: I can, to an extent, understand the plight of a college teacher, the crushing workload, the low pay compared to the expectations, etc. However, the small amount of effort this particular teacher has put forth is striking. The lack of response to emails asking for clarification, the study guide/syllabus containing spelling errors and redundant sections, that same syllabus being vague in the extreme on points of focus followed by extremely specific tests, the nigh-random changing of his website, with those exams being poorly modified versions of weekly lecture class tests all point towards a low level of involvement in the online adaptation of his class.
Had I not already had a firm foundation in biology I would have done far worse in this class. The oceanography that I am taking this semester covers a great deal more material than the anthropology course. Yet, I am easily acing the oceanography class, desperately struggling with this other course. The material itself is interesting, and I am learning a great deal, but translating that to the tests is a nearly Sisyphean task.
Example: I took an exam because I had given up on trying to decode what the syllabus was telling me to focus on studying, to get a better idea of it. I had a feeling that , fitting with the rest of the effort shown in class preparation, the re-test would be identical to the first test. Thus I studied exactly the material covered in that exam. I was right, the exam was identical, yet I was only able to improve my grade to a B+ as the questions were so poorly worded. These weren't Anthropology questions, they were legal conundrums. Memorization of precise wording from the text was absolutely required.
Bitching and humorous postings on Craigslist aside, I do intend to do something positive and constructive following the course. I will write a polite, detailed email explaining what I saw as weaknesses not with the teacher, or the material, but its presentation in the context of an online course.
I'll wait until grades are issued, though.
Labels: College
2 Comments:
Oh. In that case your teacher probably just sucks. Spelling errors are forgivable. Lack of effort or clarity in teaching - why are you there?
By 
, at
9:02 PM
Because the list of classes suggested for transfer to UT included a couple science classes, one of which is Physical Anthropology, and he was the only option this summer.
The professor has a monopoly. It's not like the invisible hand of capitalism can help me out here.
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