This past week I have learned that for education to succeed, the teacher's themselves need to commit. An example of this is my online Digital Software Fundamentals class. While my class (or at least me), is right on schedule, I have talked to other students who are taking this subject in class, and they are 2-3 weeks behind us.
This I feel is due to the difference in teaching. While I have to email my professor if I have any problems, the in class students have the opportunity of being face to face. My teacher usually replies promptly to emails and she also does a video chat on Thursday night. The in class teacher I've heard does nothing. He just tells his students what chapter to do and expects them to do it. An example of this would be what I observed Tuesday night.
I showed up to class early and some people were still in there with the teacher trying to get assignments done. One student asked for help multiple times only to get the response " You'll have to wait. I'm busy transferring files." Now the student is already aggravated and irritated with the assignment, so I walked over to see if I could help out. I showed them how to do it and the teacher acted like I was trying to steal his job.
If a student is getting frustrated, what good is it doing to ignore them? They are just going to get to the point where they give up. Some teachers need to realise that not everyone "gets it". They are being paid to teach and help others learn. I'm not saying that all students are equal in their learning abilities, but I know this one was trying and was not getting any help. I could even understand if the teacher was busy with another student, but he wasn't. The files were already transferring and didn't need to be watched during the whole process.
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3 comments:
Wow that sounds awful. I am glad I have not had any DMD teachers like that. Well I have only had 5 different teachers for DMD classes so far.
Some students like certain teachers, while other students will hate that teacher. I remember in my 3-D class last year some people did not like the teaching style that our teacher had. I was fine with him and he was able to answer all of my questions. Sometimes I had to wait because everyone was having problems, but I was okay with waiting.
I have had some teachers like you described in high school. I have been in many classes where we were behind a week or two. I have no problems with being behind as long as I learn what we are suppose to by the end of the quarter.
I do agree with what you had to say. I know that teachers are the core to the classroom. I have had those problems before, and I hate it as well. I never seen a teacher get mad at a student for helping another student, but I am sure it happens. If it happens once, than the teacher is probably just having a bad day. If it happens often, than I would start to get upset.
"I have no problems with being behind as long as I learn what we are suppose to by the end of the quarter."
That right there is the key to this post. The student's aren't learning what they are supposed to. I'm not the brightest lightbulb in the box, but this isn't the first student of his that I have helped.
There are 3 of his students that I are in an overlapping class with me and I have attempted to help. They all say that they aren't learning anything and are frightened about how this will affect them later in the DMD course.
As far as the "getting mad" part, I don't know if it was anger or iritation. The teacher just seemed to get an attitude with me afterwards. I have also witnessed some of the "smart-ass" comments that he has told his students when asked for help.
To help others avoid this situation, I highly reccomend Kathleen Kinney for all subjects that she teaches. This is my first class with her but she has helped so much. I only wish I could be in-class with her, but with my work schedule and such, I don't think it is going to happen.
I have had my fair share of good and bad experiences with instructors. DMD has been a very open atmospherw wher everyone helps one another all of the time. I was really suprised to hear the teacher was frustrated because Bill and Kathleen have always encouraged us to help one another and share ways to make things easier with your classmates.
Currently, I am behind in some of my classes because I have been very ill with a kidney infection. I have the same instructor for three of my classes. When communicating with her I have to send an email to each of her inboxes for the specific class because so many students are ill right now. Then I must email her again when I've completed a late assignemnt and let her know where it has been specifically turned in at. Right now is a very hard time for instructors and students because of the recent outbreaks of swine flu and normal illnesses and trying to get everyone on the same page is not easy. The instructors have to play catch-up with each individual student and when yu have so many it has to be frustrating. I do not agree that the teacher be frustrated with you. If anything they should be thankful that there is someone who can give a helping hand to ease the tension.
Kathleen and Bill have always been my favorite insturctors. Not long after I started the program Mike and Russell started as adjuncts and I adapted to them just as easily. Some of the part-time instructors don't always fit the DMD intsructor mold, however, those are also the ones that do not stay around very long either.
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