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My lectures are designed to supplement learning that my students are expected to have done prior to class. The lectures are a summary of the material, with work
by jonathansizz 11y ago
My lectures are designed to supplement learning that my students are expected to have done prior to class. The lectures are a summary of the material, with worked examples, a chance to ask questions to clear up misunderstandings, and for discussion of key concepts.
Lectures are attended by dozens of students, so they cannot be a personalized tutorial service. That's what office hours are for. My best students don't usually need office hours as they are pretty much self-taught, but the next tier down show up regularly and we sit down together and go through exactly the material they want to focus on in the detail they need.
I tailor my pedagogy to these engaged students, not to the ones who expect to be handed an A for a minimum amount of effort. If you don't work, you'll deservedly do very poorly, and I'm not willing to waste my limited resources on you. And, no, I'm not going to curve your grade up either, because that's not fair on the good students.
Unsurprisingly, poor students don't show up to office hours, don't take advantage of our free tutoring service, turn in material late, and regularly miss lectures. All these failings are entirely their own responsibility, not mine.
- relkor 11y agoThen change the fee schedule to reflect this. The problem I have is that your system does not serve 2/3rds of the customers. Your best students are pretty much self-taught, so why do you charge them for all of the your time. The poor students do not show up either, so why are you charging them for your time as well? I am not critizing your specific method of teaching, just your fee schedule. You admit that your services are basically useless to 2/3rds of the sutdents, yet you charge twice that of a personal tutor service for each and every one of your students. That is where the anger is coming from.
- jonathansizz 11y agoI don't admit anything of the sort; you came up with the 2/3 figure. My best students are pretty much self-taught within the academic environment, which offers them a lot more than any series of MOOCs could. Maybe around 1/4 of my freshman students shouldn't be in university, and most of these leave during their first year. I'd be happy if admissions standards were increased, as it would be better for all concerned if individuals lacking the necessary ability and motivation didn't waste everyone's time as well as their own money. Once again, it is the responsibility of each potential student to determine whether they should accept a place at a university, not mine. As long as they're here, I'll give every student as much assistance as I can, but some of them can't or won't be helped.