Job Discussion Forums

schminken · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 11:44 am Post subject:

Capergirl,

I also feel this way. At my university, there is nothing that I "must" teach. There are no course books or teaching materials. It's up to me to design the course content and all the materials to go with it. I have talked to the students. I have done brainstorming session and needs analysis to no avail. They complain but can't come up with ideas. Or if they come up with something and I do it, they still complain! I'm not saying this happens in every lesson. I guess I just seem to focus on the bad lessons and forget about all the good ones.

I guess I'm just tired of overpreparing and searching for hours for materials just to have an outcome like what happened last night. I thought preperation was a good thing! These are adults. If they say "We don't want to do this. It's really boring and useless. We want to have fun", should I just ignore it and go on? _I_ know writing letters, CVs, essays, business plans and reading scientific material is not always the most exciting thing in the world, but they are engineers! They have to do this stuff. Sorry, just preaching to the choir:)

dduck · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Posts: 422 Location: In the middle

schminken · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 2:07 pm Post subject:

I have complete flexibility over what I do in class but I also have to test them at the end. It's a normal university class. In the rest of their subjects (and they have 9 other classes), it's either a lecture where they take one big test at the end or a laboratory. My class is classified as a "seminar".

I think the testing is what really frustrates me. I only have 10 lessons spread out periodically over 5 months for one class. I could have them one week and then 3 weeks go by before I see them again. If I change my game plan and I ask them for their input, they always suggest things like movies or such. It's difficult to build up the lesson plans and have enought stuff to test them on at the end. They also work 40 hours a week and go to night class so homework is generally not a good idea and all the tasks should be done in class. I could do it. I have the right to do it. But they have so many technical projects and other things, that if I did start piling on the homework and tests, the situation could become even worse. But it looks like I am going to have to try the drill sergeant approach.

Capergirl · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 3:34 pm Post subject:

@shminken...I understand your frustration. Since the students haven't give you a good idea of what they want out of these classes, you should do what you think is best. If (when) they complain, remind them that they had an opportunity to come up with ideas and they failed to do so.

By the way, what kind of engineers are they? We have had a lot of success with the Oxford English for Electrical and Mechanical Engineering textbooks. Wink

schminken · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 4:27 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the great suggestion Capergirl!

They are Electronics Engineers. I have the Oxford English for Electronics book but the problem is I don't have a background in Electronics. I look at the transistors and circuit diagrams and just kind of think "huh?".

Capergirl · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 7:15 pm Post subject:

I'm no engineer either, schminken, believe me. Wink

I spent a lot of time reading ahead and getting more information on what I did not understand. The great thing about the Oxford English series is that the language is simplified and that the focus is more on language than on the engineering concepts (although it incorporates both). Plus, there is an answer book with teacher's notes. Wink