College students... do you feel your teachers put time and effort into teaching?

[Aunt Spiker]

Things have changed a lot since I was first in college. This go around - all of my teachers are obsessed with powerpoint presentations instead of giving quality lectures / providing board-notes during class, they just click through powerpoint slides that are overpopulated with too much information. Instead of being on task, professors ramble aimlessly about whatever oddball things enter their heads.

It's like the content we're supposed to be learning doesn't pertain to what they teach.

In short - I think in class lectures and so forth are just the same as taking classes online with how lazy professors have all become. People prefer in class lectures because it's supposed to give deeper education and discussion, but I'm not seeing any depth here, only lazy professors who created a powerpoint presentation 5 years ago and washed their hands clean.

Anyone else experiencing the same thing?

 

[madman]

Things have changed a lot since I was first in college. This go around - all of my teachers are obsessed with powerpoint presentations instead of giving quality lectures / providing board-notes during class, they just click through powerpoint slides that are overpopulated with too much information. Instead of being on task, professors ramble aimlessly about whatever oddball things enter their heads.

It's like the content we're supposed to be learning doesn't pertain to what they teach.

In short - I think in class lectures and so forth are just the same as taking classes online with how lazy professors have all become. People prefer in class lectures because it's supposed to give deeper education and discussion, but I'm not seeing any depth here, only lazy professors who created a powerpoint presentation 5 years ago and washed their hands clean.

Anyone else experiencing the same thing?

technology is a wonderful tool. PP presentations also allow everyone to read the text on the screen. You know, some professors have horrible handwriting skills.
pictures are worth 1000 words!

 

[joG]

Things have changed a lot since I was first in college. This go around - all of my teachers are obsessed with powerpoint presentations instead of giving quality lectures / providing board-notes during class, they just click through powerpoint slides that are overpopulated with too much information. Instead of being on task, professors ramble aimlessly about whatever oddball things enter their heads.

It's like the content we're supposed to be learning doesn't pertain to what they teach.

In short - I think in class lectures and so forth are just the same as taking classes online with how lazy professors have all become. People prefer in class lectures because it's supposed to give deeper education and discussion, but I'm not seeing any depth here, only lazy professors who created a powerpoint presentation 5 years ago and washed their hands clean.

Anyone else experiencing the same thing?

It sounds like you should switch to another university or get friendly with the assistants to the professors. Try to be interested in the cutting edge academic stuff and the fun things students do.

 

[Carjosse]

It really depends on the professor, I find the part-time ones who teach because they want to make the best professors. PowerPoints are very useful and are guaranteed to be legible. I had one professor's writing that so bad he might as well have been writing in Chinese and his speaking was incomprehensible. It really depends on the professor, if you have that many problems, maybe try a different school.

 

[FieldTheorist]

Things have changed a lot since I was first in college. This go around - all of my teachers are obsessed with powerpoint presentations instead of giving quality lectures / providing board-notes during class, they just click through powerpoint slides that are overpopulated with too much information. Instead of being on task, professors ramble aimlessly about whatever oddball things enter their heads.

It's like the content we're supposed to be learning doesn't pertain to what they teach.

In short - I think in class lectures and so forth are just the same as taking classes online with how lazy professors have all become. People prefer in class lectures because it's supposed to give deeper education and discussion, but I'm not seeing any depth here, only lazy professors who created a powerpoint presentation 5 years ago and washed their hands clean.

Anyone else experiencing the same thing?

Professors aren't usually lazy, they're usually overworked and underpaid. You're probably in a 100-level class, I'm assuming, at a non-research university. That means that the person teaching you right is probably teaching about 6 of these classes, and they're getting paid around 20,000 --not per class. For all of them. How much effort would you put in if you have a Masters or a PhD, and you're getting paid worse than a high school teacher? Your work is also likely being graded by an upper level undergrad or a grad student for ~700 dollars a semester. Most undergrads who pay for the classes don't know the difference, and will pay the money because how are they going to actually change the system? The few reasonably paid professors aren't in any better of a place to fix the system, and indeed if they did make waves they'd likely be retired.

But your education probably costs a lot more than it did before. Why? It probably has something to do with the 300% increase in school administrators and the increased pay of school administrators.


So yes, your education probably does suck. No, it isn't because professors are just lazy and someone needs to work them harder. It's because universities decided that living-wage professors shouldn't exist, it was cheaper to make masters/PhD students teach a lot of courses, and that instead of investing the money in professors, the money needed to be invested in more school administrators who will spend more money on advertising.

 

[Fiddytree]

Professors aren't usually lazy, they're usually overworked and underpaid. You're probably in a 100-level class, I'm assuming, at a non-research university. That means that the person teaching you right is probably teaching about 6 of these classes, and they're getting paid around 20,000. How much effort would you put in if you have a Masters or a PhD, and you're getting paid worse than a high school teacher? Your work is likely being graded by an upper level undergrad or a grad student for 700 dollars a semester.

But your education probably costs a lot more than it did before. Why? It probably has something to do with the 300% increase in school administrators and the increased pay of school administrators.


So yes, your education probably does suck. No, it isn't because professors are just lazy and someone needs to work them harder. It's because universities decided that living-wage professors shouldn't exist, it was cheaper to make masters/PhD students teach a lot of courses, and that instead of investing the money in professors, the money needed to be invested in more school administrators who will spend more money on advertising.

Entering in the normal caveats that variance of quality is a given and that all things being equal, in-class lectures and after-class discussions with professors tends to be a superior experience, I'd say this is increasingly what you're going to find. Oh, add in that professors tend to have a lot less exposure to pedagogy training than their public school counterparts.

 

[Fiddytree]

technology is a wonderful tool. PP presentations also allow everyone to read the text on the screen. You know, some professors have horrible handwriting skills.
pictures are worth 1000 words!

One of my favorite past times was deciphering the little hand written critiques supplied by my adviser. I easily spent several minutes turning over whether a word was "deceiving" or....something else entirely.

A powerpoint is great and all, but it's actually not the end-all-be-all for me. I say and understand that it is me, because I am a weird guy and I just love lectures for the sake of lectures.

 

[Aunt Spiker]

Professors aren't usually lazy, they're usually overworked and underpaid. You're probably in a 100-level class, I'm assuming, at a non-research university. That means that the person teaching you right is probably teaching about 6 of these classes, and they're getting paid around 20,000 --not per class. For all of them. How much effort would you put in if you have a Masters or a PhD, and you're getting paid worse than a high school teacher? Your work is also likely being graded by an upper level undergrad or a grad student for ~700 dollars a semester. Most undergrads who pay for the classes don't know the difference, and will pay the money because how are they going to actually change the system? The few reasonably paid professors aren't in any better of a place to fix the system, and indeed if they did make waves they'd likely be retired.

But your education probably costs a lot more than it did before. Why? It probably has something to do with the 300% increase in school administrators and the increased pay of school administrators.


So yes, your education probably does suck. No, it isn't because professors are just lazy and someone needs to work them harder. It's because universities decided that living-wage professors shouldn't exist, it was cheaper to make masters/PhD students teach a lot of courses, and that instead of investing the money in professors, the money needed to be invested in more school administrators who will spend more money on advertising.

They're in class the same amount of time I am.

I'm spending 4K a semester out of pocket to attend so pardon me for having issues with their lazy approach. I'm not accepting excuses of 'they don't get paid enough'. I pay them plenty.

No, at this point I'm pretty certain they're just lazy about teaching but all for overcomplicating their personal homework (grading papers) - teachers have turned to no less than 3 sources for assigned work to be scheduled and turned-in (in class / blackboard / external 3rd party software).

if they're overworked I can tell you exactly why they feel this way - and it's not from spending their classtime teaching a little more.

 

[Your Star]

Depends on the teacher and the class, IMO.

Take this semester and two of my classes. One class, is a high level English class about British Romanticism. The teacher has been very involved(had her last semester and I quite liked her so this is no surprise) leads the class in discussion, and overall a great teacher.

Now, I have one class this semester, which is a basic science that everyone has to take to graduate. The class is about 120 people strong - while my English class is about 25 strong - and the teacher basically stands up at the front reading off a powerpoint very slowly. Which is incredibly boring, and I probably would just skip every class and just take the tests if there wasn't an attendance policy.

So yeah, depends on the teacher, and the class in my experience. Though, class size isn't always an indicator that you'll have an apathetic teacher. I had an astronomy course last semester with 120 people in it, and the teacher was very involved, and obviously cared a great deal. It made me slightly sad that I wouldn't need to have another class he taught because I really liked his teaching style. Plus he was very funny.

 

[FieldTheorist]

I'm not disputing that your class experiences suck, I'm explaining why they suck and why your hypothesis ("Professors are just lazy") is wrong.

They're in class the same amount of time I am.

I'm spending 4K a semester out of pocket to attend so pardon me for having issues with their lazy approach. I'm not accepting excuses of 'they don't get paid enough'. I pay them plenty.

You're paying someone plenty, but it's not the professor. You seem to have missed the part where your class is probably one of six of the total classes they're teaching. So you're paying a lot of money, as I indicated, but that money is not going to the professor. It's going to cushy administrator positions or advertisement firms. Effectively none of it is being filtered back to the professor.

No, at this point I'm pretty certain they're just lazy about teaching but all for overcomplicating their personal homework (grading papers) - teachers have turned to no less than 3 sources for assigned work to be scheduled and turned-in (in class / blackboard / external 3rd party software).

All typical bureaucratic procedures. Students complain about cheating, so we add a new regulation to prevent cheating.

 

[Bodi]

Things have changed a lot since I was first in college. This go around - all of my teachers are obsessed with powerpoint presentations instead of giving quality lectures / providing board-notes during class, they just click through powerpoint slides that are overpopulated with too much information. Instead of being on task, professors ramble aimlessly about whatever oddball things enter their heads.

It's like the content we're supposed to be learning doesn't pertain to what they teach.

In short - I think in class lectures and so forth are just the same as taking classes online with how lazy professors have all become. People prefer in class lectures because it's supposed to give deeper education and discussion, but I'm not seeing any depth here, only lazy professors who created a powerpoint presentation 5 years ago and washed their hands clean.

Anyone else experiencing the same thing?

Yep. The worst is when they basically just read the power point. Thnx prof for that. :roll:

 

[Fiddytree]

I'm not disputing that your class experiences suck, I'm explaining why they suck and why your hypothesis ("Professors are just lazy") is wrong.



You're paying someone plenty, but it's not the professor. You seem to have missed the part where your class is probably one of six of the total classes they're teaching. So you're paying a lot of money, as I indicated, but that money is not going to the professor. It's going to cushy administrator positions or advertisement firms. Effectively none of it is being filtered back to the professor.



All typical bureaucratic procedures. Students complain about cheating, so we add a new regulation to prevent cheating.

She could be contributing to a comfortable (and well deserved) salary, but what's the stats Field? 70% don't fit under that category of well-compensated?

 

[nota bene]

Things have changed a lot since I was first in college. This go around - all of my teachers are obsessed with powerpoint presentations instead of giving quality lectures / providing board-notes during class, they just click through powerpoint slides that are overpopulated with too much information. Instead of being on task, professors ramble aimlessly about whatever oddball things enter their heads.

It's like the content we're supposed to be learning doesn't pertain to what they teach.

In short - I think in class lectures and so forth are just the same as taking classes online with how lazy professors have all become. People prefer in class lectures because it's supposed to give deeper education and discussion, but I'm not seeing any depth here, only lazy professors who created a powerpoint presentation 5 years ago and washed their hands clean.

Anyone else experiencing the same thing?

Just for clarification, is this the first week of the semester?

 

[blackjack50]

Things have changed a lot since I was first in college. This go around - all of my teachers are obsessed with powerpoint presentations instead of giving quality lectures / providing board-notes during class, they just click through powerpoint slides that are overpopulated with too much information. Instead of being on task, professors ramble aimlessly about whatever oddball things enter their heads.

It's like the content we're supposed to be learning doesn't pertain to what they teach.

In short - I think in class lectures and so forth are just the same as taking classes online with how lazy professors have all become. People prefer in class lectures because it's supposed to give deeper education and discussion, but I'm not seeing any depth here, only lazy professors who created a powerpoint presentation 5 years ago and washed their hands clean.

Anyone else experiencing the same thing?

Yes and no. I've had a few good teachers and a few crappy ones. PowerPoint is a tool. Pure and simple. And it makes your life a lot easier when the professor uses it right. That means using maps, images, sounds, music, videos, and so on. Things that are available to create a deeper understanding. And it must be mixed with different types of learning styles and proper discussion.

I mean there is some leeway when you consider the class material and if it is a science vs liberal art type class.

Worse than anything else to me is when the teacher doesn't want you to think for yourself...but instead wants you to regurgitate their opinion. I'm positive if I went back now I could ace numerous classes simply by learning the politics of the professors of most of my classes and just formulating every answer based on that opinion.


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[MaggieD]

technology is a wonderful tool. PP presentations also allow everyone to read the text on the screen. You know, some professors have horrible handwriting skills.
pictures are worth 1000 words!

Adults learn one of three ways ...

Listening ... Reading ... Experiencing.

It is the responsibility of educators to immerse students in all three across time.

My style of learning has always been WRITING. Maybe that piggybacks on "experiencing." I took copious notes, often bullet pointed. Many times I would never refer to those notes again. I could take notes from a lecture, a PP demonstration or reading. Whatever. As long as I could take notes? I was good to go.

 

[blackjack50]

I'm not disputing that your class experiences suck, I'm explaining why they suck and why your hypothesis ("Professors are just lazy") is wrong.



You're paying someone plenty, but it's not the professor. You seem to have missed the part where your class is probably one of six of the total classes they're teaching. So you're paying a lot of money, as I indicated, but that money is not going to the professor. It's going to cushy administrator positions or advertisement firms. Effectively none of it is being filtered back to the professor.



All typical bureaucratic procedures. Students complain about cheating, so we add a new regulation to prevent cheating.

I think one of the worst problems is how many professors get into their job for research. Those are usually the worst teachers. They don't give a crap about you as a student, all they care about is writing their own books, and then they rely on TAs the entire time.

I had the misfortune to have a world renowned history teacher who had written 100s of articles and books and journals. The pompous ass told us he wouldn't make us read his books, but if you read the material...you noted he was frequently cited in most of it. And his tests consisted of learning bull**** material like crop yields.

Thank God I took a class on a similar topic from a doctoral student. I learned more about the subject from him. Anyway...I don't think it is that they are all "lazy," but that many don't care because it isn't their "job."




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[nota bene]

Professors aren't usually lazy, they're usually overworked and underpaid. You're probably in a 100-level class, I'm assuming, at a non-research university. That means that the person teaching you right is probably teaching about 6 of these classes, and they're getting paid around 20,000 --not per class. For all of them. How much effort would you put in if you have a Masters or a PhD, and you're getting paid worse than a high school teacher?

At four-year institutions, professors don't teach six classes; they generally teach three. Senior lecturers, lecturers, and other adjunct faculty teach four or sometimes five. At two-year institutions, the load is generally four or five courses. In my state, teaching six classes is an overload and not permitted semester after semester.

Your work is also likely being graded by an upper level undergrad or a grad student for ~700 dollars a semester. Most undergrads who pay for the classes don't know the difference, and will pay the money because how are they going to actually change the system? The few reasonably paid professors aren't in any better of a place to fix the system, and indeed if they did make waves they'd likely be retired.

Whether a TA does the grading depends on the discipline and also the course. As students complete the core curriculum required by the state (the basic history and government courses that count as "citizenship hours," two science courses, one with a lab, and etc.), they may well be taught by grad students, but upper-level courses are generally taught by regular faculty.

As your career develops and you earn seniority, it's natural to want to teach in your specialty (and to focus on the grad courses you teach) and to allow more junior faculty to gain the experience they need to eventually fill your shoes.

So yes, your education probably does suck. No, it isn't because professors are just lazy and someone needs to work them harder. It's because universities decided that living-wage professors shouldn't exist, it was cheaper to make masters/PhD students teach a lot of courses, and that instead of investing the money in professors, the money needed to be invested in more school administrators who will spend more money on advertising.

Adjuncts carry the heavy burden of teaching at most institutions, and their abuse has long been decried. But I would like to make clear that adjuncts aren't necessarily inferior teachers. Often, because of their wealth of experience, they are the best teachers. That's what they do--they teach. They aren't generally required to otherwise participate in the life of their department (although some do)--committee work, including textbook review--and the professional development requirements aren't as demanding either.

 

[Fledermaus]

Things have changed a lot since I was first in college. This go around - all of my teachers are obsessed with powerpoint presentations instead of giving quality lectures / providing board-notes during class, they just click through powerpoint slides that are overpopulated with too much information. Instead of being on task, professors ramble aimlessly about whatever oddball things enter their heads.

It's like the content we're supposed to be learning doesn't pertain to what they teach.

In short - I think in class lectures and so forth are just the same as taking classes online with how lazy professors have all become. People prefer in class lectures because it's supposed to give deeper education and discussion, but I'm not seeing any depth here, only lazy professors who created a powerpoint presentation 5 years ago and washed their hands clean.

Anyone else experiencing the same thing?

I had one professor that assigned chapters of the book to groups in the class. Then those groups would "teach" the other students.

The class was about the sociology of gangs. It SHOULD have been an engaging and informative class.

It ended up sucking like a Hoover vacuum.

The students struggled throughout. I made it through by reading practically every page of the textbook.

Only one of two professors I not only blasted in reviews but also demanded to speak to deans about.

An entire semester wasted.

 

[nota bene]

I love reading up at Rate a Prof and etc. "He's the worst professor I've ever had! Avoid his class at all costs!" and "He was a wonderful prof. Yes, he expected students to work hard, but if you showed an interest, he went out of his way to help you, especially if you dropped by his office." :lamo

 

[soot]

Some of the professors I learned the most from, both as an undergrad and in grad school, didn't use PowerPoint, or a blackboard/whiteboard, or an overhead projector, or provide annotated and thoroughly cited lecture notes, or really hold your little hand in any other way.

They were 70 and 80-year old lecturers who sat in front of the class and lectured for an hour and a half, and it was up to you to take your own notes, do your own research, and reconcile the claims they made in their lecture with the scholarship available on the topic.

I still managed to graduate cum laude with a pretty thorough understanding of the things I studied, which then translated in to a pretty lucrative career doing something I love.

Don't sell yourself short.

You don't need to be spoon-fed.

 

[nota bene]

Believe it or not, one reason for the PowerPoints is to accommodate different learning styles and also shorter attention spans--you know, putting on a good dog-and-pony show during which students are entertained. I could go the rest of my life without seeing another slide with that blue background and yellow lettering that so many use.

 

[Ikari]

Things have changed a lot since I was first in college. This go around - all of my teachers are obsessed with powerpoint presentations instead of giving quality lectures / providing board-notes during class, they just click through powerpoint slides that are overpopulated with too much information. Instead of being on task, professors ramble aimlessly about whatever oddball things enter their heads.

It's like the content we're supposed to be learning doesn't pertain to what they teach.

In short - I think in class lectures and so forth are just the same as taking classes online with how lazy professors have all become. People prefer in class lectures because it's supposed to give deeper education and discussion, but I'm not seeing any depth here, only lazy professors who created a powerpoint presentation 5 years ago and washed their hands clean.

Anyone else experiencing the same thing?

Depends on institution and subject matter, I suppose. In my experience, professors haven't been lazy. They're putting in 12-14 hour days depending on extra duties they may have. Research professors are tasked with maintaining a productive lab while also teaching undergrads and graduate students.

It may be easy to claim they are being lazy, and certainly there are those who are, but many times the accusations come through from people who don't exactly know what the professor does and think they teach 2 classes and then it's off to the beach or bar or something like that.

 

[Bodi]

Adults learn one of three ways ...

Listening ... Reading ... Experiencing.

It is the responsibility of educators to immerse students in all three across time.

My style of learning has always been WRITING. Maybe that piggybacks on "experiencing." I took copious notes, often bullet pointed. Many times I would never refer to those notes again. I could take notes from a lecture, a PP demonstration or reading. Whatever. As long as I could take notes? I was good to go.

Writing is not one of your three listed ways to learn...

 

[Carjosse]

Believe it or not, one reason for the PowerPoints is to accommodate different learning styles and also shorter attention spans--you know, putting on a good dog-and-pony show during which students are entertained. I could go the rest of my life without seeing another slide with that blue background and yellow lettering that so many use.

*vomits* What kind of ****ing colour scheme is that?

 

[nota bene]

*vomits* What kind of ****ing colour scheme is that?

A super-standard one.