Students
does anyone else agree that even when you set timelines students seem to need more and more..
LeeAnn, This sounds like a great system when it comes to keeping students on track in the classroom environment. However, I'm curious to learn about student paperwork capabilities once they graduate an enter the workforce. Without your system of close monitoring, are they capable of continuing to perform in this area? This seems especially important in applied clinical settings.
Dr. Melissa Read
I mainly deal with students in the clinical setting. There is a great deal of paperwork that the students must maintain (ie, their surgical cases and documentations needed). I encourage the students to stay on top of the work as it can pile up quickly and leave them in a bind. They may forget which procedures they performed earlier in the week if they did not document it that same day. The best way for me to be sure that they are keeping up with their paperwork in a timely manner is to check it weekly for a small percentage of their grade. This holds them accountable for their own assignments and lessens the amount of paperwork that I need to keep up with. It becomes very challenging for me to manage several students' procedure logs for a 12 week rotation. It is much easier for them to keep up with their own logs. I have learned the hard way that if I do not make a consequence for them maintaining their required paperwork they will try to wait as long as possible and then become overloaded and often miss some documentations that were forgotten. Our case loads can be difficult to satisfy, so they need all they can get and losing one or two due to poor management can mean they repeat a clinical rotation. I hold them accountable for their own paperwork.
I try that. I am a father of 4 so I can relate to family issues. What I try to encourage is this is their time for education and some students use class time as "their time" and it helps them to leave their outside problems there. Just as they will do when they become employed.
Shawna, Sounds like you are in a tough spot. Maybe you have taken on a little too much. If it's possible to delegate or offload some of your tasks, I might consider it.
Dr. Melissa Read
I deal with this same issue. I can't seem to find the balance no matter what I try to do. That's where I experience quite a bit of my daily stress.
Joseph, So true. Flexibility can be a friend in the classroom. While ridged schedules and course outlines can keep us in line, we at times need to deviate from the plan to best serve student needs.
Dr. Melissa Read
I agree that even though we need structure there are times when we need to make adjustments not only to reduce our stress but to reduce the stress on the students.
I agree some students work and have families and do not no how to balance out there time, in this case they do seem to need more time.
Sherry, Yes, a lot of times adult learners deal with complex demands in their homes and work environments. These limit their ability to focus on your lectures and assignments. Their problems and stress are often a lot like yours. Approaching them from a place of understanding can go a long way.
Dr. Melissa Read
It does seem that adult learners need additional time to complete assigned tasks and the reasons I get typically involve child care concerns, their jobs, or transportation. Unfortunately, these are real world (their other world) problems.
Rod, It sounds like you have the right outlook, thought I know it can be hard to just roll with it. When we are limited in terms of time, we often tend to tightly structure our days. Deviations from our plan - in these situations - can be stressful. Despite this, sometimes flexibility is necessary and we've got to go with the flow.
Dr. Melissa Read
I think that we are just seeing more time needed, in my classes they are fairly structured and I still have students that seem to sap away at the time that I have. Some times it is a balancing act so I tend to just roll with what happens and do my best.
