Christina,
My mother used to make me take a bite of food before I could declare that I didn't like it. Your strong approach to requiring commitment of the student to back the statements made is a fundamental component of academic integrity. Not allowing the students to just fling opinions, helps to begin establishing responsibility and ownership for what they say. Very good. Thank you for sharing your technique.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
As an instructor I would encourage him to at least put effort into the work assigned. If once he is done and still feels the same way about the lesson I would ask the student to give me a better opinion why its a waste of his time and why he thinks it relevent. I will also let him the student know I'm not just taking a because for an answer I want a good explanation.
Adam,
Your point is well taken. One difficulty of text-based communication is accurate identification of "tone." As many of us have seen in the online classroom, the tone of a writer is sometimes wrongly determined by the reader. You may have seen students create an altercation because of perceived tone in a posting, e-mail or request. That said, even if the tone is hostile (may be – especially if the town is hostile), it seems your approach may have the impact of reducing the hostility and moving the student toward a more productive attitude. Additionally, if there was inappropriate language, that should probably be addressed directly and separate from the course content issue. Thank you for your insights.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Dr. Vaillancourt and classmates,
I would first ask him why he feels that way. I'd also thank him for his opinion, and then lay out what my rationale was. If he had a reasonable request about tweaking the course content, then I would do my best to accommodate him. Of course, it would also depend on how he asked the question - was he hostile? Or, did he just have a great deal of experience in the field and think that there was a better way to educate the class? A lot of my desire to honor the request would boil down to the tone.
Ginny,
I really like your in–depth, student–involving, approach. Working with an audience consisting primarily of adult learners this open model provides many opportunities and advantages. Very nice work. Thank you for sharing your valuable insights.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Hi Dr. V,
First, I would like to say that I always encourage my students to challenge me or the textbook. If they think I said something incorrectly, which is possible, I want them to have the freedom and ability to question and critically analyze things without repercussion.
If it is for an online course, I would explain that I do not create the assignments, the college does. I would then ask the student to elaborate on the problem.
After I listened to their concern, I would ask the student to complete the assignment in order to complete the necessary requirements for the completion of the course. At the same time, I would ask the student to elaborate, in written format, what they think is irrelevant and a waste of time. I would also challenge the student to write a speech manuscript (because I teach in the Communications area), presenting this concern to the committee that writes the assignments. If possible, I would even attach extra credit points for doing it! This would give the student some ownership to the correction of the problem and the satisfaction of knowing they were an asset to the course. After the student responds, I would review it and if they have a point, I would forward the concern to my online coordinator.
If I were teaching on-ground and this happened, I would handle it in a completely different manner.
Thanks,
Ginny
Miguel,
Taking the metacognitive approach can be very effective with adult learners, if their challenge is honest. Good insights.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
I would explain the questions in depth to ensure that the reasoning behind them is sound and will contribute to their understanding of the coursework.
Amir,
This very professional and gentle approach should work very well. Providing the adult learner the opportunity to be 'heard' and seriously considered is often enough to satisfy a student such as this.
An addtitional benefit (for all concerned) may be that the student might provide a recommendation that actually improves the course, or leads to an improvement of some kind.
Thank you for your contribution.
Dear Dr. Vaillancourt,
First, I would respond to the student and thank them for sharing their concerns. Second, I would ask the learner to elaborate on the concerns.
Then, I would thank them with the additional information and share with the learner that I will look into these concerns. Afterwards, I will mention to the learner that the change might not occur in the current class, but if needed, the change might occur in the upcoming terms. Finally, I would thank the learner again for sharing the concerns and encourage the learner to feel free to contact me if s/he has any additional questions/concerns.
Amir
Justine,
Very strong. Guide the adult lerarner in the opportunity to evaluate and create solutions to his learning barriers. Good approach.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
I would address this concern by pointing out the relationship between the assignment and the course objectives. I may also ask if he had ideas for other discussion topics and/or assignments. I'd reiterate the importance of the course content and the overall point of the course, and let him know I looked forward to reading what he had to offer.
Louise,
Yes, I was 'lurking' to acquire more information for this discussion board. ;-]
Excellent approach and resolution to this post. Thank you for your contribution.
Have you been sitting in my class?
Seriously, at least one student per term raises this issue. I explain what the assignments are intended to show and how the course and assignments would be relevant in their career. I usually find students who assert the assignments are a waste of time do not understand the assignment. Occasionally I find a student who may have taken a similar course at another institution and feels that the requirement to take my particular class is unfair and that my class cannot possibly add to their knowledge.
I also discuss how an assignment builds upon others. This is especially true for their final assignment. When I discuss the assignment in chat I purposely point out how this assignment brings the course "full circle" and uses elements from assignments in the prior weeks.
SPM,
Persistence in doing the right thing sometimes wins the day. ;-]
Soliciting examples and having students defending their perspectives helps the learners in many ways. Not the least of which is to help them refine their own metacognitive skills, while they come to an understanding of precisely what they actually think, and why. Nice!
I have actually had this type of experience. It happened at the beginning of every assignment. The student would articulate his expertise and criticize the content, material or activity. In the beginning, I would recognize his concerns and ask for specific examples of where his concerns were and he would indicate “relevancy†to his work environment as an active duty IT professional. I would encourage him to expand his acuity to include industry specific application of the assignment as it was intended in a commercial environment. After several attempts to discuss the issue with him and his advisor, he ended up dropping the course because he could not manipulate my activities.
As Tim mentioned above, I would solicit input from the student to provide examples that more perceived to be “relevant†in their opinion..
SPM
Donald,
Glad to (help) add to the vocab. (I agree, 3 or less is better.)
The common sense approach - good principles to follow.
I just learned two new words ending in ...gogy! But I usually try to use words of three syllables or preferably less.
I'm an old tech guy and I just use common sense when teaching. Make 'em walk towards the water using a treat hanging off a string on a stick thats just out of reach in front of their nose. Just need to point the stick in the right direction and they go there. Worked for me from my teachers so I figure it'll work for them....
John,
These are excellent steps to be taken. Encouraging student to state rationale for their position sometimes leads to a softning (or even a change) in that position on a topic. Demonstrating your sincere dedication to academic excellence with the 3rd step is a great modeling scenario for the students in the class. Nice going.
Donald,
This is an example of excellent adult online pedagogy (andragogy) to get the learners to take control of their own learning by providing them the reasons to do so (for those that need it provided). Very nice work!
