David Miller

The Disruptive Student

It's quite ironic that during my very first online teaching assignment (two years ago), I experienced one of my most challenging students in the online environment. This particular student I would classify as both a "noisy" as well as "disruptive" student. The course involved Human Resources Management and this particular student was very unhappy that she was required to take this class in conjunction with her degree program. In addition, she obviously had an axe to grind with some HR professional(s) earlier in her career. She openly share her position that HR Departments were a waste of time and that any supervisor or manager could complete the responsibilities that reside with most HR departments.

Although I was never quite successful at helping this student openly accept the integral role that HR departments play for an employer, Iwas able to at least get the student to be more diplomatic in sharing her perspective.