Greg Ramsey

I have found that sometimes a syllbus narrowly confines the interaction between the instructor and the student. "Why do we need to know this?" says the student. Adult students are acutely aware when there are items in a class that are there to fulfill some requirement other than simply acquiring the knowledge in the course. This always causes conflict, which I can mostly resolve, but I would prefer (as the course states) to have the student guide what they will get out of the course.

Many of the classes I teach are self-paced and timed. The students must demonstrate a skill using a computer program, and they must do it within a set time - typically the length of the class. It is hard to vary the testing except at major milestones such as the middle or end of the term. Because of the nature of the class, even then it is difficult to present more than multiple choice, true/false, matching. There is probably some room for creativity here, which is something I plan to work on.

First, there is no such thing as "disrespecting" a question. Turning a noun into a verb is a common practice, and very cool, but not correct. Questions can also be varied in the classroom, I believe. Sometimes it is good to through in an unexpected question; it could be one the students were thinking, but were reluctant to voice. This also relaxes them because they know that no question is wrong, and every question will be treated with respect. It is then that a true exchange of ideas and information can occur.

At my institution, several courses are self-paced and instructors are there to help students who have difficulties with the information, or applying the information. I don't think this type of class lends itself to learning styles, primarily because the help is individual, and based on the progress the student has made. It would be difficult to halt the entire class to discuss a problem because each student is at a different place in the book, and may understand what this student does not. This type of atmosphere makes learning styles a moot point, don't you think?

At my school, most of the syllabi are canned, although we can modify them to some extent. Is it acceptable to add short addendums to the syllabus to highlight specific instructor expectations?

Can instructional styles be learned, even though most teachers are comfortable with one dominant style?