My Freshmen Year

The aspect I found to be most surprising in this text is that instructors are seemingly oblivious to the way in which undergraduates conduct their daily lives. Granted student lives have become increasingly complicated due to certain added responsibilities and increased connectedness with family and friends; however, students working while in school, cutting corners on assignments, and finding it difficult to balance their personal and academic lives are not new concepts. For lack of a better way to state it, I was surprised at her being surprised that student’s lives are complicated and fraught with periods of seemingly unmanageable stress. Is it that her undergraduate experience (as well as the experiences of her friends and anyone she was acquainted with) was so uneventful, with less pressure, that these are new situations, or is this an issue of willful ignorance that allows the author to fill the pages of a book?

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The advice I would give to a new college student would be:

1. an average undergraduate will complete the coursework in 4 ½ to 5 years, so do not worry about the 4 year timeframe,

2. take only 12 credits your first semester and concentrate the extra time on understanding the university and learning about what the university has to offer, and

3.try to land a part-time job on campus – work study benefits individuals because it provides them experience as well as affords students an opportunity to work alongside instructors, tearing down the perceived barriers of ‘us’ and ‘them’.

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The advice I would give a new college instructor would be that since students have not evolved since you were in college:

1. do be discouraged by lack of class participation;

2. be conscious of student responses when facilitating class discussions – what fails one day might work the next;

3. remember that this is not the only class students are taking and to temper expectations to be more realistic with students priorities and schedules (assigning students to read 30 pages from a dry textbook will more then likely not be completed before class – 30 pages from an interesting text will bring about a more positive response to class participation).

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The class did not change my perspective on students as much as it did with instructors. It was not until I had to actually complete certain assignments (such as thinking and stating course objectives) did I realize how a seemingly mundane and primarily overlooked portion of instruction demands a great amount of attention and thought. Moreover, I find it interesting that instructors, who were at one time students themselves, fail to understand that nothing has really changed over the decades– at least no drastically – when it comes to college culture. For the most part, students are just as willing to skirt the rules and cut corners now as they were 10, 20, or 30 years ago.

I do not believe the texts completed in the course have changed my perception of students as much as it has changed my perspective of instructors. The texts have provided a sense of humanity to instructors that tends to be lacking when an undergraduate student, diminishing the concept of ‘other-ness’ in student thought. Simultaneously, I feel that the texts also illustrated, purposefully or not, how disconnected instructors are to an environment that they should be all too familiar with and should be fully capable of identifying with.

To answer the question more directly, my perception of undergraduate students has not changed. It seems to me that undergraduate students are expected to act in a more responsible and professional manner solely because they received a diploma from their high school and moved into a college dorm. It seems to me that a majority of the assessments and expectations put on undergrads are unrealistic, and it is these unrealistic expectations that are the reason for the negative light being put upon these students. However, it is not as if some undergraduate students do not deserve this moniker.

Evaluations to Improve Teaching

In developing a mid-term course evaluation, I would utilize, but not limit myself to, the list of questions below. I have added parenthetical commentary and explanation/reasoning to each question.

How effective is the instructor’s use of class time? Could there be a better use of class time?

(This question is typically found in these questionnaires, so I will add it solely on that basis. I wonder if these ever generate effective remarks, since the students rarely have a comparative class to judge the course against or will refrain from pitching ideas for fear of added work.)

Is the class pace too fast or too slow? Does the instructor need to utilize more or less examples?

(I believe that these are good questions to ask students because it will allow them an opportunity to comment on particular difficulties or boredom they may face prior to entering the classroom.)

Does the instructor promote a comfortable and open learning environment?

(I believe that asking about the comfort level in a classroom is important because what the instructor feels to be comfortable might not be the same sentiment as what students are feeling.)

Has the instructor correlated course objectives to the lectures and class activities?

(Checking in on course objectives is essential because of the difficulty of writing them.)

Are the course’s readings, assignments, and projects suitable for the class?

(Moving beyond whether there is too much or too little work – students will almost always say too much – I think its better to ask whether or not the student feel the material is relevant.)

How much time, outside of class, do you typically spend studying and preparing and is this done independently or in a group?

(The amount of time it takes for a student to study outside of class will show the instructor the level of difficulty for the course – whether there is actually too much or too little work. Moreover, self-motivated group studying/work will show either the difficulty level requires multiple people to complete what should be an easy assignment or the course environment is friendly. It could go either way.)

What grade do you expect to get I this class?

(I always liked these questions because it forces people to think realistically about how much effort they are actually putting into the course.)

To quickly answer the remaining questions with the limited space remaining:

- The answers to the questions will provide just enough information about how effective and efficient I am being without going overboard.

- The questions would ask for more detail in the final course evaluation

- I would administer the evaluation in an in-class survey, because people might be shy or seen as judgmental in focus groups and people would forget to complete online surveys.

- I think I would attempt to reorganize the way in which information is presented in the course, depending on the answers. I believe that student interest is less about the amount of work that they have to do and more about the manner in which the information is presented, whether it facilitates interest to a broad audience.

Objectives

Objectives:  Upon course completion, students will:

1.   have working knowledge of the theories, concepts, and issues defining conflict management;

2.   demonstrate reflective thought and relate central concepts through written assignments and peer-to-peer discourse;

3.   investigate the manner in which international actors respond to conflict; 

4.   exhibit an ability to systematically arrange the discipline’s concepts in a coherent framework;

5.   assess the course’s relevancy to the discipline and evaluate its effectiveness