A Non-traditional Student's Observations
In a few days I'll be an official graduate of the ITT Technical Institute in Columbia, SC. My major was Network Systems Administration and my degree is an AAS (Associates of Applied Science). I wanted to turn more to the software side of IT and leave the hardware side as a minor part of my work. It remains to be seen if I will be able to find a position (non-traditional in my case means somewhat older than the average student*) that will utilize my new education. As a reference item for those not familiar with me, I also have an AAS and a BSET in Electrical Enginneering Technology from the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE: http://msoe.edu/) from a few** years ago.
My first observation is that classroom discipline was very different from what I was used to in HS and MSOE. Of course there is a time lapse between then and now, but still I thought that students would be more respectful of the instructors. After all, the purpose of attending class is to learn and you can't learn if you're 'cutting up' most of the time. Additionally, many students were habitually late and most of these left early. There were those that had legitimate reasons for running late (jobs and the traffic at Malfunction Junction which is right where the campus is located) and leaving early, but in many cases the students said they were bored or had other things to do. These behaviours were surprising because many of these students were paying for their education themselves***. Not surprisingly, most of these students also complained about poor grades because of missed assignments and quizzes.
I refrained from lecturing any of them.
On the positive side, most of the instructors were knowledgeable. In the tech area there were a good number that were working in the areas they were teaching. Which meant they could easily answer questions and explain material we did not understand. Of course the student had to know he didn't understand before the question could be asked. See above.
In the general studies area, surprisingly, all but one of the instructors I had were knowledgeable. However, one of the knowledgeable instructors sis have a, to me, grating way of teaching. He was the only instructor who was also teaching general studies in a high school. Near as I can tell his teaching style was geared towards today's high school students. Which makes me glad I'm not in high school.
On the down side, there were a few technical instructors who were not so good. Which for me and some of my classmates was irritating but didn't prevent us from learning the material. We just had to reply more on the books and each other for the learning experience rather than the instructor. In some cases we became the instructor (Introduction to Programming stands out as one such class). This is partially due to the way instructors are evaluated. As near as I could tell, part of the evaluation was the students' grades, the other part was student evaluation forms. Certain instructors graded very 'easily' or leniently. Which certain students (see the first observation) liked. Of course, these students only received a short term favor by getting the easy grade. Especially in technical subject, each course (except for the first) builds upon the course before it. Receiving a good grade is one thing, knowing the material so that you can do well in the next course is another. With a poor teacher there is no correlation between the two. In some cases we had the same poor instructor for succeeding courses, which meant that the burden of learning was much greater on us.
Another flaw of the student evaluation forms being used to rate instructors was that very knowledgeable but strict grading instructors could be let go. It happened to a Math and Electronics instructor****. The instructor was brilliant, but assumed that students met the prerequisites for his course (which is a logical assumption since this is, after all, a college). Thus, unless asked, would not go over material from the previous math course. Many of the students also had issues with his teaching style and the length of his classes (see first observation again). Many instructors let students out early. Not this one. Anyway, after a few terms he was no longer with ITT. My department chairperson explained that the instructor had to be let go because of poor student evaluations. Sigh.
Perhaps part of this is the low level of compensation for the instructors. Those who are knowledgeable and have been teaching for more than a term or two have my respect and gratitude. Gratitude for sharing their knowledge, respect for doing so at such a low rate of pay.
Which makes those instructors who grade too easily hard to understand. Why fight to retain such a low paying job and turn out student's who do not learn the subject matter?
The bottom line is that ITT does offer a chance to learn the material. A student's grades, unfortunately, don't always reflect what he/she learned. This is bad for those of us who did learn the material. Why? Because employers who have hired these poor students will shy away from hiring ITT grads because of their bad experience(s) with the ITT grads.
gS
* In most cases I've been working with computers longer than most of my classmates have been on the Earth.
** 39
*** Many students, myself included, had part or all of their tuition paid for by some form of government aid. I can't comprehend any student not taking advantage of the situation and learning all that they could.
**** This is the only instructor that I know for sure was let go because of poor student evaluations. All of them because he graded strictly, expected students to learn, take responsibility for their learning, and expected students to follow the rules.
My first observation is that classroom discipline was very different from what I was used to in HS and MSOE. Of course there is a time lapse between then and now, but still I thought that students would be more respectful of the instructors. After all, the purpose of attending class is to learn and you can't learn if you're 'cutting up' most of the time. Additionally, many students were habitually late and most of these left early. There were those that had legitimate reasons for running late (jobs and the traffic at Malfunction Junction which is right where the campus is located) and leaving early, but in many cases the students said they were bored or had other things to do. These behaviours were surprising because many of these students were paying for their education themselves***. Not surprisingly, most of these students also complained about poor grades because of missed assignments and quizzes.
I refrained from lecturing any of them.
On the positive side, most of the instructors were knowledgeable. In the tech area there were a good number that were working in the areas they were teaching. Which meant they could easily answer questions and explain material we did not understand. Of course the student had to know he didn't understand before the question could be asked. See above.
In the general studies area, surprisingly, all but one of the instructors I had were knowledgeable. However, one of the knowledgeable instructors sis have a, to me, grating way of teaching. He was the only instructor who was also teaching general studies in a high school. Near as I can tell his teaching style was geared towards today's high school students. Which makes me glad I'm not in high school.
On the down side, there were a few technical instructors who were not so good. Which for me and some of my classmates was irritating but didn't prevent us from learning the material. We just had to reply more on the books and each other for the learning experience rather than the instructor. In some cases we became the instructor (Introduction to Programming stands out as one such class). This is partially due to the way instructors are evaluated. As near as I could tell, part of the evaluation was the students' grades, the other part was student evaluation forms. Certain instructors graded very 'easily' or leniently. Which certain students (see the first observation) liked. Of course, these students only received a short term favor by getting the easy grade. Especially in technical subject, each course (except for the first) builds upon the course before it. Receiving a good grade is one thing, knowing the material so that you can do well in the next course is another. With a poor teacher there is no correlation between the two. In some cases we had the same poor instructor for succeeding courses, which meant that the burden of learning was much greater on us.
Another flaw of the student evaluation forms being used to rate instructors was that very knowledgeable but strict grading instructors could be let go. It happened to a Math and Electronics instructor****. The instructor was brilliant, but assumed that students met the prerequisites for his course (which is a logical assumption since this is, after all, a college). Thus, unless asked, would not go over material from the previous math course. Many of the students also had issues with his teaching style and the length of his classes (see first observation again). Many instructors let students out early. Not this one. Anyway, after a few terms he was no longer with ITT. My department chairperson explained that the instructor had to be let go because of poor student evaluations. Sigh.
Perhaps part of this is the low level of compensation for the instructors. Those who are knowledgeable and have been teaching for more than a term or two have my respect and gratitude. Gratitude for sharing their knowledge, respect for doing so at such a low rate of pay.
Which makes those instructors who grade too easily hard to understand. Why fight to retain such a low paying job and turn out student's who do not learn the subject matter?
The bottom line is that ITT does offer a chance to learn the material. A student's grades, unfortunately, don't always reflect what he/she learned. This is bad for those of us who did learn the material. Why? Because employers who have hired these poor students will shy away from hiring ITT grads because of their bad experience(s) with the ITT grads.
gS
* In most cases I've been working with computers longer than most of my classmates have been on the Earth.
** 39
*** Many students, myself included, had part or all of their tuition paid for by some form of government aid. I can't comprehend any student not taking advantage of the situation and learning all that they could.
**** This is the only instructor that I know for sure was let go because of poor student evaluations. All of them because he graded strictly, expected students to learn, take responsibility for their learning, and expected students to follow the rules.