The Last Poster Wins! [v21]

[Neo Emolga]

Yeah I'm just so fed up with this professor. She just doesn't know what she's doing!

Oh, so many of them don't. I had one biology professor that just spent so many class lectures talking about his son in med school and then gave us exams about stuff he never covered in class. I crapped my pants on the first two exams and was running a D average, but thankfully on the third and final exam, I managed to figure out his lame methodology and tricks, studied my brain out, and actually pulled out a high A on it to save my butt and pull off a B average, which felt like a miracle. I'm actually surprised he didn't accuse me of cheating because of how different the exam scores were (and I was like the only person who did very well on that exam). Seven people in that class failed while half the class got a D or under. Scary stuff.

And I had a Business Policy class where EVERY EXAM WAS PURE MEMORIZATION. And the answers had to be put down word-for-word. Who cares if you were clueless about the actual concepts, as long as you remembered the words in the right order, nothing else mattered! Again, I got blasted on the first two exams, figured out the guy's dumb patterns, and saved my neck on exam #3 and #4 simply by remembering the answers out of repetition. It was so alarmingly stupid but I had to play by his game rules. The answers made absolutely no sense and many of the responses were the guy's own personal beliefs, even though I felt they were totally bogus. C average. DUMBEST PIECE OF INTERVIEWING ADVICE HE GAVE: "Accept the offer, never the job." WUT THE FUNK. THAT MAKES NO SENSE! Oh, and good luck getting anywhere in life doing that. -.-

If I became a professor, there is NO WAY ON THE PLANET I would teach like this. My whole way of doing things would be present the material in a fun, interesting, and thoughtful way that uses real people terms and examples. Be visual. Dash in some humor even if it's just to keep the class awake. Show a great and insightful video every now and then (TED talks would be perfect). Make assignments reasonable that focus more on the student's ability to take what they know and put it into practice because they understand it, not to just make them busy with a 15 page report just for the hell of it. And LISTEN to your students.

Boy, would I have fun if I were the dean of a university.

[Noblejanobii]

Honestly if I was a professor I'd try to make my class as easy as possible. I wouldn't make it a joke but I get that people have other classes too so I would try to take that into consideration when it came to assignments and I'd accommodate situations as best I could. I'd also offer extra credit where I could because I get not everyone is a skilled test taker and the students that are dedicated will go the extra mile for it. I'd even try to cancel class every once in a while to give my students a break.

[Neo Emolga]

Honestly if I was a professor I'd try to make my class as easy as possible. I wouldn't make it a joke but I get that people have other classes too so I would try to take that into consideration when it came to assignments and I'd accommodate situations as best I could. I'd also offer extra credit where I could because I get not everyone is a skilled test taker and the students that are dedicated will go the extra mile for it. I'd even try to cancel class every once in a while to give my students a break.

Yeah, that's other biggie. Professors, your class is not the only one students are taking! So many of them think "oh, this isn't that much homework." But if you multiply that by five times for the number of classes most people take in a semester, yes, it DOES become a lot of homework.

I wouldn't be big on exams either, if at all. People have to work with the knowledge to really retain it, not just memorize it, regurgitate it all over the exam, and then never think about the stuff again after they walk out the door. And extra credit is nice, especially for those who might have had the wrong approach at the beginning of the class but now know what they're supposed to do. If they're willing to put in the extra time and effort to make up for a few rookie mistakes, that should be commended and rewarded.

[Noblejanobii]

Yeah, that's other biggie. Professors, your class is not the only one students are taking! So many of them think "oh, this isn't that much homework." But if you multiply that by five times for the number of classes most people take in a semester, yes, it DOES become a lot of homework.

I wouldn't be big on exams either, if at all. People have to work with the knowledge to really retain it, not just memorize it, regurgitate it all over the exam, and then never think about the stuff again after they walk out the door. And extra credit is nice, especially for those who might have had the wrong approach at the beginning of the class but now know what they're supposed to do. If they're willing to put in the extra time and effort to make up for a few rookie mistakes, that should be commended and rewarded.

What I'd probably do when it came to exams and assessments would be like a combination of what one of my teachers did in middle school, what another did in high school, and what one of my professors now. I'd probably have a quiz every week to be able to help boost your grade up if you screw up, but it'd pretty easy, like if you listened in class you can pass it. It would definitely have a bonus question on it that would be a little harder but not too much so. And whatever homework we did that week could be used on the quiz. As for tests, they'd be completely open note and open book. My law teacher in high school used this method and he saw vast improvement amongst his student's grades when he used this method, so obviously it's effective.

In addition, when it came to electronics in class, as long as you aren't like obviously not following along, then you're fine. You wanna text in class? Go for it, just don't make really obvious. Record my lecture? Sure, I don't see why not. Type your notes? It's faster than writing in my opinion. I'd also post my notes/powerpoints where my students could access them at the end of like say each week? It'd be after the quiz so they couldn't slip the powerpoint notes in for the open homework quizzes but they could use them on the tests. And if a student emailed me saying they are going to miss class then I'd send them that day's notes so they can see what they missed.

[Neo Emolga]

Well, I managed to get Christmas shopping done for my brother, but now I've got everyone else to figure out.

For my sister, it's a bit more time critical because I need to ship things over to her. Unfortunately, she decided not to come up for the holidays...

[Chibi Altaria]

Well, I managed to get Christmas shopping done for my brother, but now I've got everyone else to figure out.

For my sister, it's a bit more time critical because I need to ship things over to her. Unfortunately, she decided not to come up for the holidays...

This is me plus every one of my friends in the States. xD Also my brother cause he lives two states north of me. I don't know what to get anyone and I have such a time limit. ;o;

[Noblejanobii]

Not shopping until after finals

[Neo Emolga]

Well, I tackled my sister's Christmas shopping stuff! Now I just need to figure out what to get dad. And he's not easy. :P

[Noblejanobii]

*drags through homework* Ughh

[Neo Emolga]

*drags through homework* Ughh

So on what day is your semester over and your final exams finally tackled down?

I'm sure that's the day that REALLY feels like Christmas. XD