this year i've decided to air my grievances, festivus style. for the next few days i'll be writing about how people have disappointed me over the past year. i'd like to begin by criticizing one of my professors.

i enjoy the material that you teach but your lecture notes are not the best. i understand how intricate what you teach can be, and as a future teacher i applaud your use of diagrams to help convey and visualize important concepts. however, i am not a visual learner and often times, and i feel that your overuse of diagrams actually impedes my learning instead of facilitating it. some good old text would be nice some times.

secondly, your lab assignments are nuts. my understanding of the purpose of labs, is to build upon what is learned in lecture. while i feel that the activities are appropriate, the accompanying questions are not because you ask us about things that we did not learn in lecture or lab. if you are going to ask such questions, at least provide us with resources that we can use to find the answers OR only ask questions based on lab and lecture material.

lastly, your tests are also nuts. if your material is insanely easy, then you should evaluate us with methods that reflect that level of difficulty. to be more specific, i do not think you should have to make your tests so difficult that it seems you are trying to purposely fail us all. in my almost-three years of university, never once have i been evaluated in this manner. easy material is easy. easy material should not be difficult. if we know your material, we know it and we should all get good grades.

that's all i wanted to say.

p.s. i'm actually doing alright in this course, i'm just feeling a bit analytical. now that i think of it i'm actually going to use this for my professional development report that i need to hand in next semester. usually i would write about really great professors that i've had but this time i'm thinking about writing a "how not to teach" reflection. *posted by danes at 11:07 PM -