For every course I've ever taught the age-old adage has been true, "You can't please all the people all the time."
No one is perfect. Teaching is a "learned art" in my experience. I've told others who are new to teaching:
Even as I try my best - offering appropriate and timely feedback, engaging with learners, making myself available online, in the office, or providing my mobile phone to learners, there are some learners that do not "like" something about the course or about "the instructor" - me.
I've been teaching in the college classroom in ancillary ways for more than 25 years with my first fully assigned course, professional paid Adjunct Professor opportunity in the 1993-1994 year, 24 years ago.
For the first time in any course I've taught, teaching adjunct for the Church of the Nazarene's Bible College, *every* one of the learners gave me a "5" (highest category) review.
I think it impossible this will ever happen again - so I'm archiving this!
Unbelievable!
No one is perfect. Teaching is a "learned art" in my experience. I've told others who are new to teaching:
About the 5th time I teach a course, I finally think that I have it 'right.' The 1st time I teach a course I align it well, but still have to configure details and assignments and the 'logic' and 'flow' of the course with learner input and feedback after the course ends! The 2nd and 3rd time to teach the course involves revision from previous iterations of the course. The 4th time, the course typically runs well and by the 5th time, the course flows orderly and with good focus. It takes years to develop and sustain a 'good' course! [Later changes are often 'forced' when a better textbook emerges or new learning software necessitates a revision to the platform and course features.]I receive largely favorable reviews in courses I teach. Most of the review include plots of numbers, though I often received helpful constructive feedback in comments from learners. This feedback, especially the written engaged sentences from learners, is important. Even as I have some courses I teach "year after year" ('Intro' courses), I often develop new teaching strategies, look for better ways to engage a textbook or use a new textbook, "play" with different ways to get learners to engage in the classroom or in their work/civic/church environments, and incorporate new discoveries/scholarship from journal articles, international news, academic published reports, or recent archaeological discoveries. With new technology, courses can be revised with various options in each new Learning Management Software or new "app."
Even as I try my best - offering appropriate and timely feedback, engaging with learners, making myself available online, in the office, or providing my mobile phone to learners, there are some learners that do not "like" something about the course or about "the instructor" - me.
I've been teaching in the college classroom in ancillary ways for more than 25 years with my first fully assigned course, professional paid Adjunct Professor opportunity in the 1993-1994 year, 24 years ago.
For the first time in any course I've taught, teaching adjunct for the Church of the Nazarene's Bible College, *every* one of the learners gave me a "5" (highest category) review.
I think it impossible this will ever happen again - so I'm archiving this!
Unbelievable!
No comments:
Post a Comment