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This question has to do with the teaching/training of Adults only.
I work as a part time Community College Business Instructor (evenings) and a full time Trainer in Management Topics for a large company. Lots of students come through my classes and about a third of them come kicking and screaming and don't want to be there. It's a challenge.
My Business Communication class at the Community College is a required class for all Business Majors but before they even walk into the classroom they have already determined that it is a waste of their time. They want to learn about their concentration only and think nothing is important other than classes directly related to their majors. (Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Operations, etc.)
In my role as Trainer for a large corporation, I teach classes for managers on how to be an effective supervisor. I teach about topics like Supervision, Recruiting and Selection, working with difficult employees, performance appraisal development, etc. Most of the managers who take my class don't think they need someone to tell them about this stuff and they act like it is a waste of their time and do everything to get excused. (They are forced to go as new managers)
I do everything I can to make the class interesting, but there is always about 30 percent of the class who will look bored, tell everyone they are bored, fall asleep, refuse to answer questions in class, look at their smartphones in class and talk when I am talking. These are adults!
Should I basically ignore these 30% or make their life miserable for being so disruptive and inconsiderate? Or should I kill them with kindness? Or what?
This question has to do with the teaching/training of Adults only.
I work as a part time Community College Business Instructor (evenings) and a full time Trainer in Management Topics for a large company. Lots of students come through my classes and about a third of them come kicking and screaming and don't want to be there. It's a challenge.
My Business Communication class at the Community College is a required class for all Business Majors but before they even walk into the classroom they have already determined that it is a waste of their time. They want to learn about their concentration only and think nothing is important other than classes directly related to their majors. (Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Operations, etc.)
In my role as Trainer for a large corporation, I teach classes for managers on how to be an effective supervisor. I teach about topics like Supervision, Recruiting and Selection, working with difficult employees, performance appraisal development, etc. Most of the managers who take my class don't think they need someone to tell them about this stuff and they act like it is a waste of their time and do everything to get excused. (They are forced to go as new managers)
I do everything I can to make the class interesting, but there is always about 30 percent of the class who will look bored, tell everyone they are bored, fall asleep, refuse to answer questions in class, look at their smartphones in class and talk when I am talking. These are adults!
Should I basically ignore these 30% or make their life miserable for being so disruptive and inconsiderate? Or should I kill them with kindness? Or what?
30% of the students do not want to learn, so that means 70% want to learn. Teach to those adults. If some of the students are falling asleep or refusing to answer questions that is their problem, not yours.
In regards to the large corporation, surely they have some sort of code of conduct? Using a phone during work hours would seem a violation of any basic COC. Have you spoken to HR about this?
I regards to the class, make part of the grade participation. Also, embed some questions into your assessments that would be able to be answered only by those attending and paying attention.
This question has to do with the teaching/training of Adults only.
I work as a part time Community College Business Instructor (evenings) and a full time Trainer in Management Topics for a large company. Lots of students come through my classes and about a third of them come kicking and screaming and don't want to be there. It's a challenge.
My Business Communication class at the Community College is a required class for all Business Majors but before they even walk into the classroom they have already determined that it is a waste of their time. They want to learn about their concentration only and think nothing is important other than classes directly related to their majors. (Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Operations, etc.)
In my role as Trainer for a large corporation, I teach classes for managers on how to be an effective supervisor. I teach about topics like Supervision, Recruiting and Selection, working with difficult employees, performance appraisal development, etc. Most of the managers who take my class don't think they need someone to tell them about this stuff and they act like it is a waste of their time and do everything to get excused. (They are forced to go as new managers)
I do everything I can to make the class interesting, but there is always about 30 percent of the class who will look bored, tell everyone they are bored, fall asleep, refuse to answer questions in class, look at their smartphones in class and talk when I am talking. These are adults!
Should I basically ignore these 30% or make their life miserable for being so disruptive and inconsiderate? Or should I kill them with kindness? Or what?
You could try really hard to teach them something they don't know and make sure they know they don't know it. You could also try to include more interactive activities so that they really can't fall asleep because they are the ones talking or making a presentation or actively responsible for doing something at that moment. Finally, you could try to give them more voice - acknowledge what they know and that they do have something to contribute to the class, rather than taking the position of expert and everyone else is strictly a student. This is basic adult theory - adults need to build on what they know, share their own knowledge, have some control over their own learning.
Even if you do all that, there may be a few who still fall asleep and complain of being bored, but 30% is too much. Aim for 10%.
(I also teach adult ed in community college - and I also teach classes people are forced to take and don't want to take - but I am solidly in the 10% or less bored bracket because I do all of the above.)
I find on a typical day I might ignore 25% of half my students several times a week.
I believe it makes life more difficult when the idiots are completely ignored for too long. My method is to try and include them in conversation, examples and questions.
This is college. For the talking ones, ask them to leave the class and come back when they are ready to learn.
I saw it done while I was in college. When that one came back, he was like a new person.
I agree. I actually took a remedial math class at a community college where one student, on the second day, whined to the instructor; "Miss! Miss! Why do we have to do this?" The instructor just stared at him for a minute and eventually said "Well, I am assuming you evenutally want some kind of degree, and this class is a pre-requisite for the math you will need later. Or maybe you don't want that, and in that case, there's the door!" I wanted to cheer her. I could not BELIEVE that question, along with the "Miss! Miss!" WTF?
I am in a sophomore literature class of around 300 students. When I first read the professor's list of rules I was taken aback. Now, I understand his reasoning. He is pretty harsh. We have quizzes almost every day; 10 questions over the assigned reading. Easy stuff if you read the assigned reading. If you are using your phone during class, you get a zero for that day's quiz. Doesn't matter if you did great on the quiz. You are not allowed to leave early, if you do, again, zero on the quiz. The quizzes add up all total to 20% of the grade. He drops three of the grades, so you can be absent 3 times on quiz days. If you are repeatedly losing credit for being rude, however, you can be removed from class for good.
The class is an hour and 20 minutes long. He expects you to use the restroom, get a drink, etc., before class and stay put during the entire class and I agree with him. It's not an all day class!
Now, he is very engaging and dynamic, has a great lecturing style, encourages discussion, and there is little chance to be bored.
Another professor I have gives extra credit, at the END of class only, and only to those present. You cannot get the info from another student and still get the credit; it is assigned to just you.
A psychology professor I had at the community college I previously attended was an amazing guy, so charismatic and fun, really laid back, but I saw him call out some jackasses who would NOT stop talking and cutting up (it is not high school!) and he had no more problems with them the rest of the semester. If people are going to act like little children, then perhaps that's how they are asking to be treated.
Well, coming from K-12 and what they get away with, these same students see college as just 13th grade.
Takes a wake up call that college is OPTIONAL and not required and the teacher does NOT have to put up with that nonsense.
The advice is good below but I find if you play to the needs of the unmotivated students and try to eliminate all the lecture and speak to the lowest intellectual skills, the other students who were motivated get angry.
I met with some teaching and training experts who also come by my classes to give me guidence and they helped me mix up the types of training approaches and improve my public speaking skills. But even after all that it is hard to motivate and engage people who don't respect the education they are getting or think the only management and communication skills training worth a dam is doing it in real life.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marie5v
You could try really hard to teach them something they don't know and make sure they know they don't know it. You could also try to include more interactive activities so that they really can't fall asleep because they are the ones talking or making a presentation or actively responsible for doing something at that moment. Finally, you could try to give them more voice - acknowledge what they know and that they do have something to contribute to the class, rather than taking the position of expert and everyone else is strictly a student. This is basic adult theory - adults need to build on what they know, share their own knowledge, have some control over their own learning.
Even if you do all that, there may be a few who still fall asleep and complain of being bored, but 30% is too much. Aim for 10%.
(I also teach adult ed in community college - and I also teach classes people are forced to take and don't want to take - but I am solidly in the 10% or less bored bracket because I do all of the above.)
The advice is good below but I find if you play to the needs of the unmotivated students and try to eliminate all the lecture and speak to the lowest intellectual skills other students who were motivated get angry.
I met with some teaching and training experts come by my classes to give me guidence and they helped me mix up the types of training approaches and improve my public speaking skills. But even after all that it is hard to motivate and engage people who don't respect the education they are getting or think the only management and communication skills training worth a dam is doing it in real life.
Then teach to the ones that want to learn. The ones that could care less will reap what they sow later in life.
But I would not put up with the ones that are talking while you are lecturing.
College is different; they are paying to listen to you and gain wisdom. If they want to waste their money that is their loss.
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