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My Grandson told me an interesting story about what happened in one of his classes in college:
He is a business major and is taking a class on Business Communications. (A required class for all business students.)
Anyway, this is an interactive class that involves role playing, case studies, group projects and individual presentations. This really angers the students who believe a college class should be a: lecture, read books, write papers and take tests model. They don't want to get involved in "silly" presentations, role playing exercises, group presentations, etc.
So when the Instructor tries to get volunteers for presentations and role playing the students refuse. They just don't want to do it.
Should the Instructor force them up to the front of the room by saying they will fail the class without participating, or just change the class so it is the: lecture, read books, write papers and take tests model?
It's a COMMUNICATIONS CLASS. He should force the students to be interactive. I don't understand why these students think they are above doing what the professor requests. I took a similar course in college as part of my business degree called Interpersonal Skills where we had to do role plaiyng, presentations, we would dissect communication from movies like "good will hunting", etc. I think it has been generally helpful. We all had to do the meyers-briggs type tests and got to know how to deal well with other types and how to present things/understand others. That has been widely useful for all group projects I've been on at work, because I understood how to interact with different types, how to motivate in a group setting, how to explain to others how to do things without seeming condescending/still showing them respect, and how to present findings to management as a team. If this kid thinks the real world is going to be read books, write papers, take tests.... instead of more like presentations and teamwork, then he needs to re-think his expectations of the world.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Yes, he should force them and if they refuse, grade them appropriately: a zero for that component. Case studies are critical to learning business (and several other disciplines) and communications classes have speaking and interacting components. You can't do either of these disciplines correctly without what the professor is proposing, IMO.
There's an easy way to deal with that problem: hold them accountable for not participating. If it's just a classroom activity, there's no incentive to do anything. If, however, there are authentic tasks that students can see and are working toward in those activities, and if they know that there's a score involved, that should motivate them. If it doesn't, then I'd fail them, and I'd also consider adding a stipulation in the syllabus/course information sheet which spells out that if students are willfully not engaging, then they'll be dropped from the roll, or asked not to come to class and receive an F, and they can per chance find a lecture course some other session or at some other institution.
The key question here is, what is the instructor having the students do? Is it authentic work, or is just an activity that seems interesting and useful only in the mind of the professor? If the students feel it's the latter, then the prof needs to look at what he's doing and analyze whether or not there's some legitimacy to the concerns - sometimes there is. But if it's working toward real-world training, the students need to shape up or ship out.
My Grandson told me an interesting story about what happened in one of his classes in college:
He is a business major and is taking a class on Business Communications. (A required class for all business students.)
Anyway, this is an interactive class that involves role playing, case studies, group projects and individual presentations. This really angers the students who believe a college class should be a: lecture, read books, write papers and take tests model. They don't want to get involved in "silly" presentations, role playing exercises, group presentations, etc.
So when the Instructor tries to get volunteers for presentations and role playing the students refuse. They just don't want to do it.
Should the Instructor force them up to the front of the room by saying they will fail the class without participating, or just change the class so it is the: lecture, read books, write papers and take tests model?
Wow, this just proves that many people shouldn't go to college. A student would have to be pretty ignorant and lazy to think presentations in a business class are "silly." Sounds like the college has low standards for admissions. The professor shouldn't be asking for volunteers, though - it should be an absolute requirement. Just sounds like a school that isn't worth the money to me. Maybe your grandson should consider transferring.
My Grandson told me an interesting story about what happened in one of his classes in college:
He is a business major and is taking a class on Business Communications. (A required class for all business students.)
Anyway, this is an interactive class that involves role playing, case studies, group projects and individual presentations. This really angers the students who believe a college class should be a: lecture, read books, write papers and take tests model. They don't want to get involved in "silly" presentations, role playing exercises, group presentations, etc.
So when the Instructor tries to get volunteers for presentations and role playing the students refuse. They just don't want to do it.
Should the Instructor force them up to the front of the room by saying they will fail the class without participating, or just change the class so it is the: lecture, read books, write papers and take tests model?
This is the who point of the class. In the real world you are often asked to give presentations, interact with your co-workers, and do things like Q&A panels. Too often graduated students are completely unprepared for this once they get in to the real world. I know I was, and it was one of the hardest things to overcome. When I went back for my masters they actually made me take a very similar class as a pre-req, as I had never taken one an undergrad. It was actually a lot of fun and I wish I had taken it 20 years earlier.
Incredibly stupid students. They've earned a failing grade. I've been in classes where some students presumed themselves smarter than the professor. It doesn't work.
In a Communications Class similar to a language class (where one is studying a language), a student's participation is necessary for the student practice the skills learned in the classroom. If a student refuses to participate, the instructor should take off points from the student's final grade according to whatever the teacher told the students would be the points for participation (or lack of participation) the beginning of the course.
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