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I'm currently trying to finish a online college class toward learning an additional job skill. I'm already behind, and I just earned a zero for an assignment worth 15%. I'm trying to read through the course syllabus and reading content to find where I'm supposed to understand how to complete the assignment I missed.
I'm in my 30s, I think I've had a decent working career, and have been dependable and professional. I learned a foreign language with no assistance. So I don't really think I have a learning problem. From K-12 and college, I've been terrible in the classroom setting, and terrible at getting any assistance from teachers, or anyone else honestly.
I'm tired of hearing about students "barely paying attention" in class and getting easy As, or other students complaining that they might fail "one" class-- I've been failing classes my whole life. Are there constructive reasons why the classroom has caused so many problems for me? What should I figure out about myself to make the classroom environment successful?
If you are having trouble understanding how you missed the assignment, try and set up a meeting with the professor. Even online professors should have office hours.
I'm currently trying to finish a online college class toward learning an additional job skill. I'm already behind, and I just earned a zero for an assignment worth 15%. I'm trying to read through the course syllabus and reading content to find where I'm supposed to understand how to complete the assignment I missed.
I'm in my 30s, I think I've had a decent working career, and have been dependable and professional. I learned a foreign language with no assistance. So I don't really think I have a learning problem. From K-12 and college, I've been terrible in the classroom setting, and terrible at getting any assistance from teachers, or anyone else honestly.
I'm tired of hearing about students "barely paying attention" in class and getting easy As, or other students complaining that they might fail "one" class-- I've been failing classes my whole life. Are there constructive reasons why the classroom has caused so many problems for me? What should I figure out about myself to make the classroom environment successful?
You need to tell us a lot more in order for any hope of a productive conversation.
How much time and effort are you putting into homework and ensuring that you understand the material, both in the classroom and out on your own time?
Are you monitoring and assessing what you do and don't understand, and what steps are you taking to address the content you don't understand? Are you reaching out to mobilize resources available to help you form the understanding?
Academic endeavors are not some magical sleight of hand. It is a process of assessing what you do and do not know, and then resolving to tackle that which you do not know until you can critically reason with it. It's not easy or necessarily quick, but if you have the requisite intelligence, then the path to success is actually fairly straightforward.
Nine times out of ten, if you're honest with yourself, you'll find that you simply haven't put in the time and effort required.
In the past, I used to miss assignments and receive poor grades, because I didn't read the teacher syllabus in detail. It happened again in this online class-- I received partial credit in class discussion. I later read the part that says discussions posted on the weekend instead of the weekday receives a partial grade.
I'm taking an introduction to software coding. The class is 3 weeks old. I read the course material in the afternoons until I go to sleep for the night. This week I've been learning about the basics of writing software code, and how to analyze the program that you're about to write. The project requires you to make "an analysis" and display your work. I'm trying to figure out where in the reading material I was supposed to figure out how to put down an analysis, and whether there's a good and bad way to analyze. I read through the course material but I can't find examples. I just drew a blank until the deadline passed.
Is that what these half-attentive students I've always read about were able to accomplish? I don't think I'm the only one who's heard of students who pass classes, when they barely attend in person, or barely pay attention to if they are in class. Every class that I passed, I had to remember every word of every sentence of every paragraph, or I ended up with a D or worse. If I had another pressing obligation in life, either the class or the obligation ended in failure. I guess I'm wondering what type of people have an "easy" time in the classroom. If they were geniuses, I could understand, but I'm not convinced that all great students are exactly geniuses.
But like I said, whenever I learn something outside of a classroom (on a website, or training on the job, etc.), I think I pick it up effectively. If I remember my time in the military correctly, I didn't have trouble studying the huge books needed for promotion exams.
Taking this class just reminds me of the hard times I had even as a little kid in 1st grade, through grade school and college.
What specifically is preventing you from completing your work?
Assuming the working world hasn't presented the same difficulties, what reasons for the differences can you identify?
You're supposed to do what they asking you to complete. You don't turn in nonsense, you do as you're directed. But if I can't understand what they're asking, I don't know what to turn in.
Don't be so passive - if you don't understand something, ask the instructor instead of just not doing it. And stop worrying about what other people are doing.
In the past, I used to miss assignments and receive poor grades, because I didn't read the teacher syllabus in detail. It happened again in this online class-- I received partial credit in class discussion. I later read the part that says discussions posted on the weekend instead of the weekday receives a partial grade.
I'm taking an introduction to software coding. The class is 3 weeks old. I read the course material in the afternoons until I go to sleep for the night. This week I've been learning about the basics of writing software code, and how to analyze the program that you're about to write. The project requires you to make "an analysis" and display your work. I'm trying to figure out where in the reading material I was supposed to figure out how to put down an analysis, and whether there's a good and bad way to analyze. I read through the course material but I can't find examples. I just drew a blank until the deadline passed.
Is that what these half-attentive students I've always read about were able to accomplish? I don't think I'm the only one who's heard of students who pass classes, when they barely attend in person, or barely pay attention to if they are in class. Every class that I passed, I had to remember every word of every sentence of every paragraph, or I ended up with a D or worse. If I had another pressing obligation in life, either the class or the obligation ended in failure. I guess I'm wondering what type of people have an "easy" time in the classroom. If they were geniuses, I could understand, but I'm not convinced that all great students are exactly geniuses.
But like I said, whenever I learn something outside of a classroom (on a website, or training on the job, etc.), I think I pick it up effectively. If I remember my time in the military correctly, I didn't have trouble studying the huge books needed for promotion exams.
Taking this class just reminds me of the hard times I had even as a little kid in 1st grade, through grade school and college.
Sounds to me like you are having trouble finding meaning in the text you read. If you can memorize it by rote, you can regurgitate it. But maybe to find the details about what you are supposed to do from long sections of text is challenging for you.
You need to be evaluated for a learning disability! You can find professionals to do this, or you could explore options at your local community college. They may be able to help you get the evaluation you need and connect you with the academic support that will help.
Online learning is probably not the best option for you. To get through this class, you need to hire a tutor to walk you through the assignments and keep you on the right track. No instructor in the world wants you to struggle like this and feel so frustrated. But it is unlikely that an online instructor will be able to help you much.
I'm currently trying to finish a online college class toward learning an additional job skill. I'm already behind, and I just earned a zero for an assignment worth 15%. I'm trying to read through the course syllabus and reading content to find where I'm supposed to understand how to complete the assignment I missed.
I'm in my 30s, I think I've had a decent working career, and have been dependable and professional. I learned a foreign language with no assistance. So I don't really think I have a learning problem. From K-12 and college, I've been terrible in the classroom setting, and terrible at getting any assistance from teachers, or anyone else honestly.
I'm tired of hearing about students "barely paying attention" in class and getting easy As, or other students complaining that they might fail "one" class-- I've been failing classes my whole life. Are there constructive reasons why the classroom has caused so many problems for me? What should I figure out about myself to make the classroom environment successful?
Welcome to the world of Adult ADD...........(possibly)
When you converse, does your conversation skip from subject to subject?
Does being in a mall type setting sometimes give you the "willies"?
Do you have trouble understanding what is being said on the telephone is someone else is speaking to you?
Are you a fairly good public speaker, and would you rather teach than sit and learn?
The bad news is, you will not outgrow it; the good news is you can learn to work around it.
FWIW: I am 70 and the chances of me getting anything at all out of a classroom environment are zero. Won't happen.
But I am a first rate teacher and public speaker. And spent most of my working life as a salesman. Award winning, even! But because my interests are so varied, I have done many things.
If you suspect you may fall into the category of ADD, tell me and we'll talk about it.....
In the past, I used to miss assignments and receive poor grades, because I didn't read the teacher syllabus in detail. It happened again in this online class-- I received partial credit in class discussion. I later read the part that says discussions posted on the weekend instead of the weekday receives a partial grade.
So your point is that the syllabi are too difficult to understand, and/or that the course expectations are not clearly communicated? I would ask the instructors right away if there is anything on the syllabus that is unclear to you, particularly involving deadlines. What learning management system is implemented in online classes? The ones I have used have always also indicated due dates, etc., so even if you fail to read/misread the syllabus, deadline notifications are built in. You can also always refer back to the syllabus. There really is no excuse for being unclear on what is due when, and what the expectations are.
If it's just a matter of not reading the syllabus in detail, uh, yeah, it's basically just as simple as making sure you are taking the intiative to actually read them and make sure you are clear on the expectations, deadlines, and when things are due. Ask if it's not clear. And, really, this shouldn't be something that causes you to fail. I can see that if you legitimately misunderstand the due dates for discussion contributions, etc. and get partial credit, that happens ONCE, and from then on out, you know it and do future work on time, now that you know. There's no reason why it would chronically happen, or occur often enough to lose enough points to actually FAIL.
Quote:
I'm taking an introduction to software coding. The class is 3 weeks old. I read the course material in the afternoons until I go to sleep for the night. This week I've been learning about the basics of writing software code, and how to analyze the program that you're about to write. The project requires you to make "an analysis" and display your work. I'm trying to figure out where in the reading material I was supposed to figure out how to put down an analysis, and whether there's a good and bad way to analyze. I read through the course material but I can't find examples. I just drew a blank until the deadline passed.
Again, ask for guidance and clarification if you have questions.
Quote:
Is that what these half-attentive students I've always read about were able to accomplish? I don't think I'm the only one who's heard of students who pass classes, when they barely attend in person, or barely pay attention to if they are in class. Every class that I passed, I had to remember every word of every sentence of every paragraph, or I ended up with a D or worse. If I had another pressing obligation in life, either the class or the obligation ended in failure. I guess I'm wondering what type of people have an "easy" time in the classroom. If they were geniuses, I could understand, but I'm not convinced that all great students are exactly geniuses.
No clue, I've never been a half-attentive student. I also have never had classes where there was no attendance requirement.
People who succeed academically do so do to a wide range of habits. Often, it's that they are very organized and good time managers, or, if they're not, they have some other area of their life that they are able to let slide/borrow from to devote the extra time to their academics. Others are quick studies, and retain information without having to spend inordinate amounts of time drilling concepts (often, these are people studying things they are already very interested in to begin with, and enthusiastic about, versus just picking up something they need to pick up for some reason or another, but don't have a lot of personal interest or passion for it. If you are not able to extract meaning consistently from the things you read, it's entirely possible you are not interested enough to actually absorb what you're reading, but are just visually scanning it and basically going through the motions.
People who succeed are also people who anticipate stumbling blocks, recognize early on when they are not getting something, and are not afraid to ask questions when they are confused, versus shutting down and/or just freezing up and not completing the work.
Quote:
But like I said, whenever I learn something outside of a classroom (on a website, or training on the job, etc.), I think I pick it up effectively. If I remember my time in the military correctly, I didn't have trouble studying the huge books needed for promotion exams.
Taking this class just reminds me of the hard times I had even as a little kid in 1st grade, through grade school and college.
It could be a mental block you have developed yourself due to past difficulties.
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Welcome to the world of Adult ADD...........(possibly)
