Love/hate relationships with college courses

[Bush]

tldr: rant about or praise college courses


In college, whether at the undergrad or grad levels, what sort of things tended to piss you off about your courses?

Maybe course websites that were a pain to navigate, weird-ass grading curves, long-ass homework turnaround times, unresponsive professors, lack of communication, "final projects" that didn't make any damn sense? Things, for you, that "got in the way" of learning the material? Things gave you "bad vibes" from a course overall?

What about professors? What rubbed you the wrong way about some of them?

"It was too hard " is definitely an answer, but it's also pretty boring. But, hey, throw that in too if you want.

Hell, let's throw some positivity in there, too. What sort of things did you tend to like in courses?

Looking for general trends -- and maybe juicy anecdotes -- about both in-class courses and online courses.

 

[Raffaella]

Endnote - organization at its finest.

 

[Bush]

^ Oh yeah, tactics and tools for surviving classes are cool too.

 

[Passacaglia]

I've been through undergrad twice now. The first time was '02 to '06, and has gotten pretty hazy in my memory. I remember liking many of the profs, but having very mixed feelings about others. Two of my lit professors were very entertaining in class, but they graded papers based in part on 'how many times have I seen this idea in previous students' papers?' And because they had been teaching for years and years, they had already seen virtually every idea possible on the material already expressed by previous students, so it was very difficult to get into the B range and virtually impossible to get any kind of A.

I don't remember individual profs curving our grades, but I do remember the school curving our GPAs because...reasons? At one point I was freaking out because I thought I was going to lose my scholarship because my GPA had dipped just below 3.0, but then a friend said "Don't worry bro, the school plays games with the math to make our GPAs look lower than they are!" And he was right.

My second time through undergrad, '11 to '15, I paid closer attention to the system and how it generally worked out. Despite being forced to take not one but three religion courses at this school, I loved all three of my religion profs. They knew what they were talking about, they loved teaching, and they knew how to do it. My engineering profs, on the other hand, had been hired based largely on the papers they had published rather than their skill at teaching or their desire to teach. So they ranged from decent to outright terrible. And because many of them couldn't teach a fish to swim*, and because the school crams a 5-6 year program into 4 years of classes, everything in the engineering department was curved. Otherwise I'm sure that half of us would have failed, and the school would have had to explain to a lot of angry parents why they paid tuition for a nearly-impossible curriculum.

*One engineering prof was an odd character. He would pace -- nay, patrol -- the classroom as he filled the chalkboard with arcane equations at a dizzying speed, and fire questions at us. Very authoritarian, and the younger students were all terrified of him. During the second week in his class, as I watched him patrol, I thought "There's something about this guy...it's more than his attitude..." So I focussed on the way he walked, his ramrod posture, and his features. "Brown hair, parted to the side...brown eyes...stentorian nose...neat mustache...hm, if his mustache were just a little narrower, he'd look like...Hitler! MY PROFESSOR LOOKS LIKE HITLER!!!"

And he wasn't even the worst professor I had.

 

[gromit]

I can handle most anything if I can see the importance of the subject matter, but I really appreciate when the professor makes an effort to emphasize the relevance, eg talking about past patients they have worked with or something like that.

 

[gromit]

Actually one thing that bugged me was one prof who would answer a question the most roundabout way possible, drawing in all this context and other stuff, and like almost trying to build anticipation until he finally got to the answer like a big finale. I like that other stuff, but tell me the answer upfront so then I have a framework to understand the rest of what you're saying.

That really frustrated me, and I actually decided not to take an elective from this prof based on how frustrating his teaching style is for me, even though it was a topic I would have been interested in learning about otherwise.

 

[Bush]

Multiple-choice tests, especially about BS nuances such as dates, grate me quite a bit. I'm biased because my memory sucks, but those sorts of questions very rarely actually test whether you're grasping the material. Especially so at the grad level, where context is everything.

I also hate when profs were clearly hired on as researchers and paid no attention to their classes, and I also get frustrated with departments that enable that. It's like -- dude, you have responsibilities that, in some part, can affect students' lives; so own up to them. Get the hell out of your own lil' bubble, for Christ's sake. Or at least do your job.

[MENTION=9486]gromit[/MENTION] I'm not a fan of floaty answers either. I've observed that the best way to give a context-laden answer is to provide the answer first, then proceed with -- "Well, how did we get there? Here's how: [wall of speech here]. And, there you have it. QED."

 

[ceecee]

Group work. Nothing good ever came from group work in college. There were only a couple classes where the instructor was totally removed from any teaching. If we asked questions it was like - read the syllabus/handout/book/whatever. I had one that seemed to love to make the answer more difficult than the question ever was. I felt like - English motherfucker...do you speak it??!!

Fortunately I could usually get outside help so it never impacted my grades much.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Group work. Nothing good ever came from group work in college. There were only a couple classes where the instructor was totally removed from any teaching. If we asked questions it was like - read the syllabus/handout/book/whatever. I had one that seemed to love to make the answer more difficult than the question ever was. I felt like - English motherfucker...do you speak it??!!

Fortunately I could usually get outside help so it never impacted my grades much.

I hated group work, because I had to step in to be the leader, and I didn't want to do that. I wanted somebody else to lead. I don't like having to coordinate people. I tended to be better at it then I would have thought; but it annoyed me. The problem was that people tended to go back and forth talking about nothing and do nothing towards actually accomplishing the goals we needed to accomplish.

I also did well when I was paired with introverted people who were more organized than I was. I didn't want to disappoint them because they worked so hard, so that would motivate me to work harder, also.

 

[miss fortune]

I HATE scantron tests... I really don't like filling in all of the little bubbles after I've already answered the damned questions on the actual test... anyway, like with true and false tests, I can think of all kinds of reasons why another answer might be valid in certain circumstances

I had to take some idiotic "welcome to college" class in the spring despite having 3 degrees already and the instructor treated us all like we were idiots who couldn't navigate our way out of a wet paper bag... for our final assignment he wanted a copy of our budget in detail and I wrote a paper explaining exactly why it wasn't any of his fucking business... he gave me a zero on it and it was my only B of the semester... I hate inane and pointless classes.

had a professor years ago who had the goal of being the most difficult professor in the whole school... he'd mark you down a grade if he didn't like a comma placement

of course there are other instructors who love their job and what they teach and it shows... had one instructor for every class that he taught (which explains my Soc degree) and would always chat with him for about an hour after class every time... he was the same age as my dad and I was the same age as his daughter, so we got each other's references. the man actually had quite a few students who took every single class he took. My poli sci stats instructor was another one of those really into their subject professors and I took all of her classes as well... she made stats so easy and fun!

 

[Unkindloving]

Hates:

• Professors who were brilliant and genius in their subject, yet couldn't teach the material worth a damn to people below that caliber. Probably the single most commonly occurring and frustrating thing in my college career.
• Professors who had a Grading Rubric (without anything ambiguous like "class participation"), which I adhered to, yet gave me a lower grade more so based on their feelings instead of the points I did so rightfully earn
• Professors who began pilot programs that were far too big for the course itself, a month into the course, dealing with too many people within the college and in foreign countries, all while the professor didnt respond to emails and had a very "thats life" attitude about things that went wrong on the pilot program end. & who threw me under the bus in front of classmates by saying they were disappointed in ME for their ill-planned program being dysfunctional
• Psychotic major or club advisors who had control issues and moodswings/bipolor/indecisive coocoobird qualities and didn't know what they were talking about more than half of the time. Thus not really proving to be helpful at Advising.
• The majority of things and people at my transfer school lol. Sucked the joy and effort right out of me.

Loves:

• My community college because of minimal hiccups and maximum amazing people and curriculum
• Clubs I participated in that were well-organized and well-promoted, which gave way to better overall college experience and resources for coursework and materials
• When coursework was reasonable and without too much ridiculous and unnecessary expectation - my community college vs my transfer college
• Life examples in regard to course material
• Professors with quirky personalities- like a dorky love for science and great explanations because of it, or a professor that sounded like hispanic chris rock, etc
• My nutrition professor taking 20 minutes of a class to hand out/discuss pamphlets about "how to be a millionaire" and "how to choose the right spouse" about investing and making good choices and asking the right questions about one's self and relationship (im enfj so thats freaking important stuff right there for people to keep track of haha. people-things are love!)

 

[Hawthorne]

I adore most lectures and seminars. The process of learning new material is fun. The exception to this are the lectures that are taken word from word from a PowerPoint or textbook. I usually don't attend those for better or worse.

My least favorite things are introductory level discussions and the ass-kissing needed to stand out and get access to good assistantships. I dislike the first because often times, the class doesnt have enough information to discuss anything with sufficient depth causing things to get boring and predictable really fast. I dislike the second because I don't fully understand why recommendations and reference letters are such a huge part of the application process. Barring extreme behavioral issues, I don't see why transcripts, achievements, personal statements, and interviews aren't sufficient.

 

[Jet Stream]

I had a hate hate relationship with my college courses... except one, which I consistently adored, film and politics. The teacher of that course had a quiet charisma. I think he was an INFJ... Philosophy became the most dire academic faux pas of my life...soared above my head...wound turning in half completed tests with wordy confessions pertaining to my faith struggles. Failed.

 

[windoverlake]

tldr: rant about or praise college courses


In college, whether at the undergrad or grad levels, what sort of things tended to piss you off about your courses?

Maybe course websites that were a pain to navigate, weird-ass grading curves, long-ass homework turnaround times, unresponsive professors, lack of communication, "final projects" that didn't make any damn sense? Things, for you, that "got in the way" of learning the material? Things gave you "bad vibes" from a course overall?

What about professors? What rubbed you the wrong way about some of them?

"It was too hard " is definitely an answer, but it's also pretty boring. But, hey, throw that in too if you want.

Hell, let's throw some positivity in there, too. What sort of things did you tend to like in courses?

Looking for general trends -- and maybe juicy anecdotes -- about both in-class courses and online courses.

I'm not too thrilled about this myself because it makes it seem like it all comes down to superficiality, but I really only care about the prof and whether they're passionate, a good speaker, and if they have a sense of humour. Grading curves and being a hard grader is welcome because standards are important, and if I like the prof I'll try even harder to do well in their class. If they can bring an enthusiasm, it's infectious. I've only had one prof who ever fit this bill and empty seats in that class were a rare thing. Not saying it was a glam rock show, just that the prof's energy was so great to be around, and it made the course's difficulties manageable, or at least much less noticeable; you just felt those little things were worth it.

OTOH, if the prof looks like they'd rather be elsewhere, that's exactly what the rest of the class is thinking. And then, all those little bureaucratic details and course outlines and grading curves become a bigger issue than they need to be.

 

[Ingrid in grids]

Disorganisation of content and assessments, and poor administration, can really ruin a subject. I just had to withdraw from a subject I loved (Integrative Neuroscience) because of this.

Another thing I have a problem with is a style of grading I come across a lot in Arts subjects. Here, instead of grades A+ through to F, our grades are awarded as HD (80%+), D (70-79%), C (60-69%), P (50-59%) and F (less than 50%). Often I've received assignments back in Arts subjects with grades in the mid to low-80s with one-worded feedback like "great" or "perfect." If you can't fault a piece of work, then you should be awarding it 100%. Otherwise, what is the use of a percentage scale? A percentage implies there is a whole you take away from. Earlier in my degree, I used to approach my professors whenever I received a grade like this but little or no feedback, and they'd just look at me in a way that said, "I just gave you a HD, are you serious?" When they couldn't give me anything to improve or work on, they'd either bump up my grade to get rid of me, or say something vague like "there is a method to the madness." It's a frustrating convention. I've given up making an issue out of it now.

 

[Forever_Jung]

I love philosophy class, hate the philosophy students who never shut their pretentious mouths. When you attend a philosophy lecture, they should force all students to sit inside a soundproof glass case, and just pipe in the professor's voice through a speaker.

And some philosophy professors I've had probably belong in a case too. Instead of a lecture, I guess you would just have everyone quietly reflect behind the glass. That's probably the best way to teach philosophy anyway.

 

[Yama]

I have one professor this semester for a required transfer student "college success course" who makes us do weekly "writing exercises". Our (rather unclear) directions are to answer the prompts with "sensory detail" and to not use adjectives. One of these prompts was, literally, "Describe an adjective people use to describe you. Do you agree or disagree? Use sensory detail." What... I... what? Describe an adjective without using any adjectives?? Later in class, when giving us examples because no one understood what the fuck was happening, she says: "Instead of saying 'the red car was fast', say something like, 'the red car whizzed by.'" But red is a fjucing adjective?! Does she just want us to use better verbs?? Literally I don't even know. It's not even an English class. She insists we write this way to "train" us. Train me for what?! I tested out of my English classes before I even started college. I have a distinct style that comes to me naturally when writing creatively and academically. And what the hell? Sensory detail? That doesn't click with me at all. What she assumes are "10 minute assignments" for us take us over an hour (I say us because we, as a class, have discussed it amongst ourselves).

As much as I hate that very specific example, though, there are things I can't say I hate about college so far. I miss the easiness of the community college I went to before this. However, I find my classes to be very interesting. I'm majoring in sociology (admittedly, because it required no more math or English classes from me, no more natural science classes or labs, and no capstone project or internship senior year), but I'm interested in the material. I also love autobiographies, and one of my professors (who is teaching two of my classes, actually) assigned an intriguing book this week that I've very much enjoyed reading. Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich--it's not a new book, so I'm sure others have heard of it. I love reading and learning when it's interesting. I just hate school as an institution.

 

[Yama]

I love philosophy class, hate the philosophy students who never shut their pretentious mouths. When you attend a philosophy lecture, they should force all students to sit inside a soundproof glass case, and just pipe in the professor's voice through a speaker.

And some philosophy professors I've had probably belong in a case too. Instead of a lecture, I guess you would just have everyone quietly reflect behind the glass. That's probably the best way to teach philosophy anyway.

One of my favorite philosophy classes was my "Ethics & Morality" course. Each day, the professor would have us move the desks in the classroom into a circle. She would say a few words and introduce a topic (such as abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, poverty, etc.) and get our minds working, then start up a civilized class debate. Even the quietest of students participated after the first few classes, because it was very engaging. Instead of having tests or memorizing definitions, we wrote 2-3 page essays every week on whatever that week's debate topic was. The bulk of our essay was us making our own argument, which is what the in-class debates prepped us for, and using online statistics or whatever reputable source we could find to back us up (she made us cite at least 2 sources per paper).

She didn't shove other peoples' viewpoints down our throats, didn't make us memorize definitions or dates or even major philosophical concepts--that's what my other, more traditional philosophy classes did (which I also enjoyed; but this is what set this particular class apart). She simply got us to think critically in an exciting and captivating way that got us all inspired and itching to participate.

 

[á´…eparted]

I loved classes. I loved lecture (even if the teacher/professor was mediocure at best). I loved the structure, the ideas, the discussions, the exciting new information I haven't heard before.

I hated homework and endless practice, particularly when graded.

Tests/projects were meh.

I took my last class ever in the spring of 2014. Part of me misses it, part of me doesn't. I'd been taking classes for so many years that I don't think I could do well in them anymore. I slowly but surely got more and more fed up with out of class work. I'm thankful that I never had to do that during my last year of coursework. I would have done poorly if I had to (aside from projects).

In hindsight, I can not complain about any class I had. There was nothing objectively wrong or bad about how they were taught or done. Some were better than others, and perhaps I got lucky, but I don't think I'd be able to write a bad review about any professor or class I had. Maybe one calculus TA I had back in 2008, but that's it. I find the vast majority of professor complaints to be invalid, as they're coming from students who struggle and are unintentionally take it out on the professor and course.

Courses are not supposed to be easy, they are supposed to be fair. As far as I can tell, most are, and all of the ones I took were. It's actually very frequent that easy and fair are not together.

As I have come to like to say: "if it's easy, it's not worth doing".

 

[Destiny]

I really enjoy learning new knowledge, so you can see how much I love college courses. I also love individual projects, I love how I always aced in all those projects (yes, my strongest multiple intelligence is intrapersonal intelligence).

The only thing that makes me hate college is the group projects part. I have anxiety and I hate those type of stuff.
And sometimes, I will also encounter some annoying professors who will give me unsolicited advice and try to mould me into another person, like I have this professor in the past, she doesn't know that I suffer from anxiety, and she will often tell that I am too quiet in class and I need to speak up more in class.