IMHO the problem is not poor student attendance; rather it is a lack of
instructor attention. The latter inevitably breeds the former.
Please understand I am not blaming Karen or anyone else in similar
circumstances for lack of success. It is patently impossible to
facilitate learning when lecturing to a sea of 100 faces. It is not long
before each one of the crowd becomes one of the "cowed".
Imagine watching a magician performing before an audience of several
hundred. How many of the audience would be able to even approximate
those clever feats without individual explanation and practice?
A situation with mega-enrolled classes presumes that the instructor uses
just the "right" words and examples to clarify what is to many people a
"foreign" or magical way of thinking. It also supposes that students are
independent learners, who read well and can develop abstract ideas from
written notes.
WE'VE ALL SEEN ONE OR TWO OF THOSE! :-)
We can do a much better job with 5 classes of 20 students instead of one
class of 100. The "yield" of more completers should justify the
increased cost of instruction. We must press our case before the "bean
counters" or we will all be doomed to repeat these failures.
Of course we must center the focus of learning on the students, but the
system must give each person fair access to the necessary tools.
matthewg@goliath.sunyocc.edu
George E. Matthews, Onondaga Community College, Syracuse, NY13215
(315) 469-2381
On Mon, 14 Apr 1997 RAYFan@AOL.COM wrote:
[snip]
> (it's a class of over 100) --- and 2 tardies = 1 absence. (no one is
> ever tardy)
> If they earned an F or D on the first exam, they were put on "class
> probation".
[snip]
> And they were given a list of study skill tips.
[snip]
> Over half of them have been dropped or dropped themselves.
[snip]
> Also, about 40% of this class had to take Beg Algebra 2 or 3 times before
> passing... And are on their 2nd or 3rd try for Int Algebra!
> Frustrated, but glad to know I'm not alone!
> Karen Davis
> Orange Coast College
> (the above was at Golden West College)
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