Venting over Learning
I just need to release all this frustration and anger I’m experiencing at school: The teachers are teaching way too fast for most of us in class when we’re learning a new concept, and even though their demonstrations are projected for all of us to see, we can’t catch up. Personally, and I know I’m not the only one, every time I try to follow the teacher on my own computer, I will get stuck at some point, and by then the teacher is 6 steps ahead of me and I have no idea how to get where they are. The instructions they hand out are missing lots of information, such as keyboard shortcuts, hints and guides, and other relevant information. I finally ran the idea today by the 2 of the program heads about how each lesson should be videotaped by a webcam, so that students can easily view it for referencing once the lesson is over. Essentially, you can take it home and catch up with whatever information you miss. I get so incredibly frustrated when I’m on my own and have no idea what I did wrong or what to do next, and I don’t want to keep hassling my fellow classmates for help.
My teachers listened to my concerns but came up with reasons why they didn’t want to do it, such as I should purchase more classroom in-a-guide books, there’ll be more detailed instructions coming up in the next semester, and later on I’ll be asking for less help because I’ll be more proficient in my knowledge.
I think it’s b.s. Allowing student to have access to a lesson in their own time will give them the tools to empower them to learn quickly and easily, and most importantly, correctly. It’s what I’m paying for! I’m not paying for just the lessons, but the personal help and coaching. If I didn’t want that, then I’d try to teach myself at home or take the online course. Realistically, personal coaching isn’t always available when you need it, so by being able to review a lesson, visually, step-by-step, I am absolutely positive that I would be able to complete my lessons correctly without most of the frustration of being stuck, helpless, and dependent on other students who may not know what they’re doing either.
We only have 2 main classrooms we work out of also, so we only need to purchase 2 webcams, which is fairly inexpensive. It wouldn’t be that difficult for the tech department at school to set up the webcams, and it would also be fairly easy for the teachers to download the lesson afterwards and send an email link to the students. Its rare that I become so angry over something other than myself, but I feel like I have a great idea and I’m passionate about it; maybe I’ll bring it to the student union.
I realize that its hard for the teachers to think out of the box, especially when they’ve been doing things a certain way for many years. Yet I think that since their experts in their field, they forget what it feels like to be a beginner and a student attempting to learn 5 new computer programs at once and struggling over each one everyday. My school prides itself on being technologically advanced, so webcams would definitely be an asset towards the reputation of the school, in addition to empowering students to help themselves and easing the burden off the instructors.