I didn’t realize how much I wrote…

I was expecting this class to be discussion heavy based on the syllabus that Dr. Williams provided. I expected for Dr. Williams to be available for questions. But what I got was a complete let down. 

Dr. Williams’ first discussion post was that she would let the class answer discussion questions and then she would chime in after the discussions were due to put in her own guidance and thoughts. This would have been thought provoking and helpful to guide the class in the direction that would lead to more inquiry about Africa. However, Dr. Williams never lead a discussion. She didn’t post a single thing in any of the discussions during the 8 weeks of class. Not a. single. thing. 

Dr. WIlliams provided a syllabus for the class which is school policy, however it wasn’t very helpful. We were given a tentative class schedule, but 3/4 of the readings were TBA, and weren’t announced until less than a week before they were due. In summer classes, the last 4 weeks of the class are crucial, and very dense. I have taken summer classes and I know this, which is why I try to get ahead at the beginning of the semester, but I was not able to do that with this class. There was also no break down of what each assignment was worth. Dr. Williams never divulged how many points each discussion post and writing assignment was worth, so I had no clue where I stood. I think this is very important because if something had happened that prevented me from turning in assignment I need to know if I should take an NC for the class or if I should keep on going. But since I had no clue what was what I could never make an informed decision. I could have e-mailed her and asked about her grading system (all that was in the syllabus was “A=90-100 B=80-89…”) but she was rarely available. Which leads me to my next problem.

At the very beginning of the class I had a concern about our first assignment and She took over a week to reply. She stated that she couldn’t always be online and not to worry, because the email was time stamped and therefore a record of when I voiced my concerns. That is all well and good, but like I said, I was trying to get ahead. Having to wait until the very last minute for replys meant I had to be available right when she decided to reply to the email to finish assignments. Most students who take online summer courses tend to be very busy people. I work 45 hours a week and I am also taking another class on campus. I have to carefully schedule my time to make sure I get everything done. The whole point of online classes is to work at your own pace. How can I do that when my professor is available less than I am? To be quite frank, I pay the school to employ professors who will teach and be available for my questions. This class was extremely stressful for me because I was afraid that I might not be doing things correctly and get a bad grade in the class. I can’t afford to fail this class, because failing half of my attempted credits for the semester could result in me getting put on academic probation. This would be incredibly infuriating especially if my grade I received was because my professor couldn’t take the time to give me the attention she is employed to give. 

I don’t have problems with a heavy course load. I do have a problem when I am expected to perform at a certain level and my professor can’t be bothered to do the same. As far as I could tell, Dr. Williams took her full semester course outline and just cut and pasted it into the summer outline. It seemed like she did business as usual at the beginning of the semester and then when she realized there was literally only 2 weeks of class left and she had to somehow fit 2 months of course work in, she just dumped it on the class without any warning. It was not my fault she didn’t plan her class realistically. She could have condensed 2 or 3 different assignments into one. The beginning of the class was very sluggish, and I remember thinking that was odd, but at the time I didn’t worry about it. I don’t think as a student I should have to worry if a professor knows how to structure a class so we complete all the course work, but now I realize I should have asked more questions at the beginning. 

For the last two weeks Dr. Williams sent an email that said, “New Modules have been released and designed based upon the fact that you are getting close to the end of this course, and yet we still have ample material to cover.” What this meant for the students was having to read our normal text book, read a completely different book in it’s entirety (200 pages), read her normal set of 5-20 page hand outs, write a discussion post, write a 2-3 page paper, and then finish a final, which as I am writing this we have not been informed what this “final” consists of. 

I received more notice to complete this faculty assessment than I did for any of the assignments I had to complete for Dr. Williams. I think a Dr. at a college should have more accountability than this. 

All in all, I was really pumped to take this class, but upon actually taking it I don’t feel like I really had a college level experience. I feel like I just talked to a librarian about what I should read to learn more about Africa and that was it. The discussion questions mostly consisted of summarizing the material we had read, which didn’t lead to very thought provoking discussions. 

I would urge the department head to review Dr. Williams’ syllabus and course modules, and see for yourself how disorganized and hard to understand most of the course materials were. 

Thank You,

Alice Ahern

I feel a lot better now. 

I am going to go so far as to make sure the History Department read my little comment too.