Title: 'Professor, how much work do you expect me to do?' - Setting Expectations for Class Preparation
Abstract: The question, (How much work . . . ?) arises at inopportune moments and carries shadings of complaint, rebuke, resistance, and negotiation from the student. You may be just launching the course. Or perhaps the course has entered a stretch of heavy lifting. Or the students need to extend their reach in order to grasp a great idea. You size up the student and see a novice who is clueless and thrashing about, or a gifted amateur-type who feigns indifference about making an effort, or an education theorist who argues that less is more, or a night-school student who is juggling job, family, and education. Perhaps the student points to the supposedly low level of work required in the course next door (or the course last year or at another school) as a benchmark for how much one should prepare in your course now. You have made a reasonable effort to align the workload of the course with the course credit, but the question suggests you failed. You value education through self-learning, but the student seems to want to get it on the cheap. You remember the long lonely self-preparation of doctoral studies, or some take-no-prisoners experiences of professional life: negotiating for relief was not a possibility, and complaint would land you on the street. You want to remain in control of your own course, and resent the attempt to bargain for a revision in terms. You would love to at least ignore the question, but can't. How you respond has big implications since decent student preparation is the sine qua non of a successful class and course. This column offers some ideas, resources, and a hypothetical response.
Publication Year: 2001
Publication Date: 2001-06-14
Language: en
Type: article
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