It is the very last day of the three-week period during which students are allowed to change their choice of modules - and I still do not know exactly who is taking my course. Yesterday alone, two additional students contacted me to say they were joining my course. After the class yesterday I noticed that one student who is still on the list of those registered for the module has not attended in any of the first three weeks. Whether she still regards herself as taking the course is not known to me.
On the day before I started teaching the class I thought it was going to consist of 74 students, and I split them into two separate groups to be taught in parallel. Since then the numbers have gone both down (on the basis of those present) and up (on the basis of the numbers registered) and I think I may now have 71. Having split the big group in two, each to be taught on a Thursday afternoon, the group that was to come for a class between 1530 and 1800 has haemorrhaged numbers (I wonder why?!), whilst those who have joined the class have avowed that for a variety of reasons they can only come to the 1300 to 1530 session. So the groups, having originally been the same size, are now very unbalanced.
This is a final semester, final year, class and the way I encourage students to work in it is almost entirely through group activities. Right from the first class they are set to preparing presentations in groups. Some students have taken on tasks for the following week - and then left the class. I have had some work submitted by students who have then gone. And those who have joined in the last few days have missed the briefing on what it was they should have been doing in the first week, and have no one to work with anyway.
I've put up with this every year, and I know that it is pointless trying to organise formal seminar activities (as opposed to in-class workshop-based group work) until after week 3. But that means that a full quarter of the course has gone before we can really get down to student-led work: until then I need to do the overall leading.
All this comes about because we provide students with a three week 'Add/Drop' period during which they can change their module registration. While I was Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Learning and Teaching I tried to reduce this to 2 weeks, as a first step, but met opposition from a number of academic departments and also from the Students' Union who felt it was an entitlement for students to sample different courses before making their final decision. But, and particularly with my experience over the last few weeks, I am convinced that the add/drop period is wasteful of time and energy. I could have been challenging my students on major group tasks right from the first week, but instead I have had to wait until student registrations are final to do so (and, as I pointed out at the start of this blog, that's not fully confirmed even now).
What's my solution? I would argue that every class to be taught in a given semester ought to offer a 'sampler' in the previous semester, giving students the chance to experience the teaching style of the lecturer as well as the nature of the content. And then the guillotine on students changing their modules should be the day before the start of the semester. We would then get a full 12 weeks of activity with a settled group of students.
Or am I arguing for too much restriction on 'consumer choice'?
On the day before I started teaching the class I thought it was going to consist of 74 students, and I split them into two separate groups to be taught in parallel. Since then the numbers have gone both down (on the basis of those present) and up (on the basis of the numbers registered) and I think I may now have 71. Having split the big group in two, each to be taught on a Thursday afternoon, the group that was to come for a class between 1530 and 1800 has haemorrhaged numbers (I wonder why?!), whilst those who have joined the class have avowed that for a variety of reasons they can only come to the 1300 to 1530 session. So the groups, having originally been the same size, are now very unbalanced.
This is a final semester, final year, class and the way I encourage students to work in it is almost entirely through group activities. Right from the first class they are set to preparing presentations in groups. Some students have taken on tasks for the following week - and then left the class. I have had some work submitted by students who have then gone. And those who have joined in the last few days have missed the briefing on what it was they should have been doing in the first week, and have no one to work with anyway.
I've put up with this every year, and I know that it is pointless trying to organise formal seminar activities (as opposed to in-class workshop-based group work) until after week 3. But that means that a full quarter of the course has gone before we can really get down to student-led work: until then I need to do the overall leading.
All this comes about because we provide students with a three week 'Add/Drop' period during which they can change their module registration. While I was Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Learning and Teaching I tried to reduce this to 2 weeks, as a first step, but met opposition from a number of academic departments and also from the Students' Union who felt it was an entitlement for students to sample different courses before making their final decision. But, and particularly with my experience over the last few weeks, I am convinced that the add/drop period is wasteful of time and energy. I could have been challenging my students on major group tasks right from the first week, but instead I have had to wait until student registrations are final to do so (and, as I pointed out at the start of this blog, that's not fully confirmed even now).
What's my solution? I would argue that every class to be taught in a given semester ought to offer a 'sampler' in the previous semester, giving students the chance to experience the teaching style of the lecturer as well as the nature of the content. And then the guillotine on students changing their modules should be the day before the start of the semester. We would then get a full 12 weeks of activity with a settled group of students.
Or am I arguing for too much restriction on 'consumer choice'?
