WHAT ARE THE LEAST HELPFUL THINGS TEACHERS DO?
FIRST YEAR STUDENTS (WRITTEN BY THE CLASS OF 2010 DURING SEMESTER 2)
One of things that is least helpful is when professors wait too long to let students ask
questions. If I can only ask questions twice in the whole lecture there are usually
questions I had before but that I can't remember by the time I am allowed ask them.
Most professors don't do it, but I really dislike when professors get behind in their
schedule and then they ask you to figure things out for yourself and ask them if you
have questions. I usually can't tell if I understand it enough if I don't even know
which points should have been emphasized. Also, it is easy to read things without
really putting all the concepts together.
Go over things quickly, make difficult to understand test questions, test you on material
that really wasn’t talked about or assume we have strong backgrounds in a subject
because it was a pre-requisite class.
The least helpful things instructors do is only lecture directly off of the power point slide
in front of them. It is helpful to hear about clinical relevance even though it may be
too much information for us right now.
Least helpful is not explaining things well enough during a lecture or telling you one
thing will be on the exam and then putting things on the exam that were not even
focused on during lectures or in the notes.
Allow the same people to ask questions that don't directly relate to course material. It
makes us fall behind, get off task, ruin focus during a lecture.
Do nothing when it is clear they are losing us. Turn the lights up, tell a story, yell, do
something to bring us back. We sit and have to pay attention to hard stuff for long
intervals, throw us a bone every now and then.
It is not helpful when instructors keep using the same examples over and over again to
explain a difficult concept because if you don't connect with that example, you're
still lost. It is better when professors use multiple explanations (especially when the
class gives that blank stare back at you)! It is not helpful when instructors just read
off the PowerPoint slides. We can read it ourselves, we need elaboration. Not an
instructor thing, but a logistics thing, it's really hard when we have two (or three)
sessions of the same class in a row. My mind has trouble focusing on one topic for
that long.
Least helpful-not following the syllabus (it's difficult to read before lecture when
instructors do not follow the schedule or notify us of a change in the schedule),
obviously this does not apply to everyone.
It's really hard to follow the lectures if the notes don't coincide with the lecture.
Some professors get off on tangents, usually related to the topic of discussion, for
longer than is probably necessary to get the point across.
Another unhelpful thing a professor can do is invite and then answer every question
presented in class in complete and thorough detail. As a fellow student, I
understand the development of questions during a class period as the complexity of
the scientific material we are responsible for increases, but is every question of such
importance to a student's fundamental understanding that the flow of lecture must
be stopped so they can be answered? I'm not sure how we can solve this problem
besides opening specified student office hours and giving faculty email accounts
that they can access 24/7. . . oh wait?!?
I'm not a big fan of last minute review sessions and would appreciate ones scheduled
earlier (in terms of the exam), since I've done most of my studying before then.
However, I know several students do like last minute review sessions.
Lecture organization - feel like it is really hard to concentrate on each subject when your
lectures are scheduled all over the place (although it is helpful that most classes are
integrated and this semester definitely feels more organized than last)
Basing grades solely off of exams - can there be more integrated projects incorporating
material ? Not all students are represented fairly by exams.
LEAST helpful things: Coming to lecture without preparing (not a problem with the
majority of our instructors), not being able to ask questions (also not a problem with
the majority of our instructors).
Least helpful: when information in class is taught in a general manner while the tests
ask very specific questions. when students are forced to teach themselves the
majority of the material while class time is used as a general discussion session.
Not a huge fan of "power lectures" scheduled back-to-back. Not a huge fan of having to
refer to PowerPoints AND study guides AND outlines, AND, AND...please put all of
the information in one place, and give it to me before lecture, please. I usually end
up not going to additional review sessions after I've given the first one a chance
because they are all the same: people asking questions that seem unimportant, I end
up getting more stressed about what I don't know yet, and feel like I could have
spent the time better just studying on my own.
The least helpful things instructors do are being vague, testing on insignificant details
or topics that were barely mentioned in lecture, entertain off-topic questions from
other students, etc. the least helpful thing of all is to lecture in a condescending
manner. most of us do not respond well to being talked down to rather than taught.
- Read to us off PowerPoint slides.
- Lecture in broken sentences, with such things as “ums” and “uhs” used too often. It’s
distracting. If one is teaching at this level, one should be able to speak in fluid
sentences that make it easy for listeners to follow the discussion.
- Include unnecessary details in lecture (sometimes we have enough on our plates with
the “big” concepts that we need to master first)
- Rush through lecture (glossing over important concepts) so we don’t even have time to
process some of the info
SECOND YEAR STUDENTS (WRITTEN BY THE CLASS OF 2008, DURING SEMESTER 4)
Don’t fit in 2 hours worth of lecture material in the last class before the exam just
because you’re behind. It’s not our fault.
Waste our time with group projects and presentations. We are busy people, and not
everyone lives close together (or close to campus). It is very hard to get together for
these projects, and the rest of the class rarely learns as much from the
presentations. Lecture directly from the notes, or not from the notes at all.
What I am requesting is for you to stand back and really imagine your students’
days. Better yet, sit in the audience of a Tuesday second year’s vet school day, all six
hours one day. Or attend all the classes for a week. Take notes on your feelings,
your ideas, your attention span during the lectures. Ask yourself, “What can I do, so
that I can take my students with me as I travel through the hour? What can I do each
and every hour I stand in front of them, remembering where they are headed after
the four crammed years? What do I want them to leave with that will help them
today and in ten years, even? How can I be their educational advocate?”
Least helpful: Using overheads or word documents displayed on the screen--- pictures
help us learn! And keep us awake! Also, claiming “copyright” issues when not
putting slides on the web- many of us are using our tablet computers for notes and
it saves a lot of paper to write directly on the notes (on the computer)!
THIRD YEAR STUDENTS (WRITTEN BY THE CLASS OF 2007, DURING SEMESTER 6)
Probably when they don’t try to have stimulating lectures. Or when they test on topics
that they didn’t emphasize in class.
Lecture. Most professors simply read their notes, and it isn’t as if we are talking about
difficult concepts. Typically, we are talking about laundry lists of facts that we then
memorize for the exam and subsequently forget.
What is the next least helpful thing a professor can do? Give multiple choice tests.
Sure, they’re easier to take and grade, but what’s the point, really?
The least helpful thing professors do is give a lecture that does not follow the notes we
have. I believe that the point of having notes is so we aren’t furiously scribbling
during lecture, yet there are points we may need to still add to help with clarification
when reviewing later. If the notes are not followed by the lecturer, there are times
when I’m not listening because I’m looking for the section he/she is on, and then I
miss something, I forget what I was going to jot down, I get lost, and then I give up
on the notes entirely and just follow the lecture and start furiously scribbling,
hoping it makes sense later. If a professor does not follow his or her notes, they
(either the notes or the lecturer) become a stumbling block.
Lectures that are simply the instructor’s notes on PowerPoint slides and read to us are
rarely very stimulating or interesting, and therefore make it difficult to pay attention
to what is being said, and does not seem to be time well spent.
1) Notes that are PowerPoints
2) Make us memorize reams of lists.
3) Not having asked yourself “What’s the point of this class? What do I want the
students to 1) memorize and 2) just know where to find? How can I use this 50
minutes? (not to “present the material” but to TEACH the material) How can I
connect this to what they already know? How can I reinforce what they’ve learned in
other classes that is important (especially relevant in medicine which is largely
review).
FOURTH YEAR STUDENTS (WRITTEN BY THE CLASS OF 2006, DURING SEMESTER 8)
Spending our time with restraining a patient while we could be on the other end of it,
learning. Unorganized days/schedules, where most of the day is spent waiting
around for the clinician. Utilize our time with you! If there isn’t a high case load or
we’re not busy, encourage topic rounds!!! Don’t always assume that we want the
time off, we do actually want to learn!
1) failing to emphasize what the important material is - 99% of students simply cannot
learn every single point that you make in your notes. 2) Giving long-winded,
circuitous answers to students’ questions. You should be able to answer a student’s
question in several short sentences, or say you don’t know and will email the class
with the answer. 3) If you feel that a student’s manner of interaction is not polite,
tell them so politely and tell them specifically what you expect. 4) having labs and
other required time that are “fluffy” or “fillers” - i.e., do nothing to underscore
important concepts. Avoid long-winded lectures, showing lengthy videos, etc.
during lab time. Not a good way to help students learn.
Stand at the front of the classroom and read PowerPoints, overheads, or notes directly to
the class. It is easy to lose interest.