Continuing education
Jun. 18th, 2007 04:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidI've been thinking about going back to grad school to get a degree in nutrition at Tufts. I'll need to take some undergrad lab sciences classes first, though, so I decided it would be useful to get my feet wet by juggling a class with work, etc. Which is how I ended up taking an online class in nutrition at Bunker Hill Community College this summer.
So far, I'm not impressed. I'm not sure what I expected from an online class, but this isn't it. The professor's involvement is minimal: what I'm expected to do is read the (overpriced) book, do the three kinds of quizzes for each chapter, and the lab activity. There's also a midterm, a final, and a paper. I had assumed that there would be more interaction, or at least taped lectures, something.
It doesn't help that the book is annoying. It has useful information, but is obviously aimed at college freshmen, or perhaps high school seniors: I keep feeling talked down to. Just give me the information without the value judgements, please (For instance, no matter how many times the text reiterates the glories of the FDA and the new MyPyramid plan, I'm still not going to assume that the department has my best interests at heart, rather than being swayed by agribusiness' lobbyists.). Physically, it's not particularly well designed or made. There are a lot of gratuitous photos. The 'labs' are merely food analysis (write down one day's intake, analyze this way and that). And there's a bunch of wasted pages in the frontmatter listing all the changes from the last edition; really, there's no need for a list of last edition's corrigenda for the students. Nor are the pages addressing the professor, showing the glories of the ancillary package (mostly technology), an appropriate use of space. (Er, perhaps I've been working in textbook publishing too long?)
The only communication I've seen from the professor did not impress me, either. First off, when discussing multiple issues, please use multiple paragraphs. Secondly, when this will be the first thing most students see of you, it would be nice to have a pleasant tone, rather than a scolding one (it's not obvious that one sort of quiz should be taken at one site, while the other two kinds should be from another, when they're all listed at one of them). Thirdly, multiple exclamation points at the end of a sentence is distinctly inappropriate.
However.
I have learned some, and once I sit down to work my way through more chapters, I'll learn more, and that's really what it's about, however nice it would be to have a more engaging experience.
So far, I'm not impressed. I'm not sure what I expected from an online class, but this isn't it. The professor's involvement is minimal: what I'm expected to do is read the (overpriced) book, do the three kinds of quizzes for each chapter, and the lab activity. There's also a midterm, a final, and a paper. I had assumed that there would be more interaction, or at least taped lectures, something.
It doesn't help that the book is annoying. It has useful information, but is obviously aimed at college freshmen, or perhaps high school seniors: I keep feeling talked down to. Just give me the information without the value judgements, please (For instance, no matter how many times the text reiterates the glories of the FDA and the new MyPyramid plan, I'm still not going to assume that the department has my best interests at heart, rather than being swayed by agribusiness' lobbyists.). Physically, it's not particularly well designed or made. There are a lot of gratuitous photos. The 'labs' are merely food analysis (write down one day's intake, analyze this way and that). And there's a bunch of wasted pages in the frontmatter listing all the changes from the last edition; really, there's no need for a list of last edition's corrigenda for the students. Nor are the pages addressing the professor, showing the glories of the ancillary package (mostly technology), an appropriate use of space. (Er, perhaps I've been working in textbook publishing too long?)
The only communication I've seen from the professor did not impress me, either. First off, when discussing multiple issues, please use multiple paragraphs. Secondly, when this will be the first thing most students see of you, it would be nice to have a pleasant tone, rather than a scolding one (it's not obvious that one sort of quiz should be taken at one site, while the other two kinds should be from another, when they're all listed at one of them). Thirdly, multiple exclamation points at the end of a sentence is distinctly inappropriate.
However.
I have learned some, and once I sit down to work my way through more chapters, I'll learn more, and that's really what it's about, however nice it would be to have a more engaging experience.