Saturday, January 19, 2013

Oh...what have I got myself ito?

I'm supposed to modify the syllabus and other documents for the class (as well as compress week sixteen into week 15, because there aren't sixteen weeks this semester). 

The syllabus?  The stupid thing is eight pages long.  And it does not include a schedule of assignments.  The closest thing to a schedule  of assignment due dates is also eight pages long, does not include due days, much less dates, but does include week-by-week educrat theory: "educational objectives."

And, apparently, this conforms to new federal guidelines designed to provide jobs to educational experts that are otherwise unemployable, and makes it impossible for actual teachers to design their own courses. 

Yeah, I can't wait to get back to campus.


4 comments:

  1. It's almost like they don't want people learning in the comfort of their own home, or something. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm trying to origami some tin foil into something that looks somewhat Arizonan to wear on my head.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's more that they're feeling threatened by the for-profit online universities, and have passed laws to protect their privileges.

      Delete
  2. "designed to provide jobs to educational experts that are otherwise unemployable"

    Kind of like the explosion in numbers of administrators we have on my campus, who then have to justify their existence, and they do so by making online surveys that they then harass the faculty and staff to take.

    Also, the whole "oooh, shiny" edu-fads....right now, they are talking about requiring pre- and post-tests for EVERY class we teach. EVERY. As a way of 'assessing student learning.' Of course the fact that I have people coming back from grad and professional school thanking me for the preparation I gave them doesn't count for anything, but having the kids bubble in circles on a scan-tron does. I'm waiting for the hilarity that will ensue when we are told we cannot make the assessment tests count as part of their grade, therefore divorcing them from any sort of stakes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly like that. And I had one student taking a grammar test that was only an assessment who answered all of the multiple choice questions "L". Made the twit whose idea it was really angry, she took it out on me, and the department head jumped on her with both feet when he found out.

      Delete

Sorry, folks. A hundred plus spam comments in an hour equals moderation on older posts, so until further notice...you're gonna have to wait for your comments to be approved before they show up.