What does one do when stuck with an online instructor that is less than effective for your learning methods?

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[–]thefirststone 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (5 children)

The purpose of an instructor or teaching assistant is to answer your questions and provide feedback. Without that, you're just taking an exam to gain credit after watching recorded lectures.

Still, I mostly didn't ask questions, because I'd learned long ago that in order to receive any useful answer, I have to structure my question in such a way that I already knew the answer. Now, some might claim that was on purpose, to force me to think on my own. But I know it was from stupidity and arrogance. But this was before the time of "e-proctoring".

Anyway, your standards are not too high. You may be too passive, and the instructor/TA may be too aloof, but demand the service you paid for, or complain to your institution.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (4 children)

I understand what you mean, and I tend to be pretty stubborn about asking for help too. There's just this thought that if I keep digging I'll find a way towards a solution, and after a while that's true. The time dedicated towards looking for it though ends up building up after a while though.

This was the first class I've taken for many, many years that I've struggled so hard in. After sending her an email requesting further learning material or just general calculation set-ups, letting her know that I was needing more she'd told me to post it on the discussion board and "hang in there". I managed to look her up and find that this is evidently not just a me problem entirely, and that other institutions that were taught at where student reviews were posted showed abysmal reviews nearly exclusively. You're probably right though. I really didn't want to bring the institution into this, but it could screw over the entirety of the work I've put in otherwise, and reaching out was kind of fruitless.

Thanks for letting me whine.

[–]thefirststone 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

If this is a compressed summer course like the ones I had, then I wonder whether the discussion threads will move fast enough before you're done with the week's assignment and have to pick up the next set of chapters. If instructor inattention makes the board useless, then link your post and email them to say a thread needs attention. From the perspective of shyness, that's the least conflict-seeking option I can think of that isn't suffering in silence.

I was lucky in that any course forums weren't so mandatory, and I declined to participate in any group study that wasn't a proper Q&A "lab", since without the TA or professor, it's just painfully slow. Summer differential equations is a solitary exercise.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

It's 9 weeks, so compressed slightly. I think the instructor is busy, because she waited until 3 hours before the assignments were due to answer someone else's questions there unless you just zip through everything else otherwise. Yeah, these include several step long conversion equations, specific heat, etc. Group settings for that sort of thing seem to overcomplicate things. Bonus, we get something like 2 minutes per question on actual quizzes, and I can barely get all of that written out cohesively in that time when I'm on top of things. People able to get through this quickly have my awe.

[–]Airbus320 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

You guys really have summer courses over there? Thats nice

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

It's amazing for when you want to get through everything quicker, or to lighten a future load, even for when you have a prerequisite for a future course(s).