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icarusIntercultural Communication.
I've given this class the benefit of the doubt from the get-go. I'm two weeks from the end of term.
I've not received a single assignment back.
I've no idea what my grade is.
I'm not the only one in this position.
I took a risk on one of my assignments, and I don't know if what I wrote was acceptable or not.
We've covered virtually no ground. We've only covered two of the four novels we were supposed to go over.
The syllabus doesn't have due dates for assignments, so students haven't been clear when things were due.
People aren't sure what's going to be on the test, because the "Intercultural Communication" issues have been taught by using novels as examples of these issues and discussing them. There has been no textbook. The novels have kept the subject very immediate for the students perhaps, but I'm not sure how relevant they've been.
The discussion has been merely a parroting back of the events and plots in the novels.
The focus of the novels has been U.S.-based. Race relations, women's issues, homosexuality.
I have a textbook from another class and happen to know the course usually deals with globalization and foreign cultures. The closest we've come to addressing these issues is reading 'The Pearl' by Steinbeck, which is just so incredibly out of date -- the international issue dealt with there is colonialism.
Our test is going to include essay questions on the two novels, the terminology for conflict, and the terminology for communication. That's it.
This has been a high-school level course.
I'm not a big fan of discussion-based teaching. I find I learn a lot more when there's lecture. But looking back on the past 11 weeks, this class has been a complete waste of time.
I've given this class the benefit of the doubt from the get-go. I'm two weeks from the end of term.
I've not received a single assignment back.
I've no idea what my grade is.
I'm not the only one in this position.
I took a risk on one of my assignments, and I don't know if what I wrote was acceptable or not.
We've covered virtually no ground. We've only covered two of the four novels we were supposed to go over.
The syllabus doesn't have due dates for assignments, so students haven't been clear when things were due.
People aren't sure what's going to be on the test, because the "Intercultural Communication" issues have been taught by using novels as examples of these issues and discussing them. There has been no textbook. The novels have kept the subject very immediate for the students perhaps, but I'm not sure how relevant they've been.
The discussion has been merely a parroting back of the events and plots in the novels.
The focus of the novels has been U.S.-based. Race relations, women's issues, homosexuality.
I have a textbook from another class and happen to know the course usually deals with globalization and foreign cultures. The closest we've come to addressing these issues is reading 'The Pearl' by Steinbeck, which is just so incredibly out of date -- the international issue dealt with there is colonialism.
Our test is going to include essay questions on the two novels, the terminology for conflict, and the terminology for communication. That's it.
This has been a high-school level course.
I'm not a big fan of discussion-based teaching. I find I learn a lot more when there's lecture. But looking back on the past 11 weeks, this class has been a complete waste of time.