This is my response to the quarterly student survey. Every quarter my disappointment in this school is renewed and every quarter I’m required to submit my honest impressions - feedback - of a particular course or instructor. Over the last few quarters, several of my classmates have expressed great disdain in the feedback system since none of our complaints seem to be heeded. This time, however, I’m submitting my opinion here, for the public and potentially prospective ITT recruits. If administrators don’t want to listen - at least directly to their students - then perhaps they’ll listen to the cacophony of students asking more questions at time of admission.
My response:
Since there are so many grievances to air, I’ll start by categorically explaining the reason for my ratings on each question. The ones that I ‘Strongly Agreed’ with are rather clear and need no further explanation, so I’ll begin with
“The teacher related ‘real world’ industry application to the course topics”
#12. The teacher not only refrained from drawing on any ‘real world’ examples, she seemed more concerned with sticking to the prescribed course material to the degree that she frequently read portions of it verbatim. This wouldn’t be so troubling were it not for the fact that we were handed her entire course curriculum on the first day of class. Since I would assume all of us here can read, it was a matter of simply having what we already knew, read to us. There may have been educational value in that style of teaching, but it belongs in Kindergarten and not in an ‘accredited’ college.
“The Instructor Was Prepared for Class”
#13 - If preparation can be defined as a simple matter of having a book on-hand and the paperwork - given to her - which she then handed to us without any intervening explanation, then perhaps, in the loosest sense she could be considered ‘prepared’. Based on that loose definition, I chose to simply ‘Disagree’ rather than ‘Strongly Disagree’.
“The Instructor Was Approachable in Class and Thoroughly Answered My Questions”
#14 - I realize that ‘approachable’ is a very subjective term and different people may have very different definitions. Given that, I’ll base my response on my definition. To me approachability is more an issue of being able to answer questions that arise as a result of subject matter and should not be confined to answers that are either in the book or her given teaching guide(s). By that definition, this teacher’s approachability was abysmal. She not only was unprepared to give answers not found in the book, but she seemed particularly irritated by such questions. I’ve had teachers in the past that were unable to answer more thought-provoking, unscripted questions, but to their credit they would at least make an effort. Not so with this particular instructor.
“The Instructor Used A Variety of Teaching Methods and Focused on My Performance in the Course”
#15 - This is another question to which I didn’t ‘Strongly Disagree’, however it can hardly be considered a good thing to have ‘Disagreed’. The instructor had us do a number of activities that were outlined in her teaching aids, but without any particular feedback from the teacher herself. Perhaps it was because the answers were right next to the questions and she thought we may find that fact satisfying. Indeed I’m certain that a few of us did. My perspective, however, was a bit different. If I wanted to simply read the information for a given course – question, answers and accompanying book – I certainly wouldn’t waste my time coming to class. As I had stated in the response to a previous question, I am quite capable of reading for myself – but if that’s to be the case then why is it I’m paying for an instructor?
“The Instructor Permitted and Encouraged Student Interaction”
#16 – While the instructor may have allowed students to interact, to some modest degree, all of the interaction had to follow the scripted course plan and we were not permitted the freedom to express ideas that fell outside the bulleted list of objectives. While I’m not suggesting that it’s good to always go off tangent, students should not feel stifled in expressing ideas that the course doesn’t specifically outline. Once again, on this point, this instructor seemed to get annoyed by any challenges to her interpretation of the material. Considering she made many mistakes in explaining the material, I personally thought it my responsibility, and privilege, to debate her inconsistencies.
“The Instructor Communicated and Taught in a Way That Was Organized and Easily Understood”
#19 – Ironically, on the first day of class we were bombarded with over 60 pages of handouts per student. One might confuse the sheer number of packets as an ‘organized’ collection of information, but this was hardly true in practice. Many students were frequently confused as to what the day’s topic was and how, in fact, we would be applying it. To a further extent, all of the homework was in the massive packet that was essentially her teaching aid. It not only contained every bit of information that she was charged with teaching us, but included every question to ask us to incite a group discussion. Essentially we were given her entire material set – which I interpreted as her unwillingness or incapability to explain the course material based on her expertise. Somewhere in this sea of paperwork were our weekly assignments.
“The Instructor Taught With Enthusiasm for the Subject Matter and Made the Course Interesting to Me”
#20 – On this point, I once again refrained from giving the instructor a ‘Strongly Disagree’ because I sensed there were times when a bit of what she knew – outside the aids she was given – a bit of the subject matter and was therefore enthusiastic. These instances, however, were few and far between. Also regarding enthusiasm – if it was there, it was certainly hard to discern for the sheer fact that the material was read to us verbatim from either the book or her given teaching aid, which again, we had all been given at the outset.
“The Instructor Provided Value to My Overall Education”
#21 – Value is another of those terms that can be very subjective, but from my perspective – I found no value whatsoever by having an instructor. This is not to suggest there was no value in the class itself – there was. But any value I found was gleaned from simply reading the book and doing my own research based on my own enthusiasm for the subject matter.
“I Would Recommend This Instructor for This Course to Other Students”
#22 - I would not only refrain from recommending this teacher for this particular course, but I would go so far as to not suggest this instructor for ANY course within Game Design. My reasons reach far beyond her perceived shortcomings as an instructor and are more seated in her arrogance and inability to deviate from the narrow bit of knowledge imparted to her.
In conclusion, I realize that just like quarters-past – this survey will not be heeded and my opinion will go unheard by administrators. I’ve accepted this as reality. But while most may be discouraged from writing such lengthy critiques I have saved each and every one of my opinions for publishing to the web. Ultimately administrators WILL listen and if they choose not to do so directly from the student then they will see it in their declining admission rates. I find it hard to believe that ITT administrators have not spent a few moments reading various forums regarding similar ITT experiences. But, if that is the case, then they can be certain that a day will come when all of the discontent from – at the very least – the Earth City Campus of ITT will be aired and more importantly shared with other prospective students.
Bravo, Jit. Allow me to share my review, as well. Although I did not go into as much detail as you have, you’ll find that many of our grievances are congruent:
I am struggling to think of a single piece of related information that my instructor shared with the class. It was clear after only the second week that the instructor knew very little about the curriculum beyond the pre-packaged teaching guide she HANDED OUT on the first day. A class on Game Interface Design should teach students about… say… Game Interface Design. Instead, we participated in activities that focused on generating game ideas… an activity we have performed countless times in every class. These activities were rarely relevant and I often had to remind myself that this was an Interface Design class.
I don’t like having to be this harsh, but it is frustrating to pay the amount we students pay for our tuition without receiving a reasonable education in return. If you want to teach a class, know the material or at least learn it before you start handing out grades to students who WANT to learn. Instead of preparing appropriately, the instructor clearly used “in-class activities” to avoid having to teach the material. If asked a serious question regarding an assignment or lab, she would either change the subject to something with which she had at least some remote knowledge, or she would conjure a response that did not answer the student’s question.
I KNOW that I was not alone in often feeling confused as to what we were supposed to be doing or, even more frightening, what we were supposed to be learning. I am not one to complain unnecessarily. The fact is that I have, unfortunately, concluded that an unabashed explanation of why many students (I believe that I can speak for several others) are unhappy with the quality of instruction we have received over the past couple quarters is, indeed, necessary. I cannot bite my tongue any longer while our money, and our futures, are thrown into the void due to the lack of effort (or perhaps ability) of our instructor.
I truly believe that this particular instructor COULD provide value to us, if she were more knowledgeable in the material she agreed to teach. I understand she is extremely skilled in modeling and animation software. This does not (or at least should not) qualify her to teach a design class. Please verify the credentials of our instructors. I understand that it may be hard to find qualified candidates, but with the generous amount of money we students have invested in ITT, your pockets should be deep enough to find someone willing to make the effort to teach the material we NEED to succeed in the industry. You owe your students at least that much if you wish to continue claiming to be an accredited learning institution.
I would like to say that everything that Jit has stated is completely true. During the last 3 quarters that I have had her as an instructor, I feel that I have received no knowledge that I could not have received by reading a book and a few websites. The day of this writing, May 15th, 2007 we have spent the last few hours watching the making of God of War II. This has no relevance to game interface design and we have not even used this as a means of discussing game interface. The last 20 minutes, we have watched another student play God of War II. I don’t think I need to pay $15,000 per year to watch someone play a video game. I can do that at home for free.
For me, the biggest complaint that I have is the lack of any experience in game design that she has. If I am going to be taught information about any subject, the person teaching should be knowledgeable about the subject. This would require expertise in some form of game design. Unfortunately, she has a background in 3ds Max and while game artists do use this program, she has not used it for anything related to games. ITT should treat their students with more respect and hire someone who actually knows about game design instead of just whomever they can get to agree to teach a class.
As a current Software Engineering student at this same campus, I’ve run into exactly the same attitudes in my classes and with my instructors. One notable difference was my C instructor, who worked very hard (maybe almost too hard) at teaching advanced concepts to roughly the same 5-6 of us for 3 quarters straight. The irony? About half the students in the first quarter class gave him a bad rating because the language was harder than they had expected, and as it was only his second quarter teaching there, he was a little awkward and so had already gained a bad reputation with both students and instructors alike by then.
A portion of the reason I joined ITT-Tech’s student base was because of the hands-on reputation, but the main reason was because I wanted an industry professional to teach me C fast! As a digital audio and multimedia freak, I wanted that knowledge, and it was my goal to be my best in it. I got so lucky, because that’s exactly what happened, but even as it was happening, I was watching a culture of complacent discontent threaten it in an environment that needed more of that knowledgeable and applicable spirit. My personal opinion was that the 3 quarters I had this instructor, it really did benefit my understanding of the topic, in a very large way, but maybe that’s just because I wanted it to.
Of course, there’s the usual like that stated above, but my Database I class was strange! The peak in all the drama, though, was, let’s just say, the instructor making her personal issues with me public and blaming me for something that was very far from the truth. Someone sitting behind me solidly corrected her on it, and that was that. She left the next quarter. I almost felt like she was taking my aceing the class out on me. Boy, I learned more in a few weeks at my new webmaster job than with what the instructor taught!
Not to mention that sometimes the administration does bizarre things, like having you registered as an Associate’s and a Bachelor’s student at the same time, thereby screwing up class schedules, and then fixing the schedules without telling you, even though you are three weeks into a quarter. I found this out just this week.
All in all, though, it’s just like the real world. CYOA! What a trip, though, it has all been, and will be for the remaining 2 years.