This is a follow-up to my previous post. Have students ever made you think that at least sometimes, formal course requirements get in the way of real learning? I’ve had two recent experiences that make me wonder.
1. Several students in my first year seminar last semester indicated independently that they wished they had been able to do more work for our course, but they had had to spend time on assignments for other courses.
2. A very good student told me she was bored in one economics course and that she felt she was wasting her time doing the assignments which struck her as busy work.
I’m not suggesting that my assignments are useful and those of other faculty are not. I’m just wondering if there are times when adherence to course procedures gets in the way of learning.
