Dealing with awful college professor

[Jorg]

Welp, as the title says I don't know how to edal with this crappy professor. I'm an electronic engineering student and it is the 3rd time I take this course, it is well know around my campus this carerr is probably the thoughest one even in the country and my university is one of the hardest two, it is common to fail but it is something I really hate because I take it very seriously and try to study every day but when I have a bad professor I get really lost in the course. Talking with several colleagues they are as lost as me, every lesson the professor comes, takes out the pptx presentations (which are just a copy&paste from the book) and tell us to calculate parameters without he even explain what are we doing. Last week, 10min before class he was talking with us and he said he didn't know what the class was about, he was going to check his notes once the class starts.

And now I have to submit a really confusing homework tomorrow, I'm going to ask to the other students if they could do it but as the conversations we have had I guess they're as lost as me.

As I said earlier this is the 3rd time I take the course, but with this guy is like is the first time. He uses a different book and gives the lessons in a very different order from the one in the syllabus. In general, many courses offer tutorials, lessons from other students whom passed the course with good grades but because this professor gives it so different we don't have any help, and in class we only see theory, not a single practical example, and the tests are just practical problems.

If it worths, as career plan is going to change and this course will be "erased/changed" so the proffesor has given us some hints that everyone will pass the course, but I don't want to rely on that and I want to learn. The first test was a carbon copy from a homework we sumitted like a week before the test, he just changed a couple of values but even like that I failed the test (I studied other things because I didn't believed he was going to make it that way). As many people failed the test he gave us an extra homework to raise the grade.

I really don't know what to do, I may pass the course because he gave it away but I'm worried I'm not learning anything and I'm stressed about it. I've tried to study on my own but when I see the big mess the course is I just get more anxious...

 

[Bolletje]

It's terrible when your professor doesn't do anything to improve your understanding of the material. I'm not sure what you could do about it though. Maybe ask your professor for advice on how to prepare for the classes. Or if all else fails, put in a complaint with the university.

 

[Ambi]

I'm going to tell you what I witnessed first hand. My husband studied electrical engineering, and I observed all of this as I spent lots of time with him and his friends while they were in school. The professors were almost always AWFUL at teaching!!! My husband's friends were all exceptionally smart and very hard workers - they all wanted to learn. But really and truly, they taught themselves engineering more through their own reading of the textbooks plus trial and error. There were others who did poorly or dropped out of the program - it was so hard to learn as it was, but then for the profs to not even teach it well - then it seems impossible! So here is what I observed of the successful group:

1. They always studied together. Everyone else seemed to go home or study alone, but this group always studied together, helped each other figure out problems - it was all of their brains combined that enabled all of them to learn the material and pass. They were very supportive of each other and very dedicated.
2. They spend soooooo much time studying together like this. They were still in the building until the early hours of the morning sometimes - sometimes they never went home :-( Since the professors were confusing, they had to figure things out amongst themselves, or by themselves, and much of this involved working lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of problems on the dry erase boards in the lecture rooms. It blew my mind how long they would spend on each problem, and how the problem would take up the entire board!! But they were very patient, very dedicated.
3. They peppered their intense studying with jokes and took study breaks when needed. They would all leave to get food some times, or one person would take everyone's order and bring it back - even in the middle of the night. They would take breaks to play video games to destress and laugh.
4. Because they were genuinely bonded as friends, they really looked out for each other, so when life happened and one person couldn't keep up as well or was struggling, another would help them out by explaining things, trying to figure out problems, etc.

I'm very sorry if all of this seems overly dependent on their group dynamic - but I was shocked and appalled by how little their profs managed to teach them - and the only way they seemed to come through and pass and actually understand stuff was through their mutual support of each other, in addition to individual determination. And all of them felt overwhelmed all the time anyway, so that part is probably normal. They did not always get the best grades (it seemed impossible most of the time!), but they did get passing grades, and many did do well often. Their teachers just graded very, very hard.

So you may find another way through this - I'm not saying the above is the only way. But it is what I observed. Best of luck!!

p.s. Sometimes a random student would come up to them and ask them a question about the homework or something, but that really wasn't effective. It's not the kind of thing that they could just explain easily - it could take a lot of time and working through the problem together to really explain - and they already were short on time, sometimes not even going home!! So you can imagine, they focused on their own group survival. So.....I personally don't think asking other students at random will help you. You need a solid study group that everyone is invested in, because it will take longer for you all to understand the things you are confused about. Nobody wants to just hand you an explanation or answer after they have worked so long and hard on it, anyway. That's just human nature, too. I would watch them work so many hours to understand - and then some random guy who wasn't even their friend would occasionally walk up and just ask them if they could help.......that just wasn't going to realistically happen, they didn't have the time, energy, or motivation to do that, considering how much more work they needed to do. Plus, that person would never have offered any help to them - and might never...so it was a one-way helping situation they were looking for - really not fair when you consider how hard this group was working to understand this stuff......So - that's my social advice - get a core group of people to work with you, with you also contributing. You are probably not going to get real help from people just by randomly asking them. I don't mean to sound offensive in any of this post, please forgive me if I do. I'm just typing quickly. Okay, good luck!

p.p.s. Since they sometimes couldn't gather anything useful from the class/professor, they figured out what to study by focusing on what was required for homework. So maybe the prof was very vague about things, but the homework was the homework - so those were the types of problems they focused on. And of course, tests/quizzes, whatever info they could gather from the prof on what might be on there.

 

[Mia]

One of the things I wanted to ask Jorg, is does this prof have a teaching aide? Who marks papers and exams and helps students? He/She would be the key to explanations. Find out if one exists, as in canadian universities each older (tenured) professor had one, usually a masters or phd student who did much of the 'behind the scenes' work for the prof's class. It was usually someone who had taken and passed the course. Both my spouse and myself did that kind of 'aide' job at school, which paid nothing, but allowed us free books and some 'leeway' (read extra time) when it came to our theses.

 

[Jorg]

I know is "normal" to have some bad professors sometimes, they're professionals, engineers without any
pedagogical formation aside maybe a couple of hours given by the Orientation Department at university but I guess things are worsen because nowadays many professors (most of them young ones) lay on powerpoint presentations and don't really teach the subject, I've had professors who just copy or use other's pptx layouts and the first time I took this course the professor used the book's author presentations. I'm more about using the whiteboard, paper and pens/pencils.

I could study in groups but even when it sounds shocking, many of today's colleagues/students don't practice or study until a week before the tests, or until is too late, I don't want to sound cocky or like a jerk but I think I'm part of the few students who likes to learn and study since week 1, I've tried to take online courses from Coursera, edX which reinforce the subjects but obviously those lesson's don't follow the subjects we study here.

@Mia, yes we usually have a side student who gives extra lessons, they're not phd students or have even graduate from the basic engineering program, just students who passed the course with a good grade and are payed by part scholarship. The problem is that even when there's a professorship in our course, our class is more independent from the other so the way and the subjects teached by the tutor is waaayy different from the way we have in our class. My professor in particular doesn't have any asistants and the one time we were given a tutor the guy was as lost as we were with the professor solution to problems because he was with a prof who reviewed the course "the most correct and common" way, with another book and more correct solution. Back then, we tried to make sense of the prof way to solve the problem but no one could make sense of it.

I usually go to library and take the recommended books for the course but even when I have an study scheduale there's not enough time to review all the chapters the way I would like to, I have OCD so I'm always re-taking the chapters, every detail and that f**ks me a little.

 

[Ambi]

I know is "normal" to have some bad professors sometimes, they're professionals, engineers without any
pedagogical formation aside maybe a couple of hours given by the Orientation Department at university but I guess things are worsen because nowadays many professors (most of them young ones) lay on powerpoint presentations and don't really teach the subject, I've had professors who just copy or use other's pptx layouts and the first time I took this course the professor used the book's author presentations. I'm more about using the whiteboard, paper and pens/pencils.

I could study in groups but even when it sounds shocking, many of today's colleagues/students don't practice or study until a week before the tests, or until is too late, I don't want to sound cocky or like a jerk but I think I'm part of the few students who likes to learn and study since week 1, I've tried to take online courses from Coursera, edX which reinforce the subjects but obviously those lesson's don't follow the subjects we study here.

@Mia, yes we usually have a side student who gives extra lessons, they're not phd students or have even graduate from the basic engineering program, just students who passed the course with a good grade and are payed by part scholarship. The problem is that even when there's a professorship in our course, our class is more independent from the other so the way and the subjects teached by the tutor is waaayy different from the way we have in our class. My professor in particular doesn't have any asistants and the one time we were given a tutor the guy was as lost as we were with the professor solution to problems because he was with a prof who reviewed the course "the most correct and common" way, with another book and more correct solution. Back then, we tried to make sense of the prof way to solve the problem but no one could make sense of it.

I usually go to library and take the recommended books for the course but even when I have an study scheduale there's not enough time to review all the chapters the way I would like to, I have OCD so I'm always re-taking the chapters, every detail and that f**ks me a little.

I wish you could find more like-minded students! My husband was really lucky to fall in with that group of friends. I'm not saying you need others to help you. But.....I just saw how much they helped each other, and they also had a lot of fun. I wonder if the other people who are motivated like you stay at the building after hours? That seemed to be how you could find the really bright and motivated students at my husband's university. They also figured out how to play video games using the projectors. And movies - I remember a Lord of the Rings trilogy screening going on at one point. All of this happened in the middle of the night. I think one person was even living there. Okay - I'm not saying any of that is healthy, but unfortunately, that was what I saw, at this particular university, of the engineers who did really well despite their professors, lol! Occasionally my husband points out that Trent Reznor dropped out of a computer engineering program prior to NIN.

 

[Jorg]

If I could change or being around more motivated or responsible collegues I would but we're too few in general, in my classroom we're like 20-25 people, and the other group is around 60. Statistically the chances of find people like that are low. Maybe is a generational gap I've dealing with, I'm like 3-4 years older than most of them and experience (added with my asperger and ocd) has tought me to be more detailed, more obsesed with the subjects because I¿ve realized I will need it on future courses.

 

[Grandmother B]

Welp, as the title says I don't know how to edal with this crappy professor. I'm an electronic engineering student and it is the 3rd time I take this course, it is well know around my campus this carerr is probably the thoughest one even in the country and my university is one of the hardest two, it is common to fail but it is something I really hate because I take it very seriously and try to study every day but when I have a bad professor I get really lost in the course. Talking with several colleagues they are as lost as me, every lesson the professor comes, takes out the pptx presentations (which are just a copy&paste from the book) and tell us to calculate parameters without he even explain what are we doing. Last week, 10min before class he was talking with us and he said he didn't know what the class was about, he was going to check his notes once the class starts.

And now I have to submit a really confusing homework tomorrow, I'm going to ask to the other students if they could do it but as the conversations we have had I guess they're as lost as me.

As I said earlier this is the 3rd time I take the course, but with this guy is like is the first time. He uses a different book and gives the lessons in a very different order from the one in the syllabus. In general, many courses offer tutorials, lessons from other students whom passed the course with good grades but because this professor gives it so different we don't have any help, and in class we only see theory, not a single practical example, and the tests are just practical problems.

If it worths, as career plan is going to change and this course will be "erased/changed" so the proffesor has given us some hints that everyone will pass the course, but I don't want to rely on that and I want to learn. The first test was a carbon copy from a homework we sumitted like a week before the test, he just changed a couple of values but even like that I failed the test (I studied other things because I didn't believed he was going to make it that way). As many people failed the test he gave us an extra homework to raise the grade.

I really don't know what to do, I may pass the course because he gave it away but I'm worried I'm not learning anything and I'm stressed about it. I've tried to study on my own but when I see the big mess the course is I just get more anxious...

It sounds like this professor is nuts to me. Try talking to your dean of students or some other official at the college. It almost sounds like this guy is trying to keep everyone off balance so they will fail. I have never heard of such behavior as this (and yes, I've been to college). If you really have to have this course, perhaps you could find it at another school, perhaps online, or something like that? Or perhaps a group of you could approach and ask him if he could give you some examples because you are struggling. Good luck!

 

[Meistersinger]

Is this professor tenured? If so, you're SOL. It is nigh impossible to have disciplinary action taken against a professor, except in cases of gross incompetence, or physical harm or sexual harassment.

One thing I learned while Working for DoD is CYA. Document EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING to the most minute detail, and present it to the head of the department. If the department head blows you and your fellow students off, take it to the dean of your school. If the dean blows you and your fellow students off, take it to the Provost for Academic Affairs. Still getting blown off? Take it to the President of the College or University. If that doesn't work, take it to accrediting agency for your discipline, as well as the regional accrediting agency for your college or university. Nothing hurts administrators more than having their department and/or institution lose money because the accreditations have been yanked.

 

[Jorg]

Hi, I'm back and reeeaaaallyyy worried, yesterday we have our final test and the professor told us to take the final (and only) problem (besides some theoric questions answered in class) to home, and gave it to him on monday morning. The problem is this design problem is something really really hard and confusing, even the tutor and other advanced students told me this is a very hard problem.

The deal is to design an AM wireless receiver, every stage of it but in the classroom and syllabus we never studied this kind of things, we studied basic voltage/current amplifiers, and because our classes were overdue we studied a couple of subjects in a single 4h lesson when the syllabus says those subjects take weeks (multiply 4h per number of weeks).

Everyone in my class is really worried and we don't know what to do, we have asked several advanced students, and they don't know either, I have searched from several books, books from more advanced courses and they only give a short explanation about it. I'm talking about books from courses 2 years after the one I'm taking and they rely on a lot of other subjects from more advanced courses.

 

[Ambi]

Hi, I'm back and reeeaaaallyyy worried, yesterday we have our final test and the professor told us to take the final (and only) problem (besides some theoric questions answered in class) to home, and gave it to him on monday morning. The problem is this design problem is something really really hard and confusing, even the tutor and other advanced students told me this is a very hard problem.

The deal is to design an AM wireless receiver, every stage of it but in the classroom and syllabus we never studied this kind of things, we studied basic voltage/current amplifiers, and because our classes were overdue we studied a couple of subjects in a single 4h lesson when the syllabus says those subjects take weeks (multiply 4h per number of weeks).

Everyone in my class is really worried and we don't know what to do, we have asked several advanced students, and they don't know either, I have searched from several books, books from more advanced courses and they only give a short explanation about it. I'm talking about books from courses 2 years after the one I'm taking and they rely on a lot of other subjects from more advanced courses.

It sounds like everyone may do badly! I would do my best on the exam, put down whatever I can, but bring up the issues you have described to the head of the program - at least if you get a failing grade. If enough of the students group together to describe the situation, you'll have more influence together. I'm sorry that this professor is unnecessarily increasing your stress so much!! :-(

 

[Judge]

Hi, I'm back and reeeaaaallyyy worried, yesterday we have our final test and the professor told us to take the final (and only) problem (besides some theoric questions answered in class) to home, and gave it to him on monday morning. The problem is this design problem is something really really hard and confusing, even the tutor and other advanced students told me this is a very hard problem.

The deal is to design an AM wireless receiver, every stage of it but in the classroom and syllabus we never studied this kind of things, we studied basic voltage/current amplifiers, and because our classes were overdue we studied a couple of subjects in a single 4h lesson when the syllabus says those subjects take weeks (multiply 4h per number of weeks).

Everyone in my class is really worried and we don't know what to do, we have asked several advanced students, and they don't know either, I have searched from several books, books from more advanced courses and they only give a short explanation about it. I'm talking about books from courses 2 years after the one I'm taking and they rely on a lot of other subjects from more advanced courses.

Interesting, but scary. I can only give you my perspective based many many years ago on having built things on my own like a crystal radio with very few parts to a shortwave radio (Heathkit) which had many parts.

I suspect your instructor simply wants to evaluate your problem-solving skills relative to what you learned.

Or what I call "throwing you into the deep-end of the pool". That it's a "puzzle" of sorts. That the answer is there, but you have to use your own personal resources to find it. The kind of resources that may well have not been covered in class. A true test to determine how resourceful you can be, rather than just measuring how well you studied class material alone. There may well be "a method to his madness".

Besides, I suspect Mr. Spock isn't the only person to have developed a "Kobyashi Maru" scenario. A test of one's character and perseverance rather than simply what they learned in a book. Not very common, but it's known to happen. And if the instructor is a tenured professor, he can do just about anything he wants.

 

[Jorg]

He probably only want to see if we do something but idk, some people have said he told them ''between lines'' he doesn't fail anyone, he just want to us to work but this is getting out of control, we have a whatsapp group chat with him and a couple of minutes ago he told us he checked the first part of the test, the average points is 5out of 20 and this problem is 10points. In general no one has done anything, some people have some calculations and I have done a little research about the stages and I wrote a little essay with the information, some hipotesis and a couple of designs.

I must say I have never suffered like this with a course, everyone is like freaking out really.

 

[Jorg]

UPDATE: I can't fkn believe it! I passed the course!, I gave him the test, the things I did a couple of hours ago and he just uploaded the grades, I barely passed! But I passed it!