I consider myself a self-learner, meaning: 1) I'd rather read a book or watch a video than sit through lectures and 2)I like having plenty of control over what I learn and how I learn it.
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With that in mind, my ideal college class would run like this:
I am told a sketch of what the field is about, what there is to know, how it relates to stuff I already know and why I should bother learning it. I have a say on what we`re going to cover out of that broad subject and what book we're going to rely (again, I think books are unmatched as a learning resource). Then class meets just to clarify those spots where the reading is challenging and to sove problems. Ratio of individual to in-class work: about 5 to 2
Instead what I get is a guy who tells me what he knows, how he knows it, using his favorite book (often his current favorite, not even what he used when he himself was a learner). He doesn't list the prerequisites the class has, much less bothers to ask whether I have them covered or not. If I ask how this particlar topic will be useful to me, he replies I'll figure it out later in your studies. Ratio of individual to in-class work: about 2 to 5
I know some students can thrive in this environment, but to me such chaos is simply unbearable, especially when I think of how little effort it would take me to arrange my studies to make perfect sense.
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Hopefully someone out there has experienced something similar and can comment on how he suceeded in finding a way around it!
