I’m currently enrolled in my school’s computer engineering class which is intro to programming.
I’ve been learning everything from a book but I must say… my professor and TA are horrible!
My professor teaches NOTHING relevant to what we are learning or working on. Learning about strings? That’s cool, I’ll talk about my Raspberry Pi. Like seriously.
Now onto the TA, which is the main reason I’m on this little rant. His English is absolutely HORRIBLE. I mean you can barely understand what he says. Yes, I understand if it’s not his first language but still, how does he expect us to comprehend him? Whenever he helps someone, they always feel confused. Additionally, he wants us to code HIS way. Like seriously? I had a different code and he docked me down for it. What bs. Same output.
Anyways, the average of the class is 60%, and the teacher said 40% of the class will fail. 20% of the class is retaking it. I can’t fail. I have a mditerm in 2 days and I’m studying my butt off but it just frustrates me that there’s no help or support from any of these teachers.
I’m sorry, I just had to get this off my nerves. Is there anything I can do or just keep studying out of my book and hope for the best?
Can you create a study group with others from the class? Also, collect together any questions you have, and go to the prof’s office hours. Google any concepts you aten’t clear on and see if you can find alternate explanations. (Regarding the code giving the same result, I am guessing they are trying to teach you good coding habits or have you practice certain techniques).
Does your school have office hours or advising from other folks in the engineering department? Are there any other profs you know that teach similar subjects who you could ask about questions you have? Do you have friends who are passing the class that you can study with? Definitely try to avoid the prof/TA in the future if possible.
It’s not unusual for TAs/Profs to want you to “code their way.” Coding is not just if it works but how “beautiful” (as our profs call it) you make your code. Having extra or inefficient code gets docked just like having wordy and unnecessary sentences would get docked in an English essay.
Yeah, I’m currently with some friends who are pretty decent in the class. I doubt I’ll earn an A but I definitely want to aim for at least a B. It just frustrates me how unhelpful they are. I have been in his office hours once (the main prof, lecture) and he didn’t help me at all. There seems to be a disconnect between the TA and the prof. I asked the prof for some clarification on certain concepts of C (the language we are learning) and he tells me to read over the book again and try to figure it out on my own. He’s only there to proofread codes.
Anyways, I understand the efficient part. Personally, it was very efficient and it looked nice (i have obsession with making things look aesthetically pleasing) to me but I get where you’re coming from. That solves that portion of the rant
Okay… some of this is just intro to college. You will work your tail off sometimes, and you may not even scrape out a B, especially in STEM classes. There will almost always be people in the class who already know some or most of the material before they take the class, making it much harder for you to get a good grade. At a research university, proofs aren’t all very interested in teaching, nor were they hired for their skill in teaching. Research universities often accept foreign grad students with poor English skills and then give them TA jobs to fund their studies.
As a parent, I suggest going to talk to the head of Computer department…even better if you have some others go with you.
Is this professor an adjunct or an actual assistant/associate professor? Maybe they are not knowledgeable on what they are supposed to be teaching.
When you talk to the Dept head, only use facts, not “this class sucks”. And
Tell them that
"We are very concerned with the way Comp 201 is being taught.
When the syllabus says we are supposed to be learning about strings, he is talking about his Raspberry Pi, which does not have to do with strings and is not on the syllabus. Another example is…
Also we are having difficulty communicating with the TA and are unable to understand him. In addition I produced code that gave the same output but was docked for not using the same method…but this method was not specified in the assignment nor in any rubric.
I am concerned that the professor says 40% of the class will fail…I am not surprised given that he does not teach to the syllabus. I have been using the book of course, but am not receiving effective teaching or support."
