Oh, where to start... At 09:49 PM 11/6/2002 -0600, you wrote:
In our curriculum we have a designation for an "Independent Study" course. Over the past year I've had a number of students ask to take independent study courses with me. All of these students wanted to take independent study courses in the place of regular courses that are offered in our curriculum but for various reasons couldn't be fit into their schedules.We use to have a designation for selected topics to fill this role and reserved our independent study for student's doing research projects. This has changed over the years, and selected topics courses now have to meet enrollment guidelines. In some ways it appears that you've backed yourself into a situation where you are allowing students to bypass taking courses when they are scheduled and being too accommodating to the students. As a result, the students are beginning to fill entitled to do this and the schedule of when classes are offered is loosing its values. I'd start looking at ways to stop students from doing this since it seems like they are beginning to abuse the option...
Here's my problem: Next semester I am teaching four courses, three of which are newSounds reasonable to me. If you do decided to let them do it as "independent study" pick a time where both students can be there at the same time so they can form their own group separate from the rest of the class. Admittedly it's a smaller group, but might be one solution depending on what the group projects are...
{snip}
other courses, three of which were new preps.
They came back and told me that if I didn't allow them to take an Independent Study in Tests and Measurements, then they wouldn't be able to take the regular Tests and Measurements course that I'm teaching because of the other required course they need to take, they would not be able to graduate in May, and would have to wait until the 2005 Spring Semester to take this course (which is the next time that Tests and Measurements, a required course, will be offered).If the course is required, it should probably be offered more than once every 2 years. Also, why have they put off taking so many required courses until their last semester? If the department isn't offering the courses that students need to take, it might be time to re-evaluate the curriculum and/or talk with the administration about why you need more resources to meet the needs of the students.
If I allow these two students to take an Independent Study in Tests and Measurements, then I will need to significantly revise the course to accomodate these two students. This is a lot of extra work in a semester that is already packed. If I made the Independent Study harder than {snip}Just out of curiosity, have you checked to make sure the course they are claiming they need out of dept is really only available at the same time as the T&M course? I like to give students the benefit of the doubt and trust them, but I have a couple this semester that aren't helping me do that.
a class during the regularly scheduled time (in this case, 8:00 am three times a week), or taking the very same course but without having to go to any class sessions (which essentially is what happens during an Independent Study), why wouldn't you want to take the Independent Study?
On the other hand, if I don't allow the Independent Study then these students may have some significant problems with graduation.Is this your fault or theirs? Sometimes the hardest part of our job is when we have to tell a student that they won't graduate when the thought they would... admittedly, forcing them to put off graduation for 2 years because a required course isn't being offered again until then seems a bit overly harsh...
What is the policy for independent studies in your departments? Do you reserve independent studies for those students that want to pursue some line of study that is not covered by the curriculum? Or do you allow students to take independent studies for regular courses that just can't be fit into students' schedules?As I mentioned previously, our independent study is strictly for students conducting or assisting with research. There might be one or two times that an independent study has been used to cover an issue not offered in a regular course, but this is rare for us. Occasionally, we'll offer a selected topics course that might fulfill the requirements of another "required" course, but these courses have to meet the same enrollment that regular courses do (currently 14 students for an undergrad class to make, except in "special" circumstances...)
I don't think I would do it if you are already overloaded and it is going to make your job that much more difficult for the students who are taking the course(s) when they are scheduled.
Just my two cents for the night...
- Marc
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G. Marc Turner, MEd, Network+, MCP
Instructor & Head of Computer Operations
Department of Psychology
Southwest Texas State University
San Marcos, TX 78666
phone: (512)245-2526
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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