Give Me What I Paid For
My online class is wrapping up this week. I can't say I'm unhappy about that. The class was a big disappointment to me. This was a graduate level class. I paid regular college tuition to be in it. I spent over one hundred dollars on books. I don't think I got my money's worth. I think for what I paid, I should have gotten a lot more class. I spent half of the semester trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. The other half was spent getting everything done before the deadline.
I really hate it when you paid for continuing education and walk away feeling like you didn't learn anything. I pay out of pocket for all my continuing education. I don't have a big budget so every course has to count. I'm required to get CEUs to maintain my license so I might as well learn something in the process. The worst class I ever attend was a few years ago. It had good billing and was sponsored by an organization with a good reputation. I can't tell you how disappointing it was when the class consisted of the instructor reading directly from the manual I received as part of my tuition. Even worse, he got confused if he deviated from the topic.
Another thing I hate is when I feel like I know more than the instructor. This becomes a risk as more classes are taken. I've taken "advanced" classes and felt like they should have been introductory. I paid money to learn from the instructor's expertise. If someone is teaching a class, I have the expectation that he or she is knowledgeable in the topic. Now I've had some excellent instructors. One of my favorites was a pharmacology course for PTs. That woman knew her stuff. She was also a good teacher.
Lately I've been using online and home study courses. They aren't as expensive and can be done as my time permits. I've found some very good ones through the APTA. If you're a member they are reasonably priced. Reading a booklet isn't the same as asking questions. Once an instructor looked at me like an armadillo in the headlights and told me he couldn't answer my question nor would he make the effort to research the answer. Hmm, maybe self study isn't so bad. That was another unmemorable learning experience. Lucky for me university courses count for CEUs. I have a few more online courses to take so I'll be set for awhile. Who knows after that? Maybe I'll teach a course.