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After two weeks of lectures with the whole of the final year (minus a few), I’ve discovered there are different types of learners/students. One of them is this.
The selfish-learner perceives herself as the only one in class/lecture/small-teaching-session. There is a teacher, and her, the student. There is no one else. There is no consideration for other people present, therefore resulting in the answering of the question.
The manners in which questions are answered can be divided into in-turn and out-of-turn. In group teachings, we go around in turn. The selfish-learner unthinkingly answers the question as she hears it, taking no notice of others, out-of-turn. Another student may be processing a concept in their head, taking some time for it to actualise into something coherent. The selfish-learner gets impatient and shouts out the answer while waiting for this other student to find his bearings. This inconsiderate behavior really detracts from the other student’s learning. It’s GROUP teaching, everyone else is learning too. Not private-tutorial-session-with-tutor-all-by-yourself-and-no-one-else session.
It can also be classified as loudy, so the whole group can hear or quietly, under the breath but loud enough for the people sitting around them to hear. They can be further subdivided into correct and incorrect.
Loudly and correct. This can either be benign or malignant.
In a benign case, the student wants the session to move on quickly because the lecturer is waiting for someone in the audience to give the answer. Loudly and correct, if present alone without other signs, is entirely benign. It only becomes malignant if it is associated with any other signs/symptoms of a selfish-learner. This is undesirable. Other malignant examples would be a show-off, in which case, boo to you.
Loudy/quietly and incorrect however just pisses other people off, as other learners are pretty much there absorbing information, and so having wrong answers being put in their head is a big no-no. And also, when you get it wrong, other people just smile inside.
If you think I am bitching about you, I’m not reaaally. It’s just.. get some group learning etiquette. Others are trying to pay attention, learn etc. We have every right to be there and benefit from it, just as you do, but SOME CONSIDERATION PLEASE.
End of Rant.
PS. I really still love you. So please don’t get upset, don’t get angry, don’t like throw eggs at me. Maybe I’m NOT talking about you :D
