We now sit 14 weeks into the semester. I must admit I have been pleased with all of my classes except for one: Professional Development II (STSS-4840). Never have I taken a course that suffers from so little direction. The course catalog for Professional Development II claims that the class “explores technological contexts for leadership roles. Assignments develop a variety of communication skills. A team-based project gives students the opportunity to demonstrate leadership initiative by proposing solutions to social problems that combine technical expertise with social analysis and communication skills.” This description says nothing more than that this course ought to be named BSII rather than PDII. In 14 hours of lecture and 14 hours of recitation, I have taken little to nothing out of the course.
Adjunct Professor Melissa Everett gives her TA’s little guidance for running recitations. Each recitation opens up with a few five-minute student presentations. These presentations are given on any “leadership” topic the student chooses; they lack just as much direction as the course itself. Following this, we are supposed to work on our “group” leadership projects.
PDII has guidlines that limit our ability to learn the skills the course is meant to teach. My TA has put emphasis on developing a project that focuses on Troy (people and businesses). I believe we should be allowed to develop any project that we see fit to help guide us in a leadership experience. My group considered developing a brochure that would review local pubs. This idea was immediately shot down as it was deemed “dangerous.” At the same time the TA approved the development of a workshop on “beer making” by another group. Our TA was swayed due to their emphasis on purchasing local products to make the beer. Then I began to ask, “How does visiting a pub/microbrewery not help the economy?”
Each week I attend approximately 19 hours of class. Two of those 19 hours are spent in Professional Development II. This spring, tuition is $16,300. Through the course of the semester, I attend roughly 323 hours of class. This works out to roughly $50 per hour of class. Each Wednesday, I am wasting approximately $100 to sit in a class that has yet to teach me anything.
The only truth in the course description is the mention of a “team-based project.” Yes, we have begun working on a team-based project. How related is it to leadership? That is open to debate. In my own opinion, a class that claims to be based on leadership should focus on leadership. The direction of Melissa Everett’s course has deviated severely from that. This course is in dire need of an evaluation. It needs to be completely revamped and given goals and a purpose.
