Passivness or lack of accountability or something else?

[PennyWise]

This past semester in school was one of my hardest; I got bad advice on scheduling my classes and ended up taking two courses that should never be combined into the same semester: Community Nursing and Nursing Leadership. Both are 6 credit courses and have deeply involved projects that go beyond the usual paper writing style assignments.

At the end of the semester, the Community instructor replaced one of our quizes with an assignment. It was a Workplace Assessment tool found in the back of the book. The quizes are worth only a few points (although all 5 quizes combined end up being a strong influence on your grade) and basically take about a half hour if you've done your reading.

The Workplace Assessment on the other hand was very time consuming. I was on page 16 of the assignment when I stopped, it would have been at the very least 20 pages long had I finished it. I emailed my instructor on the day it was do and turned in what it had done. I told her exactly what I said above: The quizes take about half an hour, this assignment has already taken up hours of my time and requires much more time still, but I am not finishing it. It was an unfair substitution for a quiz IMO.

She got back to me right away. I ended up getting full credit for the work I had done, and she proceeded to inform me that I had gone into too much detail while doing the assessment. She only wanted a line or two for each section of the assessment (this would require one to turn in such an incomplete assessment as to pretty much render it.........not done, or extremely poorly done at the very least). Then she finished by adding that "I didn't think anyone would take it this seriously." Really? In other words, you are telling me you assign work with the idea that most people are going to make up the answers and not really do it, not take you seriously? OK........a lot of people do make up their assignments but is it so common that we cater to them? I find this a lot in the nursing field actually, both the clinical and academic fields. People seem to lack assertiveness, they talk knowing no one is listening and then are surprised when someone was.

What did you intend students to do when you assigned the assessment? If the assignment/policy/whatever isn't important or serious enough for you to demand everyone's full attention, then don't assign it. What does it say about an instructor/leader when they assert themselves but do so expecting to be ignored, then tell the ones who did not ignore them they should have?

[PennyWise]

Hmmm.

My post looks funny. Got all that computer language in it and no paragraphs. IDK what happened.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

Hmmm.

My post looks funny. Got all that computer language in it and no paragraphs. IDK what happened.

compose in Word and copy/paste.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

or better yet, keep it shorter.

This instructor needs to clarify instructions. Perhaps you and your classmates could ask for more clarification and WRITE it down. But remember, the game is not to do as little as possible for a grade, but to actually learn

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

And I think everyone has their own style. With the prevelence of computer charting, you may not have to put as much in a detailed assessment as a written chart. Which is not always a good thing. I recall a project that was in leadership, and I got a less than thrilling grade, as I did not focus each entry on a "problem" or conflict that I could write about how I solved. As a person and a nurse, I don't go looking for conflict, so I found it difficult to decipher what the instructor was looking for. I should have asked for examples of what she meant. Maybe clarification with examples are better understood.

[PennyWise]

Oh, I logged on to edit it and someone already did. Thanks Commuter.

Yeah, there is just something about the passive style this instructor took. I usually like her, but not in this instance.

There is just something that doesn't sit right with me when someone tells you doing what they told you to do was the wrong way to go.