Students who chat during lectures

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Oct 7, 2016

This is on your instructor. You can bet the farm that if she asked the culprits to get out of her classroom, this would be nipped in the bud.

caliotter3 · Oct 7, 2016

This is on your instructor. You can bet the farm that if she asked the culprits to get out of her classroom, this would be nipped in the bud.

This aspect of the instructor's job is called classroom management. If her inability to control her classroom is impacting your learning and you have already talked to her about the problem, you are within your rights to go up the chain of command at the school to get your money's worth.

BrendanO, MSN, RN · Oct 7, 2016

Not all professors are good at managing a classroom, and depending on how far away they are (i.e. if it's a big lecture hall), they may not always hear it/see it when it's happening. I'd try to resolve the problem locally before I went to the dean.

I have an escalating scale of options that I've used in the past. In addition to talking to the professor, I would also talk directly to the other students outside of class. You can start by being non-confrontational about it, just say something like, "You know, my hearing isn't the best and your talking makes it hard for me to understand the professor". If that doesn't work, whispering something quietly to them while in class in session (if you're sitting near them) is appropriate, like "If you need to have this conversation right now, please go outside". And if THAT doesn't work, I have no problem raising my voice in the middle of class and saying, "PLEASE STOP TALKING! THANK YOU!". Public shaming can work wonders.

And if all of that still doesn't stop it, then I would go to the dean or program director. I'm sure they have some recourse within the expectations for student conduct to sanction students who disrupt classes. You are paying for a professional classroom environment.

Good luck!

Dd04321 · Oct 7, 2016

I have been having the same problem with a specific group of students in my class.

I will shush them periodically, but that doesn't seem to help, and I sent my instructor an email, but the matter was never addressed during class. If the instructor can't control their classroom, and you've already addressed the issue with them and nothing is done, you can go up the chain of command. You SHOULD go up the chain of command.

People seem to be profoundly entitled to their right to speak, even at times where they shouldn't and it's rude to others. But if it's impacting your ability to learn, you should absolutely do something. There is no excuse for this imo, and they should be thrown out of class.

FolksBtrippin, BSN, RN · Oct 8, 2016

I have had the same problem. It is extremely frustrating. I'm in my last semester, and the biggest culprits did fail the second semester, so it has gotten a little better. But it is still occasionally a problem.

This is my second degree, and I will say that this was not nearly as much of a problem when I got my first degree almost 20 years ago. Back then, if you didn't want to go to class or preferred to socialize with your friends, you just didn't go, there was no taking of attendance. We are adults. I feel like now, since attendance is taken and students are penalized for not attending, the problem of chattiness in lecture is so much worse.

Professors should not be expected to discipline chatty students. That's a high school, or even middle school thing. We're adults.

I can tell you that one thing that has helped, is one very brave student will turn around and very loudly state (might even be considered yelling), "STOP TALKING!". She is my hero.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Oct 8, 2016

My daughter is a first year law student. Law school is taught using a rather brutal form of the Socratic method, where the instructor calls on students, has them stand up, and asks them increasingly difficult questions about the subject matter. If you don't know the answer, you will be treated in a less than gentle manner. "Clearly you know nothing. Sit down." If you show that you didn't read the material, you will be told to "GET OUT OF MY CLASSROOM NOW." Think The Paper Chase, or the more gentle version, Legally Blonde.

I can only imagine how the chatty Cathys would be handled in that environment.

ksw1978 · Oct 8, 2016

Thanks for all your support and tips! I'm hoping our instructors come down heavy. I didn't work my butt off to get into this program to learn about someone's boyfriend issues or what they're doing next weekend. All that gossip can wait. The two lectures should be purely on topic. And not spending 20 minutes discussing assignments etc when people haven't read the damn instructions that are online in the assignment packet. I don't know how some students got into the program, honestly, they ask such banal questions that they could find the answers to if they actually read what we are given. Wastes everyone's time.

missnursingstudent19 · Oct 8, 2016

This aspect of the instructor's job is called classroom management. If her inability to control her classroom is impacting your learning and you have already talked to her about the problem, you are within your rights to go up the chain of command at the school to get your money's worth.

I'm shocked. I've seen so many situations on this site where nursing students have been advised pretty much to never complain about anything no matter what because then they will be labeled "trouble" and their clinical instructors or lecture instructors will make things hard for them.