Did you ever have a really honest teacher? Someone who didn’t try to hide the chinks in their armor? Someone who pointed out more than the glossy surface but also the underlying cogs, axles, and inevitable grease that made the whole thing run? In short: Did you ever have a teacher who taught you about teaching?
At first this may seem weird but I realize that I’ve had many teachers like this. My fifth grade teacher who would open class with a magic trick, close it with cheesy jokes, and teach us amazing (and amazingly related) things in between; my high school drama teacher who walked in on the first day of an advanced acting class and said “You’ll be putting on a show for an audience on this date” and subsequently left for the entire semester; the numerous college professors who would ask our advice on what to do next, how to structure the course, and actively seek feedback in the middle of the term (instead of just at the end). These people helped me learn something about the business of teaching, it’s structures, and even the potential pitfalls. You might think with such unpolished educators and courses that the classes failed. Actually, they succeeded.
I bring this up in light of the radical changes I am currently preparing to make for my large class beginning next semester. Switching between (and even from) technical systems is bound to cause problems with such large classes but it also provides unique opportunities. Completely revising the course allows you to re-evaluate the effectiveness of certain assignments, methods, structures, and other critical areas related to student learning. It allows you to re-design key areas of the course in order to improve them (perhaps based on instructor knowledge and/or student feedback). Will students need to be more open to changes? Yes. Will they need to be on their toes? Yes. Will the class improve? Maybe… depends who you ask. If you, students, are in a course that allows you to have a direct hand in designing it then you have a responsibility to be honest, be helpful, and be flexible. And guess what: you’re learning more than you paid for at the same time.