Student Perceptions of Professors' Opinions in the Classroom

Harper, Erin

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/16249 Copy

Description

Title

Student Perceptions of Professors' Opinions in the Classroom

Author(s)

Harper, Erin

Issue Date

2009

Keyword(s)

• Student Perceptions of Professor Opinions in the Classroom
• politics
• expression
• interviews
• surveys
• University of Illinois
• Fall 2009
• RHET 233

Abstract

Politics in the classroom has always been a controversial topic because it is so difficult to monitor what topics are covered in the classroom. After this, the issue arises of whether it is wise to monitor it at all, how much, and what information is monitored. Plus, once classroom subjects are censored, other information must be censored as well. I began to think about this topic when my professors themselves expressed their political opinions in the classroom. It must be noted that this did not happen every day, but it had occurred on occasion and I had to assume that it had for other students at the University of Illinois as well. Thus, when the opportunity came for me to find out what other students were experiencing related to professors and their political expressions in the classroom, I decided to design my research to figure out what these students thought about this. I did so by conducting student interviews as well as surveys and interviewed a professor that was knowledgeable about the same material I would be researching. I also did outside research observing articles pertaining to other universities and the topic of politics in the classroom as a whole. All in all, I wanted to gain a better understanding of this topic at a collegiate level and what students truly felt when their professors did bring politics and their personal political opinions into the classroom.

Series/Report Name or Number

Under the title of “Writing and Language in the University,” this course centers on two interrelated topics: language, including variations in dialects and registers and the ideologies surrounding those variations; and academic writing, including its many genres and disciplinary differences. As we read, write, and talk about these topics, we explore how writing and language can vary and what makes us consider a way of speaking “standard” or a way of writing are more “correct” or “appropriate” in university contexts than others. We then move on to apply these concepts to our campus by exploring how writing and language are used at UIUC. Each student identifies a specific aspect of writing and/or language at UIUC to focus on for their in-depth research project. They might, for example, look at the range of writing genres used within their major; compare and contrast the academic writing expectations of different teachers, classes, or majors; explore the speech or writing experiences of a particular language or cultural group on campus; or examine current trends in student language use such as texting or slang. In their research, they pull from a wide range of scholarly sources including advanced academic articles and books as well as their own original ethnographic research (interviews, observations, surveys, and/or analyses of University texts). At the close of the course, they not only will have produced a polished final research project, but they will also have the option to share their research with the wider university community through presentation and/or online publication. As part of the EUI (Ethnography of the University Initiative), this class gives them the opportunity to create original scholarly research based on their firsthand experience with people, texts, and places on campus.

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/16249

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