Hidden Discrepancies among ADU Male Students and Professors in the Classroom and Beyond

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Hidden Discrepancies among ADU Male Students and Professors in

the Classroom and Beyond

Angshuman Dipak Banerjee

Under the Guidance of

Dr. Mohammad Sayel N. Al - Zyoud

Third Year Environmental Science Student

College of Arts and Sciences (C.A.S)

Phone: +9715506042742

Email: [email protected]

Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

mailto:[email protected]

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Hidden Discrepancies among ADU Male Students and Professors in the Classroom and

Beyond

Abstract:

This research study was conducted as an attempt to find out the seemingly minor issues which can

cause significant differences, often detrimental, in the performances of students in the subjects and

hampers their relationship with the instructors. The research was a qualitative analysis which used

the method of conducting interviews as its research tool. There were six (6) questions in all. These

were designed to check the research problems in focus and illuminate their different aspects to the

researchers. The sample size for analysis was twenty (20) as was suggested by the professor. The

population included all the male students in the Abu Dhabi campus of Abu Dhabi University. Abu

Dhabi. The students belonged to different majors such as marketing, business, finance,

engineering, aviation, and so on.

The findings revealed a number of factors which showed that although the present system of

education was going well, a lot more number of changes could be made here and there to improve

the overall quality and efficiency. Majority of the students responded positively to the questions

asked in the interview, but a few were apprehensive of those. There was some ambiguity in the

responses collected, and some outliers. Most of the problems as stated by the students appeared to

be largely ignored, such as the instructor’s behaviors to specific students, strict grading patterns,

difficult question paper settings, and so on. The findings and inferences have been discussed in

detail to give more scope for rectification of the errors, if any.

Lastly, the conclusions and recommendations leave plenty of room for further researches and

studies to be done with this being a base, for the sake of a better educational system in the future

with higher success rates among candidates and lower numbers of stressed college dropouts.

Keywords: Discrepancies, Detrimental, Hidden, Classroom, and Students.

Introduction:

In an age where logic and reasoning govern humanity, education no doubt rules at the highest

echelons of power. Two central characters make up the present educational system worldwide –

the professor or teacher, who distributes the knowledge, and the students, who acquire it from the

former. The education system as we see it today has gone through a long process of changes and

modifications before it came to be this way. Although educational sciences are not a simple field

of research, it is vital for any country’s development that the young generation of the current era

grow up to become learned, wise, and responsible citizens.

Education is a very broad term. It includes much more than simply giving lectures and taking

examinations. But as necessity is regarded as the mother of invention, differences in times have

forced us humans to develop the modes of education, considerably so. Humans started from

recording pictures depicting various events of their time, from simple to complex on rough surfaces

such as stones, leaves, barks of trees, and skins of animals and moved on to more advanced means

such as creation of papyrus scrolls from reed stalks by Egyptians and finally the invention of paper

by the Chinese. The invention of paper is heralded as one of the major precursors to the dawn of

education in the history of mankind. Before schools came into being, the reach of education was

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not as widespread and free as it is today. Because we are concerned about the educational practices

in United Arab Emirates, let us go back in time to have a historical background of how it started

here.

The Ministry of Education gives detailed information on the roots of education in U.A.E, which

unfolded in four stages. Here, education was largely informal in the beginning. The first phase was

known as the “Mutawwa education” where old male and female teachers (they were referred to as

mutawwa) gathered small groups of children in towns and taught them the teachings of the Holy

Qur’an and the Hadith (Prophet Muhammad’s [P.B.U.H.] sayings). This later diversified into what

came to be known as “Scientific Circle Education”. In this stage, the mutawwa were replaced by

known scholars who had extensive experience and education on a specific subject or field of study,

such as grammar, mathematics, sciences, and so on. Each scholar would tutor a small group of

students who sat in circles (and hence the name scientific circle education); this was mainly done

in mosques. Islamic history gives many examples of how education was practiced in mosques

before schools were built in many parts of the world. As the Emirates’ relations with other

countries flourished and trade became more developed, many rich merchants and traders took the

initiative to further develop education. They opened schools in different locations and invited

scholars from different parts of the Middle East to run them. This stage is known as the “Developed

Education” stage, which marked the existence of schools in the society. Following this was the

first systematic school opened in Sharjah somewhere around 1935 which marked the beginning of

the “Modern Education” phase, which is the last and most recent phase of education as we see it

today. It is the most active phase of all; scholars from around the world came to U.A.E to contribute

in their own ways to the educational practices. A variety of subjects and disciplines were included

in the syllabi/curricula of students which was applied in many well-furnished schools. This,

therefore, took U.A.E to an age of information exchange and steady development (U.A.E.

Ministry of Education, 2013).

However, as educational methods became more complex, so did the problems and challenges

associated with them. The modern day student faces many challenges today which include being

able to cope up with professors of different, sometimes conflicting, interests, personalities, and

teaching styles, keeping proper grades, and also finding out time for family and life even with

hectic schedules. Often, if not always, this becomes a formidable issue, and results in lower grades

on report cards and depressed candidates, as rightly said by (Ismail & Majeed, 2011). Those

difficulties are very prevalent among students, yet rarely researched upon. This brings us to our

research problem, which is to discover all the factors in this process which are still unknown to us.

Keeping the students’ perspectives in mind and emphasizing on the same, this research aims to

find the current obstacles and inconsistencies that negatively impact the student’s understanding

of the subject and perception about the instructor, and attempt to solve the same.

Review of Relevant Literature:

As mentioned earlier, there are a number of factors which remain hidden, yet significantly impact

the whole process of giving and receiving education. One such factor is the behavior of the

professor with the students. An empirical study was conducted on ninety – two (92) college seniors

enrolled in capstone courses of business schools, who were interviewed and surveyed with

questions designed to collect data which gave us the estimated inferences about their perception

of the course and the professor, whilst giving reasons which resulted in their opinions. The general

implications of the study indicated that students tend to see male and female professors differently,

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even if either of them taught the same subject or course. The same would be true for professors,

who were found to treat male and female students differently, albeit only with minor differences

between them. Alternatively, male students seem to regard female professors more than their male

counterparts. The differences in behavior were mainly found to be associated with certain

behavioral traits unique to either of the genders, which is supported by the findings and discussions

of (Riniolo, Johnson, Sherman, & Misso, 2006), who showed that evaluation of the professors was

affected by their physical attributes, which are thought to be a major factor in shaping the

perceptions of the students about them in the classroom and in general. Female professors in

general were perceived by both male and female students to be kinder in comparison to male

professors, who were reported to be strict and impolite to male students at times. As is with every

data collection procedure, some outliers were excluded from consideration as they didn’t follow

logic. Preference of either a male or female instructor also seemed to depend on factors such as

the difficulty of the course; female professors were more desirable in the more difficult courses

due to their overall calm and kind demeanor (Tomkiewicz & Bass, 2008). The first hidden factor

here seems to be the professor’s gender, which is rarely discussed for obvious reasons, but still

plays an important role in determining the outcome.

Apart from the gender of the professor, the traits also seem to matter quite a lot. This was proved

right by an open – ended survey at the Memorial University of Newfound land where three hundred

and thirty (330) students were surveyed online to figure out the main characteristics of the

professor which hold the most value to the students. Because the participants in this case included

both students studying through distance education or correspondence courses and students

attending lectures in the campus every day, the types of responses also mattered. Campus students

said that the major qualities desirable in professional teaching staff required them to be respectful

towards their students, knowledgeable in their field of study, approachable and friendly, engaging

in discussions and debates, communicative to retain the attention of students, organized to set

examples, responsive and alert towards the needs of their students, professional in their attitude

and behavior, and lastly, humorous to prevent a class from being boring. In case of distance

learners, the responses were found to be similar, if not the same. This difference in levels of

emphasis is thought to be a result due to communication differences. On-campus students, who

attended lectures personally with the professor seemed to be more concerned about various

features of the instructor which, although subtly, would influence the level of participation and

understanding in the classroom. Among these, included qualities and features like tone of voice,

facial expressions, and body language. Whereas, distance students seemed to be more concerned

about the amount and quality of information they received during the courses, which included the

ease of understanding and remembering, applications, and so on. This emphasis on comprehensive

and extensive feedback is presumed to be something to compensate the features of a face-to-face

communication. Among the nine qualities chosen, students seemed to emphasize on three main

qualities: respectful, knowledgeable, and professional. Students, however, did not classify

knowledgeable as either being knowledgeable about the content or the way to teaching, for they

grouped both sources into a broad stream where either one was synergistic to the other. Some

students highlighted the issue that their instructors needed to be fair and evaluate only the portions

of the content that had been taught in class (or online). At the same time, being “respectful” was

of prime importance. The criticism and comments passed are to be thoughtful, while keeping in

mind the self-image of the student and respecting his/her perspectives and understanding of the

topic. Constructive criticism was regarded to be of utmost importance, for it gave guidelines on

how to improve, which could serve as a major tool of development for the student. Among the

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student expectations, the interviews revealed that on-campus students valued enthusiasm as well,

albeit not as a major trait. It was essential that the instructor stayed energetic while teaching about

his subject and engaging in active discussions with his/her students to improve and evaluate their

communication and participation skills in the classroom (Delaney, Johnson, Johnson, & Treslan,

2010). The results of this research were then confirmed by (Kahveci, 2005) who showed, through

quantitative analysis, that there existed a direct relationship between the level of interactivity in

education and it was more of context-based, meaning that direct interaction was beneficial in

classrooms. It also showed that certain factors such as physical attributes of professors, albeit

insignificantly, are likely to affect the image of the faculty in the perspectives of students, therefore

reaffirming the work of (Riniolo, Johnson, Sherman, & Misso, 2006).

Following on the previous studies’ findings and implications, it seems that sometimes, students

may misunderstand their professor, significantly in some cases, if they exhibit traits not so

desirable such as authoritarian, rigid, and indifference. In a certain study conducted on Korean

college students studying in the United States, it was found that several professors who participated

in the data collection, noticed features in the Korean students which casted their image to others

from a negative aspect. Inability to answer questions confidently, avoidance of eye contact during

classes, lack of understanding of topics, being comfortable with large classes to avoid active

participation were some of the factors responsible for this. Similarly, the participating Korean

students also reported responses which clearly stated that they were not comfortable with their

professors, such as portraying them as totally authoritarian people and desiring absolute control

over others, lack of different teaching styles, and finally having difficulty in proper pronouncing

and usage of English language and grammar. The study’s conclusions came to the point that people

of different cultures and linguistic skills have different approaches to education, which is a broad

term and encompasses a lot of different things (Lee & Carrasquillo, 2006). Due to the increasing

Korean population in the United States, which at present, is noted to be a bit more than a million

by (Yu & Choe, 2003)(cited in (Lee & Carrasquillo, 2006), it is only imperative that educators and

scientists make out the learning and cultural differences between the East and the West (Lee &

Carrasquillo, 2006). The following conclusions that can be drawn are that: cultural differences are

very important when it comes to education and it is necessary that students and professors

acknowledge the different rules of each culture. This will help avoid misconceptions among them

both; for example, it was later found that in the East, when a professor teaches, the students do not

look in the eye, as a gesture of respect. However, in the West, this is taken to be something that

conveys disinterest in the subject. Similarly, there are no open-ended discussions, for the instructor

controls the classroom totally. Each country’s education system should emphasize more on multi-

cultural modes of education to eliminate differences and reinforce learning techniques (Lee &

Carrasquillo, 2006). This is another aspect of education which remains largely ignored. Students

in class who have poor performance are often accused of being lazy, inattentive, and disinterested;

however, if the differences between cultures when it comes to education are to be discussed, it

could give us a whole new dimension of solutions we have never known.

These differences can cause huge problems among the students’ psychology and health if they are

not highlighted. Misunderstandings caused by the factors discussed previously can also create a

general state of fear and despair about the course and/or instructor in the minds of students. (Cox,

2010) Provides a comprehensive report on the issue discussed above while reviewing the book on

the same. Some tips which instructors are encouraged to follow include looking at the students’

issues from their perspectives and emphasizing with them, maintaining and calm demeanor, and

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being responsive to their students’ needs. Doing so would give the student a positive outlook about

the subject and encourage him/her to give it their best. Again, this requires the professors and the

educational researchers to be aware of the cultural, social, physical, and individual differences that

occur among students, which only when understood, would help solve complex problems like this.

However, at times, it’s the student(s) who follow biases when evaluating a professor’s performance

in the classroom or during the course. Certain students rate professors by factors which involve

their ethnicity and gender. Although there hasn’t been a lot of research supporting this claim,

(Kierstead, D’Agostino, & Dill, 1988)(cited in (Anderson, 2010) have provided evidence of this:

female professors who were perceived as being attractive and friendly were given much higher

scores by students, whereas the same didn’t apply for male professors even if they were of similar

nature towards their work (Anderson, 2010). Although, from the previous literature studies, this is

a factor which can, and might be, largely overruled by the how well the professor instructs the

class and guides them towards their learning goals.

Bearing the difference in perceptions and opinions of students about the course and instructor, the

professor is still responsible for setting the classroom or learning environment. He/she can majorly

impact what the students take in and retain, what they can associate themselves with, what they

can apply, and how easily they are able to evaluate and analysis the content given, as rightly said

by (Goleman, 2006). One research conducted included a number of unseen and not-so-obvious

features exhibited by professors. Although subtle, those have been proven to be detrimental to the

students’ understanding and perspective of learning and education. (Lucas & Murry, 2002)

Mention a number of student complaints which are actually seen to negatively impact their own

self-esteem. Gestures by professors such as ignoring students who raise their hands to answer a

question, or being mean to students who ask what might be regarded as a “silly question” and

demeaning them in front of other students in the classroom, are very damaging and yet are in

practice today. The results in students include changes like disinterest towards the subject and

dislike for the professor, apathetic nature towards others, poor-regulation of actions, and excessive

stress which causes lack of sleep and attention. According to (Twenge, 2006), most college

students in general care for their individual character and personality, which when hurt or

criticized, leads to an array of negative changes in them. (Stork & Hartley, 2009) Comment in their

research that the area of incivilities in a learning environment is still a mostly hidden aspect and

more study is required in order to acquire more concrete results, rather than drawing abstract

inferences. Perhaps, this might be the missing link between the unsatisfactory grades of an

indifferent student and a seemingly easy/interesting course/subject.

As we have already seen, the misunderstandings between students and teachers can severely

cripple the speed and amount of learning. One solution to counter this would be to try and assess

the situation from both the angles: as a student and as an instructor. To understand this better, it

would be sensible for the students to better figure out their professor’s character and his

personality. An approach towards this direction was by (Schlee, 2005) who used a survey form to

find correlations between the major a student chose and his/her social style and also the social

styles of the professors from students’ perspectives. Using the scale from (Merrill & Reid,

1981)(cited in (Schlee, 2005)), professors were judged on levels of assertiveness and

responsiveness. Naturally, it was found that many professors who had high levels of assertiveness

seemed to have outgoing social styles and were popular within their students. Also, students who

had more free social styles were seen in majors like marketing which involved active

communication with others and participation in different activities. Naturally, what can be inferred

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from this is that students who have free social styles are more likely to enjoy studying with

professors who are of the same extrovert nature. Probably, an idea following this would be to group

students based on their social styles and assign professors accordingly.

(Sebastian & Bristow, 2008) Researched another aspect of this correlation just mentioned, by

qualitatively examining how the perceptions of students about their professors mattered on basis

of the latter’s dress code. There were multiple opinions from students on this: some seemed to

regard the dress code as being an important factor in the overall teaching while others were more

concerned about the information that was being passed during the lectures, this was somewhat in

synch with the findings of (Delaney, Johnson, Johnson, & Treslan, 2010), who also found that the

quality of lectures mattered significantly as well. The opinion of the former have also been

supported by the likes of education scientists such as (Morem, 2005), who mentioned the

advantages of a formal attire in a workplace such as increased self-confidence, better performance

and outcomes, which can lead to better opportunities in work and careers. However, the majority

of the survey samples with usable responses came in filled with choices which supported the idea

that formal dressing is of more concern for female professors than males. The inferences imply

that having a formal attire is more likely to draw about a serious atmosphere of academia within

the classroom, as opposed to a casual outfit. Also, female professors who followed the formal dress

code received higher evaluation scores from the students than those who didn’t, indicating that this

particularly applied more for female than male instructors (Sebastian & Bristow, 2008).

Bringing all these related studies into consideration, it can be safely quoted that there are a lot of

hidden disparities in the educational systems that are in existence today, and there are many unseen

reasons which significantly impact the end results of learning and teaching from students. This

research will be a small step in that direction as it will attempt to illuminate some seemingly

“trivial” defects in the scenario and find solutions to deal with the same.

The Problem:

In today’s schools and universities, the general stereotype that reigns our understanding of

academia is that students who study for hours in the end are the ones who must get good grades,

and those who do not, must not. Seldom are any views accepted by most scholars and professors

which do not pertain to this generalization.

Many issues like the ones discussed in the literature review are often not acknowledged by most

colleges and universities. There are many different reasons as to why a student might not be able

to perform at his/her maximum efficiency in the class. It could be something psychological,

physical, behavioral, or even situational. However, failures in academia are often responded to by

common, often not-so constructive criticism such as “not working hard enough” or “not

concentrating on the subject”, or “disliking the professor”, and so on.

This research attempts to find out the answered to the ignored questions, which may be of

importance by looking at the more subtle issues that concern both the students and the professors,

by grouping six interview questions under two main categories.

Question 1: What are the different elements that students find desirable in a course/professor?

Question 2: In what ways can the current system of education be improved?

Significance of the Research:

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This research holds significance in its contribution to the field of study in education because:

- In Abu Dhabi University, this area of the problem is largely left un-researched; there could

be many different and new implications to the challenges we are facing at hand.

- This research can be used as a base in future for studying further on hidden inconsistencies

that exist within and outside the classrooms and their consequences.

- It could find new solutions to problems regarding student performance that concern

professors, counsellors, and even parents.

- By analyzing the problems from students’ viewpoints, it should be easier to better

understand their problems and fix the same.

Aims of the Research:

This research aims to find out the hidden discrepancies among students in Abu Dhabi University

that hinder their understanding of the subject and perception about the instructor.

Definition of Terms:

Discrepancies: State of being different or inconsistent with the system. From an educational

viewpoint, it might be defined as the differences in perspectives or views on a topic. For example,

teachers might view the purpose of a homework differently from students who are given to do it,

as mentioned by (Hong, Wan, & Peng, 2011).

Research Limitations:

As is the case for any and every research conducted, this study has some limitations as well. They

are:

- The samples are only taken from male students; it is possible that female students may have

different views about the topic(s) in focus.

- The population for collecting samples here is restricted to students in Abu Dhabi

University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Different parts of the world have different

cultures that may result in different responses to the questions asked.

- The research was conducted during the summer semester 2012-2013; more students with

different viewpoints could possibly be included in the samples, if it were during a regular

semester, such as fall or spring.

Methodology and Procedures:

The research employs interviews as a means of collecting data for qualitative analysis. Over a

period of one (1) week, twenty (20) male students in Abu Dhabi University were interviewed. The

data collected in responses was used to draw inferences which would either support, nullify, or

invalidate the main idea for the research.

Population and Sampling:

The population for this research comprises of male students Abu Dhabi University from different

majors such as marketing, business, management, finance, mechanical engineering, civil

engineering, and environmental science. Samples were selected with no specific criteria in mind

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i.e. randomly. Out of approximately twenty-three (23) people who were requested to be

interviewed, three (3) people denied due to lack of time or interest for the topic/cause. The sample

size was chosen to be twenty (20) as per the advice of the professor. To compensate for the small

sample size, the questions were asked such that they demanded a comprehensive answer.

According to (Jeff Anderson Consulting, Inc., 2013), interviews are best suited for small samples

since they provide in-depth information for gathering data. This can help the researcher draw

valuable inferences.

The Research Tool:

As mentioned, this research draws its conclusions from interviews conducted on the students.

There are six (6) questions in all, which are asked during the event. Each one is open-ended and

the interviewer may ask follow-up questions to cover up any information required, but found

missing in the original answer. The details of the interviewee are kept anonymous for the sake of

their privacy. Each interview lasts for around 20 – 30 minutes, and the answers by the interviewee

are recorded in writing to serve as data for analysis purposes.

Findings and Discussion:

The findings and implications of the interviews done with the students have been given below.

First question: Do you feel that the professors in ADU are competent (good at teaching)?

Why/why not?

No. Response to the question Frequency

1 ADU has very competent professors with excellent teaching experience and

good educational backgrounds.

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2 Faculty performance is fine; however, it could use some improvements and

fine-tuning about the different teaching techniques.

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3 Competent or not, teachers in ADU are good overall, because their courses

are of appropriate difficulty.

2

4 They do a fair job, but nothing extraordinary. Every course more or less the

same. You study, you write exams, and you pass.

2

5 I think this majorly depends on the student’s interest about the course. If they

like the subject, they will like the professor. If not, then they won’t.

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6 ADU needs more skilled professors, for the current ones are not enough/well-

trained. They are rude to students in class sometimes when they ask questions.

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This table (1) represents the different responses to the question asked to the male students of Abu

Dhabi University. As evident, nine (9) of the students, which is the majority, responded positively

to the question, stating that Abu Dhabi University has good professors who fare quite well on

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competitive grounds. The students are satisfied with the level of education attained by the faculty

in general and believe that it serves well on their needs and requirements. Five (5) students scaled

their responses a mark lower than the previous level, stating that although the overall effectiveness

is fine, a few improvements could be applied here and there to fine – tune the whole process. Two

(2) students weren’t sure if ‘competent’ was the best word to describe the faculty at university, but

they felt that because the courses offered were of manageable difficulty, the faculty must have

been doing good. Another two (2) students argued that the courses and the teaching system along

with the instructors followed the general stereotype which included attending lectures, studying

and taking notes, writing exams, and passing out. However, they did not mention any major

influences of the instructors, for they believed that it was insignificant. One (1) student linked the

students’ perspective of their instructors to their liking of the subject/course; which is a sensible

argument, for if one dislikes a course or already presumes it to be too easy/hard, they are not as

likely to bother attending the lectures as those are too “boring” and the professor “doesn’t know

how to teach” and so on. This response was so recorded, because the participant agreed that some

courses which he liked had great professors, but the others, not so much. The last type of response

counted from the interviews was more radical in its views; one (1) student mentioned that ADU

needs more skilled professors, for the current faculty is not doing well enough and it adversely

affects the students in different ways. Summing it up all, it can be concluded from the findings of

this question that a majority of the students are happy with the educational services at ADU, with

a few outliers to the general opinion. With some adjustments, the faculty can very well serve

optimally.

Second question: How many courses are you taking this summer (both semesters A and B)?

Are they hard? Would you take more courses with these professors if you could?


1 Five courses. Three U.C. courses in Summer A and two major/college

requirements in Summer B. Courses in Summer B are harder, and probably I

would not take any more courses with the professors.

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2 Four courses. One U.C. and one major in Summer A and two college

requirements in Summer B. Courses in Summer A were hard, but not so much

in Summer B. Yes, I might certainly more electives with these professors.

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3 Three courses. Yes, some of them are hard, but I think we just need to study

more.

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4 Two courses. Both are hard, because the amount covered in the summer is

somewhat same as that covered in a full semester. No, I will not take any more

courses with the same professors.

2

5 One course. No, it’s easier than most courses I’ve completed. Probably yes, I

may take more courses with the professor.

1

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6 One 1 – credit hour course. It is mostly easy, because of the credit weightage

and content proportion. I might take more courses with the professor.

3

7 Internship/Undergraduate Research. It seems a little difficult, because it is

hands-on experience with the real work.

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This table (2) shows the different responses given by the students interviewed at Abu Dhabi

University about their current number of courses in the summer and willingness to take more

courses with the same faculty members, if given the chance to do so. Eight (8) of the students had

taken three courses in the summer, and said that the difficulty of the courses would only change

with their current level of effort and hard work i.e. if they work hard, they are more likely to

succeed. However, they tipped their scales evenly on the question when asked if they will take

more courses with the same professors as electives or if presented with the option. Four (4) students

had taken four courses evenly (or unevenly) distributed over the span of two semesters – summer

A and B. They reported that the majors and college requirements in summer A were harder and

therefore required more effort than summer B, which often comprised of two University College

courses. While acknowledging the different levels of difficulty here, the students were positive

about taking more courses with the same professors in the near future. Two (2) students took two

courses over the summer and they were negative about taking more courses, for the amount of

portion was too much. Four (4) students took no more than just one course over the summer, with

one (1) of them only registering for a 1 credit hour course. In both cases, the difficulty was

manageable as they said, and they all seemed inclined on the possibility of taking more electives

with their summer teaching faculty members. Among the outliers lied two students, with one (1)

of them taking five courses in the summer and the other one (1) being an internship student. The

intern reported slight difficulties while reasoning it as being something new, untried before. Here,

a direct correlation can be observed, for the first time experience for a subject or practice is

perceived to be difficult by most candidates. The last part of the question as to taking more

electives with the same professor was not applicable for this student surveyed. Finally, the student

taking five courses over the summer argued that he had some difficult times, which could be

mainly due to number of courses and hectic time schedules. He responded negatively to taking

more courses with the same instructors in the future.

Third question: For the courses you have taken this summer, how much self-study do you

need to do? Are you satisfied with your professor’s level of effort and interest towards the

course and the batch?


1 ~30 minutes to 90 minutes. Very satisfied. The professor enters the classroom

in an enthusiastic manner and is very energetic throughout the class session.

4

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2 60 – 120 minutes, but depends on the next day’s coursework. Satisfied. There

are moments when the class becomes very lazy or quiet, including the

professor, but those are quickly dealt with.

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3 Highly variable: 30 minutes in the beginning to 3 hours during the last 2

weeks. Unsure of the best response. During the beginning of the semesters,

the course started off as something that looked and was easy, but now I

reconsider my previous opinion.

2

4 A couple of hours but only during tests and assignments. Can’t complain. Not

the best professor I have had, but it is within acceptable limits.

3

5 Three to four hours every other day. Not satisfied with the professor’s effort.

Mostly looks disinterested in the course and the class; gives vague lectures

and difficult questions in the tests.

3

6 Four hours plus with a lot of stress. Very unsatisfied; the amount of

contribution the professor makes is minimal. Lectures are a waste of time, for

they do not help in the examination. Grading is done strictly as well.

3

7 Intolerable at times. I have dropped a course because of this reason. Rude

professor with verbose lectures and little to no consideration for weak

students.

1

This table (3) shows the different responses to the third question of the interview which was

about the amount of student’s contribution required towards the subject and the instructor’s

involvement. The highest frequencies included two groups of four (4) students each; the first

group reported that academic involvement of the teaching faculty is very satisfactory; their

reasons include enthusiastic and energetic moods exhibited in professors while teaching. So their

effort required is relatively not much with being only around thirty (30) to sixty (60) minutes

average. The next group said they were satisfied for the conditions were just right. Self-study

sessions could be anywhere from sixty (60) to one hundred and twenty (120) minutes; at times,

particularly during difficult topics, the class usually got boring for the students, but the

professors have been reported to revive the moods quickly. The next group, which consisted of

two (2) students gave highly variable results in response to the question. During the first week or

so, it was just thirty (30) minutes to an (60 minutes) hour, but that escalated to approximately

three (3) hours during the end of the semester as the professor wrapped things up. The

instructor’s involvement in this case was answered ambiguously, for so was the participant’s

opinion. Three (3) students said they usually do not need to give in much effort, but a couple of

hours during assignments and quizzes was the standard. No major pros or cons regarding the

instructor’s contribution to the classroom learning environment was recorded on this group, but

they said the disturbances were minimal. The fifth (5th) variation of the response was recorded

from three (3) students who expressed dissatisfaction at having to spend three (3) to four (4)

hours every other day. The main factors that complemented this include: difficult subjects, less

13

enthusiastic professor, rigid teaching style, vague explanations, and lack of cooperation as

evident in paper setting and grading patterns. Two (2) students appeared to be very stressed out

about their summer courses. They reported the professor as to being a passive communicator and

medium in the teaching; only referring to the PowerPoint slides and being unspecific in the notes

and announcements added to these aggravation, all complimented by difficult grading criteria

and no leniency whatsoever. The next and the last case is from a student (1) who dropped a

course because the factors were perceived to have gone beyond management in that respective

case.

Fourth question: Do you think the gender of the professor matters for classes? Why/why

not?


1 Yes, very much. Female professors in general tend to be kinder towards their

students, whereas male professors seem to be stricter towards their male

students.

6

2 Yes, somewhat. Sometimes, it is good to have a female professor, because you

can approach her more easily than male professors.

5

3 Maybe yes. Some of my harder courses had female instructors, and I believe

I did well, so there must be a relation.

6

4 Maybe not. Although I have seen some students do better with female

professors, there has been cases opposite to this as well: male students

disliking female professors more than their male counterparts.

2

5 No. Classes are more likely to benefit if the professor maintains a calm

demeanor and is helpful, no matter what the gender may be.

1

This table (4) shows the results of the question concerning the differences in gender of teaching

faculty responsible for student performance in academia. The majority, which is six (6) students,

sounded in favor of the question, stating that by their experience, female professors were kinder

in general to them. Male professors, according to their opinion, were stricter to their male

students than female students. Five (5) students believe that the gender of the instructor can

somewhat influence the academic performance of the class, for female professors are reported to

be more approachable than their male counterparts. Six (6) students agreed, albeit not with

conviction, to female professors being better for tougher courses like the ones that count as major

requirements. Three (3) students responded negatively to the question. Two (2) of them agreed

that the situation could go both ways i.e. male students may do better with male instructors than

female instructors and same thing for girls. The last (1) student claimed that it was the attitude

and personality of the professor towards the course and the students which really mattered.

14

Fifth question: Is there anything you do not like about your professors in ADU? Based on

your experience, state them, if any.


1 Nothing specific. A little flaw here and there, but these are minor and can be

ignored or overlooked.

5

2 A few things. Seem to hate students sitting at the back rows. Ask easy

questions to some and difficult ones to others during class participation.

7

3 Some things. Questions are sometimes given from outside the PowerPoint and

lecture without notice. Do not give breaks when teaching in longer classes at

times.

3

4 Many things. They do not teach much in class and solve easy questions, but

expect us to solve difficult questions in examinations. Also, they are rude

while clarifying doubts of the students sometimes.

4

5 A lot of things. Most of them are stringent in nature and grade the papers

strictly, checking wherever marks can be deduced for the smallest of reasons.

No extensions ever provided on the deadlines whatsoever, and attendance is

taken in the beginning of the class; students who come 5 – 10 minutes late are

marked absent.

1

This table (5) states the different things that students do not like about their professors and the

things associated with their teaching and so on. The number of factors range from none to

numerous. Five (5) students were found to have no complains about their instructor, indicating that

they are contented with them. Seven (7) students had a few things they didn’t like concerning their

faculty which included being disliked by the teacher when they sat on the last rows, and also giving

difficult questions to them intentionally for the potential purpose of humiliation. Three (3) students

complained that professors were not fair in setting their examinations as those often contained

questions beyond the scope of the PowerPoint slides. Also, when rushing to complete a topic, they

said there were no breaks given, which exhausted the students and hampered their concentration.

Four (4) students noticed that their professors solved easy questions in practice during the class,

but the tests and quizzes often contained much harder problems, and also that sometimes the short-

temperament of their instructors affected their confidence when they were responded to rudely by

their professor during doubt clarification in the classroom. One(1) student seemed to be totally

unhappy with his professors since he found numerous issues in their teaching process, for example

lack of cooperation when giving extensions on assignment submission deadlines, very strict while

grading papers and taking attendances.

15

Sixth question: Have you ever felt that your instructor was unfair to you? If yes, when?


1 Never. The professors in general and nice and professional in their attitude

and mindset.

6

2 Hard to figure out. Not sure if it was intentional, but I vaguely remember an

incident or two with a few instructors.

2

3 Not that I can remember of. Maybe they did, but it wasn’t so damaging. Most

likely minor acts.

5

4 Yes, a few times. During grading the papers and giving participation marks,

they appeared to be extra-strict to me.

6

5 Yes, many times. Indirect mocking and getting picked by certain professors at

times; not responding to questions properly and not giving a chance to answer

questions asked in class.

1

This table (6) represents the different feedbacks to if ever has the professor been unfair to the

interviewee. Six (6) students said they never experienced any such incidents at the university, for

their professors were professional and ethical in their attitude and mindset. Two (2) students were

incalculable of this, for they remember incidents but these were subtle and most likely not

intentional. Five (5) students denied the occurrence of any such event which could help them relate

to some sort of unethical behavior by the instructor. Six (6) students answered the question

positively, agreeing that they have faced some minor cases of unfair behavior with the professor,

albeit these were damaging to their score such as being extra-strict during paper grading and while

giving participation marks. One (1) student said that he has faced unethical behavior from the

professors of his courses many times. He said he was a weak student and got constantly picked on

by when he was made to answer questions he couldn’t. Apart from this, he also reported to not

being given a chance when he raised his hand to answer the questions asked during class

discussions.

Combining the results of all the six interview questions, we can now summarize all our findings

along with their respective implications. The majority of students responded positively in almost

every interview question. The fact that most students thought that ADU has competent teachers in

the first question supports the idea that currently the university is going along the right path in

developing its educational reach and scope. However, as noticed, some students indirectly stated

some possible factors which when changed can bring even more development to the system. For

instance, the fine-tuning talked about by the students could refer to the many minor changes which

the instructors can (and sometimes, should) make to accommodate the needs of all the students. It

is important to understand that every student is different, and no interview or data collection

procedure can be one sided, but then again, it is still possible to figure out the flaws hidden in the

system and check for ways to solve them without upsetting the current setup in any way. For

16

example, from the responses in the first interview question, efforts can be made to change the usual

monotony of classroom lectures and examinations. Preferably by adding more of activities like

field research assignments and educational trips and so on. Similarly, for students who lack interest

in the subject, appropriate measures can be taken to check their area of interest which is relevant

to the topic and assignments based on that can be given to assess their understanding. Seemingly

insignificant measures like this can make a huge difference in the overall success rate of the

students. For the minority who have several problems with the instructors and the overall system,

private counseling can be provided, so that their problems can be discussed in adequate detail

therefore giving enough room for rectification of errors and also solving of the problems without

much difficulty. Regarding responses to the second interview question, it is necessary to

understand that a major part of it depends on the student itself. Whether or not a course is difficult

is dependent on the student’s attitude towards it and the amount of effort he/she puts into the same

(as seen in question responses). However, it might still be a viable idea to systematically and

regularly check on the students who score below the required levels, so as to provide them with

back-up on the subject. As mentioned previously, if a course can be made to suit the interests of

the students, they are naturally more likely to put in more hard work and interest, therefore scoring

much better grades. Also, their perceptions about the professors may change if the latter makes

efforts similar to the one stated before and this way the same students may take more electives

with the professors if they notice that they are scoring proper grades in their courses. The third

question in the interview continues on to the next stage of the implication derived in the findings

of the second question. Apparently, the first four (4) questions in the interview measure and gauge

the interest of the student in the subject and the professor teaching it. Students who answer

positively to both are more likely to have a positive outlook upon the subject therefore are likely

to pay more attention in the class. Then again, students who pay attention to lectures in class do

not need to work as hard at home, for they are already familiar with much of the concepts.

However, students who belonged to the groups who said they had to work hard, for their

professor’s involvement wasn’t enough might be the same students who do not want to take

courses, for they do not enjoy either the subject or the way it is being taught. One solution to this

issue would be to distribute survey forms which will allow collection of data that addresses this

case. Students dissatisfied with the current system can input their suggestions anonymously. This

will allow instructors to make note of the changes which can bring in potential improvement in the

class’s involvement in the various academic activities. The fourth interview question’s responses

are largely preferential, and as such, there is not much that can be done to address the variations

in thoughts, opinions, and beliefs of the students. This is a limiting factor, since the availability of

instructors is dependent on many variables, such as qualifications, affiliations, teaching experience

and so on, that are much more important when are hiring them than the gender. The last two (2)

interview questions are aimed at detecting the hidden discrepancies which hinder the full

development and potential of learning in students. Fifth (5th) question requires the participant to

list the factors that they would like changed about the instructor while sixth (6th) question directly

tackles the matter.

17

Conclusions and Recommendations:

Putting the findings together concisely, it can be said that the main problems associated with the

professors are: strict grading, attendance policies, and overall lack of cooperation with the students.

Practices such as asking difficult questions or picking on particular students to force them to be

more attentive in the class are much more damaging than helpful, if ever. Instructors should be

supervised appropriately and adequately to ensure that they remain and continue to operate

ethically and stay fair to all students, regardless of their intelligence or merit. The last thing needed

to worsen the situation is a particular student feeling worse about himself due to being humiliated

indirectly in class by his instructor.

The research study concludes by stating the following main ideas from its implications of findings:

- Despite the advancements in the current educational system, a significant number of things

remain yet to be changed that can remove a lot of hindrances.

- Universities must take more measures to effectively watch over and survey the behavior of

instructors across different years and majors.

- Students must be encouraged to step up and speak out their problems while keeping in

mind their privacy.

- Courses must be made more interactive with ways to find outliers in student opinions and

interests in order to take care of them as well.

18

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