RJ#13 – Expanded Field Notes – A Day in Engineering Class

I took field notes one day in my Industrial Engineering class. I observed the behavior of my classmates and our professor as he conducted class. One of the things I noticed was that the classroom generally seems to have a lot of respect for Dr. Elam. For example, everyone in the room is chatting until he walks in; at which time, most everyone gets quiet and listens to him begin the lecture. When somebody walks in late, they silently hurry to their chair, and then giggle with their neighbors about why they are late. However, as the lecture goes on, many people begin to zone out.  A few people are still paying attention, some even taking notes, but most are messing with their phones and looking around the room. Some of them are talking to each other. There are a couple of people who talk almost throughout the entire class period every day. They are constantly talking about how the material is too easy and that the class is ridiculous. However, on test day, they complain that they don’t understand how they did so badly on the test.

Dr. Elam began the class period with a review for a test on the next day. He says, “We spent 3 days on the simplex method, so I expect it to go really well.” Then he situates the projector to show us something on eCollege, and while he is occupied, many students begin chatting again. He also tells us, “I’ve done everything I can to help all of you, but some of you have dug yourselves into pretty big holes. Now, you’re gonna have to dig yourselves out.” He also asked, “Why are we here? In college, what is our goal?” The class tries guessing “Education!” and “Mom made me!,” among other things. He then tells us, “To make money. You come to college to get education, to get a job, and finally, get more money.” This reminds me of Aristotle’s philosophy that everyone’s actions are based on their pursuit of happiness. By this mentality, it seems that engineers are “in it for the money,” and this makes me wonder how Dr. Elam would explain the ambition of teachers.

After reviewing for the test, we moved on to the lecture for the next chapter. For the most part, the students showed the same behavior as they did during the previous lecture. This time, I noticed somebody was “resting.” He had laid his head down when the lecture had gotten slow and the material was easy. I also noticed that after every time he finished an explanation or solved a problem, he stepped back and looked over his work, asked if we had questions, and then gave an example of how the theorem or equation might not work in certain situations.

While explaining compound interest and how banks handle the extra decimals, Dr. Elam referenced the movie Office Space. I laughed because I love that movie and he effectively used it to explain the issue. I later thought about the movie and who likes it – I noticed that a lot of math- and computer-oriented people like the movie, while a lot of people who were studying education told me they thought the movie was boring. It’s funny to think that interest in the various areas of study might affect which movies one enjoys most.